Learning Guitar – The B minor chord

Here’s where we take the next big step in our progress as a guitarist… learning about a shape of chord referred to as a “barre chord”. The technique of playing barre chords is one which we have utilized when playing the F major chord – using one finger to hold down more than one note.

The B minor shape We’re going to put your first finger to work on this chord. Your first finger has the job of covering the second fret, from the fifth to first strings (we don’t play the sixth string). Next, put your third finger on the fourth fret of the fourth string. Then, add your fourth pinky finger to the fourth fret of the third string. Lastly, place your second finger on the third fret of the second string. Got it? Now, strum the chord, and try not to get upset when most of the notes don’t ring clearly.
This is a tough chord at first, no doubt about it! You’re going to have to have patience, it WILL sound good soon, but it’s going to take some work. Here are some tips that will help you: Very slightly bend your first finger. A straight and rigid finger is not what we’re looking for. Roll the finger back slightly, so that more of the side of the index finger closest to the thumb is in contact with the strings. Try slightly pulling the body of the guitar towards your body, using the arm of your picking hand. Also gently pull the neck towards you with your fretting hand. This makes fretting barre chords somewhat easier.

Movable chord

One of the greatest things about the B minor chord shape is that it is a “movable chord”. This means that, unlike the chords we’ve learned so far, we can slide the same shape around to different frets to create different minor chords. The note we’re interested in is the note on the fifth string. Whatever note your finger is playing on the fifth string is the type of minor chord it is. If you were to slide the chord up the neck, so that your first finger was at the fifth fret, you’d be playing a D minor chord, since the note on the fifth fret of the fifth string is D. THIS is why learning the note names on the sixth and fifth strings are so important. We’ll be getting into different movable chords in the next lesson.

Hold the shape of the B minor chord, and play strings one at a time. Correct any notes that aren’t ringing clearly. Try moving from other chords to a B minor chord, then back to other chords. This will be a slow and difficult process at first. Keep trying! Try playing different minor chords by moving the B minor shape around to different frets (eg. try playing C# minor, F minor, G minor, Bb minor, etc.) Do NOT play the sixth string when playing a B minor chord. Pay careful attention to this.

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Learn And Master Guitar: Learn Electric Guitar

If there’s one single lesson that electric guitar students of all styles of music need to learn, it’s take it easy – slow down. The music will still be there, you don’t have to rush out to meet it. If you have a tendency to go too fast, to try to force your body to do chord changes before the muscles have learned them properly, ask yourself how you want to be sounding in a year’s time. Because if you don’t slow down when you are learning you are going to be sounding like a hat full of baby seals in one year – and probably twenty years time!

An important aspect of learning to play electric guitar is how you are going to be holding the guitar during your long hours of practice. If you do not pay attention to this stuff now, you could end up with back, neck and shoulder problems later from straining your muscles and skeleton.

Now you have your guitar, and of course a decent amplifier. A practice amp is good for use when playing near loved ones if you want to remain loved yourself. Another good idea is to get some kind of guitar effects program for your computer but be aware that some of them can be very hard on your computer’s resources.

A tuner and a metronome are essentials. These are two bits of equipment which are part of the discipline of electric guitar playing. Get into the habit of tuning your guitar from time to time during practice sessions – you might be surprised how far out you can get without being aware of it! While you are first learning how to play electric guitar you probably won’t be able to do too much jamming with friends until you develop a familiarity with your instrument. So once you feel you have gotten the hang of a song or a riff, try it out with the metronome. As slowly as you need to; you are not doing anybody any favors by rushing.

Do you need a teacher for electric guitar? Can you get all you need from books in your local music store or off the internet? It’s true that looking for a person who can teach you what you need to know in a way that you can handle it is a bit of a trial. It’s like any relationship, a lot better without the other person, but what can you do? If you want to try learning without a ‘human’ teacher then I recommend the DVD course Learn And Master Guitar.

There are also many ways online to learn to play guitar. Some give the less expensive option of downloading the videos and instructions. For online guitar lessons I recommend JamPlay.com. Their guitar teaching lessons are excellent and you can interact with your teacher and ask questions on the forum.

As the distinction between electric guitars and synthesizers becomes less distinct the novice electric guitarist gets more opportunities to reproduce the sound of his or her favorite artist. But as your guitar skills expand you will have a world of electronic music to play with. Enjoy!

Martin Guitar Strings

For all the advice that I got about buying a guitar for my friends, I learned very little about guitar strings. I had always assumed that the guitar alone determines the sound you get out of it. With an acoustic guitar, the main thing is how the body is constructed and what materials are used. If you had good tone woods, solid construction, and a large enough body to resonate, you would get a brilliant warm tone. With electric guitars, it had to do with what pickups you used. Different pickups would give sharp tones, mellow tones, or hot distorted sounds.

When I had been playing for about a year, I got sick of my guitar, but I didn’t really have money for another one. It wasn’t a very good model, and it didn’t sound great in the hands of inexperienced player. When one of my friends suggested trying some different guitar strings, I thought he was being silly. I had tried a few different acoustic guitar string brands, and had not noticed any difference. He told me to buy myself some high-quality Martin Guitar Strings and listen again. When I did, I was blown away. They really did sound warmer, brighter, and all around fuller.

That sound was great for me for a while. I have never had anything but good things to say about Martin Guitar Strings.

The problem was that my guitar was a little bit tinny. The Martin strings were too bright for the particular axe that I was using, So I knew that I had to experiment more. I wanted dark guitar strings with a much mellower, lower pitched sound. I was playing my guitar mostly for accompaniment, so I didn’t need it to project out all that much.

When I finally found the perfect set of acoustic strings, I was absolutely overjoyed. They were made by a local manufacturer who hand wound them. Hand wound guitar strings are a little bit expensive, but if you find really good ones they are more than worth it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make the strings anymore, but fortunately I stockpiled enough for several years to come. I practice using Martin strings still, but I have my special strings waiting in a case for shows. By saving them and using them sparingly, I should be able to make them last for as long as I need them. By that point, maybe I will have bought a better guitar.

You can learn how to restring an accoustic guitar here.

10 Easy Ways To Improve Your Guitar Playing Today

One of the most frustrating aspects of playing guitar is when you reach the point where you are not improving. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned musician, we all face the same problem when we learn guitar and ask the question, “Why am I not at the level I want to be and how can I get there?” To add insult to injury, we see our guitar heroes in magazines and on TV everyday and it seems as if they are constantly inventing new tricks and improving their skills. When we read about them in Guitar World to try to emulate their skills and learn their tricks only to leave more confused. Becoming the ultimate guitarist is far harder than it looks. So what is the key to success? While there is no one answer that can solve everyone’s problem, there are a number of concepts and theories that can help you break through the barrier that keeps you from reaching your full potential to learn and master your guitar. The one thing that you need to realize is that you don’t need to be a genius to become a great guitarist. The two key things you need to have in your possession are interest and commitment. You’ll never meet a great guitarist who isn’t passionate about music. They didn’t get to the level that they are at by being apathetic and lazy. They took the initiative to go out and try to learn something new. The guitarist who dares to challenge himself takes the risk of failing. This is where many musicians lose their battle with low self-esteem and quit. It’s not that they didn’t take the risk, rather, that they failed and couldn’t pick themselves up again. If you realize that failure is a part of growth and that it takes many jam sessions to get some tricks down, you have just acquired the first skill you will need to become the ultimate guitarist. I have compiled a list of concepts that I believe every guitarist should try out. Unlike other articles you will read, these short and simple steps ask you to do, rather that simply read. Thoughts and attitude are important but in the end it’s what you do that counts to your audience. Let’s get started with the top ten things you can do to obtain maximum results as a guitarist. Top 10 tips for success… Learn something new - Educating yourself is the first step to becoming a better guitarist. Whether you choose to believe it or not, there’s always something new to learn and master. If you are currently studying music in a conservatory, at school, or in college, you will find that learning will come more easier to you. If not, I highly recommend that you get in a program. While I believe in teaching yourself, I also know from first hand experience that motivation and encouragement from a teacher is priceless. Once you conquer the subject that you were learning, push yourself to learn something that you’re not quite comfortable with. Learning within your comfort zone often results with you running around in circles. Make your time count – Practicing does not make perfect, it makes permanent. That makes the time you spend playing your guitar all the more important. Don’t waste your time fiddling around on your guitar. Dig in and learn something that will aid you on your quest for musical success. Set goals and work towards achieving them. Whether it’s technique, tricks, or a new song, you can become better just by using your time more wisely. Listen to more music - The more music that you are exposed to, the better guitarist you will become. Listen to the bands that you enjoy most and draw inspiration from them. Take note of what the musicians are doing in their songs and make a list of the techniques you want to learn. This can be the motivating force that gets you to play your guitar more often. Surround yourself with excellence - When you play your guitar with people who are better guitarists, you not only learn from them but feel motivated to push yourself to keep up. At first this idea seems obscure. Why would you expose yourself to that kind of stress? Let’s face it, if there’s one thing that will make you get motivated quickly it’s the fact that people are counting on you. Don’t play with musicians who are arrogant and rude. Embarrassment doesn’t foster self-esteem and will only get you down. The people you want to learn from are patient and understanding. Eventually you will find yourself at their level. It happens faster than you might think. Ask yourself what will you do when you obtain the skills you want – What do you want to do with what you learn? Perhaps you want to make a CD or join a band and play at some local venues. Start planning for it now and use what you currently have. This ties into setting goals but is not to be underestimated. Knowing how you want to use your talent is important. Create a vision and use goals to act on it. Whether you want to play for others, or to the wall in your bedroom, the choice is yours. Teach someone how to play guitar - To teach is to learn. If the only chord you know how to play is a G chord, show someone that. Why? Because it reaffirms what you know and solidifies your knowledge. I can tell you from personal experience that I have learned more through teaching than I ever learned through being taught. It forces you out of your comfort zone and when questions are asked, you need to know the answer. I’m a firm believer that anyone can teach someone something if they want to. Give it a shot and see the results for yourself. Believe in your ability - Yes, I know how cliché this sounds. However, you need to hear it. You can do anything you put your mind to and if you choose to play guitar well, chubby fingers or not, you can! Don’t listen to what others say and be true to yourself. This can be hard seeing as we live in a critical society that doesn’t realize how much words can hurt. Keep at it and surround yourself with supportive people. More of a life lesson than a guitar lesson, but as far as I’m concerned music is intertwined with daily living. You are incomparable - In case you haven’t picked up the hint yet, you are the ultimate guitarist. There is no one like you and there will never be anyone who even comes remotely close to being like you. Integrate who you are into your music and you will never have a shortage of material. Your music will soon form into your own tone and style. Learn what worked for others - Whether you research your favorite guitarist or talk to your guitar teacher, ask others what worked for them. I don’t claim to know all the answers but when everyone puts their heads together, some really neat ideas start to flow. Networking allows you to give and receive at the same time. Crush your weakness - We all know where we lack the most in the guitar realm. For me it’s in technique and finger picking, for others it’s something different. Whatever it is, don’t ignore it while enjoying your recent victory. Keep attacking your weak points and you’ll soon see improvement. The secret is that you never stop seeing problems and you continually get better over time. You’ll never be stuck without something to do. Take out a sheet of paper and write them down. Then find the resources you need to help you destroy them. It’s not unlike a war, but in the end you always win. Don’t Believe The Popular Myths You may be surprised to hear that a lot of the common advice distributed amongst guitarists couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are myths and tokens of advice that get passed along and guitarists like yourself use them. Try as hard as you like, but you’ll end up realizing that what meets you at the end of the road is failure. To avoid that, let’s look at some of the most common myths floating around: All good players can play all styles: While great in theory, it doesn’t work out in practice. Throughout the history of this newsletter, I have consistently pushed trying various genres of music and becoming a more cultured guitarist. However, no where will you ever hear me, or any other teacher, say that you should be able to master all of them. The fact is that it takes a lifetime to master one style. Some take up two genres that mix well together, such as blues and rock, but those genres are the exceptions. You will never hear a neoclassical shred guitarist play country. Many jazz musicians take decades to perfect their craft and even then they still see areas that need improvement. If you want to be a great guitarist, take the genre and style that you’re passionate about and focus on it. Don’t get distracted with other music. Your guitar heroes are heroes because they mastered a genre. Very few will ever play outside of their specialty and that’s just the reality. You either have “it” or you don’t: Let’s face it, some understand music more easily than others. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be as good as them. Everyone can play guitar, it just depends on the effort and time you want to put in. There are dozens of specialties within music and no one knows all of them from the time they are born. Perfect pitch is developed, as is technique and originality. Look at where you started from as opposed to where you are now. Would you say that you are just as original as you were when you first picked up the guitar? I know I’m not. While things may come easier to others, remember that we all have our own struggles within music and that we are in it together. To sound good, you need the best gear - The best gear is nice, and yes, you do sound better. However, it’s unnecessary for those who aren’t interested in professional music or are just starting out. Beginners love to see the rack of guitars at their local music store and say, “I want the $2000 one.” That was me for years but the truth is that a guitar of that caliber is useless to someone who can’t play it. Learn on something modest and work your way up. Not only will the experience be more rewarding, it’s also nicer on the instrument and your self-confidence. In the end, the guitar is only as good as the person who plays it. I have heard crappy guitars sound half-decent when played by someone who knew what they were doing. The same applies to you. For those who can afford $5,000 guitars, my advice is go for it. For the rest of us, I say save your money and work towards being the ultimate guitarist. Think about it, if you sound good on a crummy guitar, how much better will you sound on something that can really produce a good tone? You need to be the most talented to succeed- All too often, as mentioned above, we tend to compare ourselves to others. The ultimate guitarist is you meeting your goals and making progress. There will always be others who sound better in certain areas but who cares? Be the person you want to be and music will be far more enjoyable. Success is measured on a personal level, not n how many CD’s you sell. The famous musicians in today’s society often find themselves wishing they weren’t so pressured by record labels. They want to be in your shoes where they have the choice to do what they want to do. Enjoy yourself and the rest will fall into place. See how fun & easy teaching yourself to learn and master guitar really is with the help of Guitar Secrets. Did you know the reason why most beginner guitarists put learning guitar in the “too hard basket” is because they choose lessons without structure. These beginner guitar lessons cover the basics and move into more intermediate topics in the correct order. This article is courtesy of http://www.guitartips.com.au

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Is It Easy To Learn And Master The Guitar?

Some people say it is difficult, others say it really is easy to learn guitar. The ones who say that it easy are the ones who have actually learned to play. They have chosen the music style they want to learn and have disciplined themselves to set aside some time every day to practice. They have learned to read sheet music or tab and they have found out about the rewards of playing guitar for themselves or for their friends.

Go out and buy yourself an acoustic guitar, download some chord charts and guitar tabs from the internet, or buy an easy learn guitar course, get yourself a guitar tuner, and try teaching yourself. That’s the beginning, see whether you can easy learn guitar by yourself. Probably you won’t be by yourself for very long – there is always somebody who has also learned some guitar and who is ready to share their experience and jam with you.

If you decide to learn from online learn guitar videos you will easy learn from a great variety of guitar tutors. You are benefiting from the experience of guitarists from all over the world you would otherwise never have known. If you are able to devote some time to practicing regularly what you have learned from these guitar videos you will easily make fast progress as a guitar player.

If you begin to learn the guitar you will learn about callouses on the fingertips, and about the need to keep your guitar in tune at all times. If you can afford it, you could try taking lessons with a private guitar teacher – you will always gain something from the experience. Or you could keep teaching yourself with online guitar lessons for beginners, intermediates, or advanced players, make use of learn guitar DVDs, or the free guitar lessons on video that you can view on the internet.

Learning the guitar by yourself is one of many easy ways, but the problem is that it is missing structure. It is not easy for some persons to set themselves a disciplined practice regime. So in order to easy learn guitar, your progress as a guitarist will also include self-motivation. A great easy learn guitar course with a very active and helpful online Student Community is Learn & Master Guitar.

So if you get yourself an acoustic or electric guitar, learn some chords and some strumming patterns, you’ll be off to a good start. From there you can branch out to easy learning solos or riffs or fingerpicking.

My Gibson’s Learn And Master Guitar Review

Disclosure: The opinions offered here are my own based on my experience. All information is verified as accurate at the time of review. If you choose to visit one of the courses I reviewed on this website and make a purchase I may receive a commission, how ever I do not allow this to interfere with my rating and review process. I never accept paid reviews and each product is thoroughly tested by me. All opinions offered here are my own. I am open to reviewing any guitar-training course – please feel free to email me with your suggestions.

What you get with the Gibson’s Learn And Master Guitar course I learned guitar with the DVD course from Learn & Master and here is my review: When you order Learn & Master Guitar, you get 20 DVDs. Each of the two sessions per DVD is between 30 and 60 minutes long. All DVDs have an on-screen menu, so you can go right to a lesson with your remote. In addition to the DVDs you get 5 audio CDs (each has appr. 12-18 jam-along tracks of about a minute length), plus a 100 page Lesson Book (and a bonus book, if you order the expanded version). These bonus lessons cover the same material as the regular lessons, but in more depth and give you additional information. For example, when lesson #1 teaches you the basics of a guitar and finger exercises, you will in bonus lesson #1 find some neat tips and tricks beyond the basics, like whether you should consider purchasing an electronic tuner, string winder, or metronome. I got a lot of great information from the bonus material. All lessons are both on DVD and in the lesson book so you can watch the videos, and follow the written lessons at the same time, or just flip through the book as a quick reference to refresh your memory later, which is also very handy. The Learn & Master Guitar course has received some educational awards. The guitar teacher guiding you through the course is Steve Krenz. You can read more about the rewards and Steve on the Learn & Master website. I like most that when you watch the videos, you feel you have a real guitar teacher sitting next to you and talking to you. First Steve explains something to you, then he gives you a training assignment as your ‘home work’, and at the end of each session you have to answer a couple questions to test whether you are ready to go to the next lesson. If that sounds too much like ‘school’ to you, let me tell you that it’s not – after all, you set your own schedule and pick what you want to learn. With the course you also get access to the online member section of the website which is kind of neat as you can upload videos (e.g. you playing a song) and ask other members for their input, and you find a handful additional resources there. However, Learn and Master is not meant to be an online course, so don’t expect there to find constantly updated new learning material or thousands of members online.

Learn And Master Guitar Is For Beginners And Advanced Players Learn And Master Guitar Lessons For Beginners Lessons 1 Through 8 Getting acquainted with your guitar, how to hold and tune it Learn music, read notes and tablatur Finger exercises Chords On the Learn And Master DVD videos and in the printed lessons book Steve will show you hands-on all you need to know to learn guitar. And as nothing beats the joy of jamming with other musicians, five Jam Along CDs provide you that very experience. Learn And Master Guitar For Advanced Players Chances are you have already learned how to play guitar by picking things up here and there, taking a few lessons, reading a book or watching some videos. You are able to play the basics, and now you’re ready to move beyond that. The Advanced Lessons 9 Through 20 Make smooth chord transitions Advanced chords, barre chords Develop “muscle memory” Work on your strum and develop your rhythm Train your ear Techniques such as tapping, bending, sliding Isolate the difficulties you have with a particular song so you can focus on that part in particular Why it is so important that your equipment fits you and how to make a good choice in selecting your guitar (action, strings, neck, etc) and much more I think many people become frustrated because they are trying to learn the chords, changing chords, and keeping time, all at once. As long as your brain and chording hand are working in terms of “finger 1 goes on the ‘e’ string at the third fret, finger 3 goes on the ‘A’ string at the second fret, and finger four goes on the ‘E’ string”, you’re going to take way too long. Once your muscles have learned the correct positioning, all of a sudden you will find yourself being able to put your fingers in the correct positions automatically. In the advanced lessons Steve will give you an insider scoop on how to improve your chord transitions, a lot of great tips for ear training, how to best develop your rhythm sense and much more, so things should start clicking for you at some point. I also didn’t know that it makes such a difference to have your guitar set up correctly. Plus you can always contact Steve in the Learn And Master Guitar discussion board if you have a particular question.

How the Learn And Master DVD course works: At the begin of each lesson you see the estimated time it takes to learn that lesson You learn watching Steve explaining on video (and/or referring to the book) You do your ‘assignments’ after each lesson so you have a plan what and how you need to practice You answer 2 or 3 questions at the end of the lesson to find out whether you are ready to move on to the next lesson

What I liked most about the Learn & Master Guitar DVD Course I like most that Steve Krenz, the instructor, is making the lessons very personal, you feel like you are sitting with a real guitar teacher, and he explains very well. I like the assignments you get after learning each lesson, you know exactly what you should practice and how. It was also very helpful to me that at the end of each lesson, when I was already eager to go to the next one, that there are 2 or 3 ‘are you ready to move on questions’ which sometimes showed me that I was in fact not ready to move on but needed to practice the current lesson some more. The course covers almost every style of music and guitar you can think of, acoustic, electric, classic, blues, etc. Also I liked that the JamAlong audios at the beginning of the course play slow, but get up to ‘real’ playing speed gradually in advanced lessons. I thought I could play along a ‘real’ song right from the beginning, but was I wrong…

What Are The Downsides Of  Learn And Master Guitar? You have to order it and wait until they ship it, no instant download available (but I remember that I got mine within a couple days) There online community is nice, but there are not as many people online as e.g. at JamPlay It looks expensive at first sight (actually I think it’s not, because of the great material you get with the course, and compared to what other websites and courses charge)

How Much Is It?

Click here to see the current price on the official Learn & Master website

I hope this review was helpful to you.

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Acoustic Or Electric – Which Guitar Is Easier To Learn And Master?

You decided you want to learn guitar and now you wonder: is it better to learn on an acoustic or electric guitar? Despite what many would lead you to believe, it is a little more complicated than “acoustic is best”, or “electric is best”.

To find an answer for this question yourself, let’s begin by learning a little bit about both electric and acoustic guitars, and what makes them different.

Let’s start with acoustic guitars, because most professional musicians agree that starting to learn on a decent acoustic guitar is the way to go:

• An acoustic guitar is a lesser investment
• Acoustic lets you hear the ‘true’ notes. It helps you learn the music faster and you will be able to play be ear quicker
• You can’t ‘cheat’ with sloppy technique masked by distortion, as an acoustic guitar requires that you learn the techniques properly for it to sound right
• You may learn some acoustic-style fingerpicking that you won’t learn on an electric guitar
• While you are learning you wont drive you your family and neighbors mad as it’s not so loud
• You don’t depend on amplifier, cables, adjusts, controls and picks, so you can grab your guitar anytime and take it everywhere, which means you probably will practice more and get better sooner

Learn And Master An Acoustic Guitar Is Harder But You’ll Train Your Ear Better

It is in fact harder to learn  an acoustic guitar as it provides more of a challenge to a beginner. An acoustic has generally a much thicker neck, and a higher action (meaning the actual distance between acoustic guitar strings to the acoustic guitar fingerboard is greater than the distance between electric guitar strings and the electric guitar fingerboard). The strings are generally thicker. This means you have to press your fingers down further with an acoustic as opposed to an electric, but that at the same time helps you building strength and dexterity in both hands and you will build your calluses on your fingers faster.

Learning Electric Guitar May Sound Cooler When You Want To Play In A Band

You may think that some music played on an acoustic guitar doesn’t sound as cool as when played with an electric guitar. Electric guitars are fun to play after you’ve learned, but the notes sound different with the electric and it will take you a while to transfer strumming and fingerstyle techniques from the acoustic to the ‘feel’ of an electric guitar . On the acoustic you hear bare bones notes so when you go to play an electric, the notes make more sense and are more recognizable.

If you start out with learning electric guitar, you will be much slower getting used to play an acoustic guitar, because after playing electric you still need more strength for an acoustic, and you don’t develop a number of techniques for obtaining certain sounds that you discover right on the acoustic.

As Long As It Has Six Strings…

Bottom line is – whether you start with an acoustic or electric doesn’t really matter, as long as it has 6 strings – there is no difference between acoustic and electric outside the obvious of the mechanics, and the above mentioned characteristics – they are played in the exact same way.

Remember, the most important is that you keep practicing  in order to learn and master your guitar!

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Are Classic Guitar Lessons A Solid Foundation?

Like most kids my age, I wanted to play electric guitar. I figured that I could just learn a few chords, strum my guitar, and magically get hordes of groupies, flocking to my side. This is a common fantasy and a harmless one, but my parents encouraged me to have bigger dreams. They convinced me to take classical guitar instruction to start learning guitar. They argued that learning classical guitar would give me a much more solid foundation in how to play guitar. I would learn guitar techniques, understand musical theory, and once I was proficient, rock out with the best of them.

So I signed up for classical guitar lessons with the stipulation that, once I got good, I could get an electric guitar and start rocking. What I didn’t expect was how much I enjoyed to learn classical guitar. Learning acoustic guitar was like nothing else I had ever accomplished. I had never really listened to classical music before, but once I started playing it I became absolutely fascinated with it. It was so subtle, so complex, and so intricate. Although the rhythms were simple, the chord structures and variations added a grace that I had never heard in contemporary pop music. I was hooked, and it really helped motivating me to learn to play the guitar.

It helps that I was a natural at playing classical guitar. One of the things that they never tell you when you start to learn guitar is that your fingernails make a big difference in how well you can play. Guitarists with soft fingernails are doomed to be second-rate guitarists. You need to have strong fingernails or else you can’t properly pick the notes. Not only did I have good fingernails, but I had the sort of skinny long fingers that allow you to play bigger, more complicated chords with ease. My hands were made for playing the classical guitar, and my mind wasn’t far behind. I loved classical music by the time I had been at learning to play guitar for a couple weeks.

That is not to say I gave up my rock and roll dreams. On the contrary, once I passed beginning guitar lessons, I started to learn to play a little bit of rock ‘n roll as well. It was surprisingly easy to pick up after I had learned to play classical guitar. Don’t get me wrong, it does involve some skills they you don’t use in classical playing. Some of the chords are different, and you have to learn how to use a pick. Nonetheless, I had discovered such subtlety with my fingers that it was comparatively easy.

This article was written by our guest blogger Cyn.

How Fast Can You Learn To Play Guitar?

I believe this highly depends on the material you are using to learn guitar, and the time you practice. Like many others who want to learn guitar I started with free online guitar lessons and learn guitar videos. There are many great places online where you find excellent free stuff on learning guitar (I’m showing you a couple good resources on my website). The only problem with these free lessons I had was that I didn’t had a clue what to learn first and what to learn next. I watched videos on YouTube and tried to play along, but after a couple weeks I still sucked and I thought I will never learn it. So even when I always hated school, I realized that I needed a step-by-step learn guitar course if I wanted to make some progress.

Actually, I have bought 3 different learn guitar programs until I found the one that worked for me… I bought Jamorama, the Learn And Master Guitar course and got a JamPlay.com subscription (you can read my reviews of these courses on this website).
Once I had my very own virtual personal ‘guitar teacher’, my playing improved fast. I could hardly wait for the next session, and I’m proud to say that after 3 months my neighbors didn’t close their windows anymore when I was practicing ).

How long will it take you to learn guitar?

If you came here to find the magic formula to learn guitar in a couple weeks, I have bad news for you. Truth is, while it will probably only take you one lesson to learn to play ‘Wild Thing’ or ‘Smoke On The Water’, I’m pretty sure it will be about 6 months to a year until you can play a variety of songs. But that’s not too bad, is it?

If you get the right learning tools and keep practicing, practicing, practicing, and stay motivated you will learn it sooner rather than later.

I would really recommend you get yourself a serious step-by-step guitar learning course. Use the online freebies as additional exercises, but get yourself a real Learn Guitar course, online or on DVD that you can follow. I reviewed the ones I bought hoping it might help you to find the course that works for you without the ‘trial and error’ I went through.

So, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the many resources on my website – and check back often as I’m adding new stuff all the time.

Have fun learning and playing guitar!

Read How I Learned To Play Guitar

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