How Should You Learn To Play Guitar

What’s The Best Way To Learn To Play Guitar?

If you have made the decision that you want to learn to play guitar, the next question is how? Once upon a time, it was an easy decision as there was only two routes you could take; learn on your own or get a guitar teacher. Now, with the advent of the Internet there is another option which is to learn online.

Learning online through guitar lessons is in one sense easy. Simply go to Google and type in “learn to play guitar” and you will be offered thousands of different opportunities. This article looks at the pros and cons of the different ways of learning now open to the guitar student.

Learning Guitar With A Teacher – The Pros

• At your first meeting, a good guitar teacher will quickly establish where you are at from a technical and playing level and build up a tutor profile of what you need to move forward.
• The teacher (hopefully) has a worked out lesson plan(s) which will guide you through your learning. A thought through plan will greatly accelerate your learning helping you make progress much faster.
• Learning with a guitar teacher means that your specific guitar technique problems are addressed with individual exercises specific to you.
• Guitar tutors can demonstrate how a particular passage, scale or arpeggio should be played relevant to the lesson. They will then be able to show you alternatives and dig deeper into areas such as fingerings, musicality and why something does or does not work.
• A guitar teacher will be able to judge over a period of time how quickly you manage to attain certain skills and tailor your future lessons and learning accordingly.
• Having a regular recurring lesson puts pressure on you the pupil to practice and deliver. This teacher – pupil relationship, is one of the biggest reasons learning with a guitar tutor is a very strong motivator.
• Your guitar teacher should have a wide range of music resources at hand such as notated music, play alongs mp3 files, deep knowledge of specific musical genres.
• They will be able to guide you in your future development regardless of whether they continue to teach you or not.
• Finally, most teachers will be able to take you through a graded syllabus of learning should you wish it. A big pro point for those that want to learn to play guitar.

Learning Guitar With A Teacher – The Cons

• • If you live in a rural area or small town that does not have a guitar teacher…you’re in trouble.
  • One to one lessons can be very expensive and is a barrier to participation for many.
  • You are hoping that your teacher is good and knows what they are talking about. The assumption is they do know what they are talking about, but can they actually teach?
  • You may only want to dabble in guitar and the stress of learning to a weekly or bi-weekly routine may be disheartening.
  • The teacher may not be that close so the time and expense of travelling to your teacher needs to be factored into the whole experience.
  • The guitar tutor does not know the style you want to play that well or not at all but you have to make do as he/she is the only person in your area.
  • The teacher may be unreliable, unresponsive to your requests, lazy etc.