Learning to play a new instrument can be an exciting and scary thought. This article poses that question on one of the most popular instruments in the world, the guitar.
The answer to that question often is - really hard! We naturally assume something is easy to learn, because the people we admire that already know how to do it make it look so easy. so it must be. Well sometimes it is. Learning the acoustic guitar is actually pretty easy. Mastering the acoustic guitar on the other hand is a never ending process. This is good news for us.
Two things are really at the heart of playing the acoustic guitar. The right hand, the left hand and their respective position, movement and articulation. A good musical performance is the result of good coordination between the two, no matter how difficult or technically challenging the piece is. Advanced players are able to play intricate pieces and really fast licks all over the fret board due to the fact that the coordination between the right and left hand is now muscle memory, and therefore second nature. The player no longer needs to pay attention to the right hand movement because practice and experience made him completely able to trust the motion of both hands. As a beginner guitarist you may not be able to play super fast arpeggios and licks at this stage, but you can learn how to strum properly in a short period of time. That is really the foundation of playing acoustic guitar, no matter what level.
Once you have learned how to multitask using both hands and are pretty confident with it, that's pretty much it. All that's left is to take it to the next level, and as we've mentioned, the great thing about the guitar is that there's always another level to reach and another challenge you can set yourself.
Learning chords is obviously the first thing to do, and it makes sense, as it can take awhile to get around those weird shapes and sharp strings. But rather than dwell too much on chords, why not combine that knowledge with some strumming patterns? that way you can already start making music and being creative. Remember, you only need to know 3 or 4 chords to play hundreds of famous songs or to start composing your own material. Strumming patterns are actually pretty simple and by by learning them you'll be able to open up a world of opportunity and possibilities...using only a few chords and nothing else.
The answer to that question often is - really hard! We naturally assume something is easy to learn, because the people we admire that already know how to do it make it look so easy. so it must be. Well sometimes it is. Learning the acoustic guitar is actually pretty easy. Mastering the acoustic guitar on the other hand is a never ending process. This is good news for us.
Two things are really at the heart of playing the acoustic guitar. The right hand, the left hand and their respective position, movement and articulation. A good musical performance is the result of good coordination between the two, no matter how difficult or technically challenging the piece is. Advanced players are able to play intricate pieces and really fast licks all over the fret board due to the fact that the coordination between the right and left hand is now muscle memory, and therefore second nature. The player no longer needs to pay attention to the right hand movement because practice and experience made him completely able to trust the motion of both hands. As a beginner guitarist you may not be able to play super fast arpeggios and licks at this stage, but you can learn how to strum properly in a short period of time. That is really the foundation of playing acoustic guitar, no matter what level.
Once you have learned how to multitask using both hands and are pretty confident with it, that's pretty much it. All that's left is to take it to the next level, and as we've mentioned, the great thing about the guitar is that there's always another level to reach and another challenge you can set yourself.
Learning chords is obviously the first thing to do, and it makes sense, as it can take awhile to get around those weird shapes and sharp strings. But rather than dwell too much on chords, why not combine that knowledge with some strumming patterns? that way you can already start making music and being creative. Remember, you only need to know 3 or 4 chords to play hundreds of famous songs or to start composing your own material. Strumming patterns are actually pretty simple and by by learning them you'll be able to open up a world of opportunity and possibilities...using only a few chords and nothing else.
Marlon Tarditi is a writer, player and teacher from London who regularly writes online articles and lessons for tuition websites
