How to Learn the Guitar – Are Boring Practices All There is to it?
How to learn the guitar is actually a simple question. Yet the usual answer you get when you ask it to people around you may be misleading most of the time.
They’ll tell you that all you need to do is to go and find a decent guitar instructor who will teach you everything you need to know to become a top-notch guitarist. Well, is this true?
Yes, to a certain extent. But you will later find out that they have forgotten to mention some important points like:
1- It is not enough that your instructor is a wonderful player; he/she must also be very good at teaching as knowing one thing and teaching it are not the same as you know!
2- As you are just starting to learn the guitar, most of the time what your instructor teaches you for the first time will be hard for you to play. And you’ll sometimes get shy to try to play them in front of your teacher, which will only hinder your learning process.
3- If you don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend each week on guitar lessons, you’ll be limited to one hour (or perhaps half an hour if you can’t afford the price; see point 4) a week of lessons. An important question arises here; what happens if you forget, or simply don’t understand what your instructor taught you that week? Most likely you’ll spend that entire week practicing old stuff until you see your instructor again.
4- Private guitar instructors usually tell you that you’ll have to be patient to see any real progress. Translation: around five to six months of lessons and at least a thousand dollars in tuition fees.
If your instructor follows certain traditional methods, you’ll most likely start by learning the notes on the fret board, some basic chords and scales and then you’ll have lots and lots of practice to do to strengthen your hands.
And worst of all, in the beginning you’ll have a burning desire to learn and play the guitar, perhaps to learn some songs that you can sing to your loved one, or maybe to play a gospel at your church. But as soon as you delve into the endless jungle of practices and drills, you’ll start to realize that the initial excitement is somehow getting lost. And you start to ask yourself: “oh well, is this all there is to it?”
Well then, isn’t there a better way to learn the guitar? Indeed there is. It’s not actually about reinventing the wheel. It’s just a combination that will save you lots of money and time, and will help you play your guitar pretty much like a pro to impress your family and friends.
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