Nowadays, if you decide you want to teach yourself to play the guitar (or anything else for that matter), what do you do? Google it! You'll find an overwhelming amount of information, articles, videos, learn guitar products and guitar lessons for beginners. In fact, you'll find so much, it will become burdening, as you'll end up jumping from one place to another without sticking with one program consistently.
Remember that when you start looking for the right tutorials, it's advisable to stick to a single lesson plan once you start. Make sure you choose your site carefully, otherwise you'll end up restarting at some other guitar site. Beware those websites, that promise to teach you the guitar in an absurdly short amount of time. There are many online beginner guitar lesson sites promising this , so know that when you see a promise of playing lead guitar in 1 day, you're probably up against a fraud. Teaching yourself the guitar takes time, as with all things worthwhile in life, but the payoff is huge.
Practice is key, and practice you must if you want to become a guitarist. You'll find that practicing the same techniques every day will get somewhat tedious, that is why it's important that you start learning to play easy guitar songs for beginners beside your regular exercises. Being able to play songs is the ultimate goal of learning the guitar, but more importantly, learning songs will develop your technique, and keep you motivated at the same time.
You basically only use normal exercises when first encountering a new technical element, but actually learn it and learn to use it by playing easy to play guitar songs which require it. I've used this method with hundreds of personal students, and thousands of online guitarists as well. The result of the process is the increased motivational factor, in that the guitar pupil will actually want to practice on his/her own time as well, since they'll already be making music.
So returning to the original question, of whether you can teach yourself how to play guitar, my answer is a definite yes. Mind you, learning the guitar will take practice, and lots of it if you want to become a good guitarist. The most famous guitarists were beginners at one time as well, they went through the exact same process as you are about to. Learning how to play the guitar will be a bit more difficult at times, but keep in mind that you are learning a wonderful new hobby, one which will cause you and your family countless hours of joy later on.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Learn the Guitar Online

There are literally soooo many sites on the internet dealing with teaching the guitar, its overwhelming. Some are great sites with high quality lessons, and some are of course bogus.
Beware the sites which say that you'll be playing like a rock star in 5 days, its simply not true! If you are setting out to teach yourself guitar, there are unfortunately no short cuts. You'll need to practice, since the more you practice, the better you'll get. Most beginner guitarists want to be able to play songs after practicing for 4 days. Unfortunately, thats just not possible. Before you decide on a site to learn with, search for some guitar lesson site reviews.
The most famous guitarists have been playing all their lives, now thats true dedication. You don't need to devote every minute of every day to playing, but the key is to practice as much as you can, and you'll get better with time.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Teach Yourself Guitar by Learning Popular Songs
One of the best way to teach yourself guitar is by learning to play popular songs. Why?
Learning songs takes the grunt out of practicing, since you're not forced to practice single techniques on-by-one, but you're playing songs, songs you've been listening to all your life.
Learning to play songs is very motivational as well, since the feeling of being able to finally play a famous song is great. You can then play the song to your friends and family, which makes it all the more worthwhile.
You'll see that one of the best ways to teach yourself guitar is through learning to play songs. Try it, you have nothing to lose, but a world of knowledge to gain.
Learning songs takes the grunt out of practicing, since you're not forced to practice single techniques on-by-one, but you're playing songs, songs you've been listening to all your life.
Learning to play songs is very motivational as well, since the feeling of being able to finally play a famous song is great. You can then play the song to your friends and family, which makes it all the more worthwhile.
You'll see that one of the best ways to teach yourself guitar is through learning to play songs. Try it, you have nothing to lose, but a world of knowledge to gain.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Teach Yourself Guitar Online

If you want to teach yourself the guitar, you best bet is to start off online. There are a vast number of guitar lesson websites suitable for beginners, which all have step-by-step instructions in getting started.
Learning online has several advantages over the traditional method of learning from a teacher, and learning from a book:
- Online guitar lessons are available 24/7, so you don't need to fit a guitar teachers schedule into your schedule.
- Teaching yourself the guitar online is much more affordable, than taking regular lessons from a teacher.
- Online video guitar lessons can be watched over and over if you don't understand something, unlike the 1 time explanations of guitar teachers.
- Online video lessons are multimedia, unlike books, where all you get is written information and pictures.
- Learning the guitar is much easier when you see the hands of your instructor moving along the fretboard, something a book just cannot give you.
Rest assured that if you find a good website with quality guitar lessons for beginners, you'll be able to teach yourself the guitar. Look for websites that teach you the basics, for example chords, strumming and plucking, and put them into context by teaching guitar songs, since learning to play the guitar by playing easy guitar songs is a fun, intuitive way of teaching yourself the guitar.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Teach Yourself Guitar
When people I meet find out that I'm a guitar teacher, they often tell me that they would want to learn the guitar, since it's cool, they like music, etc., but they just don't have the time to take lessons regularly.In today's world, it is totally possible to teach yourself guitar without taking personal lessons from a guitar teacher. How? Through the Internet of course. The multimedia aspects of the net makes it all the more possible, and all the more afordable to teach yourself how to play the guitar, starting from basic chords, all the way to advanced techniques.
Of course, the quality of the net based lessons matter a lot, but if you find good quality lessons, they may even be better than personal lessons. Why?
- You can practice whenever you want, no need to accomodate to a teachers schedule.
- You can rewind video lessons as many times as you want, whenever you want (unlike with a personal teacher :-) ).
- Good quality online guitar lessons will be edited to perfection, and contain the best and most relevant material you need to teach yourself the guitar.
- Online guitar lessons are a bargain compared to the rates of personal teachers.
So, how would you go about teaching yourself the guitar online?
- Find a good quality website, with a guitar teacher you find motivating.
- Make sure the site offers a comprehensive A to Z type method of teaching beginner guitarists.
- Online video lessons offer the most value, especially the ones which utilize multiple camera angles, so you can see the hands of the teacher up close.
- On-screen chord diagrams and animated tablature is very useful for beginners as well
- Free lessons will usually be of lower quality, so spending a few dollars a month is not much. As with pretty much all things in life, free stuff will not give you as much detail as good quality payed content.
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