Is it possible to learn the acoustic guitar without lessons?
31st March 2010
I’m 14 years old, and I would like to learn to play the guitar but not QUICKLY, like, learn songs and once I’m good enough, teach myself songs that I want to play? Is it possible, or would I have to get lessons? I play the piano so I might have an ear for music, but my friend told me that I should try lessons first…I really don’t have time to make a scheduled lesson every week, and I would be doing this whenever I had free time. Could I do this?
I found it pretty easy to learn to play guitar. I just went on a guitar tabs website and printed out a song i liked and just kept playing it. Practice makes perfect.
March 31st, 2010 at 6:02 am
you can probably learn yourself. lol its not that hard.
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March 31st, 2010 at 6:52 am
I found it pretty easy to learn to play guitar. I just went on a guitar tabs website and printed out a song i liked and just kept playing it. Practice makes perfect.
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March 31st, 2010 at 7:41 am
No, you don’t need lessons if you are willing to commit to teaching yourself. My older brother did this, he just got tips from the internet, he practised, practised, practised, and is now an amazing guitar player; he could probably teach others how to if he wanted to. Plus, I’m sure you playing the piano will definitely give you a head start.
Good luck!
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March 31st, 2010 at 7:54 am
YES! You could definitely do this. I have never taken lessons on guitar and I can play it fairly well. I haven’t played it in awhile. As long as you have the drive and the want to play guitar it will be fun to learn and play!!
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March 31st, 2010 at 8:11 am
You can definitely learn it yourself. Although lessons are helpful, but if its just something you would like to do on your free time then yes just play around and learn it yourself. Also you can always look on youtube or something if you want to learn something so yeah.
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March 31st, 2010 at 8:33 am
I’ve never had a lesson, but I’m already learning sweeps, scales, arpeggios, etc. I only play my acoustic, also.
It’s pretty easy when learning chords and how to play songs. The hard part comes after you’ve written songs and want to start soloing, because it’s difficult to figure out where to go next.
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March 31st, 2010 at 8:43 am
Well event though yu have an ear for music, you probably should try lessons. Or buy children’s books and try simple things first. I play clarinet and taought myself to play piano but I am very musically skilled. I sing and play clarinet andplay piano very well though I have played for a short time (3 months I believe).
It would really help to get lessons because – and trust me- acoustic guitar is a VERY hard intrument to play. And if you do not want to get lessons, you still have to pay for a guitar. And what if you don;t like it? Then the monet will be wasted. SO I say, get lessons maybe once a month> Or on weekends? That way the guitar will be rented and you can learn gradually or ask for a quick learning process.
Hope this helps Hun.
Best of luck from one musician to another.
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March 31st, 2010 at 8:58 am
You can get a beginner guitar book and start there. Learn the basics. But you will never master the guitar unless you get lessons. Sure, a lot of people can play some tabs to popular songs and such. But thats not mastery. I am learning the guitar now myself, and I am learning to read sheet music. 90% of people who "play" the guitar can’t read music, they have to use tabs.
I would recommend to learn the basics yourself from a beginner book and the internet. Get the chords down and learn the read simple music. After that go to a teacher and learn from there. If you are serious about it and not just want to play a pop song here and there, that is the only way.
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March 31st, 2010 at 9:38 am
Learning the guitar may be one of the best things you ever take the time to do. You can choose to play either the acoustic or electric guitar. There are various different methods you could choose to help you learn how to play, but one of the most effective and convenient ways is to complete lessons online. There are a few places in particular that you’ll want to check out if you’re looking to find the best online guitar lessons.
http://go.guitarlearning.hardinal.com/
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http://guitarlearning.hardinal.com/
March 31st, 2010 at 9:54 am
Hey, you can definitely learn on your own but it does help to get a few lessons when you’re starting out. Mainly just so you don’t get into bad habits that are really hard to change later on when you’ve got used to them.
The BEST place to learn on your own for FREE is:
http://www.justinguitar.com
He has video lessons so you can see how he plays, and they’re in sequence so you learn the right things first. Under the "lesson index" tab on the left side, and go to "Beginners Course".
There are lessons on:
"guitar anatomy"
"body posture and finger placement"
"how to read tab"
"get your guitar in tune"
and when you’re ready he walks you through the chords, shows you how to practice has easy songs to learn:
"d chord"
"a chord"
"e chord"
etc.
all for FREE! I’ve been playing guitar for a few years but I’m looking at the lessons to learn some theory from him and get a practice routine etc.
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http://www.justinguitar.com
March 31st, 2010 at 10:30 am
http://www.justinguitar.com/index.php
This website is great, the guy knows his stuff, the videos are clear, and it’s free!
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March 31st, 2010 at 11:09 am
alot of people i see here post things such as ”i taught myself piano its easy”
let me say any instrument is easy, but to properly play it & understand what the heck your doing (this helps your creative process when writing your own stuff) is another different matter.
i could be taught to recite out 10 basic piano tunes, but give me the likes of Mozarts music & ask me to use certain techniques that are heard on piano. i would fail (as would all the people claiming ”its easy”)
the problem with teaching yourself guitar (or any instrument) is that alot of people give up they get frustrated. (supposedly 90% of self taught musicians quit)
also alot of people can ”play” guitar, ie bang out a few songs & intros eg starirway to heaven.
guitarists are a dime a dozen, everybody plays guitar (heck i play guitar) however a decent guitarist is hard to find this is where you can benifit from lessons.
Lessons are definitely a great idea, a teacher can show you techniques & correct you. i still get corrected over things i do at my lessons.
alot of the internet resources aren’t that great, again it is alot of amateurs with bad technique or looking to make a quick buck.
every music autobiography i have read (& i read quite a fair bit of them) the guitarist/any instrument, has gotten lessons at some point.
there are a rare few virtuoso (ie talented) people who didn’t get lessons but even at that they start practicing with other people who have got lessons & learn off them.
As somebody said those ”guitar for dummies” are great, however that is as a side tool to reference to. not to just teach yourself, at a glance you learn the basics but when you study those books they can get quite complicated & a teacher can clear any questions you have.
a teacher also encourages you to practice & gives you set goals.
PS try not to ask people to give you the chords to a song, its better if you can work them out yourself it creates an ear for certain notes. however make sure what you are playing is correct.
PPS: i read here an answer off somebody who was in a music college, she roughly said ”the teachers would cringe when they heard that a new ’self-taught’ musician was coming to the colllege, because the teachers all knew he/she would have to be retaught due to them having bad technique”
Rory Gallagher- Walk On Hot Coals (ROCK, the 5 minute solo isn’t as good as the ”irish tour” solo, but jesus christ this rules & it highlights the bands chemistry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=709KHLppvOM
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ps i hate your avatar picture
thats just my opinion if you have more to ask email me
SOURCE: irish bass player
March 31st, 2010 at 11:50 am
Certainly possible. Probably not optimal. Already knowing how to play piano/read music will certainly help though, and if you don’t have the time/money for lessons I’d recommend getting a good beginner’s guitar book from a music store and going through that. Maybe I’m just old, but I find that more effective than browsing around the internet for random lessons. There are some sites (ie. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com) that have some good tutorials.
Anyway, you certainly can do this and I hope you enjoy learning and playing the guitar. I’ve played since I was 7 (I’m 44 now). I can’t even begin to describe how much I love playing the guitar and have never regretted the time I spent learning it. I did take lessons for about 7 years though. When I was at the point where I could just play my favorite rock songs, it was good to have a teacher who was a great jazz guitarist and insisted I learn the various scales and modes and chord shapes. It’s one thing to look at a page that says Dsus2 and look at a chord chart and put your fingers on the right frets, but another thing altogether to understand the theory and know how to shape the chord yourself.
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March 31st, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Most everyone is telling you what you want to hear, but it just isn’t the whole story. You can learn to play the guitar by yourself but you can’t learn to be a musician without lessons.
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Long time pro musician, still taking lessons.
March 31st, 2010 at 12:22 pm
When I was young (ha ha) no one had lessons, we all taught ourselves.
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March 31st, 2010 at 12:41 pm
You have a lot of answers on here, so I’ll keep mine to the point.
Lessons could very well help, but I would advise video lessons via the web first, especially since you know you want to "teach yourself." Web lesson are a great way to get the info you need. I have a site setup for someone just like you, and you can ask me any question anytime! Check it out:
http://guitarmann.com
Stephen
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guitar instructor for over 10 years
March 31st, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Yes, I started that way. You can learn a bit teaching yourself. But, after 4 months or so I started taking lessons. You can use the internet to learn a bit of stuff, and be able to play songs. To really get the more nitty gritty stuff it would be best to get lessons, because the internet doesn’t always have the most accurate resources. If you have a friend who knows guitar then have them show you the basic stuff, like how to hold the guitar properly etc.
have fun playing
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been playing a lil while
March 31st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Lessons don’t just come in one form.. Any time you play with someone, or watch someone else play can be considered a lesson. It would be difficult to learn the guitar with out any guidance from others. You can do it, but it would take much longer than it should. Things like chords are hard to figure out because they are not one note… they are a bunch of notes strung together. Even if you just go online to see how to play the basic chords and how they are formed. After you get the basics down, you can begin to teach yourself new things, but getting those basics down will require a little help from someone.
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March 31st, 2010 at 1:38 pm
It is very possible! BUT When self teaching, it is very likely that you skip valuable things!
I am alright at guitar, but I didn’t do any picking exercises, so my picking technique is quite sloppy.
I recently got lessons after self teaching for years and they really helped.
So its a double edged sword I guess…. Jimi Hendrix was self taught, he was a very influential player, but he was also quite sloppy at times!
It helps if you have a natural talent, or aptitude, but lessons help you with technique.
And it also depends on how you define "lessons".
If you mean lock yourself into a room for 3 years with only a guitar
then I would definiantly take lessons, but
if you meant not taking any FORMAL lessons, but looking up videos on youtube and guitar websites etc. than that can totally work out.
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Experienced Musician
March 31st, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Lessons are not absolutely required, but honestly if you don’t have time for lessons you don’t have time to learn it on your own.
It takes more time to learn on your own than it does with lessons.
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