Learning to play a musical instrument can provide great self-confidence, not to mention hours of enjoyment. Because of their size, portability, and relatively low cost when compared to other instruments, the guitar is one of the most popular choices these days for people who decide to take up an instrument. Like any instrument, though, learning to play classical guitar will require discipline, patience, and especially some time spent in practice. Having a private teacher is great, but you can also learn classical guitar online, in the privacy of your own home, if you're willing to put in the time and focus on the good, solid information that's out there.

The Instrument

A classical-style guitar is considerably different than an electric guitar, and slightly different than even the folk-style acoustic guitars played by people like Sheryl Crow or (if you're of a "certain age,") James Taylor. The classical guitar has a slightly wider neck to accommodate the greater finger movement required in the left hand for this style of music, and the instrument has nylon or gut strings, rather than metal ones, as with other guitars. Finally, the main body of the guitar is somewhat smaller as compared with the rest of the instrument, which is different from acoustic folk guitars with their larger bodies. If you really want to learn to play classical guitar, though, it is essential to start with the right instrument. Otherwise, you'll develop some incorrect habits that will slow you down later.

The Music

Classical guitar music usually is in standard music notation, with lines and spaces, musical notes of different duration, clefs, key signatures, and so on. If you don't have a background in reading music, you will want to spend some time learning the basics before you begin learning to play classical guitar. Again, you can learn a lot of this online, so classical guitar music is still within your reach. Also, classical guitar music is often shown in tablature ("tab") form beneath the musical staff. Guitar tab is a form of notation that is basically a diagram of the strings, with numbers to indicate which fret should be pressed on each string to make the desired note. It's easier to read than standard notation, but unlike standard musical notation, guitar tab doesn't indicate how long the note is supposed to be. That's why you need to know a bit about how to read music in order to learn to play classical guitar.