I created this Hub to try and understand how many out there really want to learn how to play the guitar. I have noticed that here at Hub Pages, very few Guitar Lesson Hubs have any comments on them at all. Maybe 2-3% have 1-3 comments and only about .5% have more than 5 comments. So what does this mean?

Does it mean very few people are interested in learning how to play the guitar? Does it mean that a great many people want to learn to play guitar, but only a very few are able to actually start taking lessons. Does it mean people are just too lazy to comment on Hubs? I think the answer lies somewhere in between.

If you decide to stay with my program and take my lessons here is what you will get. First of all, I take music and especially guitar very seriously. I have been a professional musician for more than 30 years. I lived in Nashville for 12 years and toured with artists like Percy Sledge, Curtis Mayfield’s Impressions, Cornelious Brothers and Sister Rose, Dennis Yost of Classics IV fame and many others. I have worked with Molly Hatchet, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Patsy Lynn, daughter of Country Superstar Loretta Lynn and Sawyer Brown. I’ve even played on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

Now, I don’t consider myself a hotshot, big dog or even anybody important. What I am is a very dedicated musician who has been to the big time and now enjoys sharing his experience and knowledge with others. If you make the choice to learn guitar with my lessons you will not only get the lessons, but you will have me to guide you along the way. That’s right, I will give you my personal email address so you can contact me anytime you have a question about a lesson. Fair enough?

I love doing research, especially about things I am interested in. During my recent research into guitar lessons here at Hub Pages, I read the comments on some of the Hub Pages that did have comments. A lot of people said they had always wanted to learn the guitar but just hadn’t done it for one reason or another. A lot of the comments said they thought learning guitar was too hard.

I would love to know what the truth is. What's keeping you from learning guitar? Do you not have enough time, are you not motivated, do you think it will be too hard, are you not organized enough? I would really like to know. If you will leave your comments here and share your reasons with me, I am willing to design an online guitar course to meet your needs. I, personally believe videos help a lot and am willing to include them in my lessons.

What and how much will you have to learn? For those of you who just want to learn some chords and play some songs, you will need to get used to your guitar, then learn basic chords and TAB. Once you master those you can learn all the songs you want and if you are happy with that you are all set.

Those of you who are a bit more ambitious and want to make a career out of playing the guitar, you will have your work cut out for you, I won’t lie or beat around the bush. Not only will you have to learn all the chords, but all the scales, modes and the theory behind it all. Becoming a guitarist at a professional level is not much different than preparing to be a professional athlete. You want a job at the level where the competition is extrememly fierce and you must be prepared to succeed at that level. But stick with me and I’ll get you there. That is a promise.

I also know that there are other issues some must deal with. For me, personally, I am ADHD, and getting ANYTHING done, start to finish, has always been a problem for me. But…over the years I have found ways to successfully get things done and develop a satisfying life.

I am also including a few questions and answers typical of beginner guitar students. Feel free to include questions with your comments and I will be happy to answer them. Best of luck to you and I hope to hear from you.

Joe

Using online guitar lessons has it’s advantages and unfortunately a few disadvantages. First, you will save a ton of money if you can learn this way. If you paid a local guitar teacher $20 for a weekly lesson, you would be spending $1000 a year or more for what you learn. Even the most expensive online guitar programs are less than $100, some less than $20. Plus, once you buy it, you can keep it and use it as often as you like.

Learning from an online guitar program is mostly about motivation. If you are taking lessons from a local guitar teacher, you have someone that motivates to learn what they are teaching you. For those of you who are still in school, it is similar to when you are in a classroom. For some of you, your motivation comes from your desire to learn. But I suspect for many of you, your motivation comes from not wanting to get into trouble if you don’t do your homework.

When you are learning guitar from ebooks, textbooks, audio or video files there is no one to make you do your lessons and practice what you learn. That’s why you must create your own system for learning and practicing. You must develop an artificial structure around you to ensure you accomplish your goals. Read on to find out how to develop your own learning and practicing system.

I know some of you will be happy if you can learn enough chords and songs to play with your friends and have some fun. But for those who are serious about playing the guitar and plan to make a career out of it, learning is a different story.

To develop your own system and structure for learning and practicing, let’s first look at the where and how of it. You need a place to learn and practice comfortably. Find a desk, table or corner somewhere, where you can do your lessons and practice. Make sure your chair is armless. Arms on chairs will get in the way.

Also, make sure your computer and it’s controls are within easy reach. You don’t want to have to keep moving when you have to manipulate your computer. Be sure your printer is also within easy reach. You will sometimes want to print out lessons rather than have to continually move the screen so you can read everything.

If you will be using an online tuner, metronome or another website, go ahead and pull them up and minimize them for easy access. Open a Word document to make notes of things you learn, as you learn them. It’s too easy to forget important things if you wait until you are done with your lesson.

Make a game out of learning and practicing. See how many new chords you can learn today, or by this time next week. It’s fun achieving your goals. You must have elements of fun in your practice routine or you will get bored and quit eventually. Your guitar will become a dust collector.

Practicing hard will produce burn out if you don’t have a compelling reason to practice. Have a picture in your mind of where you want to be in a year, in 5 years, in 10 years. You need something that will motivate you, pull you along and get you through those times when you barely have enough drive to practice or learn something new.

Try and understand the different elements of different guitar styles. You only need to concentrate on those you will need and use in your playing. If you are one of those who just wants to play around with your friends and you don’t have any lofty goals as a guitar player, then you don’t need to learn music theory. If you want to be a great Heavy Metal player, you won’t need to spend much time on finger picking unless you want to incorporate this in your own style. But those who want to have a professional career will need to learn it all, theory included.

• You should be able to see and measure your results, your growth as a guitar player. That’s why I suggest taking notes of your practice sessions.
• Your confidence should be building day by day to the point where you feel certain you can reach your goals.
• Make changes in what you practice to keep it interesting, even exciting. Start with scales one day and chords the next.
• Remember what inspired you to want to learn to play guitar. Keep elements of this factor in your practice schedule and routine. If it was a certain player, keep MP3’s and videos around and listen or watch them on a regular basis.
• Document your lessons, the things you learn, and go back over them at least once a week so you don’t lose any of these skills. If you are learning guitar elements in the correct order, the skills should build on each other. For instance, you need to learn basic scales before you try and tackle lead guitar.

Design your own practice program. Write down all the elements you need to learn. When you study guitar, take each lesson one at a time, checking each one off as you learn it.

Keep in mind what inspired you in the beginning. Keep, pictures, MP3s, videos or anything that will motivate you, near you when you practice.

Pay close attention to your lessons. Make sure you understand what you are supposed to learn so you practice the correct elements. Write down what you will learn in each lesson before you start. Then make sure you completed everything before you move on.

Find things to motivate yourself. You might be doing this for a favorite relative or friend, maybe a girl or boy, man or woman. If your goal is to play guitar for a favorite recording artist, put a picture of them on your wall. If you want to move to Nashville or New York to play, keep something around to remind you of that goal. If you want to play like Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughn, put a picture of them where you can easily see it.

We all need goals in life. Otherwise we would just be drifting from day to day. You need clear goals for your playing while you are leaning to play the guitar. These goals will keep you motivated. Identify what you want to achieve in the end, where you want to be. Keep these goals in the front of your mind, never let go of them.

Set small, achievable goals for your practice sessions. Say, “I want to learn G, C and D chords by this time next week.” Or later say, I want to be able to play Layla by June 24^th.” Keep setting goals and they will pull you along.

Keep documentation of your lessons. Write down what you learn with each step. This way you can look back and measure your progress. Doing this can be very inspiring as you realize how much you are learning.

Concentrate on one guitar element at a time. If you are practicing the major scale, stick with it until it’s as comfortable a breathing. Learn it in C, then learn it in all the other keys until you can do it without thinking about it.

It isn’t what you know as a guitar player, it’s more about what you can integrate into your playing to produce great sounds. It doesn’t matter if you can play every scale forward and backwards at breakneck speed. But it is important to understand what to do with those scales and how to create intelligent, great sounding leads using them.

One of the advantages of learning guitar using an online course is that it forces you to be self reliant. You, alone are responsible for doing everything. If you can organize a system and put it into practice, you may be amazed at what it does to not only your playing, but your life in general. Self reliance is a wonderful thing. It gives us strength to do things we might not otherwise have been able to do.

Start creating your personal system for learning guitar today. It could very well be the most important day in your life.