How did you learn to play the guitar?

1. 58

   Jonathan McDowellposted 12 years ago

   How did you learn to play the guitar?

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2. 0

   TTC12posted 12 years ago

   In 1974, my sister taught me three chords - G,C and D. After that, I bought all the Allman Brothers Band albums, plus Jimi Hendrix, and a host of others, and learned to play along with the records. One lesson turned into over 30 years of playing. And I am still learning new things today!

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3. 58

   Jonathan McDowellposted 12 years ago

   I'm learning now and I'm finding it extremely hard to play without muting the strings. I have short fat fingers. The C chord is proving to be a challenge for me lol.

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4. 80

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   It's very difficult to play the guitar, and takes a lot of dedication to really play it well.  I think that after someone gets callouses on their fret board hand and gets those muscles in those fingers used to stretching out and making the basic chords - that from there it gets a heck of a lot easier.
   
   What mostly matters, I think, is what exactly someone's goal is - I think most anyone could and should be able to learn the basic chords and strum along in time behind either themselves or someone else singing - not that that is easy, but it's definitely an attainable goal - playing leads like Al Di Meola or Tony Rice....that kind of stuff can be next to impossible for most people unless they dedicate ...say, five hours or more almost daily for a number of years to playing guitar.
   
   You don't have to do anything like the speed picking to really enjoy playing though.
   
   I wish that I could sing a lot better, if I could, then I'd play chords and sing all the time.

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5. 68

   TheMusiconomyposted 12 years ago

   I took guitar lessons for 11 years. 30 minute lesson/ once per week.
   My first guitar books were Mel Bay's Guitar Method Level 1 and Mel Bay's Rhythm Chord Book. My teacher also gave me other material, hand-written in a notebook for me.
   
   In the beginning, all you need to dedicate is 30 minutes of practice time a day. And I mean EVERYDAY. Don't practice once a week for 5 hours. It's better to do a little bit everyday. Learning guitar is a journey. It doesn't matter when you arrive at your destination, but how.
   
   www.TheMusiconomy.com

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