arjunmenon
I'm 99% self taught.
+1 with Manny. It might take longer but it can be very gratifying if you're totally into it. (I took a gap year just to play guitar from morning till night). The internet has loads of material, some good, some not so good. But you'll have to use your common sense to see what you're capable of at the given time. (i.e. don't get into two handed tapping if your hands aren't familiar with the fretboard).
Learn basic chords (start with open chords)
Start getting your hand-eye co-ordination and left+right hand synchronisation sorted.
Cheers
AlanRatcliffe
I'm completely self-taught and most of my learning happened many moons before the Internet made finding info easy. A couple of fairly bad books from the local library and my own copy of The Guitar Handbook were my only guides.
I believe that learning by yourself can give you a fairly original in approach, but the downside to that is that you don't learn to play the stuff everyone else does, so it can be difficult to play with others.
In retrospect, I'd go with a teacher for the first year or two, to nail the basics down and avoid learning any bad habits. Learn enough to continue by myself.
chris77
I have never taken a lesson in my life. Well, actually thats a lie... See, although I have never gone for lessons, I have learned a helluva lot from watching other players, asking questions and furiously trying to duplicate it when I was alone! And when I had enough confidence jamming with others taught me more than a thousand solitary nights practicing on my own. The person who says he is 100% selftaught isnt being very honest with himself. Sure you can learn the chords and theory by yourself, but you will end up sounding like, well, like somebody putting on make-up without a mirror looks. You'll get close, but you could have done it a helluva lot better and everybody but you will notice. So if for whatever reason you cant or wont take lessons, try to watch other musos play live as much as possible, and then learn from them as much as you can. All the points mentioned in the previous posts are spot on. Learn a few easy chords and songs first and then take it from there. Dont aim to high to quickly, rather take baby steps and get the basics nailed before you get negative because Stairway to Heaven sounds so easy but plays so hard. Alan mentioned The Guitar Handbook by Ralp Denyer, try to get it if you can. You wont be sorry! Another great book I have is The Complete Guitarist, by Mark Chapman I think. Amazing easy to understand photo illustrations and theory and tons of other cool stuff. So if you want to / have to do it the hard way, yes it is possible. But try to make it easier by exposing yourself to as much practical tuition as possible. But if you can, go for a few lessons! You wont end up wishing you did like me...
Keira-WitherKay
depends what you want to do with the music........if music is a pastime....... like gardening is for me........ where i spend an hour a week poking about in the flowerbeds........ then teach yourself.....
but if you have any ambitions to write music or play in a band or perform even if just for fun......... GO FOR LESSONS.......
since there is a lot of info out there...... but there is also so much incorrect info out there........ where people who are still not acomplished players themselves are posting lessons all over the web ...... and once you learnt bad habits to break em is more work than learning from scratch the correct way ........and don't forget there are "bad tutors out there too" make sure whoever is teaching you is knowlegable enough to be a tutor......
and we all know the saying "a little knowledge is dangerous" so if you wanna play find a tutor...... who will teach you to play in the style you want to play.... and a tutor who is fun..... music lessons should not be boring .........
enjoy and good luck .........
peace and light
keira
chris77
Sorry, the author of The Complete Guitarist is Richard Chapman, not Mark. Highly reccomended.
DaFiz
I'm self taught and for years I had no idea what I was doing but it was so much fun just playing the guitar. :-\
While I still don't have lead scales waxed I at least know now what chord I'm in. :?
I can download chords and tabs and jam along to the mp3 and have tremendous satisfaction by jamming along to my collection while not quite understanding exactly why they use that chord... :-\
Bob-Dubery
Nobody is strictly self taught. Everybody gets shown things, reads books, buys magazines, downloads tabs etc. Those are just different, less formal modes of knowledge transfer. The good thing about formal lessons with a good teacher is that you work towards specific targets and get feedback from the teacher.
DaFiz
Right you are X-Bob... ? whenever someone taught me a new riff it meant the world to me.
I do believe in professional tutorship, but you can still learn a helluva lot by jamming with other dudes. :?
Renesongs
I'm self taught. I started trying to copy Jimi Hendrix when I was 10 years old and I'm only starting to get it right now 40 years later, Long story short - get yourself a teacher.
qwizzy
sounds like ima get me a teacher and that richard chapman book.il keep you guys and ladys updated with my progress. thanks to all,you all rock.
andrewjbryson
Im 90% self taught and when I went for my first lesson the guy explained to me
"Hey buddy, use your 4th finger" ... Something I never thought of doing.
"1 Finger per fret" - Also , never had the discipline.
Yeah, get a teacher for the basic technique, basic theory
And then learn to fly on your own.
aubs1
Yeah, I am also one of those self taught "R&D" players..........probably explains why the "R" went fantastic, but the "D" seems to be a bit lagging behind.......hahahaha... ?
As I was saying to Stratisfear last night, (yeah, we had a fantabulous get-together, the man is bloody awesome, as a person and a guitarist), my "thing" was always, I don't wanna be "influenced" by a teacher, I wanna be me......but I have to admit, a teacher, to a certain level, may have been a short-cut to the learning and DEVELOPMENT......anyway, I don't regret anything, I am still having a helluva lot of fun, but it possibly could've been more!!!....... 8)
Seventhson
I am self tought, I played for 2 and a half years and i can play a few songs from slayer like angel of death, dead skin mask, raining blood, Seasons In The Abyss, and war ensable. my rythems good but i just started learnig solos i can only play metallica's orion solos but i am getting there :?
Bob-Dubery
aubs1 wrote:
As I was saying to Stratisfear last night, my "thing" was always, I don't wanna be "influenced" by a teacher, I wanna be me......
Formal tuition and a solid grounding in technique should have no impact on you being you or not. If you think of a graph with "you-ness" (or "me-ness") along the vertical axis and "formal tuition" along the horizontal, the ultimate would be right up in the top, right corner - stunning technique and your own essence shining through all the time. Punk would be up the top but right over to the left - little technique but lots of self-expression. I thought that was problematic because a lot of the punk guys had such a limited "vocabulary" that it limited what they could express (not what they could feel or understand, but what they could express to others).
Mind you, now my hair is going gray I understand all these things so much better. When I was a snotneus just out of school and the army I had very different ideas about any kind of tuition or formal study.
[deleted]
and always keep your guitar intune.
More important than you think. Learning to use your ear is realy what it boils down to. I think that's why so many people who taught themselves by listening to other musicians are at an advantage.
I had a similar approach to art. I didn't want a teacher to "mark" me on creativity, so I decided to forge my way ahead on my own. I've learnt a lot throuh books, but only because I spent a long time discovering things through experimentng and exploring on my own. Often you can only understand somthing if you can put it into context, and then its kind of too late, but its still interesing to see how other people discovered things.
bENDER
It's kinda nice getting something you heard right for the first time after trying and trying AND TRYNG......and then you find out the original was actually played completely different to the way you played it.... ?
