The Biggest Challenges Of Learning To Play Guitar By Yourself

Music is an important thread in the fabric that holds us together as human beings. From time immemorial we have found numerous ways to create music no matter how simple. 

Now, we have different genres of music made up of different instruments and production styles. Technology has made music sharing so much easier and we can listen to music from different people from different places around the world. This might even inspire you to want to learn a musical instrument like the guitar. 

The guitar is a stringed instrument that probably has roots in Spain early in the 16th Century. Music is made from the instrument by plucking the strings in many patterns and techniques to produce sounds in the form of notes and chords. It is a very versatile instrument as it is present in almost every modern song as either an accompaniment or the main instrument. Think of your favourite song, it most likely has a guitar in it. 

Trying to learn the guitar can be very overwhelming at first sight. You will most likely wonder how such an instrument can produce sounds when it has just four or five strings running across it. You also must have heard different styles of music using the guitar like flamenco music or rock music. Head over to Six String Acoustic Website to give more knowledge and tips on playing the guitar.

These first challenges you will come across will be addressed in this guide and you will be on your way to becoming a pro. 

Learning All The Names

Before you start learning how to play the guitar you must have wondered what the different parts of the guitar might be. You might be watching videos online on popular learning platforms like www.allstringed.com or several others and they might mention strange things like the neck or fret of the guitar. 

It is important you know what parts these are so your learning process can run smoothly. This should be the first thing you even do so that every lesson from then on can be easy. You should also be observant of the type of guitar you are using so that the names do not confuse you if the person teaching is using a different guitar. 

Picking A Guitar 

This will most likely be the first challenge you face when embarking on your guitar learning journey. The basic types of guitars are classical, acoustic and electric. There are others but they fall into these three broad categories. 

There are many factors you should consider here before picking a guitar. If you want to play rock then you should consider getting an electric guitar. If you are into folk music then a steel-string acoustic guitar is the best choice for you. 

You should also avoid very cheap acoustic guitars because their sound quality is usually poor and they are hard to play. You end up not recognizing sounds properly when you play and within six months or less you will have abandoned it for something else making you spend more money. A safe bet for a beginner in all styles of music is an electric guitar as you can divest from there to other types as your music evolves. 

Learning Guitar TAB And Chord Diagrams

This is always a huge challenge for most people as they find sheet music immediately daunting before even giving it a trial. You can learn how to play the guitar without learning how to read these things but it will take longer and you might not learn important theoretical concepts that will augment your practical playing. 

Guitar TAB is a simple way of writing music and almost all the songs have their TAB online making it easily accessible. Chord diagrams are also important because once you learn them you can play simple open chords and follow some songs, therefore, improving your play. You can also find out how to read guitar tabs here. 

Finger Exercises 

Before you begin learning chords, you have to know where and how to place your fingers on the guitar. These exercises might be daunting at first as you will clumsily stumble across the guitar and get your fingers mixed up but with practice, you will gain control of the guitar. 

Finger exercises teach you to play notes properly without any buzz from the frets and even talented guitarists do finger exercises. This is an important step before you start playing any chords or riffs on the guitar. 

These are just a few basic challenges a beginner might face on their guitar journey. You might be tempted to quit when these things don’t go as fast as you want but just be patient and soon you will be playing your favourite songs on the guitar.