How To Start Learning Acoustic Guitar

Another day, another boat load of questions. I have an easy one, mayonnaise (your welcome Rayne from Decorah, Iowa). This one is not interesting, this one is too philosophical. This one is interesting- what are the best approaches for start acoustic guitar?

This is a long involved process. It will take many hours to master this approach. I will document it here in a step by step process:

Step 1. Walk over to your acoustic guitar
Step 2. Pick it up
Step 3. Start playing

Feel free to print out these steps so that you can take the proper time to master the sequence. If you do one of those steps out of order it would be mass hysteria!

Seriously, if you want to learn to play it is really easy to take the initial steps. It is all a matter of desire and following through with your decision. Get your hands on a guitar. One that sounds good, plays well, and looks good.

Get a Guitar that Sounds Good

I know I had a low opinion of acoustics when I was younger. It had a lot to do with all the bad acoustics I had a come across. My parents had a cheap acoustic in the corner of the family room. The action was high, the sound was bad, and the look was blah. I had several buddies whose families had almost the exact same guitar sitting collecting dust in their family rooms.

Listen to as many guitars as you can. Each guitar has a unique sound that could either be beautiful or retched or anything in between those two extremes. You’re going to have to listen to multiple guitars to find one that you love the sound of. For additional help refer to what we have to say on the top rated beginner acoustic guitars.

Get a Guitar that is Playable

Make sure that you aren’t going to have to fight your guitar to get any notes out of it. This may take the help of a friend to know what feels right. The more you spend the better instrument you get, but you don’t have to spend a grand to get a guitar that is playable. But don’t expect a $100 guitar to be a player’s machine.

Get Something Beautiful

This may be the least important and the most important piece of the whole the process. Again, you’ll be spending a lot of time with this guitar, make sure it is something you find beautiful. Each guitar has a quirk or something that you need to get used to. A good looking guitar will help you get over any quirks, eventually those quirks will actually become endearing.

Get a Teacher

Even if you only take lessons for beginners for a couple weeks or months, a good teacher can get you started in the right direction. They can teach you not only how to play, but can give you advice about playing. Some of my favorite lesson times I’ve had haven’t been about learning scales or a song, but just sitting and talking about guitar, bands, or any number of other musical topics.

If the first teacher you have doesn’t work for you, try going to someone else. I’ve had four different guitar teachers, and I learned something from each one. The last one taught me that it was time to go it alone. Not that I had learned everything, only that what I wanted to do was not going to come from lessons, but by playing as much as possible.

Practice, Practice, Practice

There is nothing better for learning than practicing. The more you play the better you will get. Practice is the time you spend learning something you don’t know how to do. Whether it is a new song, figuring out more of the fingerboard, or building speed, time spent practicing is always time well spent.

Just remember band rehearsal is not the time for learning something new. You should show up ready to play whatever was agreed upon. Not to say something spontaneous won’t happen in rehearsal, but you shouldn’t be trying to figure out how to play that new song when you should be learning how to play it together.

There is more on the Internet than Porn

The internet is a great resource. You can find live performances of your favorite artists to see how they play their songs live. There are people who have done all the heavy lifting of figuring out how to play songs, if you’re strapped for time then looking up how someone else has played a song is a great short cut (just remember it is not gospel, it is their interpretation).

There are plenty of well made (and poorly done) videos to show you any style or technique that you want to learn. It is a matter of going through enough stuff to find the people that, well, know their stuff. And again it comes down to taking the time to play your guitar.

Don’t leave your acoustic to collect dust in the corner of the family room. You won’t get better without spending the time playing, it is that simple. So turn-off the computer, silence your phone, and lock the door, then play your guitar until your fingers bleed.