There are several strategies to learn the guitar. Some are very effective, but unfortunately some are not easy nor fun. Almost everybody knows a person or two who started learning the guitar or other instrument, only to stop after a few months of frustration. In this article I discuss the easiest way to learn the guitar.
When I started to learn the guitar, it was all much more difficult, and I wish there were easy resources to learn the most complex topics in guitar playing. Fortunately, nowadays it is much easier to find good methods and online courses. I have recently reviewed nothing less than 14 online guitar methods that are easy and effective.
In this article I present some ways to learn the guitar that really work. These techniques have been tested and used by thousands of people who now play the guitar really well, myself included.
Using Theory Books
This is the most traditional, but still useful method to learn the guitar.
How effective it is to use theory books, however, depends on the type of person.
Some people have a great time reading and retaining information that is well organized. If you’re one of these people, getting a traditional theory-based book is a great way to learn the guitar. I have a list of great guitar methods that you can use as an initial step in your research.
While theory books are a little bit more difficult, they also offer a lot of advanced information that would be difficult to get from other sources, so there are advantages even if you use other methods for learning.
Watching Video Lessons
More recently, it became usual to have guitar teachers recording easy video lessons.
This is a better, easier way to learn, because you can see directly how to play certain exercises. With video, you can certainly have an easier time exploring guitar topics and understand the required techniques.
See a list of inexpensive online courses that have been proven to improve your guitar skills.
Private Teachers
If you have more money and time, an even better way to learn the guitar is to have a private teacher. This way, you can have direct access to a person who already knows how to play the guitar, and who understands the difficulty of each technique.
I even wrote an article about how to find the best guitar teachers where you live.
When having personal lessons, you can also use other strategies at the same time. For example, you can keep watching online courses, at the same time that you have private lessons to answer questions and work on the most difficult parts.
Learning By Ear
Finally, there is a way to learn that requires little or no money, but that requires a lot of dedication: learning by ear.
A few people think it easier to just get an instrument and try to play songs by ear. To do this, for example, you can start practicing some of the easiest song to play on guitar.
As you get more practice, you can also progress to play more complex songs.
While this is possible for some people that have great ear for music, it may not be possible for everyone. If you want to follow this practice, you should first make sure that you’re making progress.
If you’re not achieving your goals, or staying in the same level, this may signal that you’re reached a plateau, and that you current knowledge is not enough to get to the next level.
So, the problem with learning by ear is that many people that start this way don’t have the foundation to learn new things by reading music or following somebody else’s advice. I always recommend that you use resources other than your ear to get to the next level of guitar playing.