Finding your own way on the guitar

So here you are, reading an article from Play Guitar! magazine, probably thinking that starting on the guitar sounds like a nifty idea. Perhaps you’ve already been playing a bit and now you’re looking for some tips and advice. Chances are good that somewhere in your mind you are forming the central question all guitarists ask: where’s my money? Chances are also good that you are asking yourself the question: can I--and should I--teach myself to play? The very fact that we’ve bothered to publish this magazine should give you an idea of where we stand on that issue, but when pressed, our answer would be an emphatic “yes and no.”

Lets start with the “yes.” Self-instruction and the guitar are like pancakes and syrup, Laurel and Hardy . . . you get the picture. Why? To begin with, you don’t have to work very hard to make nice sounds. Also, few other instruments allow you to practice in your room without risking physical assault from your spouse, kids, parents, neighbors, or household pets. And it’s relatively inexpensive to get started. Moreover, self-instruction can allow your musicality to flourish without being shadowed by obligation and guilt, hobgoblins that often haunt the paying guitar student. If you teach yourself, you can decide what to learn and when you want to learn it. Knowing how to make those decisions requires a healthy dose of determination and focus, but if you can learn to love the process, you’ll also enjoy the challenges.

Avoiding Pitfalls

Now for the “no.” Unless you’re Jimi Hendrix (hint: you’re not), you probably have some limitations (hint: this is really OK). Although it’s easy to pick up the basics of the guitar, it’s also easy to injure yourself with bad technique. Many self-taught guitarists spend years trying to heal themselves and are often forced to quit playing for long periods of time. Spouses--and parents--may be secretly relieved, but we still want to avoid this. The best solution is to find a reputable teacher to give you tune-ups a few times a year. A good teacher can help erase bad and potentially injurious habits by demonstrating good ones. A really good teacher will pay attention to the way you sit, hold the instrument, and breathe while playing and help you develop exercises that work for you. Great players are not necessarily good teachers, and it’s important to find someone who is more interested in what you want to learn than what they have to say.

Another long-term problem for self-taught players is isolation. Like shower singers who clam up in the company of others, many guitarists will only play alone in their bedrooms. There’s nothing wrong this, but it can limit your musical development. Music, after all, is primarily about communication, and communication is at least 50 percent listening. At some point, and the earlier the better, you’re going to want to find people to play with. It doesn’t have to be a teacher or a band or anything formal, but it should be something, since there is simply no better way to progress. Nothing else will offer you the light bulbs of inspiration that come from playing with and listening to others.

The last major pitfall is one we can help you with right now, one we’ll call the “comfortable rut.” It’s easy to wind up playing a satisfying ditty like “Dust in the Wind” or “Sk8er Boi” endlessly, never bothering to tackle the more subtle works of either Kansas or Avril Lavigne, but you’ll probably become either bored or boring (or both). A private teacher can kick you out of your rut on a regular basis, pushing you on your weak spots and opening your ear to new sounds. But perhaps that’s why you’re not taking private lessons? We won’t ask. Instead, here are some resources you can use to get on the road and stay happy, healthy and out of the ditches.

Learning How to Help Yourself

As a beginner, your first step is to find good sources of information. What you need at this stage is basic advice on everything from choosing a first guitar to making chords and reading tab. All of this information is readily accessible in books (many of which come with audio tapes or CDs), videos, magazines, interactive computer programs, websites (see Web Lessons below), or even from a friend who plays. All you need to do is find the format that best suits you. (We’ve offered a few specific suggestions below, and there are more on our website, www.playguitarmagazine.com.)

After you’ve crossed this basic terrain and come out the other side understanding what a guitar is and what you want to do with it, you’ll have some choices to make. If what you’ve learned so far has left you feeling at sea--or if you want help with technique or a particular style--by all means find a teacher. But if everything’s making sense, you might just be better off on your own path for a while. As you’ll discover, some resources will present themselves as a full-course meal, taking you from the basics to as far as you want to go, while others focus on a particular style or examine a well-known player’s approach. The more advanced you get, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to get everything you need from just one source. Eventually you’ll be learning as much from listening to a record or watching someone play as from a book, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, the following resources will get you a long way down the road.

Resource Guide

For the bookish among you, The Beginners Guide to Playing Guitar by Douglas J. Noble (Globe Pequot Press, www.globepequot.com) is well worth its $13 price tag. An experienced teacher and music journalist, Noble takes you from zero to jazz in 130 pages with a no-nonsense, thorough approach to the guitar. Noble doles out information in manageable chunks, wisely revealing only what is pertinent to each stage of learning and constantly reminding you to chew before swallowing. For example, complex subjects like music theory and chords come up numerous times, each time accruing a bit more detail and sophistication so they never get overwhelming. There is no supplemental CD. Noble maintains that his musical examples and exercises are easy enough to warrant the absence of a disc. Complete beginners may disagree, especially when it comes to knowing what a tuned guitar sounds like, but so much the better if it pushes you to reach out and get help. Seriously, folks, the pills work.

For all you hackers, try eMedia’s Guitar Method (www.emediamusic.com). This Mac or PC program is a great tool, very comprehensive, and easy to navigate. Video and audio demonstrations accompany each lesson, and other nifty features include a tuner, metronome, chord dictionary (click on a chord and a diagram pops up), an animated fret board that can be viewed left-handed and/or upside down (like you’re holding the guitar), and built-in recording software so you can listen to yourself. The only disadvantage is that you’ll be chained to your computer. Some of you like that, we know, and that’s OK.

If you’ve already gotten through the basics and are looking for more specific instruction, try Gregory Coleman’s Ultimate Teach Yourself series: Classic Rock Guitar, Classic Blues Guitar, and Classic Acoustic Guitar? (Warner Brothers, www.warnerbrospublications.com). The material focuses on seminal recordings in each style, the writing is pleasantly informal, and the accompanying CDs are great. In addition to practice tracks, you get the original recordings of the songs, all for about the price of a new CD.

The Rules

By now you have enough to keep yourself occupied for a year or two. Remember, don’t be discouraged if things aren’t easy right away. The basics--rhythm, intonation, listening, etc.--are far more important in the long run than flashy chords and riffs, and we’re all about the long run. One last time, dedication, discipline, and loving what you’re doing are what will get you there. These things can be hard to find on your own, but after all (cue stirring film music), in the end they are only to be found within.

We’ll leave you with a few basic rules to write in bold, permanent ink on your bedroom ceiling:

TAKE YOUR TIME. Practice slowly, and digest what you’ve learned before you move on; rushing will get you nowhere and hurt you.
STICK WITH IT. Get into a routine; discipline will get you everywhere.
GET OUT AND SEE WHATS HAPPENING. Go see the players you admire do their thing in person. Talk to them, and you’ll realize they all had to go through this stuff too.
ENJOY YOURSELF. And that’s an order!
PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE. No matter how much you learn by yourself, you’ll always learn more from others.
TAKE YOUR TIME. And no one will get hurt.

INTERNET RESOURCES

Online guitar lessons that are good and free:

Mike Overly's: www.12tonemusic.com
Danny Poole’s Guitar Tutor Online: www.guitartutoronline.com
Flash Guitar at www.reggieband.com
www.Guitarbasics.com

Handy Web tools for guitarists at any level:

Many, many tab charts at www.guitartabs.cc
Ear training at www.earplane.com
An extensive chord library at www.looknohands.com/chordhouse


Lessons, articles, forums, you-name-it:

Wholenote.com
Fenderplayersclub.com
Acousticguitar.com

Not free, but these sites offer excellent materials for learning in many styles:

Homespuntapes.com
Guitarvideos.com
Melbay.com

Lastly, two amazing software tools that (among other things) can slow down any piece of recorded music without altering the pitch:

The Amazing Slowdowner (www.ronimusic.com)
Transcribe! (www.seventhstring.com).

Excerpted from Play Guitar magazine, Fall 2004, No.4