Should I self-teach myself guitar?

[Alon Shechter]

My recommendation -
http://justinguitar.com/
I've learned guitar by myself for a couple of years, and this guy made me see all the simplest basics that I wasn't at all aware of.

 

[viranimus]

Well there are advantages and disadvantages.

One thing I would point out is by teaching yourself, you will sometimes miss established techniques, or end up doing something thats pretty counter intuitive.

I taught myself guitar, and in a way I regret teaching myself because now some chords are practically inaccessible to me because I mistakenly taught myself by playing backwards, left handed and upside down. It was all well and good when I was still learning, because it felt more natural to me. However now that Ive gotten fairly advanced it has become a hindrance. You might encounter similar things through training yourself. Perhaps not anything as bad as that.

 

[brubobaggins]

I think, like most have said already, a few lessons at the beginning are probably a good idea. Granted you could probably find no end of resources online to teach how to play an E major, but I think it sticks with you more if there's someone there to tell you what it is.

Personally I took lessons once a week for about 4 months when I started playing, just to learn the difference between major and minor chords and how to do a pentatonic scale (woot!). I'd say it was useful, mostly for the motivation to keep going during those first, tentative steps into guitaring. I think getting my feeble weakling fingers strong enough to make a clean chord was the hardest part, but 6 years on and bar those first few months I'm purely self-taught.

I'm pretty good, but I still have trouble using a pick properly. Mostly I tend to fingerpick stuff, like fingerstyle and bossa nova. To reiterate, again what most have said prior, it all depends on what style you're going for.

Edit: just saw your recent post on your music history, I'd say your pretty good to go by yourself. good luck with it!

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Perfectly doable.

It's mostly about the amount of time you put into it. I would recommend making sure you try your hand at different styles when you become competent. I know guys who have just played metal for years, they are extremely quick and agile players, but they're also feckin' boring and all-at-sea trying to improvise anything.

 

[FinalHeart95]

I did, but at the same time that's with having previous experience on other instruments. As far as difficulty goes, I think guitar's a bit easier than wind/brass instruments, but that's just me. And it's still not "easy" by any stretch of the imagination.

If you keep playing, you'll get good automatically, pretty much.

 

[Shivarage]

Three words - PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

You get out what you put in

just keep in mind that music theory helps but it is still only theory, just listen to Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" theoretically, it should sound awful but music is a but more flexible than a single standardized scale of notes

 

[Ham_authority95]

Right, I'm looking to learn a few instruments to boost my production, for the fun, and to develop new skills, but, I plan to get drum lessons but my question is, should I buy a 'Guitars for Dummies' book, a guitar and just learn like that, or actually get lessons? Because I don't want it to be to expensive, but I don't want to be able to play guitar half-assed.

Advice, opinions and ideas should suffice.

If you have the time, than why the hell not? Grab a cheap guitar and start learning some songs you like that have guitar in them. Read a guitar book like the one you mentioned so you learn the chords and notes.

Join a band as soon as possible. That is the absolute best way to improve your skills, lessons or not.

 

[HardkorSB]

Right, I'm looking to learn a few instruments to boost my production, for the fun, and to develop new skills, but, I plan to get drum lessons but my question is, should I buy a 'Guitars for Dummies' book, a guitar and just learn like that, or actually get lessons? Because I don't want it to be to expensive, but I don't want to be able to play guitar half-assed.

Advice, opinions and ideas should suffice.

I taught myself to play the keyboard and the drums (also the human beatbox although some might argue that it's not really music... they are wrong) so from my experience I can tell you that it's most certainly possible. Especially these days where everything you need is just one webpage away (seriously, things like Youtube have made life so much easier, it almost hurts).

Even if you decide to get lessons, it's not like you will magically gain the ability to play just by attending them. In the end, it's all up to you. If you won't practice hard, you won't be good.

It's also helpful to get opinions on your abilities from someone with better skills than you every now and then. They can help you to avoid making some common mistakes (like the fucking annoying screeching sound people make when changing chords, it really pisses me off and makes it hard to enjoy the music).

That's my 2 Cents.

 

[dyre]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but isn't there an upcoming Guitar Hero style game where you actually plug in an electric guitar and learn how to play?

 

[TheLaofKazi]

There is no best way to learn an instrument. Different things work for different people, and it really comes down to just putting a lot of time and love into your craft. I play drums, guitar, and I sing, scream and beatbox, and I'm pretty much self-taught with all of those. I did take drum lessons for awhile, but later stopped and now for most of my time playing the drums, I've learned things on my own.

Actually, calling myself 'self-taught' is kind of a lie in a way. I had many teachers, music I liked, other musicians, sounds I heard, everything. Getting lessons is good, but don't let that close you off to all the other great ways you can learn. Don't just take lessons from the same person for ages, learn from as many different sources as possible.

When it comes to learning anything, especially when it comes to the arts, sometimes it's best to take the formality and structure out of it.

And remember, academia and music theory tends to over complicate things. I play stuff on guitar that is a complicated mess when expressed in music theory, but just makes sense to my ear. Guitarists or musicians that can write and read the language, but can't speak it just get confused. A local guitar teacher around where I live always said "You wouldn't teach a baby to read and write before he can speak, would you? The same goes for music."

 

[Outright Villainy]

I'm self taught, but even after all these years there's parts of my technique that are noticeably flawed (pinky isn't as strong as it should be, play too tense etc), so yes, I'd absolutely recommend lessons. Maybe not at first, but once you get going, you'll need them.

 

[G96 Saber]

I'm self-teaching myself guitar right now. It's hard but not impossible.

 

[Les Awesome]

FREEBIRD!

OT: If you think that you have the perseverance and self discipline to see it through to the end, go for it. If you don't think you'll be able to see it through to the end, save your money.

uh.. sorry for sounding like a dumbass but what is freebird
are you refering to the lynyrd skynyrd song or a tab website??

 

[newguy77]

uh.. sorry for sounding like a dumbass but what is freebird
are you refering to the lynyrd skynyrd song or a tab website??

Lynyrd Skynyrd song, referring to the tradition of heckling guitarists by yelling that they play it at concerts.