Position:Home>Performing Arts> Would you call guitar a hard instrument to learn?
Question: Would you call guitar a hard instrument to learn!?
I'm 16-years old, and have been playing the piano for almost 8 years (though I quit lessons about 3 years ago) and have also played the violin for about 6 years!. I have an acoustic guitar sitting in my room that I really REALLY want to learn how to play!. I tried about 2 years ago to teach myself using a book, and was able to play "When the Saints Come Marching In", but got no further!. My homework started piling up so I didn't have time to practice, and eventually completely forgot how to play!. Now I want to start again and am planning to try to learn during the summer!.
What would be the best way to learn to play (without lessons, I cannot afford nor do I have time for them)!? Lessons from books or YouTube videos!? also, I'm going out of the country during the summer for a month, so if I brought a book with me and read it (without bringing the guitar with me) do you think I'd be able to get an idea of how to play it, even without the actual guitar!? Sorry for the length!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I actually play both of the instruments you mentioned, & also the guitar, drums, & clarinet!. (= I will try to give you expert advice!.
I'm also 16-years old (how ironic!) & can honestly say that the border between hard & easy to learn to play guitar lies solely in how motivated you are & how much effort you will put in to practice!. It is a little difficult to get started (chords, etc!.) but once you get the hang of it it will get easier, though at no point is it completely a walk in the park!. To be "fluent" you'll need to practice everyday, no doubt, & it will take about a year!. Trust me, it may sound like a lot of work but it will be worth it!. Nothing feels better than knowing how to play the guitar & being able to sing along with it! (=
The book will help but if you have absolutely no access to a guitar then I don't think it will help very much, because you will have nothing to refer to!. You might end up learning something that you take the wrong way, but were never able to confirm because you didn't have a guitar to practice on!. also, books work just as well as YouTube videos if not better, because you can go at your own speed!. Good luck! (=Www@QuestionHome@Com
Guitar is one of the easiest instrument to start playing!. To master it is another issue altogether!.
Their are many good guitarist around and their are many super guitarist!. No limits here!. You are limited to your knowledge and your creativity imagination when learning any instruments!.
YouTube has good videos and contains a lot of information for guitarist!. now, as for learning without the instrument is like doing surgery with the scalpel!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
In comparison to most instruments, the guitar has got to be one of the easiest to learn!. Especially if you have been playing violin for 6 years you will probably find the guitar much less difficult!. You just need to work up some calouses (thicker than what you get from playing the violin)!. Unfortunately what you need is "hands on" time with the guitar!. Reading will do nothing for you!.!.!.
Even 10 minutes a day could advance a person quite rapidly!. Hope this helpsWww@QuestionHome@Com
well if you had played violin and piano for so long guitar wouldn`t be difficult for you, but practice is everything, if you travel with just a book it will probably make no difference at all when you actually sit down with your guitar!.!.
I recommend start practice and buy a book with the basics there are thousands of options available!.!.
Good Luck!!Www@QuestionHome@Com
Well geesh, if you've already played two other instruments, how much harder can it be to learn guitar!? Seems to me that the hardest part is technique, particularly with the picking hand!. That can take years to develop!.
With a book, you could study the fret's notes, chords and scales, and theory!. I don't know what else!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Guitar is easy to play badly, or maybe with mediocrity!. Perfecting it, and being really good, is as difficult as any other instrument!. It's going to take the same amount of practice as starting to learn piano or violin did!.
I've seen some OK videos on youtube!.!.!. If you have Comcast cable and OnDemand, they have some good lessons on that, too, as long as you weed out the ones taht are for electric guitars!. There's a lot of books out there, too, I'm sure!. I'm self taught, from a book, watching other people play, and my own musicianship/fiddling around with it, and I'd say I'm decent enough to accompany myself singing onstage!. Get a book, browse youtube, and look on OnDemand if you have it!.
also, you should know that learning instruments is totally a hands-on process!. You're not going to learn anything of much use just by reading a book!. You have to PRACTICE with a guitar in your hands to accomplish anything!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
you can practice your creativity and learn about the guitar but really you need the guitar to practice your fingers and to attach what you learned about it to the thing!.
i think it's alot like the violin though!.
a good way to start is to find a song you like!. learn the scale for that key and the chords for that song, then play around with the song, using the scale you learned, and repeat for other songs you like!.
it's less cramped than a violin, but so harder to make stretches, at first it can seem impossible in how you need to contort your fingers!.
it's easier than piano because you just move up a scale a fret and the pattern is the same for that next major scale the semi-tone up!. so basically there is just one scale to learn!.
it's harder than piano another way because it's all jumbled up because of the strings!. not simply, every note is a semi-tone up like piano!. and in piano you play a chord and add an extra note, easy just press the key you want with a free finger!. but guitar if you want to say move one note of your chord down a semi-tone you sometimes need to rearrange all your fingers so that it's possible, sometimes in a difficult contorted way, whereas piano you're never really that contorted!.Www@QuestionHome@Com