Learning guitar?

Question

Hey I want to learn to play guitar? Ive never played anything before so would be a total beginner. How long would it take me to become decent if i practiced a couple of hours most days?

Answer 1

I was asking myself the same question when I was a beginer also. For me it took me a week to get the hang of it, and in 2 weeks I was decent already. Now to answer your question, I wouldn't know how long it would take, and like the others said it would depend on if you are a natural at it or you have to work at it. Also, let me add that you don't need to pratice for hours and hours. There's such a thing called too much practice. Don't forget that learning to play an instrument is suppose to be fun, not a chore. I'll give u tips and this is what I did also:

1) learn a little a day. If you try to learn too much a day, there's a chance that you won't remember all of it.

2) Have fun playing the guitar. If you get frustrated, take a break and go back to playing it, don't quit because you're still learning and you'll get the hang of it.

3) start out learning chords from easy songs. I recommend the song "boulevard of broken dreams" by greenday. Really easy song and it's got most of the main chords.

4) watch some videos on youtube. There are some people that will teach you to play the guitar on their videos. I recommend the user "justinsandercoe" and if you want to learn songs then look up "justinsandercoesongs".

5) learn to the play guitar from a website also. I would recommend www.guitar.about.com, it's where i learn to play.

6) if you learn a bit each day, and practice at least 5 minutes on it each thing, you'll get the hang of it in maybe a week.

7) pick up the guitar whenever you feel like it, or whenever you have time. I always pick up my guitar while waiting for something.

8) learn about the guitar, and not only playing it. If you learn about the guitar also, you will be able to fix problems rather than bringing it to a proffessinal everytime you have a problem with your guitar.

Well I hope this helps, and good luck on the guitar. Don't forget, playing the guitar is suppose to be fun, not a chore.

Answer 2

This is the same as anything else, when you were learning to read I'm sure some of you friends learned quicker then others, it depends on the individual. I'll say three years to be able to play a few things decendly. You have to get callouses, learn to read music, learn the notes, scales, chords, and barre chords. Most students come here thinking the'll go away playing after their first lesson. I had one guy, no joke that came here with a Led Zeppelin book, he was bound to play "Stairway to Heaven" before he left, well was he in for a suprise, he could hardly make a D chord. Some kids have a gift for music and learn quickly, others have perfect pitch and their amazing, but the avarage student takes a couple of years not months to learn. Most rock stars have played for years before they make it, I'd love to ask Eddie Van Halen how long he played before he started making Cds Guitar is not easy, maybe playing a few cords isn't too bad some can accomplish that in maybe a year, in fact some do that just so they don't get bored while they are learning, and that's good because it's training your muscels and teaching you how to change chords smoothly and easily, while getting callouses. Don't do too much at one time all you'll so is make your hand and fingers hurt, I use to split up my studying time, sometimes I set my alarm for 3 or 4 in the morning do two hours and then two more in the afternoon, and then two at night, but most people don't have that kind of time, so do what you can, but try and split the time up so that your not doing it all at one time. Check out some of these sites and see what you think.
http://www.jamplay.com/
http://www.billbrutal.com/
http://www.worldguitar.com/
http://www.learntoplayguitar.com/
http://www.guitar.about.com/
http://www.justinguitar.com/
http://www.chordfind.com
and for a free electronic tuner type in this, no http.
stringdancer.com

Answer 3

It has to do more with the quality of instruction and/or what you books choose to use to learn to play. Learning to play from tablature is a shortcut but you don't really learn anything about playing music or any of the theory/logic behind what you're doing.

Check out a book called fretboard logic by bill edwards, best $10 you can spend, even if all you end up doing is playing tabs. A few hours a day of practice will do you a lot of good, give yourself 6 weeks and you will likely be amazed. I play a number of different instruments and have to say I was very impressed with how much I learned about playing guitar in very little time with this book.

Answer 4

Depends on how fast you can pick it up. Some people are naturals... some have to work hard... and some just dont have it. Ive been playing 11 years... love it... Im good... but it took years to get there. If you love it, then the amount of time you play will go by in a flash and you wont really care how good you are... rather that you have found something that makes you feel good when you do it. Good luck.

Answer 5

It depends on what you mean by decent. Within a week or two you should be able to learn a handful of chords which you can combine to play songs. Really, learn three chords and you will be able to play a huge amount of songs. Start with learning G C and D. Try them in different combinations and see how many songs come to mind as you strum.

Answer 6

Same I'm learning how to play the guitar to.

Answer 7

Well, once your callouses are built up and you can stand playing for a couple of hours a day, you will progress well, just keep at it and don't get discouraged!

Answer 8

depends, if your self taught then it will obviously be long that if you had a teacher, i attempted to self-teach my self, and failed, about a year on i started getting lessons, im know a reasonable player and have only been playing for about 6 months, and thats with only about (on average) half hour pratice a day