Is it easy to learn the guitar if you have had previous experience with the keyboard?

Question

I am thinking about taking guitar lessons and I am wondering if there are any similarities between it and the keyboard.

I have played the piano for about 5 years, so i have no problem with reading sheet music. However I don't know how to read guitar tabs so I was wondering if it is hard to learn in comparison with the piano.

Answer 1

No, it's toltally different, in piano your left hand is playing the bass clef and the right is playing the G clef, with guitar your left hand is turned upside down, the only good thing is that your fimilar with the G clef music, you just have to learn where the notes are on the guitar. Tabs are confusing once your use to reading music notation, the lines represent the strings of the guitar, and the numbers represent the frets that you have to play in, zero meaning to play the string open, and an x means that string is not to be played. The piano don't hurt your fingers like the guitar does, you have to have calloulses before you can play the guitar wihout pain. I think all that it's going to take is for you to learn where the notes are on the guitar, and get those callouses. Guitar is not as easy as eveyone thinks it is, maybe if your going to play just a few chords it's easier, but not if your going to learn how to play correctly, chords, notes, and where they are on the guitar, and how to use your fingers, the nails on the left hand have to be very short, and if your going to play finger style or classical you have to have a little nail shaped just right on your right hand. If you've played piano for five years I don't think you'll have any trouble, it may be confusing at first, but I think you'll be able to adapt. Good luck, and if you want to try some sites for guitar here are a few.
http://www.jamplay.com/
http://www.billbrutal.com/
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/
http://www.justinguitar.com/
http://www.worldguitar.com/
http://www.guitar-lessons.com/
Hope these give you some sort of idea about guitar playing.

Answer 2

It all depends on what you like best. ask yourself these questions? 1) Where do I plan to use this music? a) you can't pack a piano with you where ever you go. But you can bring a keyboard, a violin or a guitar. 2)Do you like to play and sing along? YOu can sing a long with a piano or a guitar, but it is not so easy to sing along with a violin while you play it. 3)Will someone play other instruments with you? if not and you will be playing by yourself, a guitar tends to play more harmony, a piano tends to play it all, violin tends to play the solo which is nicer if someone accompanies you. 4)What do you like best? Why not play the one you like best. A person is more likely to practice more on the instrument he likes best. 5) Which seems easiest to you? a) a guitar usually is considered the easiest, but it can get complicated the more you learn. b) a piano starts out easy, but it may take 3-5 years to really play nice music by note, by ear as fast as you can learn it if you are gifted, maybe 1 year or less. c)violin is considered harder than the guitar, because it doesn't have frets. But it is not actually harder once you learn where to place your fingers on the keyboard d) most instruments relatively easy at first, but then you learn more and more complicated stuff a little at a time. 6) Is one instrument more affordable than the other? All these are things to consider. 7) Do you have a teacher that could teach one, but not the other? There are other instruments a person can learn: a recorder, a harmonica, a keyboard, you could start with a cheap one from goodwill or somewhere and see if you like it and graduate to a larger on as you learn more and need a bigger one.

Answer 3

It may help to mention while a guitar part is written on the staff in the same manner as piano music, the guitar actually sounds an octave lower than written. With the guitar you will have to get used to the finger board, the layout, where the notes are in comparison with the piano,and the difference in how a chord is formed on the guitar.
While tabs are good for learning the basic workings of the guitar, it is to the benefit of the player to learn to read from the staff. Since you already know how you have an advantage over most who wish to learn the guitar.

Here's a quick lesson on learning how to read tabs.
http://guitar.about.com/library/blhowtoreadtab.htm

Let me also say that if you desire to become proficient in playing guitar, and want to go beyond entertaining yourself, your family, your friends; playing at parties, the beach and at camp, you must expand your skills.
Every guitarist or anyone who wants to be an accomplished, skilled, professional musician will need to know basic music theory to exceed as a musical performer.

Answer 4

dont even worry about guitar tabs. they are for people who cant read music for the most part. basically with a guitar , the difference is that the chords arent all equally easy to play like on the keyboard. you will spend more time developing your rhythm on guitar and learning to vary it more.

what will be easier for you is that you have developed an ear, and that music theory is the same no matter what instrument you play. one thing to remember is that the guitar is tuned in 4ths with a 3rd thrown in, so your scales will look and feel kinda funny. here's something i learned 15 years ago when i first started playing guitar to remember the open strings

E - very
A - wesome
D - og
G - ets
B - ones
E - veryday

silly i know, but it works.

Answer 5

Things you have in your favor
1. You can read music
2. you have developed fine motor coordination in both hands
3. You know what chords are
challenges
They are very different to play. Get a decent beginner book and maybe a teacher, at least til you get the idea of how to play. Chords require a lot of left hand coordination. finger picking requires a lot of coordination with both hands doing very different things.

But with a little effort you shouldn't have any trouble learning. You are already ahead of a non musician trying to learn an instrument for the first time!

Answer 6

Yeah my friend played classical piano bought a guitar and just picked right up on it. If you buy a nice electric keyboard you will find a band alot quicker there are millions of guitar player very few keyboardist. I never could find one and people are always looking just something you should think about. if your in a band dont matter what instrument you play the fact is your in a band..One Love

Answer 7

If you have been playing piano for that long you have the advantage of knowing what the notes should sound like. I agree with the other answer in that they are two different instruments. You will enjoy the guitar because its a different beast and really get the fundamentals like proper fingering and just practice and you will enjoy it.

Answer 8

"Thinkaboutthis" stole my thunder. To add to his good reply I recommend that you do not depend on tablature to increase your expertise on the fingerboard. Tablature has its merits in helping the guitarist learn the fingerboard, but nothing can replace music notation--that which you already have.

Focus strongly on chord formations and how to shift quickly from one to another. You have the advantage on knowing what chords are common in a key signature. Using what you now know will help you immensely in becoming proficient with the guitar.

Go for it!

Answer 9

reading sheet music is as far as it goes with any similarities, sorry. They are two different instruments. Good news is, the guitar is easy to learn =)

Answer 10

Things in common are mostly coordination and being able to read sheet music.