Well, lets face it: I am just over 30 and learning to play an electric guitar has always on my bucket list. Earlier in life I just wanted to learn it to be cool but that is no longer a need as age and experience has taught me that there are other more important things in life!
Anyway, I wanted to see if we have any self-taught guitarists here especially people who learnt to play later in life and not when they were younger and learning anything was easier! Some of my friends have recommended some self-learning apps but before I go out and spend a few grand on a guitar and try learning off an app, wanted to see if people have tried and succeeded!
P.S.: Actually going to a tutor to learn is off the table as I barely get time to follow my workout routine given my work. So this will have to be a self-study (if at all) in between any breaks I can take from work.
First, i would technically call self-taught a bit of a misnomer because most people learn from somewhere, either another person live, or a YouTube video or a book. True self-taught would be a genius level, where a person picks up a guitar and figures it out himself. After somehow also figuring out tuning. That said, no matter if you have John Mayer tutoring you, without hours and days and weeks and months of (self) practice, you ain't learning the guitar. Hope the point is somewhat clear, everyone is mostly self-taught. I.e. You can do it! (Insert rob Schneider).
Now, the hardest part is developing finger strength and then dealing with the pain on your fingertips till calluses form. After that is developing muscle memory. Then at some point (after lots of practice), things will start to fall into place in your brain, and you will begin to understand the fingerboard. It's smooth sailing from then on. But to get really good, there's tons more practice and also learning theory about scales etc.
Age is not really a huge issue here. Guitar is a pretty easy instrument to learn but quite hard to master. You have to be ready to put in the time and effort.
An electric is way easier to play than an acoustic. Especially a crappy cheap acoustic most people buy because 'I'm just learning now'. So if you learn solely on an electric, there's a chance you will never be able to play an acoustic properly because once you learn certain things, learning some things different will be difficult or nearly impossible because you have to unlearn certain habits or methods, which is far harder than learning from scratch.
The flip side of this argument, i think Justin guitar said this, (but could be someone else,) is that acoustic being harder at the beginning might put off someone completely and they might quit for good, but with an electric there's a greater chance they persevere.
Personally, i started on a crap cheap acoustic, a givson, but it was surprisingly good (they made decent shit back in the early to mid 90s), with good tone and playability. Developed a decent intermediate level of skill and bought a reasonably priced electric. Everything was fine because i was playing both of them alternately. Then the beloved acoustic broke coldsweat and i just couldn't find a decent acoustic, even in a higher price range. Went through 2-3 and just gave up. Solely playing the electric from then on meant i couldn't handle an acoustic as well after a few years, and now i have to relearn on an acoustic. Which feels 'stupid' to my brain because 'I'm better than this'. Perhaps i wouldn't have gotten stuck if I'd reached an advanced or expert level before having the acoustic gap.
You should decide if you're really serious about this and then buy a decent guitar, not a cheap one, because Hey you're serious about it so why cheap out? The cheap shit will probably ensure you're more inclined to quit.
Playing music is amazingly therapeutic, and also a lot of fun. I would recommend every person should play some instrument, any instrument.
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Need to clarify, my acoustic was made in the early 90s, i started playing on it late 90s, it was a gift and catching dust in a corner for almost a decade! I was looking for a replacement after breaking it early 2000s.
Not sure about the market and brands and most importantly good models right now, so someone else definitely needs to give their inputs on this.
Thats a really nice post @Julian and really helpful. Thanks!
The cost in terms of money is not an issue so cheaping out wont be a problem for sure. From your post it seems like it requires a lot of time in practice and while I completely respect that, I don't have a lot of time on hand. I average 80-90 hours a week at work and often it goes upto 100 hours. So as much as I would want to commit to this, I will only have so many hours I can meaningfully commit before (a) wandering to something else that is also important or (b) just wanting to rest! :|
The cost of time is an issue I need to consider though! And yes, by "self-taught" I meant learnt on one's own using books/apps/videos/podcasts etc. i.e. without another professional tutor hand-holding.
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One more query: Some of my friends say that one cannot start with an electric and has to start with an acoustic. And hence I never tried exploring further back then! I suppose this isn't true?
It might be better to stop looking at the time spent learning an instrument as a cost. Basically, the more time you spend learning the better you will get, the sooner. There's really no limit to this. For example, Ewan Dobson, learnt something new ! If you have only one hour a week to put into it, that's fine too but you will take way longer to learn.
My caveat here was don't get into it if you're not going to stick to it. And most people don't quit because of lack of time. It's because it's too hard or they lose interest.
Again, my point about self-taught was probably a bit confusing, but your words made it easier! "professional tutor hand-holding ". They literally cannot hold your hand, or you won't be able to play lol ! So that's what i meant by invariably everyone is self-taught. The difference is the medium.
There are many people who've only played an electric their whole lives since day 1. However if you have an inkling of wanting to play acoustic too at some later point, it may be harder to pick up once you're 100% settled in the electric muscle memory. If you think you'll be playing only electric all your life, then learn on it. No issues. This may be a really stupid analogy but think of it like learning to drive on an automatic, and then learning a stick-shift after 10 years.
Let me see if i can find that video where the guy puts forth the argument of beginning with electric vs acoustic. On that note, there may already be tons of discussions/arguments on this very topic on yt/forums, but i haven't checked any out.
Started practising with a guitar quite recently (around a year ago) and rather late in life. And here's my take, from my own limited beginner's experience:
1. The key thing is to pick up a guitar and get started. Mirroring @Julian's experience, I had my guitar (a gift) lying around for years before I took it up on a whim.
2. Regular practice. I think this is the most difficult of all, especially during the first few weeks - practice is often boring and repetitive. Goes without saying, the more you practise, the better you get.
3. While there is indeed a initial pain barrier, it's far from unbearable.
4. For the first few weeks, it's near-impossible to get any meaningful gratification. It's probably going to take at least a couple of weeks before you begin playing the most basic of tunes. Stick with it and be patient. Eventually, it's quite gratifying when you get to a point where people no longer cringe when you pick up a guitar to practise/play. Looking at it optimistically - it's *just* a few weeks away.
5. Don't overthink. IMHO (and have to respectfully disagree with @Julian here), it doesn't matter if it's a good/bad or an electric/acoustic guitar.
After nearly a year, I continue practising with my crappy third-grade electric guitar for which I don't even have a decent amp for. It's what I already had with me, and at the point where I began, I probably wouldn't have started practising if I felt forced to buy a particular type of guitar. I think given a choice of playing a crappy guitar and not playing, say, a custom Stratocaster, you are undoubtedly at an advantage doing the former.
So, unless you don't have an instrument already and plan to acquire one, it may not be worth too much consideration.
To the OP, if you decide to take up playing (truly hope you do), all the best to you!
A bad electric may be playable but a bad acoustic will at the least be so hard to play it could put you off for good and worse, will lead you to develop bad habits and technique.
The difference between an acoustic with a low, easy action and a high action is staggering. Not so much with electrics.
@codelad Point 4 made me laugh remembering my start. Maybe in the first few days/weeks one will learn to play their first tune which would probably be individual notes on one string. But it will seem like you've surpassed Satriani! Only when you get better will you LOL at how n00b it was.
The best beginner guitar is the one you play often !
Hope you don't mind me asking here but what guitars would any of you recommend for a complete beginner with a low budget (somewhere around 10k and below). I tried to start playing the guitar long back and actually got to a point where i was making some really good progress with chords and strumming but i don't remember what happened but i just lost interest for it after a while(wasn't my choice exactly to start playing it ). The guitar i had too was a really cheap strange unknown brand which must have been handed down from one cousin to another lol. Hope to get some more good advice here
edit :- Just wanted to know, is it a bad guitar or bad finger placement when the strings touch each other. If i remember right the first guitar i had, the size was too small for me ( was smaller than the average guitar) and my fingers were too big or something and it was really irritating when i tried to switch the chords the chords and when i attempted to play it, no sound at all. I had went through the stage where my fingers would no longer hurt like hell but then i couldn't move past the damn strings touching each other. Coming to think of it, i started to lose interest here.
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I have no idea how the quality is these days though, so you might want to check out reviews/personal advice from someone who bought one recently.
A good acoustic is like 4-5x more expensive than an acceptable electric. I would never buy a laminated top in the future, only a solid-top. Beyond a certain point (of playing skill), tone becomes more important than playability.
A friend of mine who plays has suggested I borrow his electric Yamaha (not sure which model) to get a feel - Only condition is that I practice regularly and he says he will monitor my practice! :O
While I am excited I am presently not in a position to commit the time - I am hoping work will simmer down a bit post Q3 and I will get more time in Oct/Nov/Dec.
A friend of mine who plays has suggested I borrow his electric Yamaha (not sure which model) to get a feel - Only condition is that I practice regularly and he says he will monitor my practice! :O
While I am excited I am presently not in a position to commit the time - I am hoping work will simmer down a bit post Q3 and I will get more time in Oct/Nov/Dec.
edit :- Just wanted to know, is it a bad guitar or bad finger placement when the strings touch each other. If i remember right the first guitar i had, the size was too small for me ( was smaller than the average guitar) and my fingers were too big or something and it was really irritating when i tried to switch the chords the chords and when i attempted to play it, no sound at all. I had went through the stage where my fingers would no longer hurt like hell but then i couldn't move past the damn strings touching each other. Coming to think of it, i started to lose interest here.
Strings should/would never touch each other unless the guitar is VERY defective. Well, you could make strings touch when bending one of the first three strings but that's a pretty advanced technique and another matter.
I think what you mean is your fingertips are big and when you're fretting one string, the edge of the finger is touching the next string and muting it. This is usually bad fretting technique, but could also be the fingerboard is way too small for your fingers. Holding a chord and getting no sound is primarily bad finger placement, more than touching the adjacent string(s), it could be you're fretting too far away from the fret. It should be almost on top of the fret, sticking right next to it. Secondary could be a bad/too-high action and you're not able to actually make contact between the string and fret.
This is why i said, a poorly playable guitar usually means end of story right then and there.
My crappy old givson had excellent playability, with a low action (which i lowered even more) yet without buzzing, and great tone (for a free guitar!). Was a bit low on volume, but it wasn't used for anything but learning/practice. Every acoustic i bought since then, under 20k was crap in comparison, wrt. playability. They all had great volume and decent tone. Ronnie, granada, and some other cheap brand.
Ha, that damn yamaha. I have seen it everywhere and it seems like everyone has either played on it once or just tried to lol myself included. Hopefully i can snag one for cheap on olx or find some uncle who's extremely generous.
Yeah! I have seen his Yamaha before and it looks and sounds cool - But of course, he knows how to play it! In my hands, it will make no difference it it were made of 24k gold! The only issue is that this friend of mine actually learned when he was much younger (in school) and from a tutor. So his opinion on how "easy" it is based on years of experience playing various guitars!
A bad electric may be playable but a bad acoustic will at the least be so hard to play it could put you off for good and worse, will lead you to develop bad habits and technique.
The difference between an acoustic with a low, easy action and a high action is staggering. Not so much with electrics.
It was based on my own unconventional circumstances where I was gifted an electric guitar that I despised right from the the start for not being good enough, just because the Internet said so - without having a clue as to what "good" actually meant. That led to the guitar lying around for 6+ years, till I had this sudden urge to pick it up again. And I'm super-glad to have stuck with it, and remain hooked an year later. If I were to do it all over again, I would have taken up this same guitar 6 years ago and probably would have had a few more years of practice behind me.
Still, would have been different if I were initially looking to acquire a guitar to practise with - probably more in line with OP's own situation.
Thinking back, I guess the point I was trying to make was - don't let a bad instrument be an excuse, if that is what you've got. And totally missed the context w.r.t. the OP.
I'm not a good guitar player but started with it about 30 years ago with zero access to internet. My father was founding member of a band called Mohiner Ghoraguli and their first record was a commercial disaster ( selling less than 300 copies)
However I was exposed to a lot of crazy, lunatic but extremely talented musicians and most of them were multi instrumentalists ( everyone was self taught completely) and there were lots of musical instruments scattered along the house and I could try anything anytime but nobody taught me anything.
After a couple of failed attempts to play rhythm guitar, picked up a beat up Fender precision bass ( with a ****ed up truss rod) and started messing up with it. For next 2 year or so I was playing with a drummer ( he's a very famous drummer now in Kolkata jazz circle) and basically playing open strings with each kick drum hit!!
But I absolutely fell in love with the bass guitar when my dad taught me the " money chords" and made me realize that you need to learn only 6-8 chords to play practically anything. That was an eye opener. Then I learned possibly the most important thing in music...how to improvise with piano by numbering system instead of memorizing everything.
After learning it in piano it was just a matter of time to use it on a 4 stringer.
Now came the most difficult part, as it was impossible to find tabs for music without any internet, spent hours listening to cassettes, rewinding, fast forwarding and relentless practice, often 10-12 hours a day.
After building some confidence ( mastering all the songs of Black Sabbath's first 3 albums) joined my first band ( possibly in 8th standard at school)
Now after 25 years and playing in at least 10 bands in India and accompanying Amyt Dutta for about 3 years before leaving India, I feel somewhat confident playing with any small/ mid sized bands in Europe/ US.
Enough of banging my own drums. Now coming to OP, yes mate, you can learn to play guitars easily within 6-12 months.
BUT things may get difficult after a certain level, if you are willing to practice 8-10 hours everyday for a year or so you will be able to communicate freely with your instrument.
Another humble request, don't spend a lot of money on gears initially. I know of many people who have given up altogether after spending thousands on gears.
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BTW what is Givson? Did you mean Gibson?
Regarding gears, the bands I used to play with during weekends in Prague/ Bratislava before this ****ing virus epidemic have pretty decent guitars/ amps/ cabs and we just started using technology ( amp sims/ SW effect pedals) live.
But the bands in India had really bad equipments except very few ( like Parikrama, now defunct Orange Street and some bands from Southern India), but that never really bothered them one bit and some of them made really kick ass music often much better than American / West European bands.
Please don't get intimidated by big brands and never buy your first guitar online.
Most of the instrument store in India will have some struggling musician to help you around ( I worked in one such during medical school with a handsome payment of Rs 350 for 4-5 hours in Kolkata!!)
Try to ignore the YouTube videos talking about the tonality of guitars, playability is the only things that matter. Try to find videos in YouTube that shows you the invaluable shortcuts and easy to remember tips and tricks.
Don't go after music theory for now ( though it's EXTREMELY helpful) My wife ( a trained violin player) taught me music theory at the age of 40 and I still struggle to read sheet music, but do understand the immense value of it.
Lol, India has this whole local music instrument manufacturing industry which makes crap and then gives them names similar to international brands to avoid copyright infringement. So gibson>givson, hohner>hobner/hobmer. Not sure but i think ibanez>ebanez too.
Playability is exactly what I was talking about when saying you need to buy a good acoustic guitar. Electrics are more forgiving. Ditto bass guitars. A cheap acoustic will usually be very hard to play and make you more likely to give up. This is speaking from personal experience. Besides, spending ~10k on an electric isn't a lot of money. For an acoustic around the 20k range should get you a decent guitar to begin with. But it's unlikely a 5k acoustic is gonna cut it. All this doesn't really matter to the OP because his friend is lending him his electric to try out.
OMG!! Kolkata based!! If I ever visit India again, will buy a few for my snobbish white musician friends for sure!!
Yes, electric guitars and basses are way too forgiving. I probably won't be able to play even the easiest of basslines on an acoustic guitar.
I even have difficulties playing something absolutely basic like Smoke on the water intro!!
A cheaply made poorly playable acoustic guitar is the surefire way to hate the beautiful instrument forever. It's like learning piano on an Akai MPK mini 25 key midi keyboard.
BTW hats off to your Google skills man!! Every time I type Givson acoustic guitars Google is showing me Gibson's!!
lol. givson is utter crap now, but my old guitar, early 90s was pretty good. back then there weren't too many foreign options or even local for that matter.
Playing the smoke on the water intro is the easiest way to get yourself kicked out of a music store lol
Btw, i've never owned my own bass, and when i went into my bass phase before moving to drums, i was exclusively playing bass on my epiphone electric. like literally using only the bottom 4 strings. WAAAYYYY easier than playing a real bass guitar too hehe. only prob was the sound was nowhere as phat as it should be. but it helped me in learning basslines and patterns. couple of my favourites when beginning were it's my life by no doubt and bigger than my body by john mayer.
I think i had moderate adhd as a child and probably still have a bit too. also a bit ocpd. unfortunately even talking about mental health was taboo back then and still is to a large extent in india. So we can just assume based on the symptoms and manifestation. So anyway this means i have all these plans but can't really stick too long with anything lol.
Drums were my first love, back when i was around 6 or 8 i think. But the only drum set i'd seen was in church and learning wasn't really practical.
Your words about music theory got me reminiscing, when i was about 10 my mom wanted me to learn the piano. took me too a music teacher who took one look at my disinterested face and asked my mom if she could speak to me in private. she then asked me if i'm interested and i replied not at all lol. she then told my mom not to push it and i would learn if/when i'm ready. needless to say i got my ear pulled on the way home lol.
now in hindsight i wish i had learnt the piano back then, it would have made things so much easier and i would probably be a technically more advanced player. Being able to read sheet music opens up a whole different world.
f-fwd to around 16 when one fine day i decided i wanted to learn guitar. at that point the church was a happening place with a lot of like-minded youth, and then i was able to practice drums too. But i could never really practice the way i could guitar, because you can't really have a drum set in an apartment. When i would visit dubai for a few-month spells, i would play my cousin's drum set at their home. Just around 3-4 years ago i got an alesis dm-6 and happily played away at home. For all of a year. Till i got busy with other serious old-age life problems and couldn't really make the time lol.
So it kinda sucks because i keep trying different things without really taking the time to get really good at any one thing. But i'm also happy that i've been able to experience all these things.
I would rate my skill as above-intermediate acoustic and electric, intermediate bass, and below-intermediate with drums. As in there are some things i can do and some i just can't. Like i can pretty much play the entire no one knows by qotsa except the herta fills, which are just a tad too fast for my skill level. If i slow down the tempo to about 120bpm i can nail it.
coldsweat
