ok listen, im a noob at guitar, barely know how to even play, and i'm just barely getting started cuz i thought its fun. so im thinkin about gettin a fairly cheap acoustic guitar to start out with. but i have a problem, how should i learn? which of these should i do? how did u learn how to play?

a: get lessons from a teacher
b: teach myself
c: look up stuff on the internet and figure it out myself
d: buy a guitar teaching kit thingy like MusicMaster.

k, i found MusicMaster by watching the video of funtwo playing canon rock. so i checked it out and it seemed ok, i know funtwo didn't really use MusicMaster to learn, and i know it was just an advertisement strategy, but i am asking if anybody here has ever tried it and is it good? i want to know this so i don't waste money and possibly get scammed. heres link to site: www.guitarmasterpro.net

I already knew the basics of music cos I had piano lessons as a kid, so what I did was get a book out of the library (something like "Teach yourself Rock Guitar" I think... it was nearly 18 years ago now) and taught myself from it. I was playing in a band within 3 months, and that's when I really started to learn how to play!

My dad showed me my basic chords and a few songs: Iron Man, Over the Hills and Far Away, Last Child, Blue Jean Blues, things in that vein, and then I started soaking up like a sponge. Tabs, friends, etc.
Any way I could.
But my dad is the man.

Yep, learned from the old man also. Cheap guitars are the way to go, it doesn't matter if it sounds like crap, as long as you can keep it in decent tune and get your fingering down, you're alright.

Cheers to parents who teach their kids how to do something cool.

i had a couple of guitar playing buddies who got me started....they showed me things like Iron Man,Paranoid,N.I.B , Smoke on the water, Livin After Midnight ...ect.
then i bought an AC/DC tab book ,and learned some cool tunes...then just went from there, and made it up on my own

i forgot something....i also have an older cousin who is a fine old school country picker and singer that TRIED to teach me stuff when i was starting out...but i was way too hip and cool for that old country stuff.
i only wanted to be a heavy metal hero...anything else wasnt worth my time.
i was a close minded idiot......Dwight was (and is) an incredible muscian and i was just too STOOPID to accept his teachings.
now, years later we would get together and i would soak up everything i could.

my point is .....DONT BE AN IDIOT LIKE ME !!! use every resource you have to learn....never stop soaking up everything you can....you will be a better player for it.

maybe even great enough to become over rated one day (see the over rated thread for MORE fun)

I am 99.8% self taught. I never learned cover tunes or other people's licks, I just started playing and experimenting a lot the first few years. Then I taught myself basic music theory, learned some scales and bought a 4-track recorder so I could learn to play over progressions or what not. It was a long road, but I would not have done it any other way.

Of course I have picked up an instructional video here & there, and books but not for learning how to play a song or whatever. I don't read music or even tab, but I never felt the need to as I wanted to create my own original music...

I am mainly self-taught.

My dad had an acoustic guitar and a Mel Bay instructional book, and said of his various instruments that if any of us kids could learn to play them, he would give them to us.

I did take a guitar course in junior high school, but by the time I took it I already knew the chords they taught in the class, so it was an easy "A." The teacher just sent me and a couple more advanced players out into the hall with guitars while the rest of the class got the lesson.

Many many years later I took an adult education "leisure course" in music theory but I don't remember much about it.

chuck wrote:my point is .....DONT BE AN IDIOT LIKE ME !!! use every resource you have to learn....never stop soaking up everything you can....you will be a better player for it.

Can't stress that enough. Even if you think this style or that style of music sucks, learn a bit of it. At least, you'll have more ammo in your gun, and at most, you may even come to appreciate the style more!

As far as how to go about it, ie: self-taught via books vs. programs vs. lessons, I say the same thing. Try all ways, because you never know what way is going to work for YOU until you try it. Everyone is different.

I'm not sure I ever did learn to play. But that's never stopped me!

dynamitecharade wrote:I'm not sure I ever did learn to play. But that's never stopped me!

hahahahahahaha ....add me to the list !

dynamitecharade wrote:I'm not sure I ever did learn to play. But that's never stopped me!

LOL!!! That's funny! Yet it seems to be a line that I'd LOVE to borrow, use! Like most of us, still leaning and will hopefully never stop.
Started way long ago by ear - [laying through many copies of my favorite albums, trying desparately to mimic and somehow duplicate the nuances of the guitars and players I was trying to learn. It was a tedious, long hard process, but otherwise a LOT OF FUN!!!

I also am 100 percent taught, I do know a few cover tunes just by trial and error. Best thing to do is to start out with an acoustic for the first 6 months to a year, then switch to electric, once you've got your finger movements tightened up.

i was self taught up till i start college a year and a half ago... i've been getting private jazz lessons ever since

self taught 100% i taught myself how to read tabs play chords tune the guitar ect.