0This post is for anyone who has thought about picking up the guitar but hasn’t yet. For those of you who aren’t musicians, becoming one is both more fun and easier than you imagine. I’m writing this post in the hopes that I can convince 1 or 2 of you to pick up a guitar and start making your own music. Below I describe a basic theory and method for getting started with the guitar that I’ve taught in real life to many friends with success.
Before I picked up the guitar, I was operating under a lot of false assumptions about how difficult it is to become a musician.
1. I believed I was too old to start to learn music.
2. I believed I had no musical talent and that I wasn’t a “musical” person.
3. I thought you needed to learn to read music to play an instrument.
4. I believed to overcome these barriers it would take too much time and effort.
I couldn’t have been more wrong on all these assumptions.
If you don’t have musical talent I’ve got good news for you– you don’t need it.
You just need time. Playing guitar is fundamentally about teaching your fingers to do weird things they aren’t used to doing. That’s it. It doesn’t take a genius. It takes some hours. Set aside 10 hours with the guitar and you’ll be playing some great songs. Promise.
I love playing the guitar. When I think of the decisions I’ve made that have changed my life the most, picking up the guitar was one of the most important and meaningful decisions I’ve ever made.
Learning how to play an instrument opens tons of doors:
1. A quality and productive way to “unplug” and relax.
2. You’ll enter in to a community of musicians who are looking to jam, sing, write, and take over the world– it’s like learning a new language and culture.
3. Listening to music will become more enjoyable because you’ll start to pull apart the composition– you’ll begin to understand what is going on. (Eventually you’ll start to make your own).
4. And as a bonus… once you learn your first instrument, the next ones get easier.
This post will teach you how to play songs on the guitar in less than 10 hours.
The information you need to play the guitar can be learned in 5-10 minutes. That information consists of 5 finger shapes you must remember. I’ve posted them below. The rest of your 10 hours will be spent teaching your finger muscles to play chord shapes.
For those of you who play guitar, you might have noticed that some of my tasty licks aren’t so tasty. I’m no Stevie Ray Vaughn. You don’t need to be superstar to have tons of fun with this stuff. Despite not being the best guitar player, I’ve played my songs in front of 1000’s of people in live venues, had songs I’ve written and recorded played on San Diego’s leading rock station, and played in some super cool seedy dive bars to drunken hipsters. That’s just a few among a countless other memorable experiences. You don’t need to be a genius– half the battle is just showing up.
Here’s what your 10 hours can look like.
§ Minutes 0-30. Read this blog post. All the info is here to get started.
