Learn Guitar Solo Performances Without Being Reported To The RSPCA

Learn Guitar Solo Performances Without Being Reported To The RSPCA

A friend of mine recently announced that he was going to learn to play guitar. He wanted to be able to learn guitar solo performances that would rock people's socks off (his phrase, not mine) and that he would soon be snapped up by an up and coming band (his view, not mine). Unfortunately far from being able to learn guitar solo riffs and tunes to knock certain items of footwear from neighbouring feet, he found it difficult to scratch out a single chord to begin with.

He confidently picked up the guitar, strummed it a bit, and then got to work looking at the book of tabs which came with it. I agreed with him that it all looked quite simple and straightforward. There were the strings, there on the page were the strings, there were the frets, and there on the page were the frets. All that was necessary was to place fingers in the places where the dots were drawn, and then you'd be enjoying listening to the sounds of some of the most popularly used chords in guitar music.

Except that it took him a full five minutes to contort his fingers into position to play the first chord. When he did, he managed one strum before having to let go and rest his hand. I explained to him that I had read somewhere that anyone looking to learn guitar will have to accept that the first few tries will need to be brief, as the hand will need to use muscles in ways never done before, as well as toughening up the fingertips. The best guitarists have incredibly callused fingertips, whereas my friend's were about as callused as a baby's freshly talcummed bottom.

After a few more agonising screeches and twangs which sounded a little as though a cat and a mouse were having a fight in a rubber band factory, except slightly less tuneful, he decided that instead of trying to learn guitar solo performances, he'd just mime instead. After all, that's what most of the bands do these days, so he claimed.

Fortunately before he could admit complete defeat we switched on the computer and had a look online for help. After all, he wasn't the first person in the world to try to learn guitar, and there were almost certainly plenty of people able to offer some help and advice. My friend wasn't completely convinced that paying large sums of money to a music teacher every week was a good idea, preferring instead to be self taught. The beauty of the internet is of course that you can be almost completely self taught, whilst also being taught by some of the best music teachers in the world.

For anyone looking to learn to play guitar, video tutorials online offer a real advantage, allowing you to see exactly how people achieve what sometimes seems to be the impossible when relying solely on printed tablature books and diagrams. Watching how someone else does it makes a huge difference, and after watching just one 'learn to play guitar video' my friend was able to play the first chord which ease.

Once he saw someone else play it. It made a good deal more sense. Because tab diagrams only show where your finger tips go, yet playing guitar uses your whole hand, arm and most of your body. The video included a number of other tips, including different ways in which the same chord could be played, and different ways of holding the guitar. Although my friend is not yet playing solo at Wembley, he is now able to learn guitar solo performances which sound less like a cat being strangled. Which is something his neighbours are very pleased about.

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