subject: Learning Guitar - A Rewarding Experience [print this page] Knowing how to play guitar is one of the most personally fulfilling things you can experience. If you can play guitar, you can open up whole new possibilities for yourself personally and professionally. Many people learn how to play guitar just for the sake of their own personal enjoyment and creative fulfillment. But there are others who make a career out of it, either from teaching or by making records. Those who make records may be solo artists or members of a band, or they may be studio session players. Of course, being a recording artist also usually involves touring and performing before live audiences -- something that, in spite of the headaches that road life can cause, can be very, very exciting.
Learning how to play guitar begins with taking guitar lessons. You can either get your lessons from a personal instructor or from pre-recorded sets of audio-visual DVDs. Some students of the guitar, once they have passed into at least the intermediate level, go on to enroll at music schools or GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology). You're never too old or too advanced for more guitar lessons, as long as you keep challenging yourself.
You can learn a tremendous amount about guitar playing from books and guitar magazines, too. Magazines like 'Guitar Player' and 'Guitar World' offer a tremendous wealth of knowledge, and all you need is an annual subscription and the self-motivation and discipline to follow the monthly lessons.
Learning the guitar means listening to and watching accomplished guitar players as well as formal lessons. And if you really want to be ahead of the game, you should learn how to sight-read music. Most of today's non-classical guitar players can't read music (jazz guitarists can read charts), so if you want to become truly advanced take the trouble to learn this skill.
Another way of becoming very advanced in your guitar playing besides technical lessons is learning music theory. Even if you have what is called 'perfect pitch' hearing, knowing music theory deepens your capacity for composing guitar music and improvising leads and solos.
Understanding how to play guitar well is beyond technical skill. Given enough time and dedicated practice, anyone can learn and master many great guitar playing techniques. What makes a player special is his ability to let his personality shine through and dictate when and in what way to use particular technical skills. This is revealed through both in his playing and his composing.
There are numerous genres of guitar music, from classical to jazz to blues to heavy metal. Even if you want to mainly play a particular genre, you should study aspects of many genres to make yourself a deeper, more intelligent musician.
If you want to learn how to play guitar, don't buy some cheap or 'student' guitar. Buy a moderately-priced acoustic guitar, find some lessons, and begin!
