The Seven Best Sources Of Basic Guitar Lessons And Guitar
By J M Jones, Fri Dec 9th

You're a beginner, and you want basic guitar lessons to startyou off. But you're confused by all the choices: which would bethe best guitar learning technique?

Guitar lessons are like anything else: there are two ways oflearning , and they're not the hard way or the easy way, nor arethey my way or the highway. No, they're teach yourself, or get ateacher.

Let's look at teachers first. They come in four guises, and someare more effective than others. The more effective, the moreexpensive--usually.

The cheapest and probably least effective guitar lessons you canget are from a friend. I don't say that to be disrespectful toanyone's playing abilities, but simply to point out that unlessthat friend plays by the book and is a qualified teacher, you'llprobably pick up any bad habits they have. They're also notlikely to be available to give guitar lessons on a regularbasis, and may either become impatient when you don't pickthings up fast enough, or may just let things slide, allowingyou to form bad habits of your own. So your basic guitar lessonswill remain just that--basic. The cost is good, though--usuallynothing.

You may be fortunate enough to be still at school with guitarlessons available there. If so, take them. You'll get aqualified teacher, weekly classes, and fellow pupils to swapnotes with (and maybe even get together to play with!) afteryour guitar lessons.

Night school is the next most effective and cheap source. Itdiffers from school because you have to make the effort to goafter a day's work. That usually means you've other things goingon in your life--things that may intrude. Not only that, classsize will probably be large, so you'll have less input aboutwhat you want to learn. And there's usually only twolevels--basic guitar lessons, then improvers. The cost as anhourly rate will be very reasonable, though.

A professional teacher is the most expensive option. A good onewill bring out the best in you, may encourage you to takegrades, but will get frustrated if you don't practice. If youhave money, time, and are prepared to put the work in, this isone of the most effective routes to take, because they'llcorrect any bad habits, and your guitar lessons are one-to-one.Obviously, you can save a little if you get your basic guitarlessons at, say, night school first.

If you can't afford a professional teacher, and you don't haveevening/school classes or a friend handy, the second guitarlearning technique is to teach yourself. You've three possibleoptions.

You can buy guitar tutors fairly cheaply at most guitar shops,or online. They used to come in book form, but increasinglyincorporate CDs and DVDs. There's a one-off cost,non-refundable, and you progress at your own pace.

Once you've got past the basic guitar lessons in these tutors,you might decide the best way to teach yourself is to play yourfavourite songs by ear. So you listen to them over and over,work out the chords, then play. The advantage of this techniqueis that it'll give you confidence, and if you mess up, no onewill know. It's also cheap--presumably you've already paid forthe music.

Also, there are fan sites online where you can download lyricsand sheet music to your favourite songs, thus saving you thetime of doing it yourself.

Finally, there's the online course. For the cost of a few guitarlessons with a professional teacher you can get a course aimedat

your level of proficiency. There are anything from basicguitar lessons online to advanced jazz. The courses usually comewith a money-back guarantee, too, which is not true of the othermethods. Another advantage is that you learn whenever it'sconvenient--teachers are available only at certain times of theday.

So there you have it--the seven basic guitar lessons sources: afriend, school lessons, night school, a professional teacher, abook or course, learning by ear, or an online course.

Which is best?

Depends on how serious you are, how much time you can devote topractice, and what you want to achieve.

If you're just starting, it might be best to go for thecheapest, most basic guitar lessons you can. That way, if youdon't persevere, you haven't lost much.

If you do persevere, and you want to get really good, you'lleventually want to consider a professional teacher.

Wherever you want your journey to take you, I hope you get thereand have fun travelling!

About the author:J M Jones (The Guitar Dog) has been playing since...well, a longtime. In that time, he's occasionally taught, written words andmusic, been in bands, and collected a whole lot of theory whichhe shares in easy-to-understand language with anyone who'sinterested. To browse it or sign up for your free fortnightlyguitar lessons, visit www.guitarism.co.uk