Learning a new instrument

[CraigCyril]

Learning to play any musical instrument should be fun. Its true that it does take hard work. Constant practice is essential in learning to play any musical instrument.

[music2jam]

I believe learning the basic would be the best way to learn guitar. Through the evolution of the music industry now I would like also to try new option like slow down music software. I'm into testing the audacity and the free demo of song surgeon. Both can slow down the tempo of the music with this we can play the note correctly until we come to the correct speed. If there's anyone that can help us more on this idea would be much appreciated for someone like me who is still starting to learn on my own.

[Beat Poet]

I taught myself to play guitar by really just playing over and over. While I will never be able to write songs, learning guitar has helped my general understanding of chord progressions and strumming patterns - which is essential for a drummer I think.

[IanC]

I'm finding learning incredibly rewarding at the moment and I'm currently being taught face-to-face, however continued practice is the only way to improve and as an earlier post said, everyone discovers strengths and weakness as you move forward. The self-teaching materials (DVD's, CD's) for me personally, would only be tried once I felt confident enough. I think to get a handle on things, being taught face-to-face is good for absolute newbies then when getting to a more beginner/intermediate level the materials would come in handy at this point. Repetition is good to retain the information and speeding up and slowing down the tempo as well as trying to play under pressure. My current weakness at the moment is getting the balance between concentration and enjoying playing. Thinking too hard and concentrating too hard can actually force errors upon your playing which may not have been there before. Getting in a relaxed frame of mind and letting the playing flow naturally is one of the things I feel I need to master. It very easy to tense up and feel pressure to get it right when you're a newbie.

[SteveO]

Ian, I admire your desire and ambition to learn the guitar ! I have attempted to do so with mediocre success !!!,,lol.

The MD member to ask about The Guitar is Gater !

[IanC]

Lol..thanks for the recommendation SteveO but it will be a little while before I move onto it. I'm getting the grips of sheet music first and being taught by my son. He has a keyboard and I'm using that as basis to learn this. I'm in the mind set where I know it's a marathon and not a sprint and just doing very simple things to start with. I'm hoping that if I couple this together with plenty of patience I'll be a proficient player one day. I'm prepared for the fact that it may take number of years but I love the sound so much I want to keep as motivated as possible by altering my learning in a flexible way. When I get stuck repeat bits, try to get out of bad habits...etc... I'd love to play like Slash over night but I know that's just not going to happen.