In my opinion, too many beginners try to learn to play guitar by using only TABS. Tabs are a shortcut used by many musicians to learn a song quickly. They are fine if you have already mastered the basics but if you haven’t, it can lead to some pretty bad habits. Bad habits are extremely hard to get rid of. That is why I decided to write this post: Learn to play guitar for beginners.

If you are serious about learning the guitar and playing for many years, then the best place to start is the basics.

ALL really good musicians became that way by starting with a firm foundation, by learning the right way to do things first. Then, they practiced it over and over again. Notice I said “the right way to do things.” If they had practiced the wrong way over and over, they would have failed. This lesson is very important.

Your job as a beginner is to build that firm foundation (learning the correct way to play). Then practice until it is second nature to you. Once your mind, hands and fingers are working easily together, everything else falls into place.

You must learn about strings, tuning, fretboards, scales, chords, strumming, and a whole raft of things. But, don’t worry it’s fun! You will eventually be able to make up your own tunes because you will know how the whole system works together.

If you are serious about learning to play, get serious about learning the “right way.” Then practice, practice, practice!

I had a friend in college named Lamont. He was just a regular guy. At least that is what I thought until he invited me to his home one evening and I heard him practice with his Blues Band. He blew my socks off! He was the greatest blues player I had ever heard. I had never heard such perfect timing and inspired music in my life!

Lamont was very quiet, very modest. One day I asked him how he learned to play the guitar like that. He told me that when he was younger, he had a disease that kept him home from school for a couple of years. Life was boring for him and his dad bought him some blues records to listen to and later a guitar.

He would lie in bed and play along with the blues masters. He would listen to a blues riff and then play it over and over again very slowly until he had it perfect, then he would speed things up.

I tried to imitate Lamont. When I tried to slow down the record an play along with it, the pitch was way off. I couldn’t get good results. I lost contact with Lamont soon after I heard him play, but I will never forget him or that night.

These days, there are computer programs that slow down the music and keep the pitch true. They’re both high quality and low priced! This will be a great investment once you have the basics down. It helps you to develop an “ear” for music and also allows you to loop on a riff infinitely while you play along.

It is so important to master the correct basic techniques before you use these programs. You don’t want to “program yourself” with “bad habits”! As I said before, bad habits are very difficult to get rid of – sometimes impossible!

I have often dreamed about the possibility of capturing “super teachers” on video, and then making their classes available for anyone to watch. Just think of how the education level of the country (and the world) could be raised. The Internet is starting to make that dream possible.

I want you to know that some of the best guitar teachers in the world now have training products on the market – on DVD, and online. Unfortunately, there is a lot of trash out there too. To quote an old saying: “Not all that glitters is gold.” So how do you find the really great courses?

In my opinion, two “top notch” training courses are “ Learn and Master Guitar” (for beginners through advanced) and “Playing Through the Blues” (once you have the basics down). In my next post I will review one or both of these products.