The Best Way to Learn Guitar

If truth be told, there might be no best way to learn guitar, since what is best for one person might not be so for the next. Many people learn guitar in many different ways, and some of the world's best guitarists learned with no help whatsoever. In saying that, however, there is an argument that questions whether or not that is relevant. Here is how that argument generally goes.

Guitarists who learn without tuition have to be brilliant guitarists, or they would never have learned without tuition. We don't know how many failed to learn how to play a guitar for the lack of tuition, because only the most brilliant are able to do so. The argument goes on to state that in relation to those that were given tuition, very few became good guitarists without it. The vast majority of good guitarists were taught, so unless you are a genius you must have lessons to learn to play guitar well.

Hence, if your son or daughter says they don't need lessons to learn because Jimi Hendrix didn't need them, point out to them that they are not Jimi Hendrix. Nor Eric Clapton, who also had no lessons. Instead ask them if they want to be like the thousands or more of others who tried without lessons and failed. There is no doubt that learning how to play an instrument properly allows you to learn quicker and play properly.

Although a good guitarist, Hendrix relied largely upon use of feedback and other electronic gadgetry for much of his sound, although nobody can deny Clapton's genius. The argument is that were he not a genius he would never have been successful without guitar lessons. Many failures can testify to that fact.

So what is the best way to learn guitar? The probable answer you will get is the way that the person you asked used. People generally know of no other way than that they used, although this is becoming increasingly less true as technology advances and the internet becomes a more significant factor in the teaching of just about anything.

It is unlikely that a guitar book is still the best way. In fact it wasn't just the best way; it was also the only way at one time unless your parents were rich and could afford a private guitar tutor. There's no doubt that private tuition is the best way, assuming that you are the only pupil. It falls down when you are one of a class of several, and the lessons are aimed either at the average learning rate or the fastest - never the slowest! So personal tuition is not necessarily always the best way.

When an audio tape or CD is added, the book becomes more attractive. You can now hear what you are meant to be playing, and if you use a CD or DVD recorder you can also hear what you are playing from the listener's perspective. For some reason your playing always sounds better to you than to the listener. Especially when you are learning! With the CD, all you need is video and you are practically replicating the personal tuition. Only you can watch the lesson over and over again.

That is why a DVD is perhaps the best way to learn guitar. Perhaps. The benefits of a DVD other than the aforementioned replaying facility, include being able to see where your fingers should be and to hear what certain finger positions sound like, something that plain audio could not achieve. Even for advanced players, you need video to learn how to play guitar harmonics. However, although video would appear to be the Nirvana of guitar teaching media, there is one more that surpasses even video: the online membership site.

Membership sites of various types are growing all over the web, and have branched out into guitar teaching. A guitar tuition membership site can offer what a teaching DVD cannot: a multitude of playing styles, a multitude of guitar designs and a multitude of teachers. With a membership site you can choose the teacher that suits you best for the playing style that you prefer.

Classical, country, fingerpicking, blues, bluegrass, folk, pop, rock and heavy metal can all be found on the same guitar membership site. Special lessons are available for the kids. Not only that, but some lessons are specifically designed for rhythm, solo guitar and bass guitar. Hawaiian slack-key, slide guitar and other styles can also be found along with some other gems for the niche guitarist. Add to that the opportunity to choose from a number of different teachers, and you have something totally different and light years from the old book filled with chord diagrams and ancient songs to strum along to.

A membership guitar site can teach you playing techniques, such as harmonics, slides and spider walking for bass and lead. The best way to learn guitar is to have a guitar teacher you like, have lessons in your style of play and your type of guitar, and be able to play them back over and over again. Add to that a few minutes practicing new techniques, checking out what chords and scales the classical guys are learning and playing along to a few tracks on the site, and you really do have the very best way to learn guitar.

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