Your acoustic guitar has been sitting in the corner or in the case collecting dust for a while now. You would love to pick it up and play a few tunes. But you aren’t quite able to do it yet.
Friends come over and see your guitar and ask you what you can play. Sheepishly, you tell them you can’t play anything yet. Even if you do know how to play a little, you are not confident enough to put it on display.
Maybe you have tried and tried but you just can’t seem to make it work. Now you are frustrated and don’t know where to turn to. You may even be thinking you are the problem.
It does not have to be that way.
Learning To Play Acoustic Guitar Can Be More Difficult
Acoustic guitars are not as easy to play. Period. Even the higher quality guitars with better setups can be more challenging than electric guitars.
They have a thicker body than electrics so more difficult to hold comfortably and play. The strings are further from the fretboard and harder to push down and they are thicker too, even if you go with lighter gauges.
An acoustic guitar is also less forgiving when it comes to the sound you make. When you do not have the dexterity, strength or the callouses the sound tends to be muddy and unclear.
That can be incredibly discouraging for most people, especially when it happens for a prolonged amount of time.
You Are Not The Only One Who Has Struggled To Learn On An Acoustic Guitar
I started on the acoustic guitar as well and I went through many problems. I made things even more difficult on myself by trying to learn on a cheap guitar that was very poorly setup and hard to play.
If that was not enough of a challenge I then made things even worse by using the cheapest routes to learning the guitar.
I had a friend who was a good guitar player and they offered to help me learn. Perfect I thought! They showed me a few chord shapes and then they could not understand why I could not get them right away. They could not relate to me and they did not know how to teach me to go further.
Next, I tried to teach myself. I bought some books, DVDs and even went online. Those methods were not a good fit for me at all. They were either too slow or boring or way over my head and impossible to follow.
By this time I felt so frustrated. I just wanted to learn to play some songs on the acoustic guitar. Why was this so difficult? Was I the problem?
Do you feel or have felt the same way? If so do not despair because you definitely do not have to suffer through this pain as long as I did.
Are You Making The Same Mistakes I Made When Learning To Play Guitar
Maybe you have been trying to teach yourself how to play like I did? You went to YouTube and searched for help and found some videos that show you some basics, maybe you tried to learn a specific song or technique?
Or maybe you found a website online that is free or that you pay for learning materials. You may have tried a method or program though a book or DVDs that you purchased. There are many options available today if you want to try to do it on your own.
Most people tend to go this route at first and many realize this is not made for everyone. The reality is that very few people successfully learn to play the guitar well on their own through those methods.
There is no interaction so you do not learn what you could be doing wrong. You can’t ask questions when you do not understand something either. And many people tend to try to learn things that are above their level.
This usually leads to frustration and causes many people to quit learning the acoustic guitar, sometimes forever. That does not have to be you.
How Can You Avoid The Frustrations Many Others Suffer Through
Over the years I experienced a lot frustration learning to play the acoustic guitar. I wasted a lot of time, and took years to accomplish what should have taken a lot less time and money.
When I look back now I can see how it could have been so much more fun and a lot easier and faster had I approached learning the acoustic guitar the right way.
My biggest mistake was to go the cheapest route by trying to do it myself and it’s the same mistake many people make today. Learning to play the guitar is not the easiest thing in the world and the acoustic guitar makes it even harder.
The best way to learn how to play an acoustic guitar and have success is to find someone who can relate to you and your problems, who has experience overcoming them, and who knows how to teach it to you.
Such a person will be able to guide you every step of the way and successfully show you how to play the acoustic guitar in the shortest amount of time and have fun doing it.
Find The Right Teacher To Help You Learn To Play The Acoustic Guitar
Finding a good guitar teacher is the key to your success learning to play the acoustic guitar. Here are some things you will want to look for in such a teacher:
- They will have training on how to teach and the best ones have training specific to teaching the guitar
- They specialize and only teach guitar and will have specific techniques and strategies to help you learn the acoustic guitar
- They can relate to you because they have experienced similar problems learning to play and will help you overcome them
- They will create a personal plan to help you reach your guitar playing needs at your own pace
- They will offer you flexible options to help fit learning to play the acoustic guitar into your already busy schedule
With the right teacher you can learn to overcome all of the problems you are already facing. If you have not faced any yet or have not yet even started, even better, you can avoid them.
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