Is it hard to teach myself guitar?
I am a 15 year old kid that wants to teach myself guitar. I am going to play mostly contemporary with maybe a little bit of classical. I already play the piano and violin pretty well so I will not have any problem with reading the music nor rhythm. Also, what kind of guitar and method book will be sufficient for a beginner like me?
The guitar is one of the easier instruments to learn on your own, which I think accounts for some of its popularity. If you already play an instrument (or several) you can transfer what you’ve learned of music theory.
Some ‘beginner’ guitars are really crappy, almost impossible to play. If you didn’t know how to play already, you might think it was you. So it’s a good idea to bring along someone who plays when you buy your first guitar. There are some really good deals on EBay, and other online sources, and I wonder how people could buy a musical instrument that they never played. I guess the idea is you can return it if you don’t like it.
Most guitar players begin with chords. People think of the guitar as being for accompanying singing, so they play chords and sing, or play ‘rhythm guitar’ behind other instruments. But if you take lessons they teach you notes first, scales and melodies. There are so many books out there today I can’t recommend one, but if you look you’ll see, and you’ll probably buy several.
The hardest thing about getting started with guitar is you have to build up strength in your left hand to push down the strings. At first it just gets really painful after about 10 minutes, so you can’t practice longer than that, though you can do that several times a day. Lots of beginner guitarists have told me they thought there must be something wrong with their hands. So you just have to stick with it. If it’s a steel string guitar you will also build up callouses on your fingertips.
The guitar is one of the easier instruments to learn on your own, which I think accounts for some of its popularity. If you already play an instrument (or several) you can transfer what you’ve learned of music theory.
Some ‘beginner’ guitars are really crappy, almost impossible to play. If you didn’t know how to play already, you might think it was you. So it’s a good idea to bring along someone who plays when you buy your first guitar. There are some really good deals on EBay, and other online sources, and I wonder how people could buy a musical instrument that they never played. I guess the idea is you can return it if you don’t like it.
Most guitar players begin with chords. People think of the guitar as being for accompanying singing, so they play chords and sing, or play ‘rhythm guitar’ behind other instruments. But if you take lessons they teach you notes first, scales and melodies. There are so many books out there today I can’t recommend one, but if you look you’ll see, and you’ll probably buy several.
The hardest thing about getting started with guitar is you have to build up strength in your left hand to push down the strings. At first it just gets really painful after about 10 minutes, so you can’t practice longer than that, though you can do that several times a day. Lots of beginner guitarists have told me they thought there must be something wrong with their hands. So you just have to stick with it. If it’s a steel string guitar you will also build up callouses on your fingertips.
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What he said above ^^ is totally true!
i would advise getting a guitar for beginers book to start with. This plus the interent should give to the basics. You should be fine with learning chords quickly as you already play 2 instruments. And since you play the violin, it shouldnt hurt your fingers too much when playing with your left hand. Learning the basic chords means you can play loads of well known songs. It isnt that hard to teach urself guitar, with a bit of practice you will be playing like a pro in no time 
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