Dec 09
16
I want to learn how to play the guitar, but do I have to take guitar lessons or does and help books work also?
All of that depends on you.
I, for one, was capable of teaching myself guitar. Without a teacher, I independently studied music and I am constantly playing, trying to learn new things. I have a passion for it. I’ve dedicated loads of time to it.
Books? Well, books like Guitar for Dummies and other assorted books aimed at the beginner never helped my cause. That doesn’t mean they won’t help you, I’m just saying. The books that helped me are tab books. Conveniently found at my local music store, I bought books that had note for note transcriptions of albums by my favorite artists. Then I studied them, simple as that, and they helped. Using these books, it helps if you can read sheet music, too. Not so much reading which note it is on the staff, but note durations, so that you can more clearly understand the timing. That’s the real trouble with looking up tabs online, is that it’s very hard to read into the timing, though it can be done if it’s a well written tab. I doubt I’ll ever see tabs as elegantly written online as the ones I found for Iron Maiden’s The Trooper. (Picture a tear dripping from my eye here, it was beautiful.)
Anyway, just because I didn’t need any lessons doesn’t mean you don’t. Like I said, it all depends on you.
