How to Become a Good Guitarist Without Taking Lessons

It's possible to become a good guitarist without taking lessons. I know, because I've been playing guitar for over fifteen years now and have become rather proficient at it, and I did it without the benefit of lessons.

This article is about how I did it, and how you can too, if you really want too.

Many guitar players begin when they're relatively young. Not me. I didn't learn to play in high-school, or college, though, I really wanted too. I'm not sure what stopped me. I guess I just never thought I had it in me. It wasn't until some years later, when someone bought me a guitar as sort of a gag gift, that I really took learning to play very seriously.

The first hurdle, with me, as with most anyone that picks up a guitar, was getting my fingers used to pressing the strings down against the fret board. For anyone that's ever tried, you know it can get pretty painful, pretty quickly. I also wasn't willing to shell out any cash for lessons, so instead, I bought a couple of Mel Bay, intro to guitar books. In those books I learned how to form basic guitar chords and how to do some simple strumming. Nowadays, you can find pretty much everything you need on the Internet. Some of it is free, such as chord charts, some of it costs a little bit. I've posted some links at the end of this article to get you going. At any rate, in the beginning, that's all you'll really need..

It became clear after a couple of weeks, at least to me, that the reason people usually sign up for guitar lessons, is because they need someone to yell at them if they don't practice. Since I really wanted to learn to play, I found I didn't need someone to yell at me to make me practice. Plus, I discovered that not everything about learning to play guitar, is practice. Some of it can be about simply enjoying the sounds you can make with a guitar. If you think you might be someone that can get things done without someone yelling at you, than I suggest you try learning without an instructor.