What's the fastest way to get good at guitar?

So you've just bought a guitar and you want to know the best way to speedrun your progress to be a master guitarist. How can you get good at guitar as fast as possible?

Here's some tips.

Cool looking guitar teacher teaching a young boy how to play guitar

1. Learn scales.

Scales are the building blocks of all other parts of western music. They are absolutely foundational if you want to learn your chords, melodies to your favourite songs, how to solo, really anything you'd like to play. Here's a cheat list for the key scales to learn to get yourself started on guitar

- the C major scale in first position

- the A minor scale in first position

- the Blues and pentatonic minor scales in any other position than first (they're almost identical)

- the G major scale in any position other than first

By learning these you will know the basics of how to play 80 - 90% of any music you want to learn. That's really no exaggeration either. If the idea of learning scales leaves you scratching your head, this next tip will help you out:

2. Get a guitar teacher

If you want to learn a skill, it makes sense to go to someone who has done it and taught it a lot. Guitar teachers can identify your weak spots and teach you exactly what you need to learn.

Think of it this way: imagine you were trying to get to an amazing mountain vista, but to get there you had to trek through a series of winding cave tunnels. If you value your sanity, you would likely get a guide to take your there, or at the very least a map.

Guitar is a bit like that: if you want to reach the summit, you have to navigate some pretty twisty, windy burrows to get there. If you don't want to get lost (read: not know what to do and give up in frustration) you want someone to show you the way.

Guitar teachers can also keep you accountable. A good teacher will be checking in to make sure you've been practicing. Don't we all need a coach sometimes to keep us on track and trying to get to the goal? If you're interested in getting lessons, get in touch with us here.

3. Learn your basic chord shapes:

A guitar chord, simply put, is anytime you play multiple strings on the guitar at the same time. There are surprisingly few of these that you need to learn to play most pop and rock songs at a basic level. These are, in order of difficulty/usefulness:

- E minor

- A minor

- C major

- G major

-D major

There are a few more but these will see you through the vast majority of songs, provided they are played in the right key.

And that's about it! Learning a few scales, some chords and then getting help from a guitar teacher are some great ways to shore up your guitar ability very quickly. Good luck!

Is it better to start on acoustic or electric guitar?

When people start playing guitar they often wonder whether it's better to start on the acoustic or electric. Is there much difference in how you play them? Should you start one and then transition to the other?

Like most things, it really goes back to your goals. Why are you learning guitar in the first place? If your goal is to be able to shred like Eddie Van Halen or play in hard rock band then you may want to go right to the electric guitar.

If dead set on lazily strumming Jack Johnson songs in the shade of a palm tree, sipping from a coconut then a nice Taylor acoustic is probably right up your alley.

Realistically though, these are usually edge cases. Many people, (I'd actually argue most) people simply want to start learning and see where it goes. And that is totally fine. If that sounds like you, I'd recommend starting on a simple, classical acoustic guitar. What is a classical guitar? They look like this picture right here. You've probably one before. They're kind of the generic starter guitar and

for good reason.

A classical acoustic guitar has strings made from nylon (originally they were made

from catgut which is pretty close to what it sounds like) which are softer than the

steel strings than the steel strings that you usually find on electric guitars. This

means your fingers going to have an easier time playing than you might have

on and electric guitar. You'll still get callouses but it's a gentler learning curve

than the electric.

Additionally, classical guitars have a wider neck than electrics. Why is this

helpful you ask? Well, a wider neck means more space between the strings

and that extra space means less chance of flubbing your strings by having

your fingers resting over them and muting the sound.

Finally, acoustics are pretty cheap and don't require any external gear like amps, effects pedals and leads. Brand new they go from around $100 to $250 and second hand even less than that so if you're just looking to dip your toe in the water of guitar without shelling out big bucks just to get started an acoustic might be the way to go.

There are drawbacks to learning on an acoustic guitar of course. Obviously, an electric guitar has the capacity to make a lot more noise - both volume wise and in variety of sounds made so if you're looking to learn a certain style - metal or hard rock for example - an acoustic classical guitar just may not cut it. But if you were to ask me point blank what's the easiest to start on electric or acoustic, I'll recommend the acoustic every time

April 11, 2024

How Long Does It Take To Get Good On Guitar?

Often one of the first questions I'm asked as a guitar

teacher is, "how long until I can play guitar?" Without

getting too beard-strokey about it, we really have to

ask what you mean by "play guitar"?

Do you mean good enough to strum a few chords in

your room?

Do you mean being able to perform onstage with a

band. Do you mean playing long intricate progressive guitar passages with flawless precision? All of these are a version of "playing guitar."

A more helpful frame to look at this is "what do the stages of playing guitar look like?" That I can help you with!

1 to 3 weeks:

This is when you have just started guitar. You've got your guitar, unwrapped and you're strumming away or at least trying to. You do much yet but you're excited and you are practicing hard.

3 weeks to 3 months:

You discover through this time that guitar is actually pretty tough. Your fingers hurt, your back gets sore from sitting with the guitar and the instrument isn't making the sort of sounds you expected of it. You begin to doubt whether guitar is actually for you after all.

3 months to 6 months:

You might find yourself really struggling at this point. Yeah, you can play some stuff (probably) but it never sounds quite right. All your practice doesn't seem to be really getting you anywhere. This is what's known as the "Valley of Despair." You're out of the honeymoon phase but are yet to see any real, tangible progress. Many (actually most players players) quit at this point. Which is a

shame because:

6 months to a year:

Most guitar players (especially if they have a quality teacher) will have a breakthrough by this point. Your strumming comes together and you can change fluently between at least some of the chords. The scales are starting to make more sense to you and you can

improvise at a basic level. Some of the songs your trying to play are actually sounding pretty good! Now you can play some stuff and that feels great.

1 year to 3 years:

This is where most guitarists will start to specialise. You might go into blues rock, or start to learn jazz voicings. Maybe you want to be a metal guitarist. All the things that you heard that made you want to pick up the guitar in the first place are becoming available to you. You're not perfectly proficient yet, but you can see where things are going.

3 to 5 years:

By this time, if you've been practicing diligently, you can likely play anything you set your mind to. Yes, there might be some crazy-fast players with licks that are beyond you but generally, given enough time and instruction, you can figure it out.

That's about the shape of most people's guitar journey. Bear in mind, this isn't an exact science. Some people will be able to play full songs with chords singing within just a few weeks - generally those who have previous experience with instruments. Others, particularly if you're in your 50's or over, will take a little more time to get there. This is totally fine and normal.

I can promise you, getting a teacher will decrease the time it takes you to learn and also minimize any bad habits which might hold you back long term. If you're interested in lessons, click here and get in contact.

Girl playing guitar and singing into a microphone

Are Guitar Lessons Worth It?

A boy holding a classical guitar and smiling

Guitar teaching technology has come a long way in recent years. You can pretty much find any chord, scale, lick, riff, arpeggio, pattern, or other guitar technique you could ever dream of on YouTube. And apps like Fender Play and Yousician are making self-learning easier than ever. So why would you want to pay to get lessons for a guitar teacher?

It's a great question, and one I have a pretty good answer for. There are actually three reasons why guitar lessons from a real life teacher are superior:

1. Structure.

2.Feedback.

3. Accountability.

Let's tackle them one by one.

First, structure. Have you ever gone to a YouTube video trying to learn something on guitar and the YouTuber starts talking about something that you have no idea about, or worse, starts doing things with his fingers that seem like gymnastics? This is what we call the 'ability threshold'. Most guitarists run up against it pretty quickly when they first start trying to learn songs.

You say "I wanna learn 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana!" and so you look it up. But almost straight away something is wrong. The chords the guy is playing are really hard, your fingers don't stretch that far! And he's changing between them so quickly, so that even when they're slowed down you can't hope to reach it in time. And the strumming pattern? Forget about it ...

You've hit your ability threshold. That is, the song you're trying to do is more advanced than the level you can play at. This is totally normal and actually necessary but when you try and do it, you just feel like a failure. What a good teacher can do for you, is set out a course (ideally, using a holistic structure like the G4 Guitar Method so you don't get any blind spots) and give you a realistic timeline for when and how to play the song. That's what structure is: setting things out in front of you in a simple and easy to follow that you can make your way down at a reasonable pace and feel a sense of progressive accomplishment instead of just bashing your head against the brick wall of a power chord again and again.

This brings me to my second point. If you start trying to learn things that are too advanced for you -- and how would you know the difference? -- you are inevitably going to pick up bad habits. It's a misconception that people who have learnt guitar by themselves for a few years are necessarily better off when they come to a teacher. Often times, it's preferable teach someone who has never learnt before because they have zero bad habits to unlearn.

For example, I learnt to play with my fingers in the classical style, which was fine in and of itself. But when it came time to use a pick to play some of my favourite songs, I found I had been playing in a way that made it really hard to learn with a pick. Eventually, I got there, but it took years! Had I a teacher show me that technique early it would have saved me a bunch of time. The worst offenders are the bad habits you might not even know you have. Something as simple as holding the guitar incorrectly can set you up to have a tough time down the road so its best to cut those bad habits before they even begin.

The final point is possibly the most important. Accountability. This is true of both young kids and full-grown adults. Really what a teacher does for you is act as a coach. They can motivate you when you feel down and hype you up when you do something incredible like learning a new song. Many people think of a guitar as a relaxing hobby that they can do in the evening to wind down, and it definitely gets there. First, though, most people have to go through what we call the Valley of Despair.

When you start, you're full of hope about learning guitar. It's going to be so much fun, all your friends will be impressed and it will be a cool thing to whip out at parties. Very quickly, you realise it's not all sunshine and roses: sore fingers, difficult, boring scale patterns, backaches and the worst thing of all: "I'll do it later" syndrome.

We've done the numbers and the vast majority of people quit before the six-month mark. Is it because they're bad and the guitar is too hard for them? Of course not. A lot of the time, they just needed a cheerleader on the sidelines, rooting for them and letting them know, hey, it's not too far to the next milestone. You can do it! That is the power of accountability.

A good teacher can also show you how to track your progress and because what gets measured gets managed, this will increase the practice (read: progress) you're doing and will get you to your goal of playing that song quicker.

So is learning with a guitar teacher ancient history? Far from it. Learning with a teacher will put you on the right track, make sure you don't pick up any nasty progress-halting bad habits and ensure you stick to your practice so you can achieve your goals.

If you're interested in getting personal instruction and coaching, online or in-person feel free to contact us at g4guitarashfield@gmail.com or call on 0493 641 529.

Is My Child To Young To Learn An Instrument?

Many parents want their child to learn an instrument. Countless studies have shown the advantages of kids learning music early and we all know parents who play Mozart to their children as early as the second trimester.

While I can't speak to the advantage of pre-natal musical music, I do have some experience with the value of exposing children to music outside the womb! In my experience, it's never too early to introduce kids to music. There's no need to be picky with genre either. Rock, metal, classical, hip-hop: it's all fair game. Every genre of music is going to have complex rhythmic and harmonic content that is going to feed little brains, and the more variety the better. There's even the 'Raised On' playlist series that feature non-explicit music to play around your kids.

As for learning an instrument itself, that process is a little more involved. Theoretically, you can start teaching kids as young as two, however, this can be challenging. Running a guitar school, I wouldn't teach children any younger than 4. The first thing for parents of budding musical prodigies to remember is that it is a long process but a worthwhile one. Don't expect to see immediate results in terms of your son or daughter being able to actually play instruments: they will definitely improve musically but for the most part, their fine motor skills and rhythmic acuity are still developing so full songs might be a stretch.

This isn't to say that there isn't an advantage of teaching kids early. Musical skills developed at a young age will ensure a sense of fluidity and familiarity with musical instruments that some older students can never achieve. Without fail, if a guitar student of mine demonstrated a natural yin for playing, they will inevitably have spent some time on another instrument when they were younger. Think of it more like putting money into a piggy bank - you can't see or access it right now but it's growing slowly but surely!

Parents should understand that their involvement in the early stages of their child's musical journey is crucial. In my experience, kids rarely develop the capacity for sticking to an instrument until the age of 11 or 12, so it's key for parents to display some resilience to the face of complaining about practice. The hard truth is most young kids (upward of 4 out of 5) will seek to stop playing once they realise the effort that goes into it. The idea that a child will "want to play by themselves" is largely a myth. Most parents will need to dedicate time to sitting down with their child and teaching them. It's in fact, a perfect opportunity to learn an instrument yourself!

It's really never to early to start the process of getting to grips with music, even if that's just clapping along to the Wiggles, however, in terms of actively learning an instrument, four is probably a good starting point for most parents. Remember, a lot of the motivation will come from you, as well as the teacher, so be prepared for some tough times, but also some incredibly rewarding times with your child.

Is Ukulele a Good First Instrument?

Many parents ask me about how to pick "the right instrument" for their child to start learning. This is not without merit: choosing a difficult or awkwardly sized instrument can leave children frustrated and parents exhausted, neither wanting to touch an instrument for years.

As a guitar teacher of 17 years, I can provide some guidance here. The guitar and piano are both strong choices for a starting instrument. They both cover the entire pitch range and are polyphonic (that's "plays more than one note at the same time," if you're not a music nerd.) However, I think my definitive choice for the budding rockstar would have to be the ukulele. It's got a lot going for it:

1. It's small and lightweight, and easy for little hands to get around. Bigger instruments like a piano, certain brass instruments and even full-sized guitars can be big and bulky. That bulkiness can make it hard for young kids to get a grip on them. The number of times I've seen a child come in with a full-sized steel string guitar and the darn thing just looked like a double bass next to them ... not an ideal way to start. The ukulele on the other thing is a sprightly little thing that even a two-year-old can comfortably their hands around.

2. It's versatile. Despite its small size, you can play pretty much any basic chord shape on ukulele. Virtually any Top 40 or rock song can be pretty easily accommodated by those four strings and the chord shapes are deceptively simple. Many only require a single finger.

3. The nylon strings are easy on the fingers. Inevitably, the first thing students learning the guitar complain about - particularly if they're learning on a steel string guitar - is how the strings hurt their fingers. With piano, achy hands from playing for too long are a common complaint. Not so with a uke: the skinny nylon strings are easy on little fingers.

4. They're inexpensive. No parent wants to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on an instrument only for it to wind up in the cupboard underneath the stairs. Fortunately, the entry point for ukuleles is very low: you can get a small, perfectly good ukulele for less than $15! That's bang for buck.

5. It's a great "gateway instrument" to the acoustic, electric or bass guitar. Functionally, the guitar and the ukulele share the four lower strings (this isn't technically true but it's close enough for our purposes.) Once a child has learned some basic chords on the ukulele, they've got a great foundation to transition to the guitar, or actually any other instrument since a lot of the basics are universal, especially rhythm and pitch recognition - key skills.