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How long does it take to learn guitar

By Mike Hayes | December 10, 2009

For some it’s a life long love affair with the guitar, for others
it’s over to YouTube to learn a song in five minutes. How long it
takes is irrelevant, it’s more a question of how well do you want
to play the guitar.

How important is music to you? Is it something that you have
always wanted to do; if so do it well. There’s no point in doing
something if you don’t know what you’re doing.

To help decide how long it will take you to learn the guitar and
how much effort you are going to have to put into learning the
instrument I’ve created a simple test; It’s called the ‘passion
test’ and it goes like this …

Passion test: What is your level of passion for the guitar?

Take a blank piece of paper, write the numbers one to ten on the
left hand side of the page, then write in order of priority the
personal and professional roles, activities and interests that
make up your world.

Example

1. husband/wife

2. father/mother

3. golfer

4. accountant

5. etc

Feedback report: If guitar rates in the top five important
activities/interests in your life here’s the musical facts of
life.

(a) Guitar playing is a life time journey of discovery; it’s not
about the destination, it’s about the journey and how well you
traveled.

(b) You are going to need a well structured course and most
likely you would benefit from private lessons with a competent,
inspiring teacher.

(c) This player needs to remember: the two things to learn to
control are (a) distractions; (2) information overload.

(d) Reading music is essential for this player.

(e) Daily practice is a priority.

Summary: How long does it take? – your entire life.

If guitar playing is not in your top five don’t despair, you can
still become an good guitar player however your approach will be
less intense.

(a) Players in this group should allow approximately twelve to
eighteen months to achieve a reasonable standard of playing.

(b) A structured guitar course is recommended, private lessons
are optional.

(c) Generally practice sessions should be half hour to hour on a
regular basis three or four times a week.

Summary: How long does it take? 12 – 18 months.

If guitar playing is not in your top ten, stop reading this
immediately and head over to YouTube or download some TAB.

Players in this category aren’t serious about guitar so scanning
the Internet picking up snippets of information is their national
pass time.

Actually 75% of the guitar population are in this group, learning
a lick here and a chord there … they are also the most
confused, discouraged and disorganized group.

It’s a classic case of the blind leading the blind … yes, they
are going somewhere … around and around in circles and thanks
to today’s technology they’re going faster and faster.

And that’s the way it should be!

Summary: How long does it take? – about 5 minutes!

The big picture: If you are serious about learning the guitar
steer clear of the “fix-it-all-in-five-minutes” guitar courses;
anything worthwhile takes time – you already know that.

To be successful at guitar you need structure and order. Without
structure and order you can only have chaos.

Remember YOU are your own best teacher and always to have fun
playing the guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To
Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for
free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple
scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in
text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Tips | No Comments »

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