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learn guitar | play guitar | beginning
guitar
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How Long Does It
Take To Play Guitar?
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Learning
to play guitar is a process, and there is no finish
line. How long does it take to play guitar, is a question
students often ask their teacher. How long it takes to play the
guitar depends on what your definition of guitar playing
is!
The
last few decades has seen a remarkable growth in the
popularity of rock music and guitar playing has become pretty
attractive for many.
Today
the guitar is everywhere; a versatile instrument - adapting
itself to almost any kind of situation, Victimized by it's own
success, it has become something more than a musical instrument -
like the swastika before it, it has become the symbol of a social
revolution! The ultimate emblem of grooviness! It is now an
object unto itself!
Guitar
enthusiasts are so often blinded by the symbol that they
remain deaf to the world of musical wonders that lie beyond their
blinkered six-string field of interest.
Many
teenagers exist who aspire to become rock superstars, but
there is also a section who wants to learn guitar playing just
for sake of it. But many of them end up losing hope of learning
guitar since they don't find the best way to learn guitar.
How
long does it take to play guitar? If you can answer the
following questions and make these important distinctions you
will have a good idea.
QUESTION
ONE: How do you view the instrument?
Do you want to be (a) guitar owner, (b) guitar player, (c) a
musician who uses the guitar for musical expression?
Essentially there's three levels of involvement with the guitar:
1. Guitar owners - to qualify you need only to have enough funds
to purchase the instrument, for these people the guitar is simply
a toy, like a computer game, or fashion accessory. How long does
it take you to play the guitar if you're in this category? About
5-10 minutes max. The important thing here is to "be seen to be
playing the guitar"!
2. Guitar players - players in this category are often very
dedicated and speed many hours practicing their instrument.
Mostly self taught, they learn almost exclusively from guitar
tab, and their friends. How long does it take to play guitar in
this category?... these players understand it's a lifetime
journey.
3. Musicians who play guitar as their chosen instrument- players
in category two focus on guitar playing skills, whereas
level three players understand the whole scope of the musical
landscape. A good musician not only plays their instrument well,
they understand and can intelligently discuss all music.
These players:
(a) listen to all types of music
(b) read about all types of music
(c) study all types of music
How long does it take to play guitar in this category? Again,
it's a lifetime of hard work and discipline. What's the
difference between category two and category three?
Level two players must have their instrument in their hands to
communicate ideas, whereas, musicians who play guitar as their
chosen instrument know and can discuss, the qualities which make
Herb Ellis or Barney Kessel a great jazz player; why Duke
Ellington is a jazz innovator; Michel Legrand a great composer
and orchestrator. They know why good symphonies are good and bad
symphonies are bad; they know why good pop or country songs are
good (musically) and bad songs are bad.
QUESTION TWO: Are you internally motivated or externally
motivated?
Externally motivated players usually give up playing the guitar
once they realize that they are responsible for their progress.
these players quickly move on to the new 'hip' fad (only to give
up on that as soon as things get a bit challenging).
An obvious example of this type of externally motivated player
and their associated problems and disappointments is with the
recent popularity of computer games where people pretend to play
the guitar.
Despite PR claims from computer game companies like
Guitar Hero
that their guitar games improve the player's rhythm
and hand
dexterity, professional guitar teachers worldwide have reported that
Guitar Hero veterans have been disappointed when confronted with the
real-world requirements of hard work and delayed gratification. They
expect to jump into real guitar and learn it as quickly as they learned
the game, and they realize that they can't.
I'll assume if you have read this far you're more interested in
category two or three!
needless to say that only internally motivated players make it
into category two and three.
QUESTION THREE: What is the source of your information? common
knowledge or specialized knowledge?
Today it is not a question of information on any particular
subject, after all we live in the information age, don't we? To
accelerate your progress on the guitar and rapidly decrease the
time it takes you to play the guitar, what we need is specialized
knowledge to help us assemble the relevant knowledge to
achieve
our goals.
The first thing to understand is that learning guitar is
something that takes a long time. how long it takes to learn
depends on what you want to learn.
Learning guitar is hard work but it's really important to have
fun and have your guitar make cool sounds while you're learning
all the hard bits. The main thing you have to consider when
learning how to play guitar is who is teaching you how to play
guitar.
How long does it take to play guitar? It depends on what you want
to achieve.
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