I took 8 lessons this summer so I know some basic stuff. The lessons were getting quite pricey, so I decided to drop them. =(

I am really passionate about learning and I was wondering if anyone has any experience on learning the guitar on their own. Are there any useful websites? Is it possible to learn it on your own? Would I be gaining more from my private lessons with an actual teacher?

Its quiet possible to learn guitar on your own, I haven’t had a lesson in my life, yet I am an avid guitar player. Besides the basics are sometimes the hardest parts to learn, which you have already covered.

Hears a list of some useful site and such…
1. Youtube, it has lots of instructional videos on how to play songs and various techniques for guitar.
2. 911tabs.com, it is a great web site that provides links to the best quality tabs of whatever song you are looking for.
3. GuitarPro or Tuxguitar, both are programs that you can input tabs into and hear the play back. They both include other instruments as well so you can play along with drums and such. Tuxguitar is free!
4. Look up the user rockongoodpeople on youtube, they have tons of great instructional videos on various songs and techniques and styles.

E-major is a very common key for guitar oriented songs. Many blues songs are written in this key and a lot of riffs can also be found. We will now explore some of the exciting open chords you will find in this key!

We will start this guitar lesson by playing the most common E-major chord:

E: 0/6 2/5 2/4 1/3 0/2 0/1

What type of tab notation is this?

I use this type of guitar tablature notation because the more common tablature staffs are sometimes displayed incorrectly on article sites.

The first number indicates the fret to press down. The number after the slash shows which string to play. For example, 2/5 means: Press down the second fret on string five.

This E-major chord can be slided to various frets on the guitar creating a lot of nice sounding chords.

In order not to complicate this guitar lesson too much I will use a very easy notation only showing which fret to put your left index finger on with the assumption that you use the most common left hand fingering for this chord.

Here you have the fingering I am referring to:

Index finger on 1/3
Ring finger on 2/4
Middle finger on 2/5

The other notes in the chord are on open strings so by sliding the chord we will now create a lot of different guitar chord progressions that can be used as intros to songs or in other ways.

We will call the E-major chord previously explained for I because I is the roman numeral for one and the index finger is on fret one in this normal E-major position.

If we slide the chord up so that we preserve the chord shape and place the index finger on fret 4 we will call the chord IV because this is the roman numeral 4 and roman numerals are often used to indicate positions on the guitar.

This sliding will result in a chord sounding like a mix between G-major and E-minor actually Em7.

We will now slide the chord up to position VI and we will get a new nice chord sounding like A-major.

Time for our first chord progression:

I / / / IV / / / VI / / / I / / /

We will now add just one more chord by sliding the E-major chord up to the eigth position notated VIII. It is a B-major chord with some spices added.

Time for a new guitar chord progression:

I / / / IV / / / VI / / / VIII / / /

Of course there are many other possibilities. You might have come up with other ones already. We will now try a flamenco flavoured chord progression. We will use the F-major chord with some added notes.

We will find this special F-major chord by sliding up the E-major chord just one fret. We will notate this chord position as II.

Time to listen to the flamenco progression:

I / / / II / / / IV / / / II / / / I

Try a rassgueado

Rasgueado is a strumming technique that can be used in conjunction with the previous chords.

Rasgueado generally uses only one digit (finger, thumb, etc) for each strum; this means that multiple strums can be done more quickly than usual by using multiple digits in quick succession.

Let us make a fist with the right hand fingers. Try to make one finger at a time explode on the strings. For example in the order pinky, ring finger, middle finger and index.

There are two remaining progressions for you to explore. The first one with the E-major shape moved to the eleventh position meaning as you already know that the left hand index finger presses down fret eleven. This will result in a D-major chord with some flavours.

Here is the guitar progression:

I / / / XI / / / VI / / / VIII / / /

In the next progression we will use a version of the F#7 chord by sliding the E-major up to the third position:

I / / / III / / / VI / / / VIII / / /

These are some of the exciting guitar chords you will find in the key of E. This key really gives many opportunities for the inventive guitarist to find interesting chord changes!

Peter Edvinsson
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-chords-open-chord-progressions-in-the-key-of-e-120973.html

I don’t even play guitar, I’m just using it because I’m making a song into an orchestra piece and I somehow made the play button, stop button, etc. disappear and this program is too big and confusing to be able to figure out on my own.
Wow what a waste, I just figured out how to make the toolbar re-appear DX

there goes your 5 points hahahahahahaha

How much would you have to practice? 2/3 hours a day?

Yup give it up. Your too old to learn anything at this point.

Put on your 7Eleven apron and face the rest of your life!

In this world with all kinds of styles of music and bands, finding someone to teach you what you really dream of playing is kind of tough. The problem is finding a teacher who’ll give you a good guitar lesson that doesn’t include all the stuff that really doesn’t matter when it comes down to just playing a song.

You can practice for many hours to replicate your favorite guitar player playing style, but when you have the proper instruction you have the path to get to the point of playing fluently you will be able to copy the style and get it down.

Some play fast and narrow and others play wide and slow, this is how you learn how to use different vibrato techniques, practice and more practice. Once you’ve achieved a basic understanding of the correct notes and sounds you are ready to start learning how to tune by ear. The traditional way of learning guitar is by taking private lessons from a guitar teacher. The number of choices is overwhelming, ranging from distance instruction learning or online lessons. Today there are many options to learn how to play instruments whether you like rock, jazz, rock or classical music, these are just a few of the many types of music.

The key to mastering the guitar successfully is in making the chord changes which will help in playing the instrument. They are the C major chord, G major chord, and the D major chord. You should spend hours practicing chords and scales forms and all the while making sure that each note sounds perfect.

But you will find that if you use these simple scale forms in conjunction with an appropriate chord progression this will sound good more often. A chord progression based on the A minor chord will sound good with A minor pentatonic and a C major chord will sound good with C major scale.

When learning how to play the guitar, often many people form and create bad habits which does not help with the playing of the guitar, they need to work twice as hard to switch to good habits and get back on track.. These bad habits are easy to overcome once the person realizes that he has them and becomes familiar with the proper way to play the guitar.

You know the saying, practice makes perfect. But it is something you should try to incorporate into your practice as regularly as possible if you want to see a real improvement in the solos and melodies you make on guitar.

David Marc Fishman
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/learning-the-guitar-81887.html