It’s very much possible to learn the guitar all by yourself. Rather you are wasting your time by thinking whether you should choose to try or not. It takes a lot of time and small fractions of time which you put into making decisions could otherwise be put into practicing and you might have been a player at least some level now. I am a self-taught guitarist myself and trust me with the passage of time I ended up learning more than I could possible imagine. Just follow these instructions or experiences and choose to act because in music it will never go unrewarded.
1. Listen to songs:
The most important and mother of all things. The only reason why you should choose to play guitar is because you once heard a song and it caught your mind like never before. Then you heard it heard it till the whole song was trapped in your sub conscious and now you search for more songs and diversify your taste. You will feel it naturally, you will take out time alone and simply listen to music. If you are not listening to music or not will to listen music then don’t choose to play the guitar because you will simply fail. Your wish to play guitar was out of style in such a case and not for the love of music. And it’s only after very intent hearing your brain can process melodies and your biological clock will tick and you will know what you playing later is correct or not. Also keep a very honest taste of music and only listen to what you like and never listen out of compulsion. And listen intently not on your way to college with ear phones plugged in. That’s not listening at all.
2. Keep yourself motivated:
Patience is the Key. You need to practice as if it would take eternity for you to learn to play. So just remember that no matter how much time it might take, one day it will happen and you won’t even know it. So in the meanwhile listen and just dream as if you were playing on the stage itself. Listen to some glamorous guitarists like Slash and tracks from Guns n Roses (sweet child of mine, the mother of all tracks), Enter Sandman by Metallica, Lazy by Deep Purple (and every track of deep purple, the guitarist is a guitar god) and Voodoo Child by Stevie Ray Vaughan live. Also keep some easy songs in your mind which are more into vocals and consists of only 2 or 3 chords because they sound nice and prove nice building blocks. Meanwhile, in the real life choose think of a girl from your school or college who is a million miles out of your league and just notice at times the fact that she never notices you even if you walk around sticking a gun to your head. And then at night read about the romantic exploits of great guitarists and rockstars. Now practice.
3. Practice the right thing:
Self-taught players or learners are often disgusted because they put efforts into the very wrong techniques and think of themselves as some accomplished players. It’s very probable and likely that you might practice the wrong patterns in the wrong ways and acquire more than wrong convictions of scales and pitches. Go to youtube and listen to the lectures of the tutors very intently. Practice scales and learn them in the correct FINGER PATTERN and the correct FINGER PATTER for chords. Remember the first stage is the most difficult stage. Acquire that and the rest is over. Keep your guitar out of your guitar bag and instead of practicing an hour or 30 minutes in a stretch practice 5 to 10 minutes a good number of times in a day. And instead of practicing heavy practice a little less but regularly. Practice slow and don’t try to practice or play how those people on stage practice.
4.Downlaod guitar pro and “Lickbyneck” lessons:
You can get chords of Bollywood songs in the internet but guitar pro is a great software where almost all songs from the west can be put to post mortem and you can learn the complex solos and tunes note by note. You can slow them to the least possible and practice them exactly the artist played it. Lickbyneck is another great application but its finger style and a bit complex. Take my advice, try not to figure out anything whats happening and just blindly try to imitate the positions displayed or simply look at the fretboard on display and study the movements with the tune. But remember playing tunes never comprises as practice. Practice the basics every time because if you can master them, the tunes will come by itself. Of course spelling a tune by yourself takes time to aquire.
Most Important Drill to practice:
Scales are everything. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ne Sa. Then practice this way: Sa re Ga ma, Re ga ma pa, Ga ma pa dha, ma pa dha ne, pa dha ne sa. And then reverse. Such drills whether in four notes or 2 notes or whatever notes is the mother of all music and instrument playing. Practice this honestly and then shoot me if you are not content with yourself after six months.
(important tip : try to avoid telling people that you are self taught)
