There are lots of lessons on the internet that will teach you how to learn guitar. But why should you learn the guitar as opposed to any other instrument? If you’re considering taking up an instrument but aren’t sure whether to choose the bass, the guitar or the banjo, where do you start?
Well, I’m biased because I play the guitar. In my view it’s the best instrument to learn. The bass is boring, the drums are too noisy and bulky, and the banjo just aint sexy. There are many reasons to learn guitar and I’m going to share a few with you now.
This is a personal list and you may disagree with some of what I say, but this is my article so you can kiss my proverbial if you don’t like what I’ve got to say.
Reason to Choose the Guitar #1 – Guitars are Inexpensive
If you’re a struggling student with very little money then the fact that guitars can be bought fairly cheaply can be a real boon. Sure, you can spend hundreds of dollars – or even thousands – on buying a guitar, but I would say that if you’re just starting and want to learn the basics you don’t need to spend very much at all. In fact a perfectly good guitar can be picked up for as little as $200, even if you want to have the option to use it on stage at some point in the future. And you can get away with spending far less than that if all you’re after is a beginner’s instrument to see whether you like it or not. Heck, I got my first guitar for $10 from my housemate. It’s nothing fancy, just a cheap nylon strung acoustic, but I still use it sometimes and will be passing it on to one of my kids when they start learning.
If you think you need a really expensive guitar then think again. Slash started playing guitar on a piece of wood with a string stretched across it. A whilst you don’t have to go to such extremes, you really don’t need to spend much when you’re starting out either. Also, if you think that you could be better at guitar just by having more expensive equipment then stop kidding yourself. Eddie Van Halen would blow you away with what he could play even on your crappy old guitar; and your playing, I’m sorry to say, would not be all that much better on Eddie’s.
Reason to Choose the Guitar #2 – The Guitar is an Incredibly Versatile Instrument
Just take a minute to think about all the different musical genres that feature the guitar. You have classical of course, but you also have folk, blues, rock, heavy metal, pop, the list goes on and on. The guitar is right at home with all of these musical styles. And you should play different styles of music on your guitar because this will improve your frame of reference, your musical knowledge and ultimately you will be a better guitarist because of it.
Another aspect of the versatility of the guitar does not relate simply to the different musical styles it is capable of playing. This versatility also extends to how it can be played. You can play the guitar on its own, as an accompaniment to vocals, or you can play as part of a band, be it a large jazz band, a three-piece pop band or any other kind of ensemble for that matter.
Reason to Choose the Guitar #3 – It is Easy to Learn
The guitar is easy to learn. It may be difficult to master but you can get the basics fairly quickly and this means it is a very rewarding instrument to play. I think the fact that it has frets is one of the most important factors that makes it so easy to learn because you don’t need to have perfect pitch or even necessarily a good ear in order to be able to play a tune. This is in stark contrast to the violin or other fretless stringed instruments where the correct intonation is much harder to get right because there are no frets to guide your fingers. The presence of frets not only makes it easier to play notes accurately but it also simplifies the process of reading music. In order to be able to play piano or the violin, for example, you really have to be able to read music, which for many is a serious stumbling block that can hamper progress. If you want to play guitar and need to refer to some form of musical notation to remind you of the notes to play, you can use tablature which is very easy to learn and does not require many months of training to be able to interpret, unlike traditional musical notation.
So there we have my list of reasons why you should choose the guitar over any other instrument. If I’ve convinced you, then you should go to the guitar store right now and pick up an instrument in your price range. Or better still, try searching online because there are real bargains to be had on the internet. If you want more information about this simply follow the link to this website for a comprehensive buyer’s guide.
Once you’ve bought your guitar you’ll need to get some lessons and I might share some ideas on that in a future article. But in the meantime, happy playing!
It’s pretty amazing that these electronic book readers have only been around for a few years. If memory serves me correctly, the first Kindle came out near the end of 2007. So we’re currently round about the 4 year mark which is when we’re hoping to see the 4th generation reader.