by Roger Chartier:
There are a few web based guitar lessons that you can use to become a good musician.
I am going to talk about the different choices for this.
The internet has a ton of valuable choices to help you along.
You can learn to correct habits that plague you, and learn to play things that you never dreamed possible.
This will cost money. Not a bad way to start because you can save time by learning proper habits.
You can ask questions, and in addition you can watch videos that give excellent instruction.
You can buy DVD courses that offer " How to Play Guitar" instructions with lessons planned out in order of difficulty. Some are much better than others.
You can try
web based and online guitar course of study, and download guitar lessons
Pros and cons.
Pros:
I'd say that learning to read music is a very good idea.
Understanding music theory will give you a more intuitive way to play and improvise.
If you want to play by ear, and most musicians can, then knowing music theory and having the ability to play by ear gives you far more of a useful skill set than just trying to figure out a song by ear. Theory is a great tool for improvisation.
In a professional setting working with other musicians, understanding at least, basic music theory is important.
Cons: none
The way that musicians communicate is by using the language of chord structure and modes and scales. Example: "Play that G chord with an added 5th on the second string". This is a different chord inversion or structure than another might be.
They don't all sound the same so the effect of using the 5th on the second string gives a G chord a different sound that if you played a 3rd using the second string. So learn to play for your self but also with others.
There is a lot of fun in sitting in with other musicians, and from experience I can say that it really helps with the inspiration to practice. It helps by giving a person a goal oriented approach to study.
When you want to be sure that you can show off your latest lick or chord structure of a song, you will put more effort into practice because your ego will drive you to do better.
Since you have an interest in music, here are a couple of freebies for you.
Free Printable Blank Sheet Music Page. Print as many sheets of this staff paper as you need.
Free Printable Musical Instrument Bill Of Sale. They are nice DPF files and very useful.
I have been a professional musician since 1965. See my pictures on this page. Yep, I'm an old man who loves to write web based articles on something I know about. When I first started out there was no internet, and we had to do it, "old style" using the book method of learning. I also had teachers who used their own curriculum.
Some people try to learn by themselves.
You spend ten times the effort if you don't use some web based instruction, or DVD's, or an instructor.
The more time you put into it the faster you will progress.
Anecdote:
I once had a student who was a friend of mine, and because we were young and we had the opportunity to be a little free with our time, we sat together with guitars. We had paper and pen in hand, and spent nearly 18 hours straight just playing and teaching/learning without stopping, except for what was necessary.
In the end, our fingers were raw. So we had to stop. I taught him a lot of things and corrected some of his bad habits. In the end, he realized that it isn't how many years you have been playing but how much time you actually put into it.
