Revolves

I was standing along with my friend who is very much interested in playing guitar. He’s still just “thinking” about it though. We were watching some local student bands perform.

There was a singer, and three guitarists (lead, bass, rythm) in each “band” or “team.” While everyone was marvelling at the superb music, I was observing the guitarists’ hands, and trying to figure out exactly what they were playing.

“That seems easy”, I said to my friend. “Nah, it looks tough”, he replied. Apparently, the guitarists were mostly playing only one chord/rythm quite repeatedly. And I assured my friend that he could play the guitar too.

Of course, he started talking about the dexterity one needs to have. According to him, even eternity is too little a time to learn guitar. Damn.

And you must be thinking what this has to do with your question of just how long it takes to learn guitar

Initially, guitar seems to be intimidating. You can’t form a single chord. Your hand hurts, and you have lost all the enthusiasm of learning.

This happens with most of the beginners. Remember, your hands are not yet used to the “stretching” guitar playing needs. You’re also not used to applying force with your fingertips. Your fingers don’t obey you, and just go to random places. They just don’t help you form the chord you want!

Well, that’s how everything begins. Believe me, it took me one week to play my first chord properly. By properly, I mean I was able to form the chord instantly and play it without accidently muting strings. When starting, you’d take a couple of seconds to get your finger position right, and hopefully play the chord right.

However, after you’ve done some stretchy chord right (like D or G), then the rest would be quite easy. You can just look at the chord diagram of a new chord, form the chord, and strum! You’ve played the chord!

Now comes the part of changing between chords. It could take upto a month (and more) to gain a good knack for chord changes. Initially, while changing chords, your hands would be in a lot of tension. But slowly, you’re fingers become calm, and you can easily switch between chords.

Within a few months, you should be able to play a lot of chords and switch between them. At the same time, you would have learned several strumming techniques and patterns. Also, you would have learned picking individual notes (although stuff like alternate picking still take a lot of practice).

Within around 2 to 3 months, you should be able to play some songs. And you’ve learned guitar at this point. What comes next is “mastery.” Even the most seasoned guitarists learn and practice new stuff. And that’s true with any profession.

What all this means is, you’d be able to play decent guitar within about 3 months of dedicated learning. However, your learning process never halts. You just keep on getting better and better. The problem with many amateur guitarists is that they give up too soon.

Start today, and you’ll be a good play within a couple of months from now. What are you waiting for?