Guitar Chord

Avoiding Information Overload

Are you suffering from TMI? (Too Much Information)

There are literally thousands of resources for learning to play guitar. Beginning guitar players are being bombarded with information, opinions, learning methods, DVDs, you name it. Theres really way too much to choose from, so your progress stops because you dont know who to listen to.


What should you learn first?

Some guitar teachers advise you to learn notes, some think its chords, other think its songs, and still others think its technique. Heres how I approach teaching a beginning guitar student. Keep in mind that I dont engage in "cookie cutter" lessons where I teach the same way whether youre 8 years old or pushing 80.


There are things you should think about.

Even though youre just starting out, you should give some thought to what youre trying to do. For example, if you goal is to play and sing, you should probably start out by practicing chords. As soon as my students can play 4 or 5 chords I get them working on a song. Its a lot more fun to practice chords when they end up sounding like something. Dont buy a chord book with the intention of just memorizing all the chords. Unless you have a use for a give chord youre not likely to remember it.

Note reading, tabs, and chord charts.

While its easy to find tablature, or tabs, for songs, its still a good idea to learn at least a little about standard notation. Reading music is not as difficult as most people think it is, and there are lots of times when its more useful. Tabs are not standardized, so most of them dont indicate rhythm. To use a guitar tab youll need to have a recording of the song and preferably a way to slow it down. The program we use to slow songs down is: RiffMaster Pro. (Affiliate link.) The advantage to tab is that its a number system so its easier to read sometimes. Most songbooks come with the chords listed at the top of the 1st page and placed over the correct words.

Find yourself a teacher, at least in the beginning.

A professional, experienced teacher can help you sort through the choices available as well as answer questions. One of the problems with teaching yourself to play guitar is that it can take a long time to learn what a teacher could show you in a few minutes.

The main thing is to get started doing something!

After reading this post, Im hoping youre ready to get started. Another negative from too much information is not knowing where to start, and putting off learning the guitar completely. Once youre on your way to playing you can make educated decisions about what to learn and in what order.

Any questions or comments? Post them below this article and Ill be happy to reply to them.