The guitar is the single most popular instrument in the world. It is played by millions of people in all countries, by all races, of all religions. On top of the millions who play it already, there are probably 10x more who want to learn the guitar, and are seeking the best beginner guitar lessons.
As with all popular commodities and services, the Internet has tons of guitar lessons for beginners, both free and fee-based.
Obviously, free lessons won't be as high quality nor as structured as the paying tutorials, but that's another story.
The purpose of this post is to answer an interesting question that I get very often, specifically, whether you can learn guitar through online lessons, or not.
To answer this question, lets first look at the classical alternative to learning online:
- Learning from beginner guitar learning books (the absolute worst option, since you can't learn to play music by reading about it...)
- Learning from a private teacher
Beginner Guitar Lessons from a Private Teacher
When you hire an experienced private teacher, you'll most likely have 1-2 sessions per week, each lasting 1 hour. The teacher will try to give you as much info as he/she can in a relatively short amount of time, and eventually, it will be up to YOU to practice and make your newfound knowledge your own.
What About Online Guitar Lessons?
Would you have guessed that online guitar teachers (such as myself), are private guitar teachers as well? Yep, that's how we know what to tell you. In fact, since our video lessons are edited, you only get the best stuff. No mistakes, no fluff, just well-structured material to help you advance.
Now a private live teacher will try to convey his/her knowledge in a structured manner as well, but the amount of info you need to receive cannot be squeezed into 2 hours per week.
And of course, as with private teachers, it will eventually be up to YOU to practice the things you learn, absorb them, and make them your own.
The Secret to Learning Guitar?!
There is only 1 way to learn to play guitar. There are no secrets really, it's all very straightforward. This is the way Slash, Eric Clapton, BB King, SRV, and all other guitarists learned guitar. It is an acquired skill for everyone, even the stars. Nobody is born with it. So, what is the "secret"?
PRACTICE...PRACTICE...PRACTICE........
This is the only secret, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You can buy the best guitars, hire 5 teachers, buy the best guitar lesson DVD courses, but in the end, if you don't practice, you won't advance at all. Period.
And did you know that the stars, who have been playing all their lives, still practice 2-3 hours per day? Yep, it's absolutely true. I have several friends who have been playing for 30+ years, they are amazing guitarists, and they still practice this much, sometimes as much as 5 hours per day on the weekends.
Food for thought? You bet it is.
The moral of the story is that nowadays, the beginner guitar lessons you find online can absolutely teach you to play guitar. It will even be much cheaper (and I'm talking $1,000 in the long run), and you'll get more value out of online courses since you'll be able to watch them over at any time and refer back to them if you forget something or get stuck.
But ultimately, learning the guitar is contingent on one thing. How much you practice.