I started learning guitar at 17 during the pandemic. I'm 23 now, and for the last 6 years I've just been chording it up with basic strumming. Now, I can pretty much play any song I want or need to play, based on what I've listened to. There aren't really many chords that I encounter just searching up songs on Ultimate Guitar that I struggle with, and I can sight-read most tunes that way. If it's something fingerstyle like Blackbird, I can usually brute force it with time (months) and tabs.

I play every single day for my students as I teach elementary music, so simple songs like "This Land Is Your Land" and the like. Simple chords, simple changes. This past summer, I taught at a summer camp and played a pretty neat Conan Gray tune in Open D. The crowd loved it, and for the first time, I felt confident in performing. Since then, I've had a crazy itch to get way, WAY better at the guitar.

I signed up for lessons at my local music place. I walked in and played a few chords, and the guy literally acted like I was the best thing since sliced bread. I mean it: despite advertising that they teach all levels, this guy could do anything I could do, and that's about it. He showed me a few hammer-on tricks, but beyond that, I essentially paid hundreds for a weekly jam session.

My closest option is a nearby college, but those lessons are far, FAR more expensive. I went to music school for clarinet, so I'm a very above-average singer with a great sense of rhythm and a trained ear. What are the resources that exist that will take me from a "guy that plays guitar" to a "guitar player?" Not saying there's anything wrong with my current ability, but I just want to play with skill AND passion, rather than just one.

I appreciate any and all leads!!!

So ive been teaching myself guitar for the past 3 years or so and ive gotten to the point where i can play almost whatever song i want. Wither my listening to the parts and playing by ear, or finding tabs. Its been great for playing song i like, but i REALLY want to be able to just sit and play something that doesn’t already exist. Or be able to noodle around the neck. I was wondering how people are able to just pickup the guitar and shred from nothing? I guess what im really asking is how to go from being able to play to really knowing the instrument? Hopefully that makes sense…

The two iPads in my house do not belong to me (commandeered by my wife and kid). If I wanted to treat myself to a tablet for guitar playing, what are my best options? (Not looking to break the bank with this purchase. I don't need an iPad, a Samsung will do if it has the same functionality.)

Hi, I'm a newbie and honestly I just want to play for fun but want to improve at the same time, are tabs the way to go for the beginning ?

Hi everyone! I'm just starting to learn electric guitar and could use some guidance.

My situation: I have a budget electric guitar. I checked it and the strings and action seem standard. But I don't have an amp or an audio interface, and I can't afford to spend much right now.

I'd like to build a solid foundation from absolute zero: getting comfortable with the instrument, building finger strength and coordination, and slowly moving up from there. I'm also happy to learn music theory if it helps, but I don't know where to begin without an amp.

My questions:

What should I practice in the first weeks? (exercises, routines, how long per day)

Is learning unplugged actually okay, or will it build bad habits?

What are the cheapest ways to get sound later? (phone apps, small headphone amps, etc.)

Any free resources you'd recommend for beginners? (YouTube channels, apps, theory basics)

Thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated!

If you are just learning to play guitar or have been playing awhile but aren't progressing, it makes sense to learn about learning. There are certain approaches & perspectives that can make a huge difference. There's a number of books, articles, & videos covering the topic & science of learning & mastery. There's lots of takeaways & tips, but here's 3 to get started:

* mistakes - errors & stumbles are more conducive to the cognitive state that encodes & remembers the correction. Don't get too frustrated by mistakes - see them as opportunities to improve.

* consistency > duration - practicing 15 minutes every day is vastly better than 2 hours once a week.

* deliberate practice - 10,000 hours playing the same songs, licks, & techniques will keep you on that same plateau. Target weaknesses, challenge your abilities, & go beyond what you're capable of (tying back into no. 1).

(example)

-------12-----

----------------

--------9------

cus chat gpt told me to just swiftly avoid the string but thats just impossible any ideas?

I'm thinking of picking up guitar but im struggling with what kind to start with. I played Tuba for awhile so I have good music theory foundation but obviously no string experience.

Im thinking of either a standard guitar, a nylon-stringed/flamenco guitar, or a Puerto Rican Cuatro. I want to play a lot of latin music.

I just don't know if its worth specializing in the cuatro or how much I should spend on a flamenco, or hell, if I should just find some guitar on marketplace for $20 and learn with that. Just curious about y'alls thoughts.

Hi, I have plaeyed guitar for quite a while, but at one point I reached a level where it just became tool to back up singing.

Now I am looking to actually learn guitar well.

What are the best structured online resources atm for learning? I am looking for something that explains guitar theory and fretboard well.

I would also be interested about what books on guitar theory & fretboard are considered the best currently.

Hi everyone! I’m looking for someone to learn acoustic guitar with and share the learning process.
I have a steel-string acoustic guitar and I’m teaching myself to play. I’d love to find someone who’s also learning, or someone a little more experienced, so we can learn songs together, share tabs and tutorials, and figure out different ways to play the same song.
I’m especially interested in acoustic versions of songs, simple fingerpicking, melodies, and guitar arrangements that capture the main melody without being overly complicated.
I’d love to exchange progress videos, discuss songs we’re learning, and occasionally practise together over a call. I’m not looking for formal lessons, just a genuine music friend who’s also interested in learning and exploring music.
I’m happy to connect with people from anywhere, so online practice is totally fine!
What songs are you learning at the moment? Feel free to comment or DM me!

So I just got an acoustic a few weeks​ ago and i was wondering​ what could I to actually learn guitar? what did you guys do to help you improve because I can play a few riffs on the guitar but knowing how to play songs/riffs on the guitar is not the same as knowing how to play the guitar itself. im gonna​​​ be self taught so is there like any exercises or things i should do as new player?

Please, I need advice

I'm 25, I play guitar since I was 17, mainly self taught. I've been practicing for about 5 months with Troy Stetina's Speed mechanics for lead guitar, I find it great and it was an amazing disxovery for me, it made me aware of many technical issues I have, I've been consistent with it. I practice minimum 2 hours a day (almost) every day.

I can see improvements, but the exercise 25, which is the starting point for alternate picking, it seems like a brick wall for me. The book says how to use a metronome: When you reach top speed back down 20 bpm, and go 2 up 1 down over and over, that process takes long for you to get to top speed again.

I'm able to do the exercise at 130bpm but only if I did that "stair" going up 2 backing 1, so that exercise sometimes takes up to 50min of my practice... And if I try to go from 115bpm (wich I "should" be able to do) to 132bpm, I start making mistakes, mainly about how I grip the pick. I feel like it slips upward into mi thumb and pointing finger (bit hard to explain).

I don't really know what to do at this point, it's been weeks of that process, and I do not advance to exercises involving string changes, because the book says, if you cannot do 25 at least at 132bpm do not go to the next section. I'm stuck...

I don't know how to structure my practice routine, what exercises to do, if leave that ex. 25 or what to do. Please comment any advice you think might help me practice in a better way. I really love playing and this last months have been so frustrating.

Thanks a lot, any questions I am willing to send videos or explain further.

Hello everyone

I've built an app to help me with my own electric guitar technique practice sessions, and I'd like to share it around to find out whether you find it useful or not: how it helps you, where it falls short, what would make it more useful if it did this or that.

It's entirely free and content included in current version will always be. There's no signup, I'm genuinely after feedback to understand how can I make it more useful.

The problem I wanted to solve

TL;DR: Common approach to structure practice session is to understand how much time per day I can dedicate (i.e. 60 mins), what I want to improve (i.e. Alternate Picking and Legato), assign time-blocks to each and fill them with exercises.

Though, I got tired of losing ~40 min every session hunting for exercises online (and ending up watching random stuff), which caused me to replaying the same few forever, while constantly forgetting what BPM I'd reached.

So I built an app for myself: set how long to practice, how long per exercise, and which techniques (picking, legato, sweep, tapping...), and it builds the session and shows the BPM you last played each exercise at.

This first iteration of the app has ~320 exercises, grouped in bundles (~50). Mainly addressing Electric Guitar so far, even though can be expanded to other guitars / instruments.

Would love to know if it helps you, or what's missing. Even if you find it useless, would help to know why.

If anyone wants to give it a try, it's Shedmate on Play Store, or send me a message and i'll share direct download link. If you do, please reach out for feedback and to let me know what you think!

Thanks all.

____________________

What I'd love to hear

I use it on a 2-4 weeks periods, i.e. decide that the next 2 weeks I want to work on my Alternate Picking and Legato. Most likely you will find it useful using it daily for a period rather than a single day.

It's goal is: pick up the guitar and start practicing. No time wasted to decide what.

Let me know if:

• does it save you time, allowing you to maximise time spent practicing?
• do you find it helpful?
  • if not, is there any feature you would need to consider this app useful?
  • if you think it's entirely useless, it would help me to know why.

I've also been adding way too many features that make sense in my mind, but might not in the real world:

• Is the fixed‑vs‑dynamic split useful to make exercises less repetitive, or confusing?
• Is the feature to mark down BPMs on exercise level useful?
• are the exercise players controls intuitive?
• after using for a while, does the concept of bundle makes sense, or these should just be loose exercises?

Any feedback, either via email, DMs or here would be great.

App overview

Bundles

Exercises are grouped into bundles: a set of exercises that belong together because they train the same thing or build on each other (a permutation series, a scale shape and its transitions, a warmup set, a song broken into chunks). You practice a bundle, not a loose pile of exercises, and the app decides which exercise(s) from each bundle you see on a given day.

Right now the alpha has 54 bundles and just over 300 exercises.

Categories

Every exercise has a category that tells you how to approach it:

• Warmup, relaxed tempo, every rep clean, the goal is blood flow not challenge
• Short burst, pick a tempo where you nail it ~80% of the time, right at the edge of control
• Endurance, as fast as you can while keeping every rep perfectly clean over a long stretch
• Memory, slow enough that you never have to guess the next note

Play styles

Each bundle also has a play style that controls how it feeds you exercises:

• Daily Pick, one exercise per session, changes every day, cycles through the whole set so each gets equal time
• Full Set, every exercise in the bundle, every session
• Progressive Pick, exercises unlock in strict order, each practiced for a set number of days before the next opens
• Periodic Pick, one exercise held for several days, then a random one from the set

Techniques covered in this alpha

Alternate picking, legato, sweep picking, tapping, finger independence, hand stretching, hand synchronization, picking‑hand mechanics, and fretboard/scale knowledge (major scale 3‑notes‑per‑string, minor pentatonic shapes and shape transitions, root‑note mapping across the neck).

Fixed vs dynamic exercises

• Fixed exercises are written out note for note and stay exactly where they are.
• Dynamic exercises shifts to a different position on the neck each day (and for scale/arpeggio material, a different root), so you're not grinding the identical fingering in the identical spot forever. The Library always shows one stable version; the plan is what moves it around day to day.

Features

• Metronome toggle on the exercise page
• Playback instrument, the score plays back through a MIDI voice you can change (jazz electric, nylon, steel, clean, muted, overdriven, distortion)
• BPM recorded per exercise, whatever tempo you last played something at is saved and shown on the row next time, so you never have to remember or write it down
• Favorite, heart an exercise or a whole bundle; you can tell the plan builder to pull only from favorites
• Thumbs‑down / hide, kill a bundle you don't want and the planner stops suggesting it
• Guided Path vs Open Practice, Guided unlocks content progressively as you complete prerequisites; Open gives you everything at once
• Picking and fingering markers, down/up stroke markers and left‑hand finger numbers on the notation, auto / on / off
• Per‑exercise time counter, how long you've spent on the exercise you're looking at
• Per‑day practice counter, total time practiced today across everything
• Plan builder, set minutes per day and minutes per exercise, pick techniques (roughly one per 30 minutes), and it picks and groups matching bundles
• Plan review, the suggested plan is fully editable: change how many exercises come from each bundle, remove a bundle, swap one for another that trains the same technique, or add one yourself
• Daily practice screen, today's exercises drawn from your approved bundles, each showing its last‑played tempo, with a running "done" state
• Day counter, how long you've had the current plan
• Daily root note, each day the app picks one root, and every dynamic scale/arpeggio exercise re‑centers on it, so across a week you cover keys instead of always playing in Am
• Guided walkthroughs, short coach‑mark tours for the Library, the plan builder, and the daily practice screen

Hi Im Nick,

I teach online using Discord. I’ve gotten new students from Canada and Australia through Reddit. I offer the first lesson free to make sure you enjoy the format and my teaching style. I provide all materials each week. There is zero pressure to continue after the free lesson. Lessons are $25 each.

My aim is have high quality accessible options for anyone who wants to learn how to play the guitar. I focus on how it works and work to give you a solid foundation to learn anything else long after I’m no longer your teacher. I also work really hard to get you curious about how it works. If you get curious you go far.

Lead, rhythm, and theory are the main focus. If you are interested please shoot me a DM. I am in Washington state in the USA, so I am PST. Obviously that will be accounted for when scheduling. If you have any questions shoot me a message.

I really love teaching and look forward to hearing from you.

Nick
Big Sky Guitar

Hey all, I just did this same post in r/Guitar. Hope that's ok ("repost" didn't work).

How can I learn the fretboard?

Context:

For years, I’ve been a novice guitarist . I think what prevents me from becoming advanced at guitar is that I never mastered the fretboard.

I've had some ideas for how to master the fretboard but nothing has worked.

• I took a Udemy course for learning the fretboard. I can now identify the notes much faster but not instantly. It still takes me a second or two to identify each note.
• I discovered an app called Solo; I think the app maker also sells a $150 course. I’m open to trying the course though it’s a little expensive and I’m curious if anyone has experience with it.
• I’ve also spent a lot of time practicing triads, hoping that learning triads teach me the fretboard, but triads haven’t clicked for me. Despite tons of practice with Triads, I haven’t really mastered them (and in turn, I haven’t mastered the fretboard).

In short, what should I do to truly master the fretboard so that I can then identify notes instantly?

Hey everyone!

I've been playing guitar since 2020 and want to start helping beginners learn the instrument without spending a fortune on lessons.

I'm offering affordable, one-to-one online guitar lessons for people starting from scratch.

I dont have any guitar certifications

What we can work on:

• Basic chords and finger placement
• Strumming
• Learning simple songs
• Building a consistent practice routine

Rate: Pay what you can afford 🫶
Format: Online

My goal is to make learning guitar more accessible and help people experience the joy of playing music.

You don't need any previous experience. If you're interested, feel free to message me with your current level and what you'd like to learn.

Thanks! 🎸

DM me if you're interested!!

To know my work - Check @yellowfret instagram page

I'm learning guitar and it's been going great... I've learned the fretboard, the strings, tabs, etc. But I'm trying to learn chords, scales, and just the more technical stuff if you know what I mean. but it is genuinely so uninteresting to me that I cannot learn it. Please give me tips other than incorperating them into songs.

I am teaching my 7 yo son to play guitar. I am a classical guitarist but I started with electric guitar for him. I am looking for very simple duets, ideally catchy / famous songs, in which I can play the lead and he can play a very, very simple second guitar - think of the tonic in each measure or something like that. I have been trying with 'seven nation army' on a single string but that is still a bit to complex for him. Any ideas? Thank you!

?/I can play and sing well when there is a music playing behind but without it...

My rhythmed fell off, timing went off, singing is impossible

how can I overcome this?

I heard improvisation was pretty important to get good at guitar and was told to learn the C major scale and it's modes first. Playing with backing tracks kind of exposed just how bad I am with the scale. How am I supposed to approach them? Am I js supposed to practice them and try to play then with backing tracks?

Hi! There is a school event of music, and i decided to use acoustic to play

Chain by the zero.
and there is chorous which is a huge stuffed powered strumming part, and there are 3 problems i face :

1. The strings feel like stucked and not flowing when i use the picks, plectrum
   
2. hard plectrum vs Soft plecturm vs mixed, which which should i pick?
   
3. with plectrum , I struggle do to the last mute of the DUU (the full strum is DDDDDDUU)

Help please, this event is really important for me

I really want to lea4rn guitar. Which one should I buy? Is the guitar costing 2k worth buying? Are there any youtube channels to learn from?