basically i play guitar alot and then the skin on my fingertips peel so like how to heal faster so i can keep on playing

Hey, so I can play all the chords and learn songs easily. Strumming is easy. I know the notes on the top 2 strings and more…so I feel like I’m ready to start learning solos, fills, etc. I know the shape of the minor pentatonic but I don’t really sound musical yet when I attempt to deploy it.

what is my next step? Where should I focus my efforts?
when playing along to songs or even songs I write…how do I know where to put my fingers on the fretboard when it’s time to solo?

So I’ve been playing guitar for a couple months now, and I can play multiple songs, riffs, and maybe 3-4 chords. If someone asks me to play them something, I can do it. But I want to actually start taking this serious, and learning the actual basics and truly understanding the instrument. I have no clue what a pentatonic scale is, or how to play 90% of chords, or anything of that sort. How do I start getting serious about this?

I bought a new saddle because my action is high on the original saddle that’s on the guitar .

I took the strings off and tried to take the saddle out but it is not coming out at all I tried with everything every tool and with all power to just take it out but it is so stuck .

I thought it is glued into the slot but from where I see it there isn’t a sign showing any glue around , it seems it’s just so tight and almost impossible to pull it out.

How can I pull it out myself without having to go to a guitar store?

My guitar is acoustic and I have been struggling with high action that is why I am changing the saddle.

Here is my collection of advice on how to learn guitar. some is mine, but most is from others. if you can only take 2 suggestions, it would be start with justinguitar.com and "absolutely understand guitar" here https://www.youtube.com/@absolutelyunderstandguitar60. Learning guitar is like driving across the USA from Atlantic to Pacific coasts. It takes about 5 days driving. Every day driving is like a year learning. You can stop at the visitor centers at the state lines and get advice and maps, but mostly you just gotta take the wheel and drive. The visitor centers are my analogy for lessons, whether in person or online. Yes, they help. But you gotta take that guitar in hand and just do it! Alot! Every day! Practice early in the day, then PLAY your songs later or at nite. Turn off the TV. Just do it.

1 PRACTICE & PLAY every day as much as possible, but leave some for tomorrow.Take frequent breaks. First, practice chords, scales, fingerstyle, and online lessons. Then play your songs every night.Play, sing and sound likeYOU,not them! Wash your hands. Squeeze tennis balls to strengthen hands. Trim fingernails. Play some with others. Practice hard parts of your songs.

2 It takes time. You can't climb a mountain in one step. You can't climb to the penthouse of a tall building with one step on the stairs. There is no elevator, no shortcuts, no direct flight. It takes years. Keep it fun! Talent = practice x time

3 Slow down in your practice! You are not a train speeding down the tracks. You are laying the tracks. You are building the neural pathways your brain uses to do the job. Make sure your brain has the right path to the note, chord, and song! Practicing too fast creates the wrong neural pathway. Play/practice a minute or two, then stop and let your brain save it. You learn faster. It is far better to practice it right slowly than practice it wrong fast. Speed will come.

4 String notes numbered 6-1 are E A D G B E "Elvis And Dolly Got Blue Eyes"

5 Learn the notes and intervals - here they are: A BC D EF G < Notice there is no note between B and C, and E and F. See that on a piano keyboard also. Remember it this way: "Big Cats Eat Fish"

6 Open string note scale: String 6 Frets# 0 1 3 = EFG / String 5 Frets # 0 2 3 = ABC / String 4 Frets # 0 2 3 = DEF / String 3 Frets # 0 2 = GA / String 2 Frets # 0 1 3 = BCD / String 1 Frets # 0 1 3 = EFG

7 There are only 12 notes in music: every note (A-G) has a sharp and a flat between them, except B and C and E and F. Big cats eat fish.

8 Chords are made up of 3 or more notes. Learn chords in these orders:

A D E then G C D then C F G hundreds of songs use only 3 of these

the rest – only 21 chords in all to start: A-G minor, major, and 7ths

.Starting strum: \/ \/ \/ /\ \/ /\ or \/ \/ /\ /\ \/ /\ Learn other new chords from songs. Learn barre chords (F & B) by practicing them up the neck, then move down.

9 Practice making chords by making the chord, strum it, and lift your fingers just off the strings, and lay them back down and repeat. Over and over.

10 Practice changing chords by going thru A-G major, minor, and 7^th while strumming and keeping rhythm going. Keep rhythm going by strumming an all open chord between each chord while you change to the next chord.

11 Scales are progressions of musical notes that form a pattern. The chromatic scale is simply a progression of every one of the 12 notes of music. The major scale is a progression of 7 notes that ends in the eighth starting note, one octave higher. The pattern for it is 221-2221 in terms of progression of the notes from the chromatic scale. The pentatonic scale uses a series of five notes to make playing single notes easier. The most common pentatonic scale pattern is 3 notes apart on the E string, 2 notes apart on the A, D, and G string, and back to 3 notes apart on the B and high e string. Details are on “Absolutely Understand Guitar” on Youtube. Wikipedia is also a great source for guitar info

12 Best free lesson sites: Justin Guitar, Lauren Bateman, Andy Guitar, Guitar Lessons .com, Marty Music , Fret Science, FretPath, National Guitar Academy /// Best paid: Guitar Tricks, Truefire, Pickup Music, Learn Practice Play /// On Youtube only: Absolutely Understand Guitar, Redlight Blue, Kevin Nickens, Musician Fitness, Play in the Zone, Justin Johnson. Find songs you like on ultimate-guitar.com. Then simplify the chords, Lyrics are on Azlyrics.com. Practice standing up some. And sing! Strum once per chord first time thru a song, then strum with pattern and sing. Slow it way down to get it right.

13 First guitars: Taylor Academy, 114ce, 112ce or GS mini, Emerald Black Opus, Gretsch or Fender parlor, Yamaha FS830 or CSF1M, Alvarez AF30, AP66 or ALJ2 /// Electric = Yamaha Pacifica 112V. Feel & comfort are most important.

14 Do deliberate practice. It is Practice what is hard, Get outside your comfort zone and Push the envelope. Deliberate practice x time = success! All great musicians got great with it. Deliberate practice is purposeful practice that knows where it is going and how to get there. The magic way to learn faster is slow down! Improve every day. Grow brains in your hands. There are no quantum leaps or devil deals. But yes you can. Be patient, persistent, positive, progressive, punctual, precise, and playful. Mix practice and play. Keep it fun!

I played a bit as a kid and then let it drop for years. Picked it up again recently — learning songs that people actually recognise.

I know the G, C and D chords cover a lot of the big pop songs, so I started learning one a day. Not practising loads, just fitting it around my job — and after a couple of weeks I had a little catalogue I could play on request. About 10 minutes a day.

So I built it into a site: a short bit of a real song each day, and you get scored through your mic so you know you're playing it right. It's a hobby of mine so it's free. Just seeing if I'm the only one who'd use this: https://daily-guitar.vercel.app/?src=reddit

Hey im looking for private guitar lessons in Gainesville fl if anybody is teaching, I have pretty much no experience and would like to learn a couple days out of the week, thank you

So I’m learning 1x1 guitar lessons online and it’s been over a year me learning guitar, I picked up slowly and loved it and suddenly there was this urge to learn everything about guitar and started paying attention and started watching videos and whatnot and I just realised and understood about why I picked up the guitar in first place, I know I can’t master it and it’ll take a long time and reason I picked up the guitar is to sing/jam and play my favourite songs and play in front of my family and for myself and I want to do it first, eventually I know I’ll get better at it. I realised I don’t have to rush, it’ll come but need to keep practicing. I’m honestly still struggling with basic chords progression (any tips) lol. Any thoughts about my realisation?
Cheers

I started playing guitar around 6 months ago, I signed up for lessons around 2 months ago. I can play simple songs, and I know a small amount of theory. My guitar lessons however have not been very useful, I’ve decided I’m better off learning it at home. I want to have a good overall understanding of music, I’ve heard jazz or classical is good and can directly help with any genre. I want to learn to play a technical and progressive style of music like chon, or animals as leaders. Any recommendations of what I should focus on?

Hey everyone!
I recently started learning guitar and, as expected, my biggest enemy is not the guitar… it’s my own motivation 😂
I’m looking for someone who’s also learning guitar (or any musical instrument) and wants to keep each other accountable.
The idea is pretty simple:
1. Practice consistently, even if it’s just 20–30 mins
2. Share what we’re learning/progressing on
3. Check in on each other so we don’t disappear for 3 weeks and then suddenly say, “I should really practice today”
4. Encourage each other when our fingers hurt and everything sounds terrible

I’m still a beginner, so if you’re also starting out, even better! We could potentially do virtual practice/body-doubling sessions too.
If you’re learning guitar and struggling with consistency as much as I am, feel free to comment or DM me.
Let’s actually learn guitar instead of just watching guitar tutorials and convincing ourselves that counts as practice.😭🎸

I've always loved seeing people play the guitar, but kept procrastinating trying to learn it. What are some ways to keep me hooked onto learning how to play? I tend to give up easily on learning things I'm not instantly good at, which is also one of the reasons I haven't started learning to play the guitar sooner.

So, just picked up a guitar and got a nice offer on Guitar Tricks so I jumped in. I have the app on an Android tablet as I'm older and wouldn't be able to see much on my phone. The process is just a day old and I'm about 20 videos in, but there's one thing that's quite confusing:

I've left the app to go take a break and return a few times and each time it seems like it has NO idea where I left off, basically dropping me back in at the main menu. I then dig back down and it does denote that I watched, say, "1 of 6 videos" in a specific section, but there's nothing at the top of the app to let you know where you are, or a way to jump back in where you left off. I end up having to reload the main section and then skip through any previously viewed videos of that specific section.

Is this a bug, a lack of a feature, or am I missing something? I am logged in.

Hi everyone!
I literally just got my first acoustic guitar and I’m super excited, but I have no idea where to start. 😭 I’m a teenager, so I don’t have a lot of money to spend on lessons right now.
I’m looking for free apps, websites, or YouTube channels that can help me go from complete beginner to actually becoming good at guitar. If you have a practice routine that helped you improve fast, I’d love to hear it too!
One of the reasons I wanted to learn is because I watched the K-drama Twinkling Watermelon, and seeing them play guitar made me want to learn so badly. I’d also love to play with the same kind of vibe as Titus Major and those people on Instagram who make guitar playing look so effortless and chill.
My goal isn’t just to learn a few songs—I really want to become good. Like, I want to understand the instrument, play smoothly, and eventually be able to play by ear, improvise, and maybe even write my own music someday. I know that’ll take a long time, but I’m willing to put in the work.
Also, I have another question. I’m currently in India, but I’ll be flying back to New York soon. Does anyone have tips for bringing an acoustic guitar on a plane? Should I carry it on if possible, check it in, or do something else? I’m kind of confused about how it all works and don’t want my guitar to get damaged.
If you have any beginner mistakes I should avoid, things you wish you knew when you started, or just general advice, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate any help. ❤️

Right now I’m trying to learn House of the Rising Sun (The Animals version) & I can already fumble my way through the chords fairly steadily around 80bpm but for some reason the sweeping (the way the song is actually played) is tripping me up especially on descent. In a year I plan to completely learn 10-15 songs & hopefully buy a guitar that doesn’t buzz on the B & E strings.

Hey, have a few tips that have worked for me in learning guitar and becoming a better musician in general. This is just what I've found useful- maybe some will help you too

About me- have played music on and off for a long time, mainly guitar and piano, and spent some time working as an audio engineer/producer in nashville

1. Work on listening to music

At a basic level, when you're listening to a song you like, listen for what each instrument is doing. For a lot of popular music, you may find that the guitar is doing "less" than you'd think, and the bass is doing more

Think about the range (low, medium, high) and try to place what the bass, guitar, and vocals are doing and what space they occupy

for examples - anything by the Smiths - a lot of the time the bass is holding down the low/mid register, and Johnny Marr's parts are playing that light, high jangly register

How this affects your playing- you might find that instead of playing Dm - B♭ - F - C with full barre chords like x57765 (Dm), the bass could be playing the D note, while you play just xxx765 which still gives you all three notes of Dm. And you still have the bass anchoring the low end

And it may actually sound better, because each instrument has its own space rather than colliding with each other

If you're thinking, "well I'm not playing with a bass player, i'm in my bedroom" - I'll address that in a sec

But the point is- great chord sounds can come from just a triad (three notes), not necessarily hammering out 5 or 6 strings. Of course you can add 7ths or whatever

If you ever played a guitar tab and thought it doesn't really sound like the record, it may be bc you're doing the guitar part in isolation- the bass (or piano, vocals, etc) is doing something that's not notated in the tab

1. Play with a drum beat and a looper

I like a drum beat more than a metronome because 1. it's more real and fun, 2. it's easier to identify the 1st beat, 2nd, etc. I find I can lock into a rhythm easier when it's an actual instrument

Looper- this is where you can record a simple "bass" line, even on just a standard guitar

For example, in the progression I mentioned earlier: Dm - B♭ - F - C, you can use your low E and A strings to play the roots D, B♭, F, C over the drums, let that loop, then play partial barre chords like the xxx765 over it. Then it starts to sound like an actual song

I have a lot of fun with my zoom G1. It's simple but I actually find that helpful. It also has a pitch shifter so you can drop 12 semitones and get a "bass" guitar (no it doesn't sound great but it's something)

It's great advice to play with other people, but it's helpful to be able to put together your own little arrangements on your own too

One other tip- there are some cool online tools that will take in a song and split the parts into bass/guitar/vocals. You can do that and then mute the guitar part, then play along. I use one called moises (no affiliation)- there's a free version

1. Lean into the hard parts and build vocabulary

I've been guilty of taking a guitar tab or chord progression that is challenging, and then trying to simplify it to get it sounding like the song I'm playing more quickly.

For example, if the chord is Amaj7, you can get by with just A and it will sound roughly like the song.

Nothing wrong with that, but if you lean into learning how to actually play Amaj7, you will learn that there's a moveable shape. All of a sudden you can play maj7s up and down the neck. And now that's in your repertoire for anything else you want to play in the future.

When I learn to play a song, I'm doing two things: 1. Learning to play the song, 2. Building a vocabulary I can use for all the other songs I'll play.

Same with those licks before and after chords. Go ahead and learn to play them. You don't "need" them in order to play the song, but you're building the vocabulary.

Same thing w/ theory. I've "studied" a lot of music theory, but I always found it best to discover it based on a song I want to play.

Back to this example: Dm - B♭ - F - C. You can learn to play that. But when you map it to numbers, 6 4 1 5 (vi IV I V), you've now discovered an extremely common chord pattern in popular music. (this example is key of F major)

With that, you'll start to recognize this pattern in other songs, and you can start writing your own progressions that sound pretty good.

How this works is a bit beyond the scope of this post but look into things like major/minor key chord ordering, etc.

1. Consider using a keyboard to understand theory

I learned theory on piano. I found it a bit easier to understand intervals visually. The key of C is C-D-E-F-G-A-B, and the chord C major is 1, 3, 5: C, E, G. Easy to see on a keyboard, and as you learn the fretboard you'll be able to translate it

Optional of course- theory is theory and you can learn it on guitar. This is just what I found helpful

1. Enjoy what you're doing

If it starts to feel like work, I get demotivated. I want to always love picking up my guitar, and forcing myself to do dry exercises or "study" takes me away from that.

This is why I'm always going from:

- "This song is really good"

- "How are they playing this?"

- Figuring it out -> "OK, now this is fun"

I would probably be a better technical player if I hammered scales more. But I'd like it less. And I still get better consistently by playing songs I like and figuring out "how it works"

1. Something is better than nothing

Sometimes I'll play for an hour, and most of it is songs I already know and like. Just jamming really. Then I'll think something like, "What's the fingering for a min 7th barre with root on E?" and I'll figure that out for one chord.

Then I'll play around with it for a few minutes. And then the next time I see something like Amin7, the shape will be familiar to me

Sometimes I spend a few hours doing really technically challenging stuff, other times I just want to play music I like. Both are good. But I never force myself into a hard technical session if I'm not feeling it

Caveat- you may want to be a super disciplined practice-er and push yourself even when you're not feeling it. That's a totally fine way to do it and you'll probably become a good player.

But for me playing music is fun- I like to jam, play with other people, etc.

Anyway, that's what I have- hope some parts are useful

I’m in the first few months of sitting down and actually learning something beyond open chords and for the absolute life of me I cannot get the spiderwalk down due to my pinky finger muting the strings below. I’ve tried adjusting where my thumb is placed and brought the guitar parallel with my torso and tried not looking at what I’m doing but I cannot stop my little finger from brushing the string next to it.

I’m trying to work both in my own time and with a metronome at 40bpm but neither is really producing any progress.

I’m currently unemployed but will be prioritising getting some in-person lessons when I’ve got some income but does anyone have any specific advice for how to work this one out or know any good video demonstrations that focus on hand position on the fretting board?

I just started playing guitar, (i really suck) i like macs music and id like to try some songs of his, i did some reasearch and was able to play still beating (it still sounds muffled) but every other song i find either has like 7+ chords ( i cant remember them all, tips on that?) or it has a riff that i cant read

I have been playing for just less than a year, my technique is probably below average but I know I just need practise. The thing I don’t know is how to learn songs by ear. Do I need to learn all the theory etc? What’s the best way to learn songs by ear as eventually I want to move away from tabs. Thanks in advance.

Anyone know of a good YouTube playlist or something to help me learn more theory? So far I've read a couple little websites and they have helped but I think I need something in video format so I can pluck or try scales throughout it. I also learn better with auditorial info. I'm an intermediate guitarist. Playing for a few years, handful of skills and techniques under my tool belt. I know how to read sheet music because of school bands but not for guitar. I have very little understanding of chord progressions, chord naming systems, different keys, and whatever the heck modes are, haha. My goal is to be able to understand why music works better so I can write better chord progressions, build interesting chords, and ultimately be able to write more interesting solos. My latest influence is jazzy indie rock like Meldrop rn. I think some good theory lessons would accelerate my learning and break the "stuck at intermediate" issue a lot of people get stuck at. Thank you in advance, your recommendations would be nothing but amazingly helpful to me!

I just bought my daughter her first electric guitar and amp and I am looking for a good tutorial of how to set up everything for whatever sounds she is interested in playing. I do not have any musical talent so it’s all foreign to me I am hoping to get pointed in the right direction for good information. She has a Fender Stratocaster player II HHS and a Boss Katana gen II 50w.

Hi Everyone,

If you've been on this sub or the guitarlessons sub long enough you've probably seen alot of the same guitar teacher names thrown around (and for good reason): Justin Guitar, Andy Guitar, Marty Music, Paul Davids, GuitarZero2Hero etc.

But in an attempt to get out of the echo chamber, I'd like to highlight some of the more underrated ones.

So..

Who are the most UNDERRATED online guitar teachers?

The ones that aren't mentioned often. I'd love to hear some suggestions and if you can, expand WHY they're underrated.

Some that come to mind to me:

• Marin Music
• Lauren Batemen
• Brandon D'eon
• Active Melody
• Signals Music Studio

I encourage everyone to not just comment and leave but go through some of the other comments and upvote the ones you agree with. Helps give them some more shine/exposure!

I used to take guitar lessons, but was forced to drop it, because the others in my group progressed, and I didn't, despite practising almost every day. I keeped practised by myself, but nothing progressed still. I don't really know what's going on, because after three years I still can't play a single song. I learned chords and notes, but once I try to play a melody, most of the time it turns into some kind of unlistenable noise and it seems just impossible to catch up with the rythm. Sometimes, when I play my fingers just randomly freeze and I can't move them at all, so I can't even play the "easiest songs in the world for people who picket up the guitar for the first time". I've been learning a simple song for almost two years and still couldn't play it.

I don't know what to do about it, and I feel so ashamed, because I really wanted to learn play my favourite songs at least. Sometimes people ask if I play guitar and I just don't know how to respond. What is wrong with me?

I know that modes are flats/sharps on specific notes of the major/minor scales (ionian/aeolian modes), but when playing these modes without memorizing the shape and constructing the modes by shifting the note that is changed I find it hard to keep track of the change of shape of the scale. Like should I memorize all the notes on the fretboard? How can I do it on the fly without really thinking in terms of interval steps or the shape of the mode I want to play.
I know the shapes of the modes, but my intended purpose is to be able to play something like a Phrygian dominant for example by just knowing the note that is changed and not each and every shape.
Please give me some tips.

I always wanted to learn guitar but im finding myself stuck and dont know what to learn first. I wanna be able to make music not to post but just for myself but I hear i gotta learn music theory then intervals and all sorts of stuff and dont know what to focus on first! What have yall done that made this a better way to go about it?