Guitar, when you look at it from afar, seems easy enough, but once you actually try to learn it, it can quickly become very overwhelming. If you go onto YouTube/Tiktok looking up “how to learn guitar”, there’s about a gazillion of videos, different ‘learn these’, people debating ‘do this’ vs ‘do that’, etc and you feel like you need a whole ‘program’ to be able to learn. And this is how a lot of beginners give up, not because guitar is hard but because there doesn’t seem to be a clear roadmap to follow.
The truth is: You don’t need to learn everything, nor do you need to study ‘theory’ before you learn guitar. The best way to learn anything is by focusing on the core principles of it and building from there. To start with, your whole ‘world’ can be as little as a handful of open chords, a simple strumming pattern, and knowing how to switch between them while keeping a rhythm. And this is already enough to let you play quite a lot of actual songs.
The reason why this first stage is so important because beginners are usually so impatient, they want to get straight to the solos, the cool riffs, the cool techniques, etc but guitar doesn’t work like a video game where you grind the basics and then you unlock the ‘cool stuff’. Everything is connected. The basics are everything. If you know your chords and have a good rhythm, you’ll play something that sounds good even if the notes you play are not the most exciting. On the other hand, if you have the weakest chords and rhythm, no ‘cool stuff’ can help you play something good. It is not just ‘beginner stuff’ to learn the core concepts of it, it’s literally the building block of everything you’ll ever learn on guitar.
Another problem with most beginners is that they think it is ok to start with too much speed. Speed comes with time, and only if your movements are already clean and controlled. If you rush, then you train yourself in the wrong movements, and you end up having to unlearn all that later, which is even slower. The solution is simple: practice it slowly. Sure, at the beginning this may feel frustrating and boring to some, but this is what will develop your accuracy first. Then once you memorize the position of your fingers, speed comes naturally.
Another problem with most beginners, and the most important problem actually, is that they try to play too much too little. In fact, most beginners think they need to play 1 hour or even more a day for them to make progress, whereas in reality playing 20 to 30 minutes a day but being consistent actually helps you a lot more. You do not need intensity to improve on guitar, you need repetitions. Your hands and mind learn through repetitions, not force. Once you get into the rhythm of this, what once seemed impossible, now is so natural.
One of the most underrated tips is for beginners to start to play real songs. A lot of people delay this step, thinking they ‘have to get better first’, but they’re wrong! Playing real songs helps you because it is where you practice everything at once. Rhythm, changes between chords, timing, playing with emotion. Even if you only know a few chords, you can still start to play simplified versions of a song. This is the step where your motivation to improve skyrockets, because suddenly you’re not just practicing ‘random exercises’, you’re actually making music!
I think one of the biggest changes in your mindset has to be realising that there isn’t a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to playing speed or talent. All you need is the correct direction. If you know the right direction, don’t jump from one thing to another randomly and you’re consistent with your practice, you’ll learn much faster than someone who plays randomly for hours each day. Guitar, more than anything, rewards you for being patient and following structure.
To wrap it all up, you don’t need to learn everything. You just have to learn the right things at the right time. Keep it simple when you start, trust the process, and you’ll get to a point when you stop thinking ‘how is this supposed to go’ and start actually playing the guitar. Because that is the moment you truly learn. That is the moment when you stop playing the ‘learning game’ and start playing guitar music.