When people ask me whether it’s possible to learn the guitar, my reply depends on the mood I’m in. You see, I am a self-taught guitarist, so my honest answer is always yes, since I taught myself the guitar without any instructors guiding me. However, back when I was learning, teaching yourself the guitar wasn’t as simple as it is today. I learned from guitar learning books and from tapes, and it took way too long, as the information available wasn’t as abundant as it is today in the world of the Internet.

The Internet offers an overwhelming amount of information on any topic, including guitar lessons. Many beginner guitarists type the phrase guitar tutorials for beginners into Google or Yahoo, and don’t know what to do with the 20 million + results the search engines give them. This is actually a negative part of learning guitar online, since beginners have a tendency to go from one site to the next, without actually learning anything.

Teaching yourself how to play the guitar takes time and dedication, but the end result will be more than worth it, you’ll never look back. First of all, make sure you find a good quality website to learn the guitar from. I’ve seen several sites, which I will not name in this article, who try to get aspiring guitar students to believe that they can become a guitar God by tomorrow. Unfortunately, this is not possible for a number of reasons, but you’ll see for yourself when you start playing. Becoming good takes practice, that is the ultimate secret of learning guitar.

Once you start, you’ll never look back. There will be ups and downs, but if you keep at it, you’ll get better and better. One great way to keep yourself motivated is to learn beginner guitar songs at an early stage already. Learning songs is much more exciting than practicing simple exercises, since you’ll be playing songs you’ve been listening to for years.

Here is the shortened lesson plan I utilize with all of my guitar pupil:

1. First of all, learn the basic building blocks of playing the guitar.

2. Refine and advance the basic techniques by using the while learning beginner guitar songs

3. Next I teach my students how to play chords

4. Again, don’t just play chords randomly, practice them by playing songs

5. Advance to another guitar technique

6. And keep on practicing the new techniques in real songs

In short, I’ve found that rigorous practice routines kill all motivation a guitar pupil has. However, practicing any given technique in the context of a song, a song that is popular and will cause the student joy when playing, will motive the student to practice the technique. And as we know, practice something enough, and you’ll be able to do it soon, guaranteed. This method of learning the guitar works, no question about it.

So returning to the original question, of whether you can start teaching yourself guitar, my answer is a definite yes. Mind you, learning the guitar will take practice, and lots of it if you want to become a good guitarist. The most famous guitarists were beginners at one time as well, they went through the exact same process as you are about to. Learning how to play the guitar will be a bit more difficult at times, but keep in mind that you are learning a wonderful new hobby, one which will cause you and your family countless hours of joy later on.

Tom Fontana has been a personal guitar teacher for more than 10 years. His new website, TheGuitarLesson.com provides high quality video online guitar lessons for beginners, including beginner guitar songs you can start playing quickly.