How To Teach Yourself Guitar In 10 Easy Steps

Want to learn how to teach yourself guitar? You’re in the right place! We’re going to show you everything you need to know.

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

• How to teach yourself guitar in 10 quick & easy steps.
• The 4 essentials of the guitar world. (Learn scales, chords, rhythm & musicality and repertoire!)
• The no1 guitar secret that will enhance your musicality.
• 3 practice tips that will boost your guitar progress.

Over 250,000 guitar-learners get our world-class guitar tips & tutorials sent straight to their inbox: Click here to join them

Step 1) How To Teach Yourself Guitar – Find A Good Teacher

Even though you want to learn how to teach yourself guitar, it’s essential that you find a good teacher. That could be locally or online.

Here are 3 reasons why you should get a local guitar teacher:

• Lessons are fun and engaging.
• You have constant feedback on your playing.
• You have complete clarity on lesson content. (You can learn anything you want!)

By having a teacher there to support you, you will make some fantastic progress.

To find the BEST online guitar lessons, go here: Learn Guitar Online: Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced Lesson Programmes

Step 2) How To Teach Yourself Guitar – Learn The Fundamentals

Guitar playing is fun. However, just like any instrument there are some essentials that you need to know.

The main fundamentals of guitar are:

• Chords.
• How to strum.
• Lead guitar playing.
• Learning songs.

Learning these fundamentals will excel your playing. It will make teaching yourself guitar SO much easier.

Learn Guitar Chords

It’s important to learn chords if you want to learn how to teach yourself guitar. Guitar chords make up 99% of ALL music, so you must learn them.

Learn Simple Chords First!

Learning stepping-stone chords is the quickest way to accelerate your progress. Stepping-stone chords are easier versions of more advanced chords.

Here’s a classic example:

Isn’t That Cheating?!

No way, you’ve got to go at your own pace. Learning the guitar is a liberating experience, you’ve got to take your time.

By learning easy chords first you are able to develop your dexterity and technique.

Then once you’re ready, you can move to more advanced chords.

Want to learn guitar chords? Go here:How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide

Learn 12 EASY beginner chords with our popular guide

✅  Stop struggling. Start making music.

✅  Learn beginner-friendly versions of every chord.

This is our most popular guide and it will improve your chord ability quickly! 😎

Get your own personalised guitar-learning plan 🎸

Get a custom guitar-learning plan here: Click here for GuitarMetrics™

Step 3) How To Teach Yourself Guitar – Learn To Strum

Learning how to strum is a beautiful thing, it enhances our chords and brings them to life.

Before we learn how to strum, we must learn how to hold a pick. Let’s learn how!

Step 1) Do A Thumbs Up Sign

Step 2) Point The Pick Towards You

Step 3) Clamp Your Thumb Down on The Pick

Now you know how to hold a pick, let’s take a look at how to strum a guitar chord.

How To Strum A Guitar

When strumming a guitar, you must place your hand above the strings. Your wrist should be straight, NOT bent.

Like this:

When you strum the strings, try and push through the strings with a nice smooth movement coming from the elbow.

Like this:

 

Strumming technique is the easiest way to enhance your musicality.

To learn more about strumming, go here: How To Strum A Guitar

Step 4) How To Teach Yourself Guitar – Learn Guitar Scales

Whether you want to teach yourself how to play a kickin’ solo, or if you want to write a sweet melody. Learning guitar scales are an essential part of learning guitar!

When you play scales, it feels different to playing chords. With a chord, you have to fret a couple of strings simultaneously. When you play a scale you play each note individually.

This requires a slightly different technique.

To play a scale you:

• Use the tip of your finger on each string.
• Fret your finger in the middle of the fret.

Like this:

• Use your pick, to pick the string that you’re finger is on.

What Scales Should I Learn?

Here are a few scales which you must learn on guitar.

The ‘A Minor Pentatonic’ Scale

Don’t understand this? Go here: How To Read Guitar Tabs

The ‘C Major Pentatonic’ Scale

To learn more about scales, go here: Learn Guitar Scales In 8 Easy Steps

Step 5) How To Teach Yourself Lead Guitar – Learn Lead guitar

Learning lead guitar is a great way of enhancing your skills. Not only is it fun to rip out a guitar solo it’s also a great way of developing your own musical voice.

What Is ‘Lead Guitar’?

Lead guitar refers to the role of a guitarist within a band. A lead guitarist will a take solos, or play melodies. A rhythm guitarist mainly plays chords.

A lead guitarist compliments what the rhythm guitar does.

Why Do I Need To Know Lead Guitar?

Learning lead guitar allows you to understand your instrument. To be a solid lead guitarist, you need to have a good understanding of chords and scales.

Understanding these core elements enhances your guitar playing. As well as this it boosts your technique, increases your musicality and most important of all, it’s fun!

To learn lead guitar, go here: How To Play Lead Guitar

Step 6) How To Teach Yourself Guitar – Learn Songs

Learning songs, is the quickest way to teach yourself guitar. It’s fun, exciting, and you learn SO much from it!

By learning songs, you’ll be able to learn the guitar quickly and keep inspired.

Learning songs are also a great way of finding out your strengths and weaknesses.

For example, say you want to learn a song, but the chord changes are too quick, this might mean you need to work on your chord technique.

Here are 4 simple steps you can use to help you learn songs:

1. Pick 3 artists who you love. (It’s important to pick something you love, as it keeps you engaged!)
2. Pick your favourite track from each artist.
3. Put this into a playlist on iTunes or spotify.
4. Search for a tab on Ultimate Guitar or for a video lesson on Youtube.
5. Learn the song.

If you keep track of the songs you’re learning in a playlist, you can keep referring back to them as you update your repertoire. Not only is this super cool, you can also track of how far you’ve come as a guitarist.

If you’re struggling to pick a song to learn, here’s a free lesson which might inspire you: 10 Easy Songs On Guitar