HOW DO YOU LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR?
Ever since I started playing guitar more or less intelligently, I’ve been constantly being asked the same question: How do I learn to play guitar? Most of those who asked wanted me to give you the “magic pill.” Well, I have one of those pills. But about that a little later.
Honestly, these kind of questions put me in a slight puzzlement. It’s just like if you ask me how I learned to walk or talk.
I never thought I’d play or not. I never made up my mind about studying or not. Now I realize that it just happened. You never decided whether to walk or not. You never chose to learn to speak or not. It just happened to you. It happened the same way it happened to me.
I’ve been playing guitar since I was 12. When I started studying, nobody ever heard of the Internet. There were no tablatures, notes, chords in Almaty. Or rather, they were, but not us. It’s a terrible shortage.
In the beginning, I learned to use my best friend’s guitar. He had a Soviet-style guitar with a bolted vulture. A passion for Russian rock, the songs “Cinema” and “Nautilus” gave its sprouts. We learned a few chords and chased everything on these four chords. Then it was almost impossible to find guitar courses in Almaty.
I learned a few songs, but the real progress was only when I had my own guitar. Same Soviet model, but black as night, with white patterns around the “socket” and on the head of the neck. Everyone went crazy seeing her.
When I took her in my arms, I disappeared like an invisible magician wearing a hat. No friends for you, no TV, no walks. I used to play all day long. I fell asleep with only one thought: “It would have been more like morning. And when the morning came, I’d take the guitar and play. The minimum time I spent on guitar lessons was 1 hour a day, no matter what. Often this time was stretched out by 10-12 hours!
I rewound the song a hundred times on a cassette recorder and tried to play it as well. That only I didn’t pick up: “Scorpions”, “Metallica”, and then fashionable Russian Rock.
Then my friend and I decided to try to play together: I am a solo, he is a rhythm. It was the song “It’s not a dream” from C.F. “You never dreamed.” It was something! There was no stopping us now. We got so caught up in the game together that we started playing everything and everywhere. No school event was held without our participation. I played at home, in the yards, at school. I played whenever and wherever the opportunity arose.
Then my friend brought from Pavlodar two Soviet electric guitars written off in the house of culture: “Ural” and “Formanta”. There were already three of us then. We rehearsed on the balcony by connecting the electric guitars to an old stereo amplifier.
I didn’t notice any difficulty. Or rather, they didn’t exist, because self-education made me really excited. I couldn’t stop now.
It’s been many years since then. I’m the only one who continues to make music professionally. There’s been some quietness and breaks, but music is the only thing I always do. What’s haunting me, no matter what I do: as a hobby, or as my main activity. On stage or in a classroom, at home or anywhere, she’s always with me.
Magic pill: how to learn to play guitar
Well, I promised you a magic pill. I can make you happy, if you’ve read this story to the end, you’ve got it. Now I want to ask you to answer that question in the comments below. How do you learn to play guitar?
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