Matthew Iovane | The Best Way To Learn Guitar

Matthew Iovane - One of the most asked and yet trickiest questions to answer for many beginner guitar players when they are first starting out is: what is the acceptable standard, or "best way" to learn how to play guitar? Of course the answer is there is no one single right way to learn how to play guitar and it all depends on the guitarist.

Matthew Iovane - There are those that learn easily from books and can figure the rest out for themselves such as proper finger placement, technique, and of course, final sound, while others may choose a live instructor, a DVD series, or online guitar lessons from one of the great guitar learning systems that are available. Lastly there are people who will be entirely self-taught and who with time and practice will develop their skill sets.

In actuality there is no one way of learning that will make you a better guitar player than another. Most of the best guitarist have in fact studied under several different circumstances and with different learning techniques in order to develop a much broader and wide-reaching style and sound. Indeed the greatest guitar players would say that they are constantly learning new licks, styles, and techniques to keep their playing fresh. While this may seem to be the most sensible way of learning guitar, some people find a single method that works for them which gives them the results they are happy with and that is all that matters. When you boil it down, the most important thing about learning the guitar, is that you are comfortable while doing it.

Matthew Iovane - Many people would say that the self-taught guitarist would be the better player because their style or sound was developed from within them with little to no influences to shape their sound. There maybe a certain logic in this thought when you consider the masters like Hendrix, Clapton, SRV, Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen and Carlos Santana as some notable examples but even they had heroes that they listened to over and over again which had major influence on their styles.

Others will say that a guitar player who has had professional instruction would be the better educated and more thoroughly taught player, and when you think about guitar greats like Steve Vai, Randy Rhoads, and Kirk Hammett who all received some fine instruction, there is an argument to be made here as well.

The best learning technique for each beginning guitar player is going to be the one or combination of different ones that provides the most enjoyment and positive results. Period. It may take you some time to discover what style or styles works best for you but you will eventually discover it. The best advice would be to try as many different ways as possible within your means and find the right one that suits you at the time. Remember that as your skills develop, your instructional needs will also be developing and what may have worked for you at one point in your skill development may not work for your current ability level.

Matthew Iovane