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Here is the fastest way to learn guitar
Most guitar teachers promote the idea of learning songs and avoid mentioning skills. They say this with good intentions. They know it's what you want. It's exactly what I wanted when I started learning guitar. I wasn't interested in boring scales and music theory. "Just give me the songs" I would declare. The problem was it didn't work. I just became more and more frustrated at my lack of progress. It was only after 2 years of struggle that I was lucky enough to find a guitar teacher who understood the importance of skills first. When he first mentioned skills like picking, ear training (aural), reading music, chords, scales, rhythm & arpeggios I initially rolled my eyes and almost quit. There was something about his confidence that told me to hang in there a little longer. My instinct was right and it paid off.
My teacher taught me the importance of developing what I now call the essential skills. Ignoring these skills will result in slow progress at best or at worst, it will set you up for years of pain and frustration. Don't make my mistake and waste valuable time. While I fully understand why most guitar teachers avoid mentioning skills (they don't want to scare you off) at G4 we prefer to be up front with you. We understand that your goal is to play songs but without the necessary skills you will be disappointed. We promise to teach you guitar by being completely honest with you about what it takes to learn. Playing songs is why we learn guitar but it's not how we learn guitar. At G4 GUITAR we focus on the 'how' (skills) so you can follow your own 'why' (songs).
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The G4 GUITAR approach to learning guitar
We believe in a skills first approach. That means unlike most guitar teachers we don't just teach you songs. Look on almost any guitar teacher's website and they will promise to teach you the songs you want to play. That may seem attractive to the beginner guitar student but unfortunately there is a problem. Beginner guitar students don't have the skills required to play their favourite songs. It's like trying to speak in a new language before acquiring the basic skills of that language. Music is very much a language.
When I first decided to learn guitar at age 14 years old (many years ago) I tried to learn Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'. As a complete beginner it was basically impossible. I couldn't form the chord shapes or fingerpick the correct strings and there was lots of buzzing. After more than 2 years I was still struggling with the intro. I eventually found a great teacher who basically told me not to worry about the song for now. I spent a good 6 months working on fundamental skills and my guitar playing literally transformed from guitar hacker to serious intermediate.
I also learned to play drums at the age of 14 but the difference was I went to a teacher. My drum teacher started me on two books from the very first lesson. A book of drum rudiments and a book for reading drum charts. For the first 6 months I worked on the exercises from these two books and gained a level of proficiency on drums that allowed me to join the school band and form a rock band with my brother and friends.
G4 GUITAR Students in action
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