If you can play the guitar?

Question:Did someone teach you, or did you learn by yourself?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Did someone teach you, or did you learn by yourself?

Both, I started out teaching myself because my father played jazz in the clubs in Philly....and when I was little I use to get his guitar out from under the bed and try to learn the things that I saw him do....then when I was older I went to school to learn music. But today if you can't afford a private teacher there are a lot of great sites where you can get on line lessons, DVDs, Cd's, videos, and books... I would call this teaching yourself, with the aid of a computer !!!!!! When you buy one of their products you'll have it for life and can go over and over it if there's something that you don't understand, in the end it costs a lot less then having a private teacher...or taking music lessons...which like I said I think is the best way to learn...but not everyone can either afford it or work out the time schedule...I'll give you the name of some that I think are good :
http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/
http://www.billbrutal.com/
http://www.8notes.com/ (this one has a section where you can name the chord on the right....and on the left they show you on a guitar how the chord is made...they also have a free electronic tuner on their homepage....scroll up and down on this site they have a lot of interesting things for guitarist)
http://www.learn-to-play-guitar-online.i...
http://www.justinguitar.com/
http://www.worldguitar.com/
http://www.fretplay.com/
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/
http://www.guitartutoronline.com/
http://www.learntoplayguitar.net/
Hope that you find something here that will help you get started, good luck, bye !!!!
Here are some free sites, but I'm not crazy about these, they not complete enough for me :
http://www.freebasicguitar.com/
http://www.guitar.about.com/
http://www.learnhowtoplayguitar.com/

a little of both.. i started off just learning by myself. Then i decided i wanted to know more of the theory side rather then just being able to "just" play. so i took a few lessons.. then i decided id rather "just" play, and quit them and continued from there. Alot of the great guitarists taught themselves how to play. and why not? theres so many resources out to help you learn, especially now with the internet.
its definetly worth a shot trying to learn by yourself, and itll save you a small fortune not getting lessons

Well - i was taught for about a month and did well - but my brother taught himself off the internet and got all his fav songs and tunes and he got better than me and thats why i stopped the guitar - but still play it :)

learned by myself

I have played drums for ten years but picked up bass guitar four years ago and guitar two years ago. I have a lot of friends who are also musicians and they give me tips and pointers along the way but mostly I teach myself by listening and reading tabs online. The first six months or so of playing are the hardest but you definitely get back what you put into it!

I started to learn back in the late 80s because I had a boyfriend who could play and I wanted to join in. I taught myself the initial stuff with 'The Complete Guitar Player', then, once I knew a few chords, had a guitar teacher for a while. Then I just started teaching myself songs with tab and learning new chords with the help of a chord book. The hardest thing I think I had to learn was how to strum decently, I remember it took me about a year until I sounded how I wanted to sound :P

I've now been playing for 20 years and recently worked out that I know how to play 237 songs from memory, which seems insane! It's something I sometimes don't do for months and then suddenly have a real revival of interest and learn a whole bunch of new songs and then go out and play at open mike nights and jam with friends. If you don't practice regularly your fingertips soften up though, so coming back after a long break is always initially hard.

The boyfriend and I broke up after three months but I never stopped playing the guitar. Persevere my friend. It's worth it.

I tried to learn by myself.But found it much easyer with a teacher

i can't play much yet but im slowly teaching myself

taught myself, lessons are boring!

I'm self-taught and I've been playing for ten years. I became a teacher, and this year, I just started jamming and getting impromptu music lessons with the band teacher. He plays bass and a variety of instruments, and he's really started helping me refine my playing. I'm a flashy player and can do a lot of the crazy tricks and play very fast, but he's helping me on the things I shirked, like really paying attention to my rhythm, accuracy, and my ability to play with other instruments. I've actually joined the pep band with the students to practice my rhythm!

My longwinded point is that you can self-teach, but you can only accomplish it if you're very dedicated. Even then, you may miss out on some skills. At some point, at the very least, you need to jam with other people to pick up licks, tricks, and a good sense of timing.

Both. Someone showed me chords and I figured out how they all related. It's best to get lots of input from other players. Teachers are fine but you'll never learn more than your teacher shows you if you just stick with his/her lessons. Spend a lot of time with the guitar by yourself. Time will fly & you'll learn at an alarming rate. But it's always good to have someone show you a new idea when you're stuck. Good luck!

I took a few lessons, and got bored. A friend showed me how to play a few chords. Next thing I knew, I was in a band, just playing a few chords. I continued to learn more, and I've been playing since the 60s.

i took a short course.. 5 weeks, 1 hr/week. so that's total of 5 hours. then i learned everything by myself.
i think it's really easy to learn by yourself if you have the passion for it.
i also learned to play drums by myself..
I'm trying to save up some money so i can buy a violin. that's my next target. i heard it's a bit more difficult to learn but hey, i have to give it a try anyway

I learnt by my self with an old acoustic guitar and
a book with a lot of classic folk songs in it