Learning to play Accoustic Guitar?

Question:Im learning to play Accoustic Guitar. Im am self teaching my self with a book. i have a couple questions.

1. If i were learning out of a accoustic book, will i learn the same thing if i went to a rock book?

2. since im new and only 12, how many notes should i limit myself to and how long should i practice a day?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Im learning to play Accoustic Guitar. Im am self teaching my self with a book. i have a couple questions.

1. If i were learning out of a accoustic book, will i learn the same thing if i went to a rock book?

2. since im new and only 12, how many notes should i limit myself to and how long should i practice a day?

From what I've seen of lots of guitar instruction books over the years -- most books specifically written for acoustic guitar tend to focus more on folk, bluegrass or country music, blues fingerpicking. Books specifically written to teach rock music tend to assume that you're playing an electric guitar and teach rock rhythms and lead soloing.

But both kinds of books will teach you the basics - how to tune the guitar, how to hold it, how to make chords and change between them, how to pick out melodies either with your fingers or a flatpick, etc.

You generally don't limit your practicing to a certain number of notes per day, LOL. As for how long you should practice each day -- how much time do you have to spend on it? In the beginning, pressing your fingers down on the strings to form chords or play single notes will make your left hand fingertips sore, and that as much as anything will limit your practice time. Eventually, after several weeks of practice, your fingertips will develop callouses so you'll be able to play longer without the pain. And the simple answer is that the more time you spend practicing the quicker you'll learn -- but you have to be sure that you're doing things correctly. Spending half an hour practicing the correct way to do things would be much better than 3 hours a day learning to do it wrong! If you're not holding the guitar correctly, not positioning your left hand on the guitar neck properly (don't allow the palm of your left hand to touch the back of the neck as though you were holding a baseball bat), not picking properly with the right hand,etc, your bad technique will keep you from doing what you want on the guitar, and hold you back from making progress. I would strongly recommend you get at least a few lessons with a teacher who can make sure you're not developing bad habits that will hold you back.

I would imaging that a starter book is a starter book - no matter the style of music. Stick with it. I did the same thing when I was your age - I've been playing for more than 20 years now! If you learn a bunch of cords and cord patterns, you can apply them to songs you know and like. By the way, if there are songs you do like, I can help figure out how to make the cords...