I want to play guitar?

Question:i started learning guitar in sept 2007 and then i practised a bit. but i dont really know anything. I want to play guitar REALLY bad, but i dont know what to practice.

I want to learn on my own but if i dont get very far i will consider getting lessons.

What are some good key things to practice and are there any good books? websites?

the guitar looks like an awesome intrument to play once you know how. i want to play it so much!!!

Also how long does it take to get sort of good at it where you can play songs?

thanks! =]

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i started learning guitar in sept 2007 and then i practised a bit. but i dont really know anything. I want to play guitar REALLY bad, but i dont know what to practice.

I want to learn on my own but if i dont get very far i will consider getting lessons.

What are some good key things to practice and are there any good books? websites?

the guitar looks like an awesome intrument to play once you know how. i want to play it so much!!!

Also how long does it take to get sort of good at it where you can play songs?

thanks! =]

It takes about a year to get good enough to play most songs you'd hear on the radio. Not to play every single guitar part, just to play the song so that people can recognise it.

It takes decades to really understand the instrument and know the fretboard like you know your own name. The guitar has a learning curve that is very shallow for a long time, then goes very steep and stays like that forever.

I suggest you practice playing melodies. Most people who play guitar can't play melodies, only chords. If you can work out the melodies of the songs you like, then a little bit of theory will enable you to work out the chords of any song, even if you don't know what they are in advance.

What you need to know are the tools that will enable you to play things that you haven't painstakingly learned in advance. These tools are mostly the basics of music theory and a bit about how to go from one note to the other, shape chords, etc.

The best book I know on this stuff is Ralph Denyer's 'Guitar Handbook', now thoroughly out of date about the state of popular music (the current edition hasn't been revised since the 90s) but rock-solid, very clear and very helpful about the fundamentals of playing music on the guitar.

Well, you can buy any basic method books. Anything that teaches you basic exersises and theory would work.

But it will be wayyy easier if you get lessons.

i've been playing only for like 5 or 6 months and the first song i learned took me about a month. After that it gets easier and easier, i learn songs from tabs. If you have a song you want to learn just type search "name of the song" guitar tab on google and it should just pop up! tabs are really easy to use and helped me learn so many chords! good luck!

Go to a local music store and browse the books, check message boards for lessons, just in case. My fiance is in a band he plays left handed and upside down, his guitars are strung for right handed people. He is self taught and has been playing since age 13, he is 47 and he is amazing. He likes Eric Johnson. Eric Johnson also has instructional videos with step by step guides.

OK. I've been playing guitar for over 45 years. I started on chords. You realize that you cannot have long, pretty nails on your left hand, and that it will hurt a lot to start with, (but that will wear off.) Get a book of chords and learn 3 or 4, like A D E and G. Learn each chord, then practise changing between them. This will give you 2 basic keys : A, which is A D E and D, which is D G A. There are stacks of songs which use those chords, especially if you go back to the 60's. It will take regular practice, though.

Hope this helps, and if I can help further, fell free to email me.

You've already received some good answers, but not everyone has the same idea. I started with chords. Condition your fingers first. Without that, you won't play anything.
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That depends on how much time you dedicate into learning and practicing guitar. The more time you spend in trying to learn to play guitar the better you get. If you know how to read a tab then print one out and practice it. If you don't know how to read one that is where you start. Don't give up though i struggled immensely when I first started it took me about six weeks to learn a song.