It Is A Lot Easier To Learn Guitar Today... Or Is It?

by Jake Willmot

You might be thinking that it does make it easier because “well there is so much information out there that was a lot harder to find years ago. So, of course it’s easier”. Not so fast.

While it is true that it is a lot easier to get a lot of information that was WAY harder to find years ago, that doesn’t necessarily make it easier. Remember that there is a lot of knowledge online that is either inaccurate, completely wrong or mediocre.

Not to mention that not all information online is even relevant to you. To play guitar the way you want, you won’t need to know certain things. What is relevant for you and what you want to do with your playing?

Well, unless you have been playing for 20 years and are at an advanced level you have no way of knowing that. So, it’s a lot easier to get lost in misinformation or useless information today than it was years ago for the same reason that information is easy to get.

Information is also not the only thing you need to get good as a player.

Years ago, when I was first starting to play the guitar, I had a teacher that was not very good. In fact, I had a few that wasn’t. However, I also did some supplementary stuff by watching videos on YouTube.

Looking back, I had no idea what was relevant to what I wanted to do. I also had no idea what videos were, even good videos with the right information. How was I to know that? I had only been playing guitar for a few months, I knew nothing. Even if I thought I knew something, I knew nothing looking back.

So, progress would have been slow because I was at times focusing on the wrong things. And was I practicing those things in effective ways anyway? No. In fact I had no idea that I even needed to practice in efficient ways, I thought it was as simple as going through it.

There were very few videos on practicing guitar back then, the few videos that may have existed, I either didn’t see or they weren’t that good. If there are videos out there on practicing guitar, how would you know which ones are good at which ones are bad?

It’s very easy to be misled today due to the internet. So, what you need is a guitar teacher that is knowledgeable enough to help you get not only the right information but all the other pieces that is necessary to become a great player.