Teaching yourself how to play the guitar is not only fun, but in the long run you will learn a lot more about your instrument, save a lot more cash, and the overall experience of learning on your own will be a lot more rewarding. The downside is that you will need to really stay focused and push yourself to keep moving forward; otherwise, you won't learn a thing.
In this guide I will try to help you to break down your lessons into six easy steps so that you can create your own practice sessions that work best for you. It really isn't that hard, but you have to stick with it. If I taught myself how to play the guitar, then so can you.
1. Buy an affordable guitar
Because who knows how long you will play the guitar. You might just give up within the first month, so why spend $200 on an instrument that will just sit around on display? If you aren't going to play it, don't spend a lot of money on it. My first guitar was under $70, and it was perfect. It didn't have any damage, there was no fret or truss rod problems, and the sound quality was surprisingly very nice. Whoever made my guitar took the time to do it right. The point is that you can buy a good quality guitar for very little money. All of those people out there that say "Buy a guitar for $200 because you get what you pay for" are sadly just saying that to make you waste money. Test some guitars out in store and try to find one you like that has the lowest price tag.
If you stick with playing the guitar, you can always upgrade to a better one in the future. I once heard a professional musician play Flight of the bumblebee on a $1 Recorder, and he made it sound epic. As you get better at playing the guitar you will discover that your first guitar will actually start to sound better over time as you perfect your skills. It's not the instrument that makes a good musician, but the musician that makes the instrument.
