I want to learn guitar online, what things should I focus on?
When learning any new skills online, the issue can be down to the amount of information available. What to listen to and focus on, and what is is just a distraction from the main path. This is definitely the case when you learn guitar online.
Each path available will be correct for someone. The trick is to know what your goals are, and then take the most direct path to that goal.
No matter what path you take you will need to start by learning how to play a clean note on the guitar. You will need to learn good hand positioning, how to tune the guitar. I would also advise any musician to learn the 12 notes of music and where the notes are on the instrument they are learning.
Guitarists can be lazy sometimes and focus on just TAB and chord graphs, but this can tern out to be very limiting in the long run.
after you have learned the basics, you will want to pick your path based on the goals you have in mind for your playing. Have a look at the questions below and see if any of them fit you.
I want to be a singer song writing guitarist, what should I focus on?
My personal answer is for you to learn your regular chord shapes first.
A, C, D, E, G, A minor (Am), D minor (Dm) and Em
Then to learn a few basic songs that use these chords from start to finish. Doing this will help you learn how to use the chords, how to strum, how song structure works and if you play along to the songs, it will help you develop your timing.
After this I would look into your barre chords. Mainly your 6 string major and minor shapes, and your 5 string major and minor shapes. These are sometimes called the E major and E minor barre chords, and the A major and A minor barre chords.
Once you know the barre chords and how to find each root note on the guitar, you will have the freedom to play any standard Major or minor chord. From this point most songs will be learn-able by just looking up the song name followed by the word chords in google.
I want to be a lead guitarist in a band, what should I focus on?
After you have some basics you will want to first work on some basic rhythm even though you want to be the lead guitarist. This is because when you’re not shredding out a sweet solo, you will be supporting the rhythm.
For most Rock, Pop punk, Metal Genres, all you will need is some basic understanding of finding the notes on the neck and a basic Power chord shape. This will be enough rhythm knowledge as long as you can also keep good timing.
Next, Learn your scales! Start with the minor pentatonic in its first position and just learn to use this as creatively as possible. There is no need to learn much more until you know how to use this basic scale.
More stages to becoming a lead guitarist
Do finger exercises. these can be in addition to the scale or using the scale notes. We are doing these to improve your finger dexterity (Speed, strength, coordination and stretch)
Learn your techniques. Especially the first 4! Slides, Bends, Hammer ons and Pull offs. Find finger exercises that use the techniques and get them s you can nail them every single time.
Learn basic solos – my advice is to start with some simple solos including the first solo in Guns and Roses Knocking on heavens door. This is great as it is fairly slow as far as solos go, but uses the main techniques and can be played along to the original track.
improvise to learn to write and to practice the techniques. Improvising is the best way to improve your playing. You need to know your scales, know your key/root notes, know your timing, use techniques and think fast enough to do it all on the fly along to music. It can be hard to start with, but it is super fun as well once you have it under your belt.
I want to learn to play my favourite songs on guitar, what should I focus on?
it depends on what styles of music you are into. However learning your regular chord shapes and learning to read TAB are the most important things for this goal.
Every well known song that has guitar in it, will have been written in TAB by someone and posted online.
Once you know your basics, your chords and how to read TAB, you will want to learn the song section by section and play along to the music.
If the song is too fast you can always try getting the song up on YouTube and using the settings to change the playback speed to 0.75. This will slow the video down and make it easier to keep up;
By playing along to the song(s), you will be developing both your speed and timing and your understanding of the songs structure.
What if my goal is different?
Everyones goals will be slightly different. so first know your goal and then look into what skills and knowledge we need to reach that goal.
If you aren’t sure what you need to learn, I would always start by learning where the notes are on the guitar, how to play your favourite songs and some fun riffs to get some experience on the guitar. The more you know the more you will become aware of what else is out there to learn.
What should I do to learn these things?
If you want to do this the hard way you can search youtube videos and learn bit by bit for free. However for this to be successful you will need to know what lessons to search for, and you will need to have some good motivation to push yourself when you are struggling or having a hard day.
Alternatively you can look into finding a guitar teacher. (as this article is focussed on how to learn guitar online you may want to find someone who teaches through Skype or Zoom lessons)
Or for the best online results you can find an online course, or even better find a site that offers a range of courses with any built in extra motivation helpers.
Of course I would suggest having a look at The Guitar Ninja Academy.
How can The Guitar Ninja Academy help me Learn guitar online?
The Guitar Ninja Academy has loads of courses all laid out from beginner to advanced, with tools to help you work on your timing, mini games to assist in your knowledge of the guitar neck and some awesome things to help your motivation.
You start by creating your own guitar playing avatar that will progress as you complete more lessons and courses.
As you complete your courses you will earn fans and coins. The more fans you have the bigger stage your avatar will perform on, and the more coins you earn the better clothing, guitar, amplifiers, pedals and accessories your avatar can have.
there are also achievements to unlock and the option to add friends and compete with them on your own leaderboard.
And it even has a 7 day free trial available here
Once you know your basics of reading tab, Check out our YouTube channel For some fun easy guitar riffs:
>>The Guitar Ninja’s YouTube <<