What's the best way to teach yourself how to play the electric guitar?

Question

What's the best way to teach yourself how to play the electric guitar?

Answer 1

I wanted to play electric guitar all my life.  When I was about 11 my parents bought me a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar for my birthday.  Now what self-respecting Van Halen loving kid wants a friggin guitar like that?  They got some lessons for me from this real assh@le with a bad smelling room for a studio - needless to say I didn't get too far with it.  When I turned 29 I made a list of things I wanted to have done by the time I was 30 (and it was quite a list).  One thing on the list was to learn to play guitar.  Then I realized...  If I go up to the store, they will be more than happy to sell me an electric guitar & amp!

And so I did.  I spent $200 on a full starter set - guitar, amp, stand, strap, picks, tuner, learning cd-rom...  What a blast!!  I spent the first few hours just seeing how much distortion i could make and using the whammy bar  wha, wha, whaaaaaaaaaaa.

Now, five years later I still play that same guitar, but have a Marshall amp, and I'm pretty good.  It's my favorite hobby because I can do it anytime I want, and I can do it for ten minutes or two hours.

So, get some gear, and get some beginner lessons from someone that shares your musical taste...  and rock on!!!

Answer 2

books and dvds are fine but you cant beat one on one tuition

Answer 3

Congrats on beating anorexia man. I'm sure that was a tough battle.

Answer 4

Go and have lessons! I charge £25.00 per hour and will teach you, it is better to learn to play on an acoustic as the electric amplifies all the mistakes.Good luck1

Answer 5

First learn how to play the acoustic.  Then, play the electric.

Try lessons, books, chords (can be found online), DVD instructional videos.