This post is for anyone who has thought about picking up the guitar but hasn’t followed through yet... 

For those of you who aren’t yet successful guitar players, you're in luck... becoming one in this day and age is both more fun and even easier than you could ever imagine.

A lot of people dream of picking up a guitar and starting to make their own music. Below I am going to break down a basic "guitar practice theory and method" for getting started with playing the guitar. This approach works. I know that because I’ve taught this in real life to over 1000 people since the year 1992.



WHAT HOLDS PEOPLE BACK?
Before a person will pick up the guitar and try to learn to play it, they generally operate under a lot of false assumptions about how difficult it is to become a guitarist. Below are a few of those assumptions...

- I am too old to start to learn to play guitar
- I have no musical talent and never have been a very “musical” person
- I need to learn to read music to play a guitar
- Learning guitar takes far too much time and effort, I should have started years ago

If you've believed in any of the above assumptions, you couldn’t have been more wrong on them. Learning guitar is much easier than you'd think. It just requires the correct approach.

If you don’t have musical talent - here's some fantastic news – you don’t need it.



ALL YOU NEED IS TIME AND PATIENCE:
Playing guitar is fundamentally about teaching your fingers to do things that they aren’t used to doing. That’s it. It doesn’t take a genius. All it takes is putting in a few hours each day to train your fingers to memorize a collection of shapes.

When you first begin your studies of how to start playing the guitar, set aside your time in blocks of 5 hour segments. Practice daily starting slowly, with just 15 min. on the instrument. But, do it every day. Branch out after 2-weeks to 30 min. for six days a week. Then carry on with that approach for 3 months.

After the first 5 hours with the guitar you’ll be playing a small group of chords and a couple of songs. Then, expand your practice time to 45 min. 5 days a week and start working through another 5 hour segment with the instrument.

All it takes is the devotion of your time and maintaining a level of patience for the learning process to take hold. The goal is putting in those first 10 hours. Once that's behind you things are going to really start to expand with your playing.



MOTIVATION:
People who develop the basic guitar skills, (making it through those first 10 hours), love playing the guitar. Many will comment that when they think of the decisions they’ve made that have changed their life the most, picking up the guitar was one of the most important and meaningful decisions they’ve ever made.

BENEFITS: Learning how to play an instrument opens doors...

- A quality and productive way to “unplug” and relax.
- You’ll enter in to a community of musicians who are looking to jam, sing, write, and take over the world– it’s like learning a new language and culture.
- No matter what your race, sex, creed or color you will increase your attractiveness to others.
- Listening to music will become more enjoyable because you’ll start to pull apart a composition– you’ll begin to understand what is going on. (Eventually you’ll start to make your own).
- And as a bonus… once you learn your first instrument, the next instruments get easier.

How to play music on the guitar in less than 10 hours...


CHORDS:
The basic fundamental information that you need to play the guitar can be learned in about 20 minutes. That information consists of FIVE different finger shapes that you must first of all remember, and secondly, you need to develop their feel - or what players call the chord's grip. I’ve posted the first five of these chord shapes below, (the "G Major," "D Major," "C Major" "A Minor" and "E Minor" chords).



The next important chord to learn is the  "D Major."



 Our third chord type is the "C Major" chord.



 Our fourth chord type is the "A Minor" chord.



 Our fifth chord type is the "E Minor" chord.




SONGS:
The rest of your 10 hours will be spent teaching your finger muscles to play chord shapes and feel rhythm.However, at the point of developing the shapes to where the player can switch between them, it is vital that songs are brought into the practice routine.

Below is a short-list of ten songs that beginners can start learning with the chords listed above...

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" (John Denver) G-C-D

"Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash) G-C-D

"Release" (Pearl Jam) G-C-D

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan) G-C-D-Am

"What's Up" (4 Non-Blondes) G-Am-C-G

"Lively Up Yourself" (Bob Marley) D-G

"Bottoms Up" (Brantley Gilbert) Em-C-D

"Marry You" (Bruno Mars) D-Em-G

"New Flame" (Chris Brown) C-Am-G

"Lucky Man" (Emerson Lake and Palmer) G-D-Am


SUMMARY:
Learning to play guitar does not require physical, mental or musical talent. What it will require is dedication for the first 10 hours of playing. You need to put aside the time, be patient with yourself and learn the first five chord shapes.

Then, put those chords to use. Learn to change between them using songs. Try your best to get the chord changes fast enough that you can play along with the original recordings. If you can't do that - use some audio software and slow the song down. Programs like "Riffstation," "Transcribe" "Garage-Band" and "Audacity" will all slow down MP3's.

Once you get better at the chord changes it's time to expand your ability further through a solid guitar curriculum such as my "Introductory and Intermediate" guitar courses.

Playing the guitar is fun and extremely fulfilling. Best of all anyone who puts their mind to it can play. Start slow and start simple, start by putting in those first 10 hours.