Picking up guitar for the first time is an exciting milestone – but often, first-time players have expectations that are out of line with what they can actually expect. Here are some common expectations for learning guitar, and the reality behind them. 

Expectation: You’ll start out playing the coolest looking guitar around. 

Reality: It’s easiest to start learning guitar on  an acoustic guitar – there’s less equipment involved, and you can really master the basics like hitting notes properly, learning the chord shapes, and mastering strumming. 

Don’t worry – there’s plenty of time to get into collecting crazy guitars once you’ve learned how to play!

Expectation: You’ll practice every day. 

Reality: It would be great to practice every day, but realistically, life gets in the way. A good goal for daily practice is 30 minutes to 90 minutes a day, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t always make that benchmark. Some helpful strategies to keep you on track: set reminders for practice time on your phone (or on a Post-It), practice for shorter sessions, or use commercial breaks during TV time to get some scales in! 

Expectation: You’ll teach yourself everything you need to know. 

Reality: Some guitar heroes were self-taught, but if you really want to learn guitar the right way (understanding the notes and theory so you can easily play with other musicians), you’ll likely need some help. 

Luckily, Fret Zealot has hundreds of lessons at your fingertips, so you can take courses like Complete Guitar Theory Lab at home, whenever you want! 

Expectation: You’ll be shredding in a couple of months. 

Reality: Don’t get discouraged if you’re still slowly working through easy songs a few months in. Everyone learns at a different pace, and you need to not only memorize songs, but also build muscle memory! The good news is that the more you practice, the further you get – even if it doesn’t feel like that yet. 

Expectation: You’ll learn some of your favorite songs right away 

Reality: You may want to start with “Eruption”, but it’s more likely that you’ll learn “Smoke on the Water” first! Here are some other easy rock songs to learn to help ease you into playing guitar. 

Some guitar players are by-the-book with their playing style – and some take the book and throw it away, opting for unique and unusual guitar playing styles. 

Here are some guitarists who use unconventional playing styles:

Eddie Van Halen

“Eddie Van Halen at the New Haven Coliseum 2” by Carl Lender is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Van Halen’s Eddie Van Halen popularized the two-handed tapping technique, showcased in the 1978 instrumental track “Eruption”. Van Halen explained that he watched Jimmy Page play the “Heartbreaker” solo in 1971 and was inspired. “He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string … pull off,” Van Halen said in an interview with Guitar World. “I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around? I just kind of took it and ran with it.”

Jeff Beck

“Jeff Beck” by MandyHallMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

English guitarist Jeff Beck is regularly included in lists of the greatest guitar players of all time. He had a creative approach to guitar, which involved incorporating the volume knob with his pick and thumb. He also experimented with distortion and feedback during his time in The Yardbirds, and utilized the whammy bar to create unearthly sounds out of his instrument.

Jimi Hendrix 

“Jimi Hendrix Experience-‘You Got Me Floatin”-1967″ by scottallenonline is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Another one of the most highly regarded guitarists of all time, Jimi Hendrix broke some guitar traditions by using feedback, distortion, wah, and even his teeth in his playing. A left-handed guitar player, he played upside down and backwards. Hendrix was able to play rhythm and lead simultaneously, a trick he perfected from years of playing in trios, and he rejected the typical barre chord fretting technique, instead fretting the low 6th string root notes with his thumb.

James Hetfield

“James Hetfield 2017” by Ralph Arvesen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Metallica’s James Hetfield has a unique way of holding his pick – he holds it with three fingers, like a pen or quill, instead of the usual two. Maybe that helps him with his signature style of downpicking riffs, creating a staccato sound. 

Marty Friedman 

“Marty Friedman – 01” by Hiroshi YamazakiCopyright holder: Marty Friedman is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Megadeth’s Marty Friedman also has an unusual picking technique. He clenches his picking hand in a way that goes against the typical palm mute used in metal music. He also uses upstrokes vs. downstokes, picking by moving his fingers, also known as “circle picking”. 

Everyone learns guitar differently! Take this quiz to find out your guitar learning style – and which famous guitarist shares your learning style. 

What’s your guitar learning style - and which famous guitarist does it match with?

 

 

Everyone learns guitar differently! Take this quiz to find out your guitar learning style - and which famous guitarist shares your learning style. 

1 / 5

How did you learn/how are you learning guitar?

By listening to the radio or songs and playing by ear.

I knew another instrument before I switched to guitar.

I took guitar lessons and learned music theory.

I got really into the pentatonic scale and blues music.

I learned a handful of chords to accompany myself singing.

2 / 5

What’s your favorite thing about playing guitar?

 

Being able to recreate songs that I love.

Using my music skills in a different way.

Diving into music theory and learning new methods.

Improvising along with a song.

Creating my own accompaniment.

3 / 5

What's your practice style?

Listening to a song, playing along until I’ve got it down.

Making some dedicated practice time and hammer away.

Delve into some intense scales.

Play some solos.

Play and sing through some songs.

4 / 5

What’s your idea of a great gig?

A gig where the crowd is really involved in the music.

A show where I get to showcase all of my instruments.

A gig where I play flawlessly.

Getting in a great groove with my band and pulling off some great bends .

A gig where my words really connect with the audience

5 / 5

What’s most important to you as a guitarist?

 

Learning independently.

Making good music.

Utilizing music theory properly.

Feeling comfortable with playing live.

Having the guitar embody the message of the song.

Nirvana, one of the best-selling bands of all time, was instrumental in bringing the grunge movement to mainstream music. With songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come As You Are”, they pioneered a genre that welded pop with noise, featuring lyrics that contained themes of nihilism and alienation. Nirvana disbanded after Cobain’s death in 1994. Drummer Dave Grohl formed the Foo Fighters and bassist Krist Novoselic devoted himself to activism.

Here are five surprising facts you might not know about Nirvana: 

 Kurt Cobain worked as a janitor at the high school he dropped out of 

“‘Twilight’ meets Nirvana” by quinn.anya is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain dropped out of Aberdeen High School a few weeks before graduation, but briefly worked there as a janitor to help finance Nirvana’s first demo. The dancing janitor in the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a nod to that job.

Dave Grohl was not the original drummer. 

“Dave Grohl 1989” by Tobby Holzinger / Agentur Spirit is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Even though pre-Foo Fighters Grohl is an iconic member of the grunge band, he wasn’t the group’s original drummer. Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic were in the band since its inception, but the band had at least five drummers, including fellow grunge pioneers The Melvins’ Dale Crover. Melvins frontman Buzz Osbourne introduced Grohl to Cobain and Novoselic in time for the band’s 1991 album, Nevermind.

The band went through some interesting names before deciding on “Nirvana”…

…including Skid Row, Pen Cap Chew, Bliss, and Ted Ed Fred. 

Their first single was a cover 

Nirvana’s first official release was a cover of “Love Buzz” by the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, who are best known for their 1969 song “Venus”. 

The title for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came from a joke Cobain didn’t get 

“With the lights out, its less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us” by dullhunk is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The title for Nirvana’s 1991 grunge anthem came from a graffiti scrawl that Kurt Cobain’s friend and Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna put on his wall, “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit”. Hanna meant to make fun of Cobain for wearing his girlfriend’s Teen Spirit deodorant, but Cobain didn’t know what “Teen Spirit” meant and took it as a compliment.

READ MORE:

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Do you sometimes struggle with creativity when it comes to writing music?

If you’ve hit a creative block and aren’t sure what to do, here are some useful tips to get your creative juices flowing once more. 

Go for a walk 

 

Put your guitar down for a bit, lace up your sneakers, and get walking! A 2014 Stanford study found that creative thinking improves while a person is walking and shortly thereafter – either indoors or outdoors. 

Listen to something new

Your Spotify playlist might have all your favorite songs, but it can be helpful to listen to something completely different to get your creative energy going. If you mostly listen to metal, try listening to some country. If you listen to mostly indie music, try some K-pop. Branching out into a different genre will help you get a new musical perspective – even if you don’t love the music. 

Spend some time in nature 

A Danish study from 2015 found that spending time in nature can help boost creativity by recharging directed-attention. Directed-attention is maintaining focus on a specific task, which can sometimes lead to mental fatigue. Bonus points if you take a walk in nature! 

Let loose

Writing music can sometimes feel daunting because of the pressure to write better and better – so why not write worse? Let yourself write something that’s silly or cliche – just for the pleasure of writing it. You might not add a song about dinosaurs to your next album – but it might help you unlock some really good ideas. 

Go see some live music 

Watching another band or artist play original music is a great way to find new inspiration. Check out a local band in your city – or go to an open mic night!