I played very little in highschool and now, 15 years later, I have the urge to go back to it. I've been playing for an hour or so most days for the last month which I know isn't a lot but lets be honest, it's just for my own enjoyment, I have no illusions of being a middle aged rock star.

Anyway I was wondering if people had any advice, good resources, sheet music that isn't garbage?

In my position would you go the self taught route or is it really important to have a tutor? I'm particularly concerned about picking up bad technique and then practicing that, I feel like that was a big part of why I gave up in the first place - fucking up the same things no matter how many times I did them because I learned them wrong.

Thanks all.

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[–] macabrett@hexbear.net 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I got two lessons like 15 years ago and then scrambled the rest of my knowledge together by playing with other musicians and trying to write music like the music I like. I think I'd be a better guitar player if I had more lessons, but I still have fun with it.

I think what you do kinda depends on what you want to get out of it. Do you want to write music? Might be worth it to have lessons. Maybe learn piano for music theory purposes (can get a lot of cheap keyboards these days).

If you just want to play other people's songs? You can probably get by following some youtube lessons and winging it from there.

Also sort of depends on the genres of music you're most interested in. I like a lot of punk/folk, so I tended towards rhythm guitar with fairly simple chord progressions. I might have bad techniques, but it doesn't matter much for the music I play. If you want to play a more technical style of guitar, lessons can help a lot there and technique becomes incredibly important.

[–] AlkaliMarxist@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

I've never had much of an desire to write my own music, but I have heard that piano (keyboard) is the easiest path to understanding music theory. I'd just like to be able to play other people's songs though, maybe have some improvisational skills to be able to jam with other hobbyists but that's about it.

Maybe I'll look as some lessons, even if just to get a feel for what they offer. I want to mostly play classic rock and it can be a technically challenging genre. I definitely get the impression that there isn't really a wrong way to learn though, just ways that are more or less suited to what you want to do.

Thanks.