You’ve just bought your very first guitar and you’re very excited to begin learning the instrument. And why wouldn’t you be? In addition to being one of the coolest musical instruments, playing the guitar is an excellent way to relieve stress and it even improves your brain’s executive functions.

However, between struggling to reach the frets and your fingers hurting, learning to play the guitar can be quite a challenging experience.

Thankfully, there are many ways to learn and with some hard work and dedication, there is no reason why you can’t become the next Eric Clapton! If the conventional ways of learning the guitar aren’t working for you, here is a list of unorthodox ways you can learn the instrument. After all, playing the guitar is about freedom of ideas and expression!

Instead of Learning In-Person, Learn Online!

In today’s digital age, there is no better teacher than the internet when it comes to learning to play the guitar (or any other instrument). Although learning from a tutor can be great, in-person guitar lessons can be pretty costly and they also require you to travel to classes. Fortunately, lots of professional guitar tutors are now offering lessons online, which are not only more convenient, but also more affordable. Generally, online guitar lessons are conducted through tools such as Skype and Facetime. In addition to showing you the correct techniques, your online tutor will also provide you with helpful material such as chord charts and audio files. If you’re struggling to find the time to travel to guitar classes, then this option is for you!

Learning through Guitar Tutorials

If there are some particular songs that you want to learn, guitar tutorials might be the perfect guide for you. These offer detailed instructions, which are broken into easy steps, on how to play each song. Generally, guitar tutorials also include diagrams, videos and audio to explain chord techniques in a visual manner. If you just want to play the music you love and don’t care too much about technique, than guitar tutorials are the way to go. YouTube is a great source of online guitar tutorials.

Start Composing Your Own Music

Although most beginners don’t even dream about creating their own music during the early learning stages, it’s not a crazy idea. Once you have a basic grasp of a few chord patterns, you are ready to start creating your own music. All you need to do is use the chords you are familiar with as base, and start integrating your own notes into it. Once you have learned a few structures, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to create some nice-sounding music!

You can compose your very own great-sounding guitar song with Music Jotter’s simple music notation and composition software! Download our free demo and see for yourself!