There are a lot of ways you can learn to play the guitar. Before the age of the internet, people used to read magazines, books, attend music class or just went to a guitarist to learn the guitar. Some dedicated players were even accustomed to listening to songs from a cassette player over and over to learn through the ears. Even in the age of the internet, learning to play the guitar from a music school or an organization is very popular. But during the current COVID-19 pandemic, getting out of the house puts our life on the line. So our best choice is to stay home and learn online.
Why shouldn’t we use the offline method during the pandemic?
We already know that COVID-19 is highly contagious. It can spread with very little interaction. Since it is so deadly, people are closing down many businesses and organizations. Because of the following reason, taking a class in a school, organization or interacting with anyone has become difficult. The schools are closed because of the pandemic so you cannot expect to find offline classes anyway. Learning guitar from a teacher also includes interaction, especially if you have just started learning the guitar. Buying hardcopy books from the store has also become very dangerous at the moment. So our best bet will be any form of physical interaction, less education or lesson, and this is now very possible thanks to the internet. Online learning can also be very efficient and safe during the current situation.
How online guitar learning actually is better?
We already talked about why the offline method is a big no during the pandemic. But now let’s focus on why learning guitar online is perfectly valid. The internet is very big and certainly has almost everything. It’s also the perfect place to learn any instruments online. But for the sake of the top, let’s consider only the guitar.
On the internet, you can expect to find any lesson you can think of, and you can also expect to see the courses in any form. Our first friend will be YouTube videos. Since YouTube is popping up lately, there are a lot of people willing to upload videos on YouTube. From beginner level lessons to advanced level lessons are available on it. You can also find almost any song ever made on it. Some people even upload videos of songs without the guitar so that you can play it with the music. Guitar karaoke can be extremely beneficial for learning the guitar since it is fun and challenging at the same time. But the best part is you can see the improvement while you are at it.
Let’s talk about books. We already know, before the age of the internet, people used to learn guitar from various magazines and books. Currently, almost all of the books are either available in a Pdf format on numerous online book sites or the amazon. Books are important because usually it is written by a professional guitarist. They tend to be also very detailed and consist of much information. Books are especially very helpful for beginners since they will lead you in a correct manner. The linear direction of instruction that a book can provide is almost unmatchable, even in this era. It can reduce any chance of confusion because the content usually doesn’t overlap with each other.
So digital books are a big yes while learning the guitar.
One of the first challenges of learning the guitar is finding out the chords of a song. You cannot expect someone who just started learning the guitar to find out the chords of a song, especially if he does not have a piece of proper knowledge on chord formation and music theory. There are a lot of websites that provide guitar tabs. You can learn to play your favorite song faster and easier with guitar tabs. Some may say, guitar tabs can significantly reduce the chance of getting better with guitar, but it is perfectly fine if you are just a beginner. Tabs could also be very helpful if you were asked to play a song out of nowhere.
Because of the pandemic, a lot of professional musicians are opening up to online teaching. Just like schools, music schools are now held online. There are a lot of music teachers or musicians who are currently teaching guitars online. You can find pre-recorded videos or even live classes. The premium access to some websites can give you online courses. The classes are usually taken on skype, discord or other platforms where you can interact with the teacher. You can check out Jefferey Thomas Lesson From Anywhere for skype lessons, he teaches bass and ukulele as well, and you can also schedule a free class here.
One of the key-features of the internet is unlimited free access to many articles. Articles from the internet can be very helpful since it usually covers almost every topic you can think of. Learning guitar includes learning about many guitar models. You should have minimum knowledge about guitar hardware and materials while learning to play the guitar. How a guitar functions, how different materials can affect the sound of the guitar, these are some of the basic knowledge of learning guitar. Now you can learn all these online from many websites like the Six String Tips. It is somewhat important to know about your instrument and what you can expect from a certain price range. For starters, if you are looking for a cheap guitar, you can check out this article about guitars under $200. Even without the pandemic, you cannot just go to every guitar store and play the guitars one by one to find out which model is better. Online guitar reviews are here to help you!
Stay safe and keep rocking!
The pandemic has certainly prevented us from capitalizing on many opportunities. Many people, especially the musicians, lost their job because of the COVID-19 as people are not hiring musicians or not attending any physical class right now. Therefore, switching to the online guitar learning method can not only help you learn better but also help musicians in difficulty during the pandemic. I hope my article has shed some light on the current situation. Thank you for reading!
