How do I actually start with learning?
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shirls1993
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2026 9:05 am
How do I actually start with learning?
I know absolutely nothing about music. I know what a chord is and that’s about it. What do I search up? Where? All I get from people is ‘just make music bro u gotta feel it out’, which does not help. I can’t just put together random instruments and random notes. What can I do?
Re: How do I actually start with learning?
I can only give you my perspective as a very early picker-upper of the guitar, and a very late learner of theory.
I'm not a guitar teacher, but I know what worked for me, and why it worked.
I think that you have to play. It may sound bad, it may sound clumsy in the early days, but you can't ignore that this is all about making sounds on an instrument, and how it makes you and others feel. Learn some basic chords, and tie the sound you make to actual songs. Learn to strum, and don't expect too much too soon. Play little and often rather than in big batches. Once I placed my guitar on a hook next to my desk and I could pick it up for 90 seconds for a quick play, then I quickly got a lot better, a lot faster.
On the other hand, a lack of theory actually held me back for many years. I didn't realise it, but an understanding of how chords are composed, why it works, how the terms describe what you're seeing, and why certain chords go well together would have made my playing and my ability to accompany anything very different. I would have played more songs, tried more complexity, and not been held back by a lot of the notation and terminology.
I'm not suggesting you should be an expert in the theory, but to suggest that it's not 'that' important is in my view simply not good guidance.
I went down the theory rabbit hole a couple of years ago, and it was frankly so simple that I feel a fool for not doing it earlier. Perhaps I was just ready when I was ready. Either way, I can now have a fairly deep discussion about most things and this informs how I compose songs, why I choose progressions or chord types, how chords flow, and also how I accompany backing tracks. The fretboard is now more open to me than it ever was. Nothing is off limits, and I have much more choice in how I decide to use my fingers.
I'm still not great at reading music notation, but this is really less important to me. Intellectually pairing what I hear, and rationalising why it is right or wrong is my sole focus. If I make a mistake, then I will often *know* what I did wrong. That's good enough for me, and typically means I make fewer mistakes of the same sort in the future.
If you wanted to start with some basic theory, then I would start with major and minor scales and how chords are composed (triads, to start). Then look at chord progressions (diatonic) to get a feel for why chords work together. You need to be able to bounce your questions off someone on a regular basis. If that's a person great. If it's an AI bot to hep you understand minor details, then do that.
A teacher may have a different view, but once I got the above, then it provided a foundation for everything else.
Jon
I'm not a guitar teacher, but I know what worked for me, and why it worked.
I think that you have to play. It may sound bad, it may sound clumsy in the early days, but you can't ignore that this is all about making sounds on an instrument, and how it makes you and others feel. Learn some basic chords, and tie the sound you make to actual songs. Learn to strum, and don't expect too much too soon. Play little and often rather than in big batches. Once I placed my guitar on a hook next to my desk and I could pick it up for 90 seconds for a quick play, then I quickly got a lot better, a lot faster.
On the other hand, a lack of theory actually held me back for many years. I didn't realise it, but an understanding of how chords are composed, why it works, how the terms describe what you're seeing, and why certain chords go well together would have made my playing and my ability to accompany anything very different. I would have played more songs, tried more complexity, and not been held back by a lot of the notation and terminology.
I'm not suggesting you should be an expert in the theory, but to suggest that it's not 'that' important is in my view simply not good guidance.
I went down the theory rabbit hole a couple of years ago, and it was frankly so simple that I feel a fool for not doing it earlier. Perhaps I was just ready when I was ready. Either way, I can now have a fairly deep discussion about most things and this informs how I compose songs, why I choose progressions or chord types, how chords flow, and also how I accompany backing tracks. The fretboard is now more open to me than it ever was. Nothing is off limits, and I have much more choice in how I decide to use my fingers.
I'm still not great at reading music notation, but this is really less important to me. Intellectually pairing what I hear, and rationalising why it is right or wrong is my sole focus. If I make a mistake, then I will often *know* what I did wrong. That's good enough for me, and typically means I make fewer mistakes of the same sort in the future.
If you wanted to start with some basic theory, then I would start with major and minor scales and how chords are composed (triads, to start). Then look at chord progressions (diatonic) to get a feel for why chords work together. You need to be able to bounce your questions off someone on a regular basis. If that's a person great. If it's an AI bot to hep you understand minor details, then do that.
A teacher may have a different view, but once I got the above, then it provided a foundation for everything else.
Jon