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Going back to your comment Sassafras, I think many spend years of pain trying to copy to the nth degree and failing make your own voice - vocalist do it this way, so why can't we
I started on an acoustic guitar.
As did;
Brian May
Jimi
Slash
Joe Perry
Johnny Marr
John Scofield
Larry Carlton
Clapton
This may be an "old school idea" but I like it. I am not a guitar teacher but if someone asked me for pointers I would get them started on a good (cheap) acoustic and as soon as they had 5 or 6 chords - and good changes - I would have them playing the Tom Petty songbook.
"Timing" is important for any musician......
If I see a guitarist on Youtube (or playing a small gig)....I am interested in his/her grasp of the basics. If the soloing is good or great but the rest is mediocre......that is depressing IMO.
Pete Townshend's first three guitars were all acoustics.
It shows.
That is all I am saying.
I am trying so hard to avoid talking about "not running before you can walk" because some people really hate that. The poster on music radar hated that.
Once I got an electric guitar however, everything changed. I absolutely loved it, right off the bat, and 20 years later I'm still playing electric guitar pretty much exclusively. I have an acoustic upstairs in the spare room and the only time it gets picked up is if I'm upstairs in the spare room and I see it and I give it a strum. It then gets put down not likely to get touched again for many many months.
Also you don't need to take guitar lessons to learn guitar, judging by the posts in this thread so far, many of us have taught ourselves, but you have to focus, you have to divide your time between practising and just playing. You will not learn much if you keep playing what you already know. It sounds like a cliche, but set yourself some goals, and work hard to reach those goals. If you can't focus well or aren't particularly self motivated to reach your goals, it will take you longer to learn, and you might find that a teacher is better for you.
I figured out how to play the melody of 'tales from the riverbank' (naff TV show) on one string.
35 years later and I can play guitar. I have no idea what happened but it didn't involve teaching or t'interweb.
He taught me the basic, and would transcribe and teach me things I wanted to learn so it kept it interesting for me....and i'd play all evening and weekend!
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
Went from there, really..
What is important though is to know what notes your playing as the name of the notes, the intervals and the keys are the common language of music. When you an a keyboard player decide on a key you can't say "well I start on the 7th fret on this string" ... that means fuck all to a keyboard player or brass player or anyone other than another guitarist.
@Voxman I think vids showing people how are great as long as they communicate in terms of notes and not just fret numbers. I did a dep player quick guide to Mr Brightside amonst others as it seems to be a song people struggle with but I'm always referring to notes ....... a keyboard player could watch it and play it on their instrument
I watch a lot of country technique videos and those guys are generally pretty good a showing the licks in terms of notes. keys etc.
Getting an electric, as crap as it was, was the kickstarter, played through a hacked cassette recorder ans with more guidance from Harvey Vinson's book on blues guitar.
But playing along with records, hours and hours of it, was hugely important.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I then got a good teacher who's since worked with a few name vocalists and went onto run a couple of university music depts. Similar to @not_the_dj s teacher he would transcribe anything for me. He worked out The Seahorses' ""Love is the Law" for me on the week of release - I could play most of it before it charted. I learned all of my technique by learning songs. I stayed with him for around 3 years. I tried another teacher but I found it hard to adjust to his style. He did give me some insight into the caged system and some nice chords I wasn't aware of. I didn't really know what I wanted from him.
I moved away but had a field based job which allowed me to get home by 3pm most days. I'd then practice for 2/3 hours until the Mrs came in from work. I managed to do this for nearly 2 years before redundancy came calling. This was when I improved the most I think. This period coincided with me getting into some regular gigging bands.
In reality, the real learning came from Youtube Videos and tabs on Ultimate Guitar.
I then bought this book, complete with record (still have it) and I was off.
Not much better now TBH!
When I decided to 'be a musician' (rather than just playing an instrument') I then got a part time job and spent the rest of my time playing.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
so...self taught and only in the last 6-7 years i've delved into a bit of theory, but i really dont have the appetite to learn it at this stage, i pick up what i can...but mainly just noodle and come up with riffs and bits...