Learning to play an instrument can be intimidating, and when you can't get the hang of it, it can be discouraging; however, with expensive lessons, you can master the guitar in no time, right? Not exactly.
One of my gifts was a month of guitar lessons; however, my uncle didn't know that I could already play fairly well, but I figured I'd give it a go, can't hurt right?
Over break, I got up at 9:00 am on Saturday and went to my lesson; at first it seemed promising: there was a folder with my name on it, they even remembered the “h” at the end.
But, when the lesson started, the instructor tried to teach me “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” string by string, meaning not using chords. I'd like to mention I was the only one in this lesson. I asked when I would be learning barre chords (a barre chord is a chord played with your index finger laid across multiple strings to change the pitch of the chord.)
The teacher said that would be a while, that we had to do the basics first. I explained to him that I already had prior knowledge and could do everything but barre chords. The man still insisted that we needed to review and that it would still be a while. I clenched my teeth but did not question it any further.
By the end of the lesson, he was pushing me to buy a laminated chord chart and a tuner. I explained that I could just look up the chord diagrams, and I had a tuner on my phone. He then tried to convince me that online sources are unreliable and phone tuners don't work. This raised a red flag for me.
I came to the conclusion that guitar lessons are purposefully slowing the learning pace to make more money. It's a smart business move, but still low. If I had still been a beginner, I would surely feel bored and discouraged to even continue learning.
So, how did I learn without fancy lessons? Just like everything else, I learned how to play online.
A quick Google search led me to an article claiming you could practically play anything with five easy guitar chords. Those chords are C, Em, F, D, and G. All I needed was the chord diagrams which I have included here in the order of C, Em, F, D ,and G.
Songs that can be played using these chords include
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day
Let It Be - The Beatles
Africa - Toto
Zombie - The Cranberries
Umbrella - Rihanna
Someone Like You - Adele
But of course, there are endless songs that can be played with these 5 chords. Gradually playing will become easier, and you will be able to learn more complex chords and strumming methods. In fact, many chords follow the same shape of the ones above, just placed on different strings.
Having the freedom to learn at your own pace is detrimental to your learning experience and is something you can't really have when you take lessons from someone else.
