In a world of guitar playing ‘rabbit holes’, learning plateaus and information overload … Here’s how to make sure you start 2025 excited, refreshed and in-motion so that you still have an appetite for it in 6 months. 

 

Part 1 – The Prep

THE PREPARATION (get your head in the right place with these first 5 steps) 

What these steps do is get you mentally prepared so you at least have an anchor and a sense of direction. Even a tiny one. There are so many things you can learn that if you have any idea at all of what you like and where you’d like to be it will help to give your learning a bit more focus.

 

1.  Why 

Why are you playing guitar? What is your driver?

Was it that:

• Someone inspired you
• you inherited your guitars
• It’s a retirement venture 
• You just love the sound of guitar
• Escape & relax with music after work

What do you like the sound of?

• Gritty Nirvana riffs
• Soaring Gilmore solos
• Chilled folk fingerpicking
• Rhythmic strums
• You want to write songs

 

Everyone has a reason that brings a guitar to them. 

Use Your Motivation

The closer you tailor what you learn on guitar to why you were motivated in the first place or your current musical interests the more time you will spend doing it and the longer you will last and stay interested. Especially in the moments you feel progress is slow (and it will definitely get slow sometimes).

 

2. What

What do you want to learn? Specifics (Write a list of things you are, or may be interested in learning. If you don’t know, don’t worry. Just soak this up)

(Here is an overview of some of the excellent possibilities / categories. It could be any of the following, or a combination….)

 

• Beginner Fundamentals – holding a pick, learning the strings, tuning
• Songs – which ones? If you don’t know, go and research. Pick some (you can add and take away, we all do). Find out which ones are easier, medium, harder. It’s good to have a mixture. 
• Accompaniment – Do you want to play and sing? Play guitar for someone else to sing? \
• Scales  – which scales? Why are you learning scales? Is it because of a riff or a guitarist you like? Do you want to start from the logical beginning C Major, A Minor, E Minor Pentatonic etc. To what end? Finger exercises, improv, getting to know your guitar, songwriting etc
• Rhythms – Different genres? Pop, rock, Reggae, Soul, Blues, Funk…..
• Chords – Open, extended, jazz, power chords, barre chords, triads…
• Theory – Fundamentals, general music theory, guitar – specific theory, grades?
• Riffs – Which ones? Get a list together
• Song writing – basic chord sequences, styles, genres, melody writing, jingle writing, keys 
• Improvisation – Soaring solos, melodic short solos, jam with friends? 
• Ear Training – how to relative tune. Work out chord sequences by ear. Identifying intervals.
• Recording – a song, an album, recording other people, just to hear yourself back for feedback?
• Reading – Tab, Notation

Every one of these categories is a world unto itself so don’t overwhelm yourself. Pick a few things that appeal to you knowing you can go back and do more later. 

 

3. Where

Where do you want to be? Think about those Big Goals (big as in big picture/longer term). 

You’re a GUITARIST now.  When you thought about wanting to learn, what did you see yourself in your mind doing?  What did it look like/feel like?

You might be happy to strum a Johnny Cash tune by next December. You might want to write songs and record. Jam with other musicians at your local pub for fun. Perform in arenas and get signed. You might want to play a song to your wife on her birthday. Maybe just relax after work. 

Where are you now? Where (and how) does guitar fit into your life? What would you like to be able to do in 6 months?  1 year? 5 years? 10 years? 

These are all goals. Write yours down.

 

4. How

How will you get to your big goals? 

We need to break these down into small steps.  It might be easy for you to figure this out for yourself. Do some research into how others have done it and see what resources are around for you to follow. You might need a teacher or a community. 

You will need to create steps you can take to get you moving towards your big goals e.g. if you are learning a song you will need to start with the chords. If you want to perform you will need to get a set of songs together and learn them inside out. 

Plan your steps

 

5.  When

When will you practise? 

How much time do you have to invest in your playing? – daily and weekly. Be honest. This is a big factor in what the possibilities of what you can actually achieve are. The length of practice sessions are individual to what works for each person.  But you need to get a specific timetable. 

Manage your expectations and be realistic.  Guitar progress is about smart practice, repetition and consistency. You will need to structure regular practice numerous times a week if you want to see progress. 

Make the commitment to yourself and figure out what works with your lifestyle. If you play for 5 minutes once a week don’t expect much progress. But, if that’s all you have and that brings you joy then you should absolutely indulge in those 5 minutes rather than not at all!

 Summary

• Identify your why

• Make a list from the categories (or do some research)

• Long term goals

• Short term goals

• Time availability

 

Note: Not everyone is in a position to know what they like or what they want to learn. Sometimes you have to start with something and what you like about it gradually unfolds. That’s the leap of faith and we get the revelations midway along the journey. Good things to do at this point are research, listen to music, guitarists, go to concerts, pay attention, play for fun, talk to others that play, play around with a style or a genre you haven’t explored before. Soon enough you will start to find momentum. 

You may not be able to answer any of the above. This is ok. 

 

Part 2 – The Action

THE ACTION –  You should have some sort of list now. The only way to improve is to put it into action

 Tip  – Learning guitar is a lifelong journey. Don’t overwhelm yourself and become demotivated. Take things on at a rate that will guarantee you’ll still be enjoying it in a few years time.  

 

How to implement your bespoke list (above) into a plan: 

 

6.  Timetable – Plan your practice week. Days, times & durations. Create a timetable.  Where possible stick to it. 

7.  Pick 2 or 3 things from your list to start with: 

1. Learn chord shapes 
2. Learn a rhythm  
3. Develop ear training

8.  Practise – Base your practice sessions around exercises to improve these: 

1. Memorise 4 chord shapes and names. Practice changing between the chord shapes.
2. Pick one rhythm. Learn to play it at different speeds. Work at even strums between ups and down strums. 
3. Learn to relative tune. Work with a tuner to start with then practise without.

9.  Record – Find ways to record your progress over the next month:

1. Record yourself playing through the chord changes and listen back (in 1 week and 1 month)
2. Record yourself playing the rhythm  and listen back (in 1 week and 1 month) 
3. Check your accuracy with a tuner

10.  Community – Find other (supportive) guitarists to chat to (or a teacher) for feedback and camaraderie1

11.  Rinse and repeat – update your practice items. Do you need to add new things? Is there something that’s not quite ready to move on from?

12.  Enjoy the process.

 

Remember – Learning isn’t linear. You won’t progress at the same speed with everything you learn. Some things you may have to keep practicing and other things you may be ready to move onto the next step quickly. This is all good.