Can anyone learn to play guitar?

Can anyone learn to play guitar?

  • Total voters
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powelln09

Inspired
I'm just curious what you guys think about this. I don't have any experience teaching but can anyone learn to play the guitar or are there just some things you can't teach?
 
To me, playing music is part innate talent, and part practice/persistence. If you only have one, forget about it....
 
What is "playing guitar"? If it is making a noise with the guitar that is somehow recognizable as "Mary had a little lamb" then yes, I think anyone with at least two limbs that they are in full control of and a reasonably working brain could get there. But could every average person, given enough time to practice, play (and write) at the level of someone like Steve Vai? IMHO, no.
 
Rook said:
But could every average person, given enough time to practice, play (and write) at the level of someone like Steve Vai? IMHO, no.
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i don't mean any disrespect Rook,or want to start a flame war,but i'm calling this one out.yes anybody can learn to play,with enough hours spent and study,i'd say even better than Vai.yes some people are wired (so to speak)to play music others have to work harder at it.what takes a musically inclined person 10 hours to master may take another person not so inclined 20 hours to master.yes more time spent,but the results are the same.it's like the old saying about Bach,he wasn't more of a genius than other composers of his time,he just worked twice as hard as everyone else.

sorry if this sounds a bit hostile,not my intention.(maybe i had a bit too much coffee)IMHO and all that stuff.
 
Absolutely. When I started I literally couldn't fret a note. It took days before I even got a sound other than flub or thib, I had mantra; it's not about skill, it's about dedication. It takes 10,000 hours to master something, so put the time in and enjoy!
 
It depends on what your goal is. The question wasn't can anyone play as well as Vai. Guitar happens to be both one of the easiest instruments to and one of the hardest. If you start out early enough and work hard enough I have no doubt anyone can achieve phenomenal technical skill. And given the right persistence, training can be as great as almost anyone. But then there is such thing as talent. That's a different matter, IMHO.
 
There are also other factors. I for one, have shorter fingers. VAI (and others) have mammoth digits. I will never play like VAI, even if that were a goal. Conversely, I have surpised others because they thought that their fingers were too short and stubby to play ;^} Also, dexterity is not just a matter of practice - it's also limited by other factors. Did you break a bone, do you have arthritis, are your muscles/tendons up to it, did you play too much/too little last week/night?

Can you always form a C chord? Probably. Will it sound passable? Maybe, if you invest some time. Will that turn you into [pick your favorite] - nope. That requires talent, as one other here observed, as well as imagination, and the ability to think on the fly. Talent tempered/augmented by persistance, a willingness to learn, a desire to reach a goal (say playing campfire songs, or playing like Hendrix) yields someone who can actually play guitar.

Playing a C chord successfully is not playing the guitar...
 
RDeraz said:
anybody can learn to play,with enough hours spent and study,i'd say even better than Vai.yes some people are wired (so to speak)to play music others have to work harder at it.what takes a musically inclined person 10 hours to master may take another person not so inclined 20 hours to master.yes more time spent,but the results are the same.it's like the old saying about Bach,he wasn't more of a genius than other composers of his time,he just worked twice as hard as everyone else.
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My own experience leads me to disagree. I could spend the rest of my life practicing/writing all day every day, until I die. On that day, I will not be as skilled as many guitarists I have heard. The law of diminishing returns decended upon me in my 20s.

I believe the "wiring" is an essential component of the highest level of skill a person can achieve. The time available is another. Drive is the third. Since our time here is limited, assuming everyone has the highest possible drive, the ones with the best wiring will reach the highest level of skill before they die.

If we all lived forever, would we all improve indefinitely? If so, the ones with the better wiring would increase their lead over the others with lesser as time progressed, until their level of skill was infinitely greater than those beneath them. So, if we are to assume our ultimate potential is equal, we must also assume that there is a limit of skill which no person can pass, no matter how much time we invest. With this assumption, we must then assume that every person can reach this level within a single lifespan.

So the question is, can the least inherently talented person reach the ultimate level of skill given a long enough life and a strong enough drive? I believe the answer is no. The differences between each individual is simply too great.

As you can see, I have also had too much coffee.
 
RDeraz said:
i don't mean any disrespect Rook,or (...)
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No, its cool, no disrespect taken. I do disagree though. I think that with a whole lot of dedication and practice pretty much any able bodied person could learn to play guitar anywhere from passably to very well. my point is there are outliers that are unreachable. Shawn Lane, for example. He puts a lot of the credit for the speed he can attain to a freakishly fast nervous system. Just the same, no matter how much they train the person with only one leg is not going to win gold in the 100m sprint.

I phrased my answer as I did because I thought the question was pretty vague. Do I think, given the opportunity and the time to practice, most people could learn to play guitar to a fairly professional level? Yes. Do some people have absolutely NO sense of rhythm? Also yes. is playing guitar badly "playing guitar"?

And FWIW I do think Bach was "more of a genius" than his contemporaries. He also worked hard. If not for both factors, we would not be talking about him now.
 
henryrobinett said:
It depends on what your goal is. The question wasn't can anyone play as well as Vai. Guitar happens to be both one of the easiest instruments to and one of the hardest. If you start out early enough and work hard enough I have no doubt anyone can achieve phenomenal technical skill. And given the right persistence, training can be as great as almost anyone. But then there is such thing as talent. That's a different matter, IMHO.
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Totally agree. IMO, talent is simply an innate ability to learn quickly. It can only affect the time in learning something and not the overall level which you reach. At the end of the day, I'll take a musician with no natural talent that practices every day over a guy with a natural affinity that only practices once a week. You can learn rhythm, scales, groove, vibrato, etc... But only if you put the time in.
 
The question is not well-defined. What is meant by "playing" guitar? Learn open position chords and you can play thousands of songs.

It's one of those "easy to learn, difficult to master" instruments. I see guitar as being a big tent, welcoming of many players of different styles and abilities. Some people are happy playing campfire songs, and that's fine. Some never learn anything beyond power chords and enjoy playing punk, and that's fine. Others push themselves into the upper reaches of jazz, classical or shred, and yep, that's fine too.

It goes beyond simple time spent on the instrument. It also goes into desire. Some people have no desire to get better than campfire songs. As long as they're happy playing, I count them as one of my fellow guitarists.

To reach loftier goals, that requires a lifetime of study. Seeking out the best teachers, learning materials and making the most of practice. Transcribing solos, learning theory, chord voicings, inversions, improvisation. Man, that's a lot! Learning "how to learn" is probably the most important thing. I think its important to always be pushing yourself out of a comfort zone, whether its learning a solo from a master, learning to apply new scales, or learning new chord voicings.

Coltrane would practice 20 hours a day. I doubt he picked up the sax on day one and sounded like a master.
 
My .01

I think the question is posed wrong. It should read, "Should anyone learn to play the guitar"? There are a lot of things I can do but there are a great many more things I can't or don't want to do. Example: Can anyone learn to be a Proctologist?... of course, would I want to be... I think not.

So can anyone learn play the guitar? of course, should anyone learn play the guitar? probably not. Everyone is different and are instilled with different gifts (desires) so learning to do something your not gifted to do will not yield the expected results and thus be dead or unsatisfying works.
 
I voted no, as anyone could be quite literally anyone.
Anyone could have physical problems preventing them from even holding a guitar for example or some other reason.
Someone could provided there are no barriers to learning.
Then playing needs to be defined. E.g. At what level etc?
Technique can be developed, but not everyone is going to become a Mozart etc. Even if you can sight read Mozart and play lead violin in an orchestra for twenty years and study composition, the level of creativity is unique to the individual.

Can someone, given time and persistence learn to become the best they can or want to be as an individual at a given activity such as the guitar, then the answer is yes.
 
Rook said:
What is "playing guitar"? If it is making a noise with the guitar that is somehow recognizable as "Mary had a little lamb" then yes, I think anyone with at least two limbs that they are in full control of and a reasonably working brain could get there. But could every average person, given enough time to practice, play (and write) at the level of someone like Steve Vai? IMHO, no.
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Yeah, depends on what you consider "playing guitar". I know a guy who has been playing for probably about 15 years. Quite frankly, he's utterly rubbish. I remember trying to sit down to teach him some stuff and just show him generally how to learn and practice. He couldn't follow the metronome, and when I asked what the problem was, found that he had no grasp of timing whatsoever. Just couldn't even grasp the idea of there being a beat or anything.

However many years later, he's still rubbish. No sense of timing, no ear for pitch, no feel for anything. Can he play some powerchords and (maybe) some open chords? Sure. But I don't think that really qualifies as "playing guitar" as such.


I'm not sure if it's that some people have a certain level of natural musical talent, or if it's more that some people are just utterly devoid of any musical ability. Or maybe it's a bit of both and there's a middle ground. But I can't think of any musicians who I personally know (people I'd consider "real" musicians) who would be incapable of picking up a different instrument if they really wanted to. Sure they might suck on it starting off, but it's just a matter of technique and practice. The ear and the feel for music is already there. Me picking up a violin is hilariously bad, but after a few minutes of pissing about I finally got a note out of it. Yes it sounded rubbish and my intonation was disgraceful, but at least I could hear how bad the tone and pitch where, and if I wanted to put the time in, I could work on just like I've done on guitar for years.

I think the guitar, with its easy open chord and power chord shapes and those wonderfully convenient frets, means it's easier than a lot of other instruments for anyone to pick it up and learn some very basic stuff, even if there's isn't a single hint of musical potential in them.
 
I think it has to do with how peoples brains are wired.
I don't think everyone could play guitar to an intermediate level.

Some people are predisposed to accelerating rapidly on a musical instrument... others not. (example- I first picked up the trumpet the same day as a friend of mine picked it up for the first time- he practiced daily for hours- I never practiced yet just playing it in marching band daily was enough to get me much better than him and further along than him with no effort- by the time I was a senior- I was first chair and had a kick ass high range)

I guess that word is 'musical talent'

And there are a lot of levels of musical talent...
For example- I can hear any orchestral work and tell you exactly what any instrument/part is doing at any moment in it- and pick it out... however- on the other hand- I can't really play in time well at all. Something an 8 year old kid playing a snare drum could probably do better than me.

I can play guitar... (my brain is wired for music- I started piano at 4)...however- I can't ride a bike. I've tried... I can't.

In one aspect of my life I've realized how my brain is wired... I can't explain why- but I'm aware of it.
I have a degree in Speech Communication- I'm good at public speaking. I find it easy, fun and enjoyable- something most people find as their biggest fear.

However- My language/communication skill is only in English to the point where... I can understand Arabic completely- But can't reply back in Arabic. So I can have a full conversation with a family member in Arabic with them speaking only Arabic and me replying back in only English. I can do the same with French and a little bit of Spanish. I can understand it- but can't really speak a word of it back. It's just how my brain is wired.

I think a lot of factors go into it and not everyone can play guitar. That's life. If everyone can play guitar then I can be in the NBA.
 
ONLY 12 years.
This is something that blows my mind every day:
Hendrix got his first acoustic guitar aged 15 and EVERYTHING he did before he died at 27 he did in ONLY 12 years.
(Of course a little musical genius added in there too, but still pretty impressive I think....)
 
And Just think if you asked your wife the same question, she would be "what, stop bugging me I'm watching the TV".

I love questions like this.



My process Mantra is this.

Observation, imitation, repetition internalization.

I have done quite well in life keeping it simple and building simple things into huge complex constructs, that look unfathomable from a distance.

Playing guitar takes a lifetime to master, and honestly you never really do. At 46 I still feel like every moment that I am away from the guitar is just wasting a moment, that I can't get back.

I have to go to work, But I really want to play guitar. I'm at a sports event, because my kids are playing, but I would rather be playing my guitar. Now what separates me from all my buddies, who have given up that drive and finally put it down for good.


My goal is to never be selfesh, but when you are spending hours on a craft, you kind of are. I'm never going to be a Successful musician, who gets the money and the drugs and the depression, because I was smart at 25 and told myself what is it that you want from this. Hotel rooms or 3 lovely kids. I took the family.


My point in all this is that despite ourselves clogging up our lives, we do have a skill that most people don't. It takes hours playing the same thing over and over and over, you get the point.

So the question. Can anyone play the guitar.

In the basic fundamental form yes, and they can even learn to read music as that is where most of us start. We just find it slow to do consistently well.

Sorry I go off tangents, and it 4:46 in the morning in Arizona.
 
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