Starting guitar lessons for beginners can be a daunting task for some people. The basics may seem to be too much to learn at first (with all the newness of chords, strings, tabs, and notes). After that, it all becomes much more complex when you have to factor in the distinct feel and soul of the songs you play.

This is why it is essential for a beginner to get lessons on how to play the guitar. Learning to play different songs and different styles of music is easier to learn from a listening and watching a teacher (either in person or on a video) than learning from a book.

There are several choices for beginners to learn to play the guitar:

Private Instruction

This was the most common method of learning to play the guitar for beginners before the availabilty of electronic lessons, affordable video and computers with internet access.

A student will be able to receive lessons custom-made to fit his or her needs under the tutelage of a private teacher. An experienced guitar teacher is a very effective and inspiring way for beginners to learn to play guitar.

There is a drawback to this intensive learning method, however. Private tutoring, which can cost over a hundrend dollars a month, may be too expensive. The most experienced professional guitar teachers may cost even more. Scheduling the lessons can be a problem if you can’t be available when the teacher has an opening for a new student.

Subscribe to online lessons

An alternative to getting a private teacher is to subscribe to guitar lessons via the Internet.

The lessons can either be similar to or totally different from getting a private teacher. Live tv-style classes streaming from a webcam are one way lessons are taught online - or there are recorded video tutorials. An example of online lessons are those from Jamorama – creators of many types of guitar lessons including lead guitar or their new course for learning to play acoustic guitar. (For a review, see Jamorama Acoustic Guitar.)

If you choose the former, then you can expect rates to be slightly less compared to hiring a private teacher, but the lessons will be a lot less interactive and customized because of the virtual limitations. On the other hand, subscribing to the former is definitely the most affordable but eliminates any fine-tuning and customized lessons that real-life teachers have to offer. You also need a functioning Internet connection to be able to avail yourself of these lessons.

Buy guitar lesson DVDs

And last, but definitely not the least, is to buy guitar lesson DVDs.

These are similar to video-taped online lessons, but come packaged into DVDs instead. They can be played with a DVD player while you go on vacation, or to a friend’s house, or to be used in any room of the house. That means you can go back and refresh your memory whenever you need to. They are also pretty affordable, and are comparable in price to online audio-visual lessons. (See a review of Learn and Master Guitar.)

When it comes to the drawbacks of lessons on DVD format, the only real disadvantages are the lack of human interaction during teaching and being unable to move beyond the realm of the basics. Though DVD courses are a great option for beginner guitar players, they may not be enough - sometimes personal input from a teacher is needed. The bond with other musicians and/or a guitar teacher can be formed when using the better DVD course that have community forums and two-way contact from student to teacher. One of the better parts of a good learning program includes the ability to contact the teacher, have contact with other guitar players, and to upload videos of yourself in order to get constructive criticism, feedback or encouragement.

So there you have it, the three primary means to learn guitar lessons for beginners. Your goal of becoming a guitar player is sure to be accomplished by one of these learning methods - go for it!

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