Your Journey to Becoming a Guitar Hero

Initial Thought

Anybody who has ever picked up a guitar, has in that second just become around 300% cooler to everyone else around them. 

OK, almost anybody.

They’re always slung across the back of the people who seem like they've got the best story to tell, so it’s natural that you’d want to give it a go.

Convincing yourself

How hard could it be? Just learn a 

few chords and bob's your uncle!

Anyway, most songs you want to learn have got the same 4 chords anyway. This is going to be easy.

Buying the guitar

You feel terrified, all of a sudden. You don’t want to show yourself up in the holiest of all the ‘temples of cool’. The Mecca if you will. This is where the spiritual journey to becoming a higher musical power begins- you've got to play it perfectly, or risk screwing it all up, right? 

Wrong. Be as unknowledgeable as possible. Unlike the Apple store, the people who work in music shops really ARE geniuses, and the more questions you ask, the more wisdom you can extract. They’ll set you up with everything you need to prepare you for your transition from zero to hero. And that includes us here at Hillsound... we too, are geniuses. *toots own trumpet*

Picking it up for the first time

You get the guitar out for the first time. You’re trembling with excitement. You’re handling it as if it were made of glass. Sweat is dripping from your furrowed brow.  OK, maybe not but, you did not buy a Martin guitar to ruin it 5 minutes later. You'll assume the position and what will happen is BAM. You won’t be able to actually play the thing, because you've got literally no idea. Time to book some lessons.

Your first lesson

This will be one of those moments in your life where you just hate everything around you and you’ll wish you were anywhere else, even if you have fun.

There is nothing worse than wanting to be able to do something, and not having the knowledge or the skill to be able to pull it off instantly. You might have listened to the guitar solo in Bohemian Rhapsody a million times; you won’t be able to play it. You’ll be lucky if you even get a nursery rhyme out in that first lesson. You’ll want to give up. You’ll feel like a child again. Stick with it, these guys know what they’re talking about. They are the quickest route to mastery.

(For information on music lessons at Hillsound in Hampton Hill, give us a ring on 0208 977 7788, email help@hillsound.co.uk, or visit us in store)

Practising

    Picture this. You’re having to walk in shoes that gave you blisters 4 hours ago. You can’t take the shoes off, and you also can’t stop walking. This is what playing the guitar will be like at the beginning. Your fingers are going to absolutely despise you. Again, perseverance here is key. The more you play, the more your fingers will harden to the abuse they’re being dealt. Much like you will get more kick ass as you get better, your fingers will too.

The ‘Big Moment’

You've had enough. Your fingers still hurt, you can’t even play a simple scale, someone showed you an F chord and you almost burst into tears.

  


 

 You'll sell your guitar and just forget this ever happened. Stop! You're not alone! This is a totally common emotion; the road to becoming awesome couldn't be easy, could it? That would mean we let anyone in. Stick with it young padawan, or you'll never know the beauty of nailing a solo and seeing the crowd erupt.

Your New Repertoire
You've got about 3 songs under your belt now.

They’re alright, nothing too special, 
but you’re very proud. You've got  a barbecue coming up next week, you’ll take the guitar. You fancy a walk in the park, best take the guitar with you. Basically, whether people want it or not, they’re going to be getting concerts left right and centre. 

     This is probably the douche-iest phase in the process (with the possible exception of the time when you’re knowledgeable enough to start correcting people and making them look stupid and uncool. Just for the record, they’ll just think you’re a bit of a pretentious arse). Put the guitar down. Resist this urge. I think a fair assumption is to wait until you know about 10 songs, or enough basic chord sequences to take requests. Then you really will be the hit of the party. And if you can be the root of a sing-along you’ll feel absolutely brilliant. Just like Maria Von Trapp.

Your first song

           It’s time. You know enough to think about giving it a go yourself. You get your pen, paper and guitar ready. Nothing will happen. Or if you do manage to get something out, it will either be rubbish or it’ll be a carbon copy of a song that already exists.

     Don’t force these things. It’ll either come to you in a heartbeat (probably just as you're about to fall asleep as sod’s law dictates), or it will be a work in progress. I started a song 4 years ago and I've still not finished it, but it gets a little closer every time I come back to it. Another song I wrote in about 5 minutes on a train just throwing lyrics down and humming to myself, adding the chords later. However you do it, it’s not wrong, just make sure you’re proud of what you’re putting out there.

Now, at this point, everybody's paths get a little difference. Some people take themselves off to music school and get their degree or masters, some people put all their effort into teaching what they know, some people decide to start the difficult but potentially rewarding journey of trying to make it in a band or as a solo artist, and some people just like to keep playing for themselves. But whatever road you take, you’ll find yourself at nearly every thought on this list, at some point. In the meantime, good luck on your quest, we'll see you on the other side.