How hard is learning to play guitar?

I continually get asked the question “How hard is it to learn to play guitar?”
Whether it’s family and friends who are thinking of learning, or have a kid who wants to learn, or maybe are retiring and thinking of finally fulfilling their rockstar dream. I’m often getting asked this, or at least some variation on this question.

And how do I even begin to answer that?

The first thing we’ve all experienced is the sore fingers. Everyone is surprised by this, but we’ve all had to go through it. You are not alone. And the first question is something along the lines of “Does it always hurt?” or “Will I ever be able to play without it hurting?”

And the answer is YES, pretty soon the skin on the ends of your fingers will harden and it’ll stop hurting. My advice would be to practice little and often when you first start, and just get through it.

Similarly, beginners often worry that they just have the wrong fingers like:
My fingers aren’t long enough
My fingers fingers can’t stretch like that
My fingers are too small
My fingers will never move that fast
If your brain starts telling you that this is why you are struggling, just ignore it. It’s not true. The length of your fingers doesn’t matter. Your muscles will develop and you will be able to move them in all the ways you need to, it just takes practice.

Don’t believe me, will firstly think about the incredible jazz player Django Reinhardt, who lost the use of the third and fourth fingers in a caravan fire, forcing him to play solos with only his index and second finger. Also Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath lost the tips of his middle and ring fingers in an industrial accident and supposedly created a home made prosthetic by melting down a plastic washing up bottle.

Over 90% of playing guitar is muscle memory. Whether it’s trying to make fingers move to form an open G chord, or ripping through an arpeggio, or playing an intricate turnaround; it’s all the same. It starts with all the individual stiff movements but eventually just becomes a single flowing movement.

So what’s the best way to learn? There’s a lot of options these days.

Whichever method you settle on, nothing beats the time spent actually playing with your fingers on the fretboard. The issue with something like YouTube is that it’s too easy to watch a ton of videos, but not actually spend the time with your fingers on the fretboard.

Enjoy it
I think the most important thing, is to keep enjoying it - even the hard bits. Enjoying striving for that next achievement. Maybe it’s mastering a chord, or a song or a technique or something, Then putting it in a song and enjoying the satisfaction of nailing it.

How Hard is it?
So how hard is it to learn to play guitar? Yes it’s tough but it’s fun and immensely satisfying with each small achievement. Playing a song in front of your friends; or jamming along with your favourite record; or playing your first gig in front of an audience.
What ever it is, it’s a tough road to get there, but well worth it.

And to be honest, do we ever really learn to play the guitar? I’ve been playing for over 35 years, and I’m still learning.

The important links:

Have my lessons been useful?

Marc Guitar’s Facebook page:

Marc Guitar's Patreon page:
Patreon supporters get access to additional lessons, as well as mp3 backing tracks and all the tabs.

Marc’s band - Northbound:
Spotify: "Northbound Acoustic Blues Band"

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[kenford]

Hi Marc, I've been playing guitar for close to 50 years and still play most days. I can very often find something new. You never finish learning to play. My best advice to people trying to learn the guitar is fairly simple: Don't give up! Give yourself a pat on the back every time you teach yourself something new. Practice chord changes while watching TV, learn to look at the fretboard and, in your mind, be able to see the chords or scales until your muscle memory is faster than your brain. Most importantly enjoy making music and have fun with it! In first band at about 16 years old only knew a handful of chords but we made every song we played fit those simple open chords! Just don't give it up!

[deans.]

learn in small steps, practice every day, have fun playing and success will come!
If you are a beginner get a online - course and go through it step by step. And don't forget theorie even if you dislike it. Knowledge helps to understand what you're doing.

[phelps]

Its one of the hardest things ive done but also the most satisfying. It didnt really start to click for me until i had a regular daily hour practice routine. Also started to learn and understand music theory which made me more confident in what and why im playing certain things. Consistency is the the most powerful piece of advice i can give someone trying to learn. There's a big barrier to entry with guitar/music and i really think it takes years to start to gain traction, but once you do its so fun and satisfying.

[jojo]

I've always wanted to play guitar but had too many other interests as a teenager and never had time as a working adult. Had to wait until I retired at 62. I've been taking lessons (and reading an instructional book or two) for about 5 1/2 years. I still have a long way to go but I know it's a long journey starting out this late but will never quit. I found learning music and chord theory very helpful and a great way to keep my brain challenged at this age. I highly recommend to others taking the time to learn some theory. While I subscribe to two newsletters that offer occasional tips and lessons I've found only ONE YouTube channel that does it right and that is Marc Guitar. I taught high school chemistry for 23 years and understand the need for different learners. Marc's use of video, tabs, and discussion cover the bases more thoroughly and at a learnable pace better that any other YouTube channel I've viewed.

I have to admit I don't keep up regularly (due to my other "chores") but I know where to go for help. Not only is it fun to play the music but also fun to know the reason it sounds the way it does.

Marc, thanks for taking the time to help all of us who want to be better guitar players, even in our "golden years."

[jeffdubuque]

iv been playing for almost 30 years, always something new to learn it never ends, nice strat by the way. cheers from Ontario Canada.

[roscmon]

I've been trying to learn to play for 14 months. I am so surprised how long it takes to get good at playing a song.

13 months I've been playing and i still don't sound great at the few songs I've been trying to play.

I practice about a half to an hour or more 4-5 times a week.

So i don't practice even day but i can tell you this: if i had it this time into piano, i would sound 100 times better with piano.

[DavidSchut]

Now that was very interesting. I am 65 and never played but it is one of those things at the top of my bucket list. Thank you Sir

[noahtenshen]

Your desire to play has to be greater than your dislike of the finger pain. I've watched far too many people quit because of it and I can only conclude they lacked sufficient desire to be able to play. I know my fingers hurt when I started but it never entered my mind to stop because of it--I was intent on playing. That almost 60 years ago. After an intermission period in life I got back to it and had to start that process again--knowing how it was going to go made it a non-event. The payoff is vastly worth it. Good video. Stay Well Groovy One!

[WillUK]

Getting my first guitar tomorrow, just felt like I wanna learn it so going to give it a go and see if I enjoy it. Nice video man!

[williamb]

As a very experienced beginner (by which I mean I’ve been playing for a long time, but am still pretty hopeless), can I suggest that if your fingers are too sore to practice for more than a couple of minutes you could spend 10 minutes starting to learn the basics of theory. You'll find that it's not in fact dark magic, and as you develop as a player a knowledge of theory will help you understand what you're doing. Same goes for learning the notes on the fretboard. You're not supposed to learn it all perfectly in a week, but a bit of practice on theory/fretboard every session will start to firm up your knowledge

[graemero]

Depends how far the person wants to go. Great players like Robben Ford say they are still learning after decades. It's more a journey than an achievement.

[iamanovercomer]

Depends on the person.... some have a gift for 🎵🎶.... I started later in life and there's days I wished I started earlier but I realized that I learned things that I didn't realize that I learned until I watch 🎸 videos, and I would think that is was it was called ❗Marc your videos has been a blessing 👍❗

[mrnoedahl]

Having a good memory is a big plus. That is the biggest key. Without it you will have a hard time.

[jeffstone]

Hi Marc
Taken up guitar now I'm retired, love blues, it is a bit of a struggle but preserving with your help, thx

[barondavis]

I “play” bass guitar and I wanted to expand my musical interest.
Started with an acoustic playing chords. Wo, holding 3 strings down instead of one😮, the small amount of space between strings 😟, fingers touching the string next to the one I’m holding down. Ugh.
At 62, maybe I’m too old for this sh stuff and should just stick with the bass. I still have a lot to learn on that instrument.

[nicolasmaurin]

What’s difficult? TIME!!! But it is the same for any instrument. At some point, you know how and what to practice. You did your maths, the theory, you know a couple of scales and arpeggios to practice to be okay. you know that you need to spend 1h a day of practice, or more, u would like to have 2h ahead to put a loop and start jamming, 😢 etc… but work, boss, transport, kids, woman, groceries, whatever makes it impossible. It is down to some dozen of minutes here and there. Still, it is great to practice and to progress somehow but it is frustrating to be interrupted and not being able to follow the path you have in your mind. So it is gonna take 5 years to be an intermediate level player and not 3. It is ok if you are 25y old, but the older you get…. You don’t have a lifetime ahead. Still, it is an awesome passion and so many guitarists / bands to discover. Awesome.

[peterludlow]

My problem is can't play cords I have problems with spreading my fingers due to medical condition.
Now I pick solos which don't have cords my biggest problem is trying to copy tone.
I started with solid state amp then when to boss katana but now finding bias fx2 suits my needs for home player and tones from cloud help.

[juancortes]

I can’t play barre chords and I just play the cheat versions of them :/

[barryjones]

One of many things I struggle with is when trying to solo for instance sultans of swing which I was trying to learn. I play some of it ok and then some of the intricate parts I keep muting the string beneath with the finger above it but the string needs to sound. I've tried all sorts and I still can't get past it.

[john-cvdy]

Hi Marc. Great vid! Quick question... how long should it take to get to a stage where ya can go into a guitar shop, pick up a guitar to try and not look a complete berk? I've been playing for 6 months now (I'm 60 yrs old) and worried about forever staying at 'not competent' 😀... I've heard that maybe 1 year should get me there... is that realistic given daily practice? Thanks agin!