Take guitar lessons with a teacher in Bristol

Why learn to play the guitar?

There are many reasons to pick up the guitar, whether you’re looking for a new recreational hobby or have aspirations to become a musician one day.

Let’s be honest - playing the guitar is fun.

Many people listen to music on a regular basis in order to access a certain state of mind. Some will listen to it to relax and wind down, while others do so to feel alive. Whatever the case, it’s possible to recreate that sensation and connect to it on an even deeper level.

By playing the guitar, you can create the exact sound you’re looking for in the moment, and maybe even create an ambiance for a room or an audience of people. This power is well within your capabilities, but it does require you to put the time and effort in to improve.

As you start to make incremental improvements in your guitar-playing ability, you will also get a feeling of fulfillment. Playing the guitar is fun, and getting better at playing is rewarding on another level. Just like with any skill, the journey along the way to some level of proficiency is just as, if not more, important than getting to where you want to be.

Playing any musical instrument is also a way to express yourself creatively. The importance of this is difficult to overstate, since creative expression is unique to each individual, as you are creating something yourself.

It can also relieve stress, which is equally as satisfying. If you’ve had a hard day at work, for example, coming home to play the guitar can be a great way to transition to leisure while also soothing the soul.

What to expect working with a guitar teacher

By working with a tutor, you can rapidly improve, and have fun while doing so. This is mainly because a tutor will be able to identify your blind spots and suggest useful ways in which you can correct your mistakes.

You will also have the benefit of personalised feedback. You can watch all the instructional guitar videos in the world, but the one thing they won’t give you is specific feedback.

This is what can make a tutor instrumental in your success, as they can tell you when your hand positioning is off, or why you can’t seem to nail a particular chord or song.

Most guitar tutors will have extensive music knowledge as well as a wealth of practical know-how. They will likely have played guitar as part of a band, or spent time learning about the instrument through certain qualifications.

They will also have made plenty of mistakes along the way to becoming a music tutor, which puts them in an excellent position to ensure you don’t make the same ones they did.

You can also have a tutor tailor the lessons to your specific learning style too. If you prefer to learn visually, then you can ask them to go through the motions on their guitar for you to follow. Otherwise, you can request that they talk you through the process if you respond better to oral instructions.

The challenges of learning to play guitar

Without a doubt, one of the biggest challenges associated with learning to play the guitar is sticking with it.

If you’ve never tried to play a musical instrument before, you may think that this doesn’t apply to you. This is because it’s easy to imagine what playing an instrument is like, but much more difficult to play at the level you want to.

If you want to learn to play guitar primarily because you think it would be cool, or because your friends play other instruments and you want to form a band, you may find that your initial enthusiasm dies down after a while.

This is because relying on external motivators is a bad idea.

Instead, you should try to look within, and connect to a deeper desire to learn. For example, you might tap into a burning desire to improve or an intense enjoyment of the process of playing the guitar, this will help you stick with it even when the going gets tough.

If you learn to play guitar just to reach the desired outcome, such as playing in a band, then you can detach from the process of playing and become impatient when the results don’t come as quickly as you’d like.

If you focus on the process though and improving incrementally, it will be much more satisfying and every session will be something you look forward to.

The benefits of learning to play guitar

Learning to play the guitar can do a world of good for your emotional well-being and confidence.

Oftentimes we can allow ourselves to succumb to technology in our downtime and waste hours browsing social media or generally doing nothing in particular. Needless to say, this isn’t a good use of our time, as it is neither productive nor healthy.

If you have a skill you’re learning like playing the guitar, you can make it a habit to practise whenever you get a minute, which you might find allows you to access a state of relaxation of satisfaction more readily.

If you have friends that play instruments, you can get even more out of your guitar-playing sessions, since you’ll be able to have a good time and socialise in the process.

Find a guitar tutor on Superprof

You can easily find a guitar tutor in the Bristol area or beyond through the Superprof tutor website.

It’s simple to search for the perfect tutor for your needs, and you’ll be able to base your decision on a lot of useful information including the qualifications of the tutor, their level of teaching experience, and what previous students have to say about their lessons.

There are competitive rates if you’re looking for affordable classes, and you have the opportunity to either work with the tutor in person or online via webcam.

Best of all, many of the tutors you’ll find on the Superprof website will offer a short taster class for free, so you can give it a go without bedding to spend a penny.