Sometimes musicians study with tutors and graduate music school, they sit for hours at the instrument, study textbooks, but they are unable to achieve what they want. And it also happens that a talented, diligent person can achieve unprecedented success in music through trial and error, practicing on his own. This article talks about some guitarists who taught themselves to play guitar and achieved worldwide success.
Jimi Hendrix
He is considered a genius, virtuoso and inventive master of his craft. He, as critics emphasize, changed the face of rock music. Time magazine called him the greatest guitarist of all time, and Life called him a "demigod of rock music."
The guitarist mastered the instrument at the age of five. His first guitar had only one string. Since he was left-handed, he turned the guitar upside down. When Hendrix became famous, Fender developed a left-handed guitar especially for him.
The musician didn't know musical notation, but this did not stop him from creating absolutely amazing things with his instrument, which he never parted with for almost a minute. Hendrix played the guitar with his teeth, holding it behind his back, above his head. All this made a special impression on the public.
He was expressive and gave incredibly spectacular performances. A confirming fact of this is his setting fire to his own guitar on stage.
According to the magazine Rolling Stone Hendrix takes 1st place in the hundred best guitarists of all times.
Saul Hudson (Slash)
Famous British guitar virtuoso with a bright, memorable appearance. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with which he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He practiced 12 hours at a time as a youth, and like many self-taught guitarists, the first guitar lick he finally mastered was the famous intro riff to Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple.
Slash's first electric guitar was a Gibson Explorer, just like Hendrix's, with one string that his grandmother gave him. Later, a great variety of instruments were tried, and by 1985 he finally established his final preference for Gibson instruments.
The sound of Slash, no matter what project he plays in, has long become a reference.
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton began to learn the guitar on his own at the age of 14, trying to copy the playing of the great blues guitarists as faithfully as possible. Self-taught Eric Clapton is the only musician in the world who has been honored three times with being included in the “holy of holies” for all rockers - the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Gary Moore
Gary Moore is a legendary Irish bluesman, composer and singer who began teaching himself the basics of playing guitar at the age of eight. According to Moore's recollections, a friend showed him just one chord, and then “everything went by itself.” Despite the fact that the musician was left-handed, he coped well with a standard, right-handed instrument. Gary Moore was one of the first musicians to be honored with a signature guitar by the renowned guitar brand Gibson.
greetings to all guitarists, of different stripes and level of training. In this article, this is probably the 3rd or 4th time I’ve raised important topics self-study and, first of all, for beginners (taking into account what you have already purchased), and it would also be useful to remember for more experienced ones.
From the most banal and funny, to the important and necessary, in simple words. Just 10 useful recommendations!
1. Learn to listen to sounds.
Musical ear begins to develop from simple things, namely from training the hearing organs - the ears. So that they not only “clap”, but also be able to distinguish all the subtleties of what they heard. And the best trainer is our daily life.
Start listening to the sounds around you and selecting a specific one from several that are sounding at the same time.
For example, among a noisy city street, highlight the sound of someone else’s mobile phone call, the cry of a bird, the whistling of car wheels, the sound of the wind, etc. Try to understand which sounds are the loudest or most sonorous in this moment time. Even simpler and more interesting: try to find the difference between the sound of a personal message arriving and the sound of an incoming postcard, etc. in your VKontakte account.
These simple workouts will definitely help you in the future when analyzing, and especially guitar tuning.
2. Proper hand placement is the key to success.
I know from myself that Beginners almost always start playing everything, right away - without paying special attention. At this stage, the guitarist's future self-esteem is formed, because the quality of your playing will depend on this.
It's like learning to write in 1st grade. After all, then, being in the 10th, “everything will be clear” with you.
Don’t be lazy and give yourself the attention you need!
3.
Don't overexert yourself!
8. Knowledge of musical notation is a significant plus!
9. Learn to play and sing guitar with friends!
After grueling guitar practice, sitting at home in front of the computer, even the computer can become sad. And what can we say about ourselves... And after another fatigue of your fingers, you may have a desire to quit all these guitar lessons and...
10. Take an example from others! Get inspired!
This point can be put first, because everything begins with it, even in any routine work!
Every guitarist has heard someone play the guitar great for the first time, either live or recorded, and was inspired. After which he began his first steps towards this art.
As they develop, all musicians, sooner or later, find themselves in a situation of stupor - a lack of creative strength. And it doesn’t matter what the level of play and degree musical talent. Inspiration disappears, and skill needs stable practice, and if you let everything take its course, then the acquired skill is gradually forgotten and disappears. Therefore, yes it is important to seek and find inspiration for further self-development. This is especially true for those who.
As always, the most effective actions are the simplest, and it’s not so important what to do with yourself, the main thing is to unwind—to “clear” your brain—to temporarily take a break from practicing the guitar. Simply put, you need to change the environment and actively relax.
After this, longing for musical instrument and the time comes for an influx of fresh creative strength, thoughts and ideas necessary for new achievements and beginnings!
Good luck!
This article is a partial “rewrite” of articles on popular guitar sites, with my significant addition.
Sometimes only one thing prevents you from moving forward: the doubt “will I succeed?” To us, people who grew up with the motto “education is everything,” it always seems that it is simply impossible to achieve success in anything without the support of a teacher. This is a false misconception that needs to be uprooted and forgotten about. And to do that, let's take a look at 4 legendary guitarists who have achieved fantastic results in guitar playing on their own.
Jimi Hendrix
1. Jimi Hendrix I didn’t know musical notation. They say that perhaps it was because of this that he could concentrate so deeply on the music itself, and not on studying its theory and laws of construction.
According to independent versions of magazines Rolling Stones and Classic Rock on the “100” list greatest guitarists of all time" Jimi Hendrix takes first place. Moreover, the Rolling Stones published their list in 2003, and Ckassic Rock in 2009.
During his lifetime he was called musical genius and a phenomenal guitarist who managed to look at the electric guitar in a new way and expand the possibilities of playing.
Eric Clapton
2. Eric Clapton began to learn the guitar on his own at the age of 14, trying to imitate as accurately as possible the playing of the great bluesmen of his time. Self-taught or not, he is the only musician in the world to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times. Firstly, he got there as a solo artist, secondly, as a guitarist for the rock band Cream, and thirdly, as a guitarist for the Yardbirds.
Chuck Barry
3. Chuck Barry I became acquainted with the instrument at the age of 15. And it was not the six-string we are used to, but a four-string tenor guitar. Chuck resorted to the help of various guitar tutorials, adapting them to his instrument, and from time to time he took private lessons from local guitarists.
When Chuck was finally able to afford six string guitar, he could already “remove” guitar parts from songs played on the radio, and learned from them.
Angus MacKinnon Young
4. Angus McKinnon Young — famous guitarist and songwriter for the rock band AC/DC. In addition to being self-taught, Angus is also vertically challenged- only 158 cm. When MAXIM magazine published a list of “25 Greatest Shorties in History”, Angus took first place in it, beating such famous characters like John Stewart, Napoleon Bonaparte, Master Yoda and others.
You just met four outstanding people who became who they are thanks not to professional advice from qualified teachers, but to their own patience, perseverance, self-confidence and love of music.
If you have a guitar and the desire to play it, then you already have everything you need to achieve any heights.
And now it's time to fire off the mentioned guys.
Guitarists are such a diverse creative crowd that it’s amazing. Among them there are also self-taught guitarists who learned the basics of playing the guitar on their own.
Guitarists can be classified according to their genre of music, gender, age, recognizable personal preferences, etc. There are many criteria!
Today we will talk about those guitarists who, one way or another, did not become holders of a diploma of primary musical education.
Great self-taught guitarists
- Top of the 2003 Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Guitarists list and Classic Rock's 2009 list.
There's no point in explaining who he is, is there? We know all the guitar virtuosos by name! During his lifetime, Jimmy was called a genius, a phenomenon, a musician who managed to look at the guitar differently.
Many famous guitarists drew inspiration from his music - Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Kirk Hammett and others. D. Hendrix, being self-taught and not knowing the alphabet of music, easily controlled the guitar, like right hand, and left.
- In second place among the self-taught, we can highlight Eric Clapton, a guitarist deeply interested in blues sounds and creative life Jerry Lee Lewis. At the age of 14, Eric began to master the basics of guitar, based on the visual perception of listening to the playing of great bluesmen.
He is the only musician to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times. As solo artist and guitarist for Cream and the Yardbirds.
- The rock and roll legend mastered the six-string guitar on his own at the age of 15. The instrument was originally a 4-string tenor guitar. With her help, the aspiring musician learned the “three-chord blues” technique. Later, Chuck used tutorials and lessons from guitar “mastodons” in the game.
Over time, Berry learned chords that allowed him to “copy” compositions sounding on the radio wave in his own way. In 1951, the musician purchased a six-string electric guitar and began studying the guitar parts of Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker.
- – lead guitarist, author of song lyrics for the group “AC/DC”. This is a short musician, only 158 cm! It was him who was included by MAXIM magazine in the list of “25 Greatest Shorties in History”, in positions ahead of Napoleon Bonaparte, John Stewart, and Martin Scorsese. But growth did not prevent Young from developing his talent as a guitarist on his own, with the help of patience and perseverance.
As an 11-year-old teenager, Angus delved into the basics of guitar from tutorials, which was not to his liking. As a result, he began listening to the performances of great guitarists and selecting parts “for them.” The method of numerous trials and errors brought best result– the world learned about A. Young!
- repeatedly added to the lists of “greats” from various publications. He learned everything himself, to live, to create, to play. But Yngwie never misses a chance to further refine his technique, to learn something new about music, because a musician must always improve himself.