The Best Way To Learn Acoustic Guitar At Home

best way to learn acoustic guitar at home - man playing acoustic guitar at home

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If you’ve come this far, it’s because you’re looking for the best way to learn acoustic guitar at home. There are too many methods and resources to get started out there. I want to give you some tips so you can move forward.

Below you’ll find some points to find the best way to learn acoustic guitar at home. 

Where to look for the best way to learn Acoustic Guitar at home?

Initially, you can search online. It is always good to google what you are looking for to start. You will find many options for guitar courses and lessons. An online course is very useful and practical. But you should know that it is not the only way to learn.

You can try to learn by yourself with tutorials and YouTube videos. Or you can look for books and magazines to learn in the old school way. But much of the content that used to come in magazines and books can now be found in online articles. Although it’s always good to have the support of a good parenting book for a subject.

As a reading enthusiast, I like to mark the most important pages and paragraphs of the texts I read. I recommend this book related to the topic you are dealing with.

If, after reading this article, you decide to do an online course, I recommend you read our full review of Guitar Tricks or check out the top 10 best online courses here.

Where is the best place in the house to learn acoustic guitar?

With an acoustic guitar, you can’t play with headphones, like with an electric guitar. But the good thing about playing an acoustic instrument is that it doesn’t generate too much noise. 

I recommend playing in the living room or in a bedroom. The best thing is to find a wide, private, noise-free environment and if possible with good acoustics. A room with a wooden floor or carpet, curtains, wooden furniture, or a library, will help you have better acoustics. 

The more acoustic and noise-insulating elements in the room, the better the acoustics will be. The elements that help most to achieve this are wood, curtains, carpets, wooden furniture, books, etc.

The worst places to play will be outdoors, bathrooms, and kitchens. Commonly the noise is higher in these places. There isn’t enough room to have a comfortable chair to play on. You’ll not have the privacy you need to concentrate on your work.

The sound caused by the vibration of the strings on the wooden soundboard generates a beautiful sound. As soon as you can play some chords or arpeggios, you will enjoy this faithful instrument to a great extent.

RECOMMENDED: Here I give my expert advice of the top five features a home practice area has to have.

On what to sit to learn to play acoustic guitar

You can play on a chair or an armchair. But the best thing will be a chair where you can maintain a sitting position as straight as possible. To avoid bad posture and pain, you have to keep your back straight. Your legs must be bent at 90 degrees. Put the lower fretboard of the acoustic guitar on your right leg. Relax your hands as you put the right one on the body and the left on the fretboard of your guitar.

The ideal type of chair is without armrests, as these prevent correct posture and make it impossible to play. It would be good that the chair you use has a padded base. So that you can endure up to several hours a day without being disturbed by the position or falling asleep. I recommend a break every 40 minutes.

It is very useful to play in front of a table or musical instrument lectern – Something that can support a folder, a book, or your mobile phone. In this way, you can follow the instructions on paper or an online tutorial.

When is the best time of day to learn acoustic guitar at home?

You will find the ideal time of day to practice based on your agenda and your free time. I advise you not to practice too late at night. If you face this activity with too much-accumulated tiredness, you will not be able to make decent progress.

It is best to find a time during work or busy hours to play – let’s say between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. That way, you won’t disturb your neighbors playing too early or too late, and you’ll have sufficient energy to practice enough daily. 

The most important thing is to do it every day at the same time. This is the way you will cultivate the habit of playing daily. This will ensure that you achieve better results and will eliminate the possibility of you leaving your learning early. 

What are the best exercises for learning acoustic guitar?

Before starting any physical activity, it is always necessary to prepare properly and stretch. Playing guitar is not something very different from any other physical activity. While you practice, you need to be sitting in a firm position. This will require you to have enough strength in your back, hips, neck, and legs to support this activity. 

You will be forcing and stretching your arms, hands, and fingers. All this to reach the positions required for the performance of chords and scales. Because of this, it is important to achieve a correct full-body stretch before you sit down to practice. Stretching your arms, hands, legs, hips, and back will be good for you. So you will avoid numbness and muscle pain while playing your instrument.

But the most important body part you are training is your fingers. They are the ones you should exercise the most. It will always be good for your learning if you do not abandon your chord and scale exercises. Maintaining a daily routine is the least way to exercise your fingers and thus achieve the best technique and performance.

A_melodic_minor_scale_for_guitar_one_octave_4th_position
Scale Exercise – A Melodic Minor Scale

If some days you don’t manage to have a guitar around and play. For example, if you travel or your job doesn’t allow you to play. It’s best to have an alternative method to exercise your fingers. You can do this with a piece of paper where you can draw a diagram of the guitar fretboard. Here is a very practical one that you can print and use.

The final piece of advice

I warn you that learning to play an instrument is not an easy task. It’s not something that all those who try can do. So here’s a final piece of advice for you. Keep in mind that you need to enjoy this experience to develop it daily. 

Of course, there will be days when it will be more challenging to practice. If you manage to overcome the initial inconveniences and practice regularly for at least two or three months, you will see great results. Every day that passes, you will be moving away from the possibility of leaving this beautiful experience.


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Author
Damián is an author of All Stringed. He started playing with an electric guitar when he was 14 as a self-taught boy at home. He has almost 30 years of experience playing electric and acoustic guitar. You can find more about him here.