Guitar

I’ve had the joy and fulfillment of playing guitar now for over 20 years and it’s been one of the most fun and joyful things I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing. I’ve gotten to tour the world and record songs; I even had a number 1 hit on the radio here in SA. So, I decided to put together an article on why learning to playing guitar is such fun.

Guitar is definitely fun to learn. Among a ton of fun things that come with learning to play the guitar, you get to play songs from the radio, make friends, possibly travel the world, learn an instrument, create and play music, and play in a band. It’s even therapeutic and good for the mind and body.

I’ve come up with the best list ever on why playing guitar is fun and fun to learn. I’ve put some really cool reasons that you probably would not have thought of or come across anywhere else. So, let’s just dive straight into them, shall we?

35 Reasons why the guitar is fun, fun to learn and why you should start today

Learning to play the guitar is really fun and as a beginner, it requires almost no effort at all to bang out one of your favorite tunes from the radio. Now I’m not talking about songs from Rock 99.3 WZXR, I’m talking about your average pop hit from the radio that requires 3 or 4 chords to play. If you can sing then it’s even better that you learn to play guitar because within 2 weeks you could be writing your own music to your lyrical melodies. How fun and cool would that be? These are just some of the reasons at a glance. Let’s get to the list!

• A guitar is cheap

Needless to say, a guitar is cheaper than a piano and most classical instruments. It’s cheaper than a drumkit. It’s even cheaper than wanting to be a DJ. Best of all the only thing that needs replacing on a guitar is the strings. You can get a guitar bundle that includes an acoustic guitar, a gig bag, strings, strap and picks for as little as $50.

• It’s quick to learn easy songs on the guitar

Most songs on the radio are only 3 or 4 chords. From Lady Gaga to James Blunt, 3 Doors Down, Ed Sheeran, The Calling, Journey, etc… the list literally goes on and on. It only takes a couple of days of practice to learn the chords needed to play songs from the radio.

• You don’t have to play sports if you play guitar

If you’re not that into sports then picking up the guitar is a great way to get your parents or friends off your back. Playing the guitar will take up a lot of your time and with that, you won’t have time to try out for the football team.

• Impress your friends with your guitar skills

No doubt throughout history there’s not one time a friend of a guitar player with mad skills has not been impressed. You can take your guitar and jam around the campfire with your buddies and sing songs. Who doesn’t love that?

• Impress your girlfriend with your guitar ballads

Trust me when I say that your girlfriend will be very impressed if you can jam out a tune or two from the radio and perhaps even sing it for her. She’ll love nothing more than if you sing a nice soft ballad only for her. What girlfriend in history hasn’t?

Watch Lee John Blackmore bust out some easy songs that you are sure to know with just 3 chords

• If you don’t have a girlfriend, you’ll get one playing guitar

If you don’t have a girlfriend all you have to do is go to your local park, or if you’re at college just somewhere on the grounds at recess, sit down on a bench with some girls close by and jam out some tunes. Girls fall, swoon, and weep for guitar players, and within minutes you’ll be taking numbers like a playboy.

• If you’re a girl playing guitar, then you’ll put those poor rock boys to shame

If you’re a girl and you play guitar you can put shame to those talentless macho rock dudes who look down on everyone else and think they are musically superior. There’s nothing better than a girl who can rock out. Just take a look at Orianthi Penny Panagaris who plays with Alice Cooper and with the late great Michael Jackson.

• You can upset your friends and parents with your poor guitar skills

If you’re not that good and even if you are you can always upset a couple of folks if they are irritating you by playing some wrong notes and chords here and there. There is no better feeling than upsetting somebody and pretending like you’re not doing anything when you are deliberately trying to. Haha!

• Playing guitar is therapeutic

Playing guitar is good for the soul and you will find that playing it relaxes your body and mind. Sometimes it can be frustrating trying to work out a lick or solo, but when you joy the feeling of fulfillment is unbelievable.

• You can take your guitar almost anywhere

You are not going to go away to your friends’ cabin in the mountains with all your mates for a weekend and lug your drumkit or grand piano with you right? However, your guitar you can take and stash almost anywhere and when its campfire time you’ll be ready!

• Create your own music with the guitar

After only playing the guitar for a short period of time you’ll be able to make your own music. It doesn’t take that much practice to learn chords and a basic rock scale and then you’ll be able to make your own music. 80% of the best songs in the world are made with 3 chords and a box shape pentatonic scale.

• You can do cool things on a guitar

You can learn to play such cool techniques on the guitar that includes slides, vibrato, whammy dives, tremolo picking, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. There are a ton of guitar techniques that you can only play on the guitar and not on any other instrument. It’s Fantastic!

• You can start a band just by having a guitar

You ever see a drummer starting a band besides Lars from Metallica? Or a pianist or bass player starting a band? No, you don’t. Just by having a guitar people will ask if you’re in a band and if you’re not you’ll be more viable to start one than any other instrumentalist.

• Learn the secret guitar language

Learn the secret language and cool slang that only other guitar players know and are allowed to use like “that’s killer”, “that’s the vibe”, “do you play the gnar?”. Then use words like shred, legato, hybrid picking, finger tapping, and more.

• Playing guitar is good for your body

Did you know they have done studies in the Netherlands and they concluded that people who play guitar are less likely to have high blood pressure and it lowered their heart rate? Now if that’s not a reason to start I don’t know what is.

Watch Eliot The Crazy Guitar Player show you how fun and how much humour the guitar can bring to yourself and people around you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVQuXrWgIo

• Playing guitar is good for your mind

Playing guitar is great for steadying yourself, getting to know yourself better, becoming spiritual in a sense that time, practice and patience are virtues that not many people have. And you should be proud and in doing so you’ll have a healthier relaxed sense of wellbeing.

• Conquer your ADD with the guitar

There’s nothing like spending 20 hours trying to learn a 10-second solo. If you have ADD then you will have no problems focusing and concentrating once you’ve taken your guitar skills to a uber professional level.

• Boost your confidence and ego with the guitar

Playing guitar and learning things that seem almost impossible at first but then with time, patience and practice can be learned really boosts your confidence. You get the mentality that you can conquer and achieve anything because it takes someone with lots of dedication to stick with it and persevere through the rough patches.

• Learn to play cool songs with the guitar

The coolest songs in history are songs with cool guitar parts. Take any song by Metallica, or AC/DC for starters. Then there are songs on the radio. Songs by Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne, Fall Out Boy, you name it the list goes on and on. They all have cool rock guitar parts in them.

• You don’t have to explain your mood swings if you play guitar

People never ask what is wrong when you’re a guitar player. Its always check at that brooding guitar player. You can have mood swings up and down, swing from the chandelier and you never have to explain yourself. People just say it’s cool, he’s a guitar player that’s just how they are.

• You’ll be cooler than the drummer, bass player, and keyboard player if you play guitar

Do I really need to explain this one? In the history of music besides Beethoven and Bach, when has the keyboard player, bass player or drummer ever been cooler than the guitar player? Never! that’s when. Just look at Slash or Mark Tremonti, Angus Young, and Joe Perry. You just can’t get cooler than that.

• If you play guitar, you’ll become more creative and unlock the left side of your brain

Playing guitar is an art and it helps you with the left side of your brain in being more creative just like painting, drawing, and sculpting does. You’ll find yourself seeing things a little differently and definitely hearing music on a whole other level.

• You can be poor and still be cool if you play guitar

Even broke guitar players are cool. Most of the famous bands and guitar players from them were broke at some point before or even after their record deals, and they were still cool. Sleeping in their vans and friends’ cars or apartments on their couches going from gig to gig and meal to meal.

• You could be rich if you play guitar

This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you write a cool guitar riff, then turn it into a cool song then stick it on the radio, you could catch the attention of the entire world just by a 5-note riff and then watch the record moguls flock to your door offering you tons of cash.

• You could be in a famous band if you play guitar

If you play guitar and time was not a factor you could be in bands like Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Who, The Doors, Queen, Iron Maiden. You could even start your own band and become famous now! Nothing is stopping you. However, playing keys just won’t cut it.

• You could travel the world if you play guitar

Play guitar, join a band, write a number 1 hit and then tour the world. That’s how rock stars make their money. It’s from touring, and bands tour all over the world from the States to Australia, China, and Europe. You get to go everywhere.

• You can wear whatever you want if you play guitar

It doesn’t matter what you wear you are cool. If you play guitar then you could wear a meat dress like Lady Gaga and still be considered a rock god. Nobody will ever comment even if you wear pink spandex with a lumo green shirt. They’ll probably envy you and wonder why you can pull it off. That’s what they did in the ’80s.

• You can make new friends if you play guitar

If your shy then it’s a great way to make new friends. You can put up an ad saying you’re looking to join or start a band and then make a couple of new friends straight away. You could also just chill around campus and bust out some tunes and then in no time you’ll have people walking up to you, wanting to get to know you better.

• You can play loud if you have a guitar

If you play piano or bass it just isn’t going to work. Drums can pull this one off to but not as cool as a guitar player. You always hear the guitar player say to the sound engineer “I gotta turn it up to 10 or I don’t get that sweet tone”, and they get away with it. No other instrument has the ability to pull that off.

• You can learn to play Rock N Roll only on the guitar

Rock N Roll is guitar music. You can’t have a rock song with no rock guitar. Then its not Rock N Roll. The whole genre is based solely on this instrument. If you play rock guitar you are center stage all the time and you get to play the coolest guitar parts ever.

• Learn to play the blues on the guitar

Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, and B.B King. These are the biggest blues players that ever lived, and they didn’t play bass or keys. They played the guitar. A True and original music genre developed in the USA, this genre just like Rock N Roll is centered around the guitar as its main focus. You can learn to play the most emotional, sad, and epic guitar parts playing the blues.

• Once you learn you could teach guitar

Giving back is always great and you will find fulfillment teaching others how to play. When you start off you might have the bug that says you want to be better than every other guitar player but that fades away and the love of music takes over and it’s an incredible feeling to give back what you have learned.

• You could make a YouTube guitar channel

If you don’t want to get a regular job then jump onto YouTube and play guitar. You can create almost any kind of a guitar channel. You could create a teaching channel a review channel, a music channel. Almost anything. Tons of people are doing it and there is space for you too.

• You can play with other guitar players if you can play guitar

If you learn to play the guitar then you can jam with other guitar players. It’s so cool playing and jamming with fellow musicians. One plays rhythm while the other improvises and then you switch turns. Its an incredible feeling being able to do this.

• Enjoy the gift that is music by learning to play the guitar

It’s the most amazing feeling in the world to be a part of the world community of musicians and being able to play and make music. Plato said it best – “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”

Conclusion

Learning to play the guitar is incredibly fun and one of the most fulfilling things you can do with your time spent on this earth. This list I came up with straight off the top of my head and these aren’t even all the cool and fun things about the guitar that you will get to experience if you decide to pick it up and play.

The benefits of learning to play the guitar are just so many that they could be impossible to count. It will be the most fun experience you have ever had in your life so do yourself a favor and start today.