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[Monster]

ok how did you learn  to play self taught lessons , books, videos....

for me i took lessons for two years... starting at age 9, i also studies videos of Eddie Van Halen, Stevie ray, via and others to see what they did. i also listen to any and all music i could and listen really hard to the solos and timing .... then after all my guitar stuff was done. instead of trying to copy every guitar player out there i made my self learn to make my own music. while i did learn cover tunes etc.. i made sure i could sit down and wright my own stuff.. and have my own style so that i would not be a clone of someone else... while its nice to be able to play any song out there. i always said its more fun to be able to just sit down and make  your own music and put your own soul into it... i have friends even to this day who can play any song out there, but when it comes time to sit down and wright you're own music they cant..

so when ever i see new kids learning at guitar stores i always tell them its ok to learn other songs as it helps you learn, but also make sure you take time to learn how to make your own music.....

[floydmoline]

i was self taught, learned everything i know playing with cassettes and guitar worlds in high school, but after about 5 years of that, i decided a little theory was in order so i buoght numberous books, and never got it...... i practiced those stupid books over and over til i had them memorised..... never made any sense, then one day i sat down to learn "wish you were here" by pink floyd...... and viola i had an epiphany it ALL made sense, all the theory, all the books all the scales, lol just learning the leads to wish you were here sparked my epiphany..... to this day it's my favorite song..... only thing that sucks about pink floyd is david uses a strat..... he was lured by the darkside..... /cry pick up a les paul bro that's where it's at..... can say he has great choises in amps and effects though, prolly a bit too many for my taste lol

[jackal]

I'm Self taught too, I had an old acoustic guitar my mom had laying around, so i got the master of puppets tab book and AJFA..  and i started learning note for note.. then i moved on and learned every metallica song up to that date, then i started learning CCR's greatest hits, Some megadeth, and garth brooks.. then i started learning every song i heard, lol.. whatever cought my ear i was at home that night learning it..
Now all i do is write my own stuff.. i havent' learned a cover song in 2 or 3 years..

[MrSandMan]

I'm still trying to learn

[Monster]

I'm still trying to learn

me too i love going to you tube and just checking out a bunch of guitar stuff on there.. always new things to learn...

[senor_penguin]

I am self taught mainly, but my brother and my dad helped me out in the beginning

[Monster]

I am self taught mainly, but my brother and my dad helped me out in the beginning

thats cool your dad and brother helped you out... you learn more that way then paying someone....

[floydmoline]

lol my mother has supported my musical life, but my dad views it as a waste of time, and my brother could care less i show him songs i have written, or music bands i have been in have recorded and he could careless lol, so i call penguin lucky

[Monster]

lol my mother has supported my musical life, but my dad views it as a waste of time, and my brother could care less i show him songs i have written, or music bands i have been in have recorded and he could careless lol, so i call penguin lucky

well thats at least cool your mom is backing ya..... was the same with me my mom loved it my dad was liek you will be nothing when you grow up you need a real job....

[Brian Krashpad]

When I was a kid my dad bought a few different acoustic instruments on his world travels as a US Navy officer.  He could play a bit of banjo, but never really learned to play the others.  So he announced that any of us kids that learned to play one of his instruments could have it for themself.  He had a "Mel Bay" guitar book for beginners, so I used that to start off.  This was back in the early 70's so there were no DVD's or instructional videos.  With 5 kids on a navy salary, we sure couldn't afford private lessons.

The following year in junior high school, I took a beginner guitar course at school, but I already knew enough that the teacher just took the 2 or 3 kids who could play some and let us sit out in the hall and jam for an automatic "A."  So I learned some more from the other kids in the class that were better than I.

Although it was an elective, the rule with the music classes at that school was that you could not repeat a music class until you took the other 2 instruments also.  So the rest of that first year I took recorder, and then keyboard.  When I went back the following year I got another automatic A sitting out in the hall jamming again (after that I just took shop or PE or something).

Since then I just used to jam by ear with records and such, and then later in bands (since the early '80's).  At one point I did take a short chord theory course, but I've forgotten almost all of it (something about the "circle of fifths...").  Another educational experience was playing in church for about 10 years, which I stopped a couple years ago after switching churches.  That was very helpful for me, because, even though I don't sight-read, I got used to playing with lead-sheet charts, plus I had to play in styles I would never have played otherwise.  Fortunately, the Music Directors there pretty much gave me free rein to figure out my own arrangements and parts on each song.  I'd love to get back into doing that again, I highly recommend it for anybody that goes to church or other place of worship.

[characterzero]

When I picked up guitar, I already knew how to play keys along with a bunch of music theory.  As a result I taught myself guitar pretty easily.  But for anyone who hasn't had any sort of musical education, I highly recommend getting some lessons, as they'll make everything much easier.

[Servant]

Self taught and then married a formally trained musician - FTW!! 

[Redline68]

My Dad taught me a few open chords on an old, cracked F-Hole Harmony acoustic when I was a kid.  The strings hurt my fingers and I lost interest.  Flash forward 25 years and my wife buys me a guitar for Christmas out of the blue (sometime, somewhere I strummed one for her while we were dating years earlier).

I started learning for real via books and videos.  I'm considering taking a few lessons as I think it would help me improve.