I'd like to make guitar playing a career. I know it would be tough to do but, I figure I might as well try. From day 1 of picking up a guitar to the day where you earn intermediate status, what would you say, of all the things, techniques, etc… would fit into that beginners level? Thanks.
I'm a 26 yr. old guitar player. I would put myself at a solid intermediate level. I've never had a teacher and in the 9 years since I first seriously took it up, but I've progressed anyway. Here's my advice to you to begin learning as fast as possible:
1) start by learning the chord positions for all the major and minor chords, including the sharps and flats. any self-respecting guitar player need to know at the very least those chords, but once you get those down, you'll quickly find yourself wanting to learn more and more chords, and don't worry, there are literally thousands of them.
2) Write down a list of all the songs you know the lyrics to and that you'd like to sing. The most fun you can have learning guitar is playing songs you like. most popular songs have only 5 or 6 chords, usually one of the 24 major/minor chords you've been practicing. You can find chord chart for pop songs online. just google the song title and the word "chords". This is also good practice for learning songwriting techniques, learning what kind of sounds different chords make when arranged together.
3) learn guitar tablature notation (lookup guitar tab in wikipedia for more info) unless you already know how to read music. This will prepare you for advanced techniques, learning to play chord riffs and lead lines.
Other things:
strengthen your hands and arms: begin lifting weights and using hand grip exercisers( you can find these at most big-box music stores) to prepare your hands for the muscle tension you'll nee to press strings down without cramping after only a few minutes. Also, understand that this will probably be the case for the first few weeks of playing, but if you play everyday, the pain will subside.
start with an acoustic, then get an electric: Acoustics require much more hand power to play than electrics, but both provide a sound that the other cannot provide. You can usually find a decent acoustic for around $200. Get your basics down on that and, if you haven't given up, you can buy a basic electric for around the same price.
