+ Am I too young/old to learn the electric guitar?

You can never be too old to start something new. Learning a new instrument is a very rewarding experience. I teach students from the ages of six upwards and in my experience, younger students will absorb information quicker but can lack an understanding of the theory and technique behind some songs, styles, or techniques. Adults like to understand techniques and skills fully to find out why they are learning a particular skill, they may learn a little slower, but they will learn more thoroughly. One point is playing the guitar does require finger dexterity so if you suffer from arthritis in the hands, see if you can play a guitar without pain first before committing to lessons.

+ How long will it take me to learn the guitar?

The wonderful thing about learning music is that there is always something new to learn. The best musicians in the world will say that they are still learning every day. My advice is to go at your own pace, learn the music you like and appreciate other people’s perspectives. Music is not a competition – it’s an art. It’s an old saying but when it comes to music, the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know. A great book that illustrates this point is ‘Zen Guitar’ by Philip Toshio Sudo.

+ Is electric guitar harder to learn than acoustic/classical/bass guitar?

It’s about the same. Swings and roundabouts really. The good news is anything you can play on an electric, you can play on an acoustic or classical and vice-versa. Some would say it’s easier to learn on an electric though because the strings are thinner and hurt your fingers less.

+ What’s the difference between a maple fingerboard and a rosewood fingerboard?

When you buy a new electric guitar, you can choose between having a maple (blonde in colour) or a rosewood (brown in colour) fingerboard, maple and rosewood have different tones. Maple is bright and punchy and rosewood sounds soft and warm. It all depends on what sort of sound you’re after. I like rosewood fingerboards. An important note is that rosewood fingerboards are un-lacquered so will occasionally need a clean with lemon oil to condition the wood and stop it from drying-out and cracking. Lemon oil is in my Recommended Equipment section on this site.

+ What is the ‘action’ of a guitar?

The action of a guitar refers to how high the strings are from the fretboard – fast players will have thin strings and a very low action because that will help them play fast, but blues players will have a higher action and thicker strings to get more tone from their notes. Ideally, you want quite a low action because the higher the strings are, the harder the guitar will be to play.

+ What is a truss rod?

A truss rod is a long metal rod that runs down the inside of the neck and helps to keep it straight. If you notice a bow in your neck between the 8th and 12th fret, an adjustment of the truss rod will straighten it up and make it easier to play. Be careful when adjusting truss rods though because a ¼ turn the wrong way could snap the neck. If in doubt, take it to a professional in a guitar shop. Classical guitars do not have truss rods because classical guitar strings have a much low tension and don't put as much strain on the neck.

+ What are the tone controls on my guitar for?

Tone controls will change your guitar sound from ‘muddy’ to ‘tinny’. They work by filtering out the high-frequencies of the sound. If the control is on 10, there will be no filter, if it is on 0, most of the high frequencies will be filtered out, it’s like turning down the treble on an eq setting on your tv or stereo. If you have two tone controls on your guitar (like on strat models), the front one adjusts the tone on the neck pickup and the back one adjusts the tone on the middle pickup.

+ What thickness of pick should I buy?

It really depends on what you prefer, try out different ones and see which one you like the best. As a rule, thicker picks are better for playing notes louder and with more intensity and thinner picks are good for strumming chords. A 1mm thick pick is considered a thick pick. Picks which are between 0.70-0.84mm are considered average and are a good place to start off from.

+ What’s the best way to clean my guitar?

Lemon oil and microfiber cloths. Lemon oil will clean off any dust and finger gunk but is gentle enough not to damage the paint, lacquer, or hardware of the guitar. A good guitar cleaning kit is in my Recommended Equipment section.

+ Why do guitarists sometimes use a capo?

A capo works by raising the pitch of all the strings on the guitar, this is very useful for singers because sometimes a song can be too low or high for a singer’s voice. Using a capo means you can use the same open chord shapes and raise the pitch of the whole song. Guitarists can use barre chords to get around this; this is when the index finger ‘barres’ over all of the strings and the chords are made using the other three fingers.

+ Are my fingers supposed to hurt?

Maybe a little bit at first, but your fingers soon toughen up and you will develop calluses. If they hurt, just have a little break, wash your hands, and give your fingers some time to recover. If you do get a blister do not pop it, the skin underneath the blister is still growing and it will be very painful if you try to play on fresh skin. The blister will go down in one day and your fingers will be tougher afterwards.

+ Will loud music damage my hearing?

Yes. Prolonged loud noises will damage your hearing. Always use earplugs when you play live with drummers or go to a loud gig. Hearing is the key sense for playing and reacting to music. Take care of your ears and always use plugs!