Guitar Lessons for Beginners: Which Genre Is Right for You?

If you are new to guitar playing, signing up for lessons is important and will help you learn the correct way to play. Many new players feel intimidated when it comes to deciding on a genre to focus on when starting guitar lessons, as they hear some genres are more difficult to learn than others. Understanding the various genres, and what is required to play them, will help you decide which one is best for you.

Metal

If you dream of playing awesome guitar riffs like some of your favorite heavy metal bands, you may be excited to jump in and get started playing metal. However, metal songs are often made using a lot of specialized equipment and can be rather complex in nature. Some metal songs also require specialized training in time signatures for playing the guitar in different timings that may be overwhelming for beginners to comprehend. 

Bluegrass

If you are a bluegrass fan, you will need to learn a flat-picking technique that is commonly used in this genre. This technique requires a lot of fast picking skills, hand coordination, and strength to learn. However, once you master bluegrass, you will have impressive skills that make it easier to switch to other genres.

Rock

Rock is an excellent starting point for beginners, as many rock songs can be mastered rather easily. Most rock songs are not complicated and follow basic chords and picking techniques. Rock is a great genre for getting your foot in the door and will help you master the necessary skills to transition to other genres in the future.

Blues

Soulful and fun to learn, blues music is all about learning to improvise, and skilled blues guitarists are masters at improvising their music. However, it is crucial to learn the blues scales successfully before you can improvise. While not difficult to master, the chords used in blues music are a little different than other genres, which can make transitioning from blues to another genre more challenging for beginning guitarists. 

Focusing on a specific genre will help you get the most out of your guitar lessons. You may feel more comfortable learning a genre that requires you to learn fewer chords while gaining confidence, but it is also fine to jump right into the genre you intend to play, even if it may be more challenging to learn. It is best to take your unique learning style into consideration when determining which genre to start with.


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