Apparently, 1 in 4 people say they play guitar in the UK. It is the most popular instrument for adults to learn to play. Why is it that guitar is so popular?
From the hundreds of students and people we have spoken to, below are a list of popular reasons why people love playing the guitar or want to play the guitar.
They can play their favourite songs with the guitar
The biggest reason why the guitar is so much fun and people want to play it is because their favourite songs can be played by the guitar. Whether they enjoy
acoustic, folk to metal, rock or pop music. Many songs can be played using the guitar. Even if the song doesn’t contain guitar parts, it can still be played.
Once the chords are learnt, it is simple to strum along to your favourite songs and feel good about it!
Being able to play the guitar with friends and family
Lots of people know other people who play the guitar that has inspired them to want to learn. Alternatively, they really like to idea of playing with other people.
Guitar is great for this because you can have some playing the rhythm part and someone else playing the lead and even someone playing the bass part. You can
even have multiple guitars playing the same thing, and it will sound great.
It’s also relatively easy to get started! There are some basic chords that are common in a lot of popular music that you can learn to get started!
Lots of popular songs are relatively easy to play
As we said before, there are some basic chords that once you’ve mastered them, you can play lots of popular songs. Lots of popular music have common chord
progressions and simple strumming patterns.
Learning the fundamentals on the guitar means you can play lots of different songs across different genres very soon. Get good at playing chords, counting and strumming along for all your campfire songs.
You can branch out diversify later on and play across different styles once you get past the basics. Experimenting with what you like to play and listen to on the guitar.
Guitars are very portable
We are based in London, so for a lot of people, the fact that guitars are very portable means it’s easy for them to store in their house and also carry it
around with them.
Because it’s so portable and small, lots of people have not just one but multiple guitars! It’s easy for you to find a friend who has a guitar at their house,
to pick it up and start playing it. (Always ask of course. It might be an expensive one that they don’t want to play!)
If you travel a lot, there are mini size guitars that you can get that will fit in the overheads of planes easily.
It’s a logical instrument
Playing the guitar can be tricky in the beginning. Trying to get your coordination right. But once you get started, and you learn in a logical manner. It gets a lot easier. Being able to understand the guitar will help you progress very quickly as it’s very logical and mathematically.
If you enjoy problem-solving, or recognising patterns, then you find yourself really enjoying the theoretical side of the guitar!
If you don’t feel like you are talented at playing music, you can still make a lot of progress on the guitar with the right help and the right directions.
There are probably many other reasons why the guitar is popular with many people; these are a few that I have found from people that I’ve spoken to. I hope this article may have given you some inspiration regarding whether you would enjoy playing the guitar!
About Guitar Teacher and Author:
Darryl Powis is a guitar teacher who works full time as a guitar school owner, teaching and coaching local guitarists and musicians to improving their playing.
Offering guitar lessons to those passionate about wanting to learn how to improve or play the guitar as a beginner guitar player and also children guitar lessons too.
