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The Complete Guide to Playing Guitar
The honest, no-hype guide to what playing guitar really costs, how much time it takes, what gear you actually need, and whether it's the right hobby for you.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Is Playing Guitar and Why People Love It
The first time you hold a guitar, it feels heavier than you expect. That is the first concrete thing to know about this hobby: a guitar is a physical object with weight and mass, and you will spend the first few weeks just learning how to hold it without feeling like you're wrestling a wooden octopus. Your left hand (if you're right-handed) will be pushed into positions that feel unnatural. Your fingertips will press against steel strings that will, on the second or third day, start to hurt in a way you didn't anticipate. And that is completely normal. This is not a hobby you absorb from a screen. It is a hobby you feel in your hands, your shoulders, your back, and your knees.
So what does playing guitar actually involve day-to-day? Let me paint you a picture of a typical evening with a guitar, the kind of evening that happens after you've gotten past the first confusing two weeks. You come home from work, feed yourself, sit on the edge of your bed or in the corner of the couch. You pick up the guitar from where you left it leaning against an armchair. You grab a small flat piece of plastic called a pick, which is about the size of a large coin. You tune the strings, which takes about ninety seconds once you know what you're doing — you turn a set of tuning keys