If you’ve ever wanted to learn guitar, you’ve probably weighed out the pluses and minuses of taking guitar lessons. 

Guitar lessons will ensure that you’re learning the correct technique (as well as the right terminology) as opposed to just learning by ear. However, finding an in-person instructor, keeping to a set schedule of lessons, and commuting to and from the lessons can be an imposition to some learners – especially those with a busy schedule. 

Many famous guitar players learned to play in slightly unorthodox ways and some stuck to a more traditional method. 

Here’s how some of the biggest guitarists around learned to play: 

John Mayer 

John Mayer’s father rented a guitar for him to play when he turned 13, and a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette tape gifted to him by a neighbor helped Mayer develop his affection for the blues.

Mayer took guitar lessons from a guitar shop owner in his Bridgeport, Connecticut hometown. His preoccupation with the instrument concerned his parents so much that they took him to see a psychiatrist, who assured them he was fine. 

Slash

Slash – aka Saul Hudson – originally started playing bass. He switched to guitar after hearing music teacher Robert Wolin play “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones. He started taking classes with Wolin, playing a one-stringed flamenco guitar gifted to him by his grandmother. Hudson was a champion BMX biker, but started devoting up to 12 hours a day to playing the guitar.

Jimi Hendrix

As an elementary schooler, young Hendrix took to carrying a broom with him to pretend it was a guitar. Hendrix first got his hands on a string instrument while helping his dad with a side job. The client allowed Jimi to keep an old, one-stringed ukulele that was among the items being removed from her home – and he taught himself by ear to play Elvis Presley songs. He bought his first guitar for $5 (about $51 in 2022) and played for hours every day. He listened to artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Robert Johnson for inspiration.

Kurt Cobain

Nirvana’s guitarist and frontman developed a love of music at an early age. He reportedly started singing at two years old, and started playing the piano at age four, composing his first song – about a trip to a park. For his 14th birthday in 1981, Cobain’s uncle let him choose his gift – a bike or a used guitar. Cobain picked the guitar. He learned to play some songs by Led Zeppelin and Queen before starting to write his own songs. He played guitar left-handed, despite being forced to write right-handed. 

Eric Clapton

The “Cream” guitarist got his first guitar for his 13th birthday, but it was so difficult to play that he lost interest until two years later. Blues music was Clapton’s biggest inspiration – he practiced learning the chords by playing along to blues records. By age 16, he was getting noticed for his skills and began busking around London.

However, if you want fast, real results, guitar lessons can get you there faster. Fret Zealot’s ecosystem of guitar lessons allows users to learn guitar how they want – when they have time, wherever they are. Rather than having to travel to a guitar teacher, Fret Zealot users can access lessons from world-class instructors from their phones. 

There are lots of courses for complete beginners, which will teach you the basics like notes, chords, strumming, and finger positions, and from there, you can learn what interests you – whether it’s delving into simple song lessons or working on more advanced techniques like pentatonic scales or riffs. 

Plus, the Fret Zealot app contains every note, scale, and chord – so you’ll never have to resort to books or diagrams. 

According to TakeLessons.com, the average cost of in-person guitar lessons in the U.S. is $30 to $60 an hour. With Fret Zealot, you’ll save money on the cost of guitar lessons, plus gas or transportation and any books an in-person tutor may require. The biggest saving is time – you can simply take out your phone anytime, and get to learning. 

There’s something about country music that’s perfect for a six-string. Here are five great country songs you can learn on guitar – and the step-by-step lessons to learn them. 

Tennessee Whiskey – Chris Stapleton 

Chris Stapleton’s cover of “Tennessee Whiskey” is a huge crossover hit – it made it to number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its release in 2015. The original version was recorded by David Allen Coe in 1981.

Wagon Wheel – Darius Rucker/Old Crow Medicine Show

This song, popularized by Darius Rucker, is made up of a simple four-chord progression. The chorus and melody were written by Bob Dylan in the 1970s, and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show wrote the verses 25 years later. 

Somethin’ Bad – Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert

Country stars Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert teamed up for this 2014 hit – an all-woman take on the “bro country” genre that was rising in popularity at the time. The song was originally written as a male/female duet, but the lyrics were tweaked for the Underwood/Lambert pairing. 

Man! I Feel Like a Woman! – Shania Twain

Country superstar Shania Twain wrote this track for her third studio album with longtime collaborator and then-husband Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Twain said the title of the song was inspired by drag queens who worked at the same Canadian resort she worked at while providing for her brothers and sisters after their parents’ death. The video is a gender-swapped homage to Robert Palmer’s videos which featured glassy-eyed models as backup dancers. 

Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks

Songwriters Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell penned this jukebox classic in 1989. According to Lee, he was at lunch in Nashville with a group of fellow songwriters when he realized he forgot his wallet, but said “Don’t worry, I have friends in low places, I know the cook”. Lee and Blackwell gave the song to Garth Brooks – who they had met when he was a salesman at a Nashville shoe store – and it was the last demo session Brooks ever did as a singer. Brooks’ version was the lead single on his second studio album. 

Check out these lessons for other great country songs on Fret Zealot!

These are the five most popular guitars from the Fret Zealot store in 2023! 

Epiphone Slash Pack

Designed by Slash himself, the AFD Les Paul Special-II has more appointments than most electric guitars. Topped with AAA flame maple, this guitar also features a dark cherry mahogany body and neck, ivory binding, and a silk print of Slash’s Snakepit logo on the headstock. The first time you plug into a high-gain amp, the AFD Les Paul Special-II’s Ceramic Plus Zebra-coil humbuckers will treat you to the thick, overdriven, screaming metallic tone that Slash made famous. Complete with a premium gig bag and signature guitar picks the Epiphone Slash AFD Les Paul Special-II Outfit is a great bundle for beginners or anybody who is searching for a quality, affordable electric guitar.

Check out this review! 

Epiphone PR-4E

The Epiphone PR-4E Pack gives you a great-sounding acoustic-electric guitar and much more! You get a quality Epiphone PR-4E acoustic-electric guitar that sounds amazing unplugged or amplified, with a comfortable neck for easy fretting. You also get an acoustic guitar amp, a gig bag, electronic tuner, strap, and picks. When you learn to play on a quality acoustic-electric instrument that sounds good and feels right, you’ll be inspired to keep playing.  That’s what the affordable Epiphone PR-4E Pack gives you.

Yamaha FG800

Review: 

Try this guitar’s acoustic/electric counterpart, the FGX800C. 

Epiphone Player Pack

The Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack gives you a great guitar, combo amplifier, and everything else you need to get started playing electric guitar! You get a quality Epiphone Les Paul electric solidbody guitar with two humbucking pickups and a fast neck for easy fretting, a 10-watt amplifier with a clean/crunch switch, a gig bag, a clip-on tuner, a strap, and picks. When you learn to play on a quality instrument that sounds good, you’ll be inspired to keep playing. Quality, great sound, and affordability are what the Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack gives you.

Check out this review. 

Epiphone DR-100

The DR-100 has the look, sound, and build quality that first time players and professionals expect to find when they pick up an Epiphone. The dreadnought is considered the classic go-to shape for bluegrass, folk, rock, country, and everything in-between. The dreadnought sound is commanding when required, but its balanced sound means that at any volume, you can be heard and hear yourself well, too.

Click here for the review.

Check out this John Mayer Player Study course, and you’ll be slinging guitar like the “Gravity” songwriter in no time! 

Background 

Mayer was born in Connecticut in 1977 to a high school principal father and an English teacher mother. Young John Mayer became infatuated with the guitar after watching Marty McFly’s performance in Back to The Future. Mayer’s father rented a guitar for him to play when he turned 13, and a Stevie Ray Vaughan cassette tape gifted to him by a neighbor helped Mayer develop his affection for the blues.

 Mayer took guitar lessons from a guitar shop owner in his Bridgeport, Connecticut hometown. His preoccupation with the instrument concerned his parents so much that they took him to see a psychiatrist, who assured them he was fine. 

Mayer briefly attended the Berklee College of Music before dropping out after two semesters and moving to Atlanta with a college friend to form the duo LoFi Masters. They played in clubs and coffee houses in Atlanta, parting ways as Mayer wanted to pursue pop music. Mayer recorded an independent EP, Inside Wants Out, in 1999. 

Mayer’s fledgling career benefited from the growing online music market at the time – he was able to benefit from an online following. A lawyer acquaintance sent Aware Records Mayer’s EP, and the label later released his internet-only album, No Room For Squares. Columbia Records later remixed and re-released the album, which spawned radio hits like “Your Body is a Wonderland”, “No Such Thing”, and “Why, Georgia”. 

Style

“Crossroads Festival 2010 – John Mayer” by aaronHwarren is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Mayer’s blues influence is evident in his guitar playing, which features a distinctive sound. He utilizes a mix of fingerpicking and flatpicking to incorporate percussive elements. Mayer is a guitar collector and has over 200 guitars

Dead and Company 

Mayer has been touring with Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart since 2015 as Dead & Company. He developed a strong interest in The Grateful Dead’s music in 2011 after hearing their song “Althea” on Pandora. He played the song with Weir on the Late Late Show, impressing Weir enough to bring him on. 

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We reviewed Robbie Calvo’s “Pentatonic Protocols 1” guitar course.

A professional guitarist and musician for over a decade,  Calvo teaches you his unique soloing strategies through this course. These intentional, defined approaches can be applied to all five Pentatonic scale shapes – no matter what genre you’re playing.

Read more about Calvo here.

Check out the review here: