How to Drop Less Coinage While Learning the Guitar
Of course there’s the guitar itself, which can be purchased used for surprisingly cheap or borrowed from a friend or relative, but what about all of the extra accessories and associated costs that have a nasty way of ambushing aspiring musicians? You’ve got things like picks, strings, tuners, capos, plus music books on beginning practice, theory, popular songs, scales, and, if you’re really serious about it, one on one lessons with a personal instructor. All of these things add up and not everyone has the pocket change to spare, so what are some of the alternatives?
Buying Used
This may seem like a no-brainer; after all, you bought the guitar itself used. Surprisingly enough many people may look for used deals for the instrument itself but consider individual items like strings the sort of thing you have to buy from a music store. After all, who wants to mess with used strings? For one thing, just because you’re buying used doesn’t mean the product is actually used. Many, many people have aspired to learn the guitar before you did, and for one reason or another many of them have given it up.
People oftentimes will take up a new hobby and spend gobs of money getting all of the fancy things that are supposed to go with it, only to find later they don’t have the time or inclination or perseverance. In these cases they’ll offer up highly discounted lots of miscellaneous stuff, for example: “guitar strings, picks, tuner, beginners books CHEAP – bought six months ago intended to learn don’t have the time, will sell cheap” – we’ve all seen the ads. Scouring yard sales is another way to find these kinds of deals. Another unique way to find cheap stuff is to post “in search of” ads to the classifieds, which leads into my next point.
Taking Advantage of Online Resources
As popular as craigslist has become, many people still don’t even know that it exists. It is extremely valuable for posting the kind of wanted ads I mentioned, as well as for finding those killer deals on used things in the first place. eBay is another great tool to use, though the items for sale usually aren’t quite as cheap since there’s shipping involved and no room for bargaining. Simply running a search for the item or items you’re looking for plus a few choice keywords, such as “classifieds” or the name of your city and “for sale” will also generally yield good results.
All that is only dealing with the physical goods associated with learning guitar, but what about the actual learning process itself? Again, the Internet is your closest ally. Websites have sprung up in the last dozen or so years on every subject imaginable, and learning guitar is definitely one of them. There’s innumerable websites with free instructional ebooks, information on beginner’s scales and riffs, techniques, even video tutorials on sites like YouTube. All of this for free!
The process of learning anything has been so radically simplified by the Internet and all of the free information it supplies, the only thing you actually have to do anymore is learn. And there’s no reason you can’t.
CB Michaels is a qualified generator of web-based content and an experienced ghostwriter, and at this time deals with themes such as canvas window awnings and aluminum patio covers.
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