Why Learn Guitar Through Making Music?

The obvious answer is the guitar is a musical instrument so its purpose is to create music. The unique purpose of music is its ability to repeat things in a pleasurable way.  The deeper answer is I had to make music. The first power chord I heard in AC/DC’s “Back in Black” I immediately wanted to know how that sound was made. More specifically I wanted to know what I would do if I could make that sound.

When I had a desire to create music on the guitar, I became a sponge for the fundamental knowledge of the instrument. I loved learning chord shapes, scales, arpeggios, rhythm, and note names because I knew once I got home I’d be able to use those musical nutrients to grow my musical garden. 

When I’m making music with those concepts I’m practicing in a pleasurable to me. Once I found something awesome, I would repeat it longer making the skill and knowledge sink in effortlessly. Each technique or concept was another toy with unlimited potential and combinations that always grew. 

The feeling of creating music on the guitar is unreplicable in any other area of my life. It’s the excitement of discovery, the perseverance to hold down that difficult rhythm steady, the knowledge I’ve made something the world has never heard before! (for better or for worse!) Then at 9 year old and today at 25 years old, when I’m learning songs, I see the patterns of fundamentals which makes learning and memorizing them super simple and streamlined. Most importantly I can then use those patterns in my own music!