In case you are thinking about learning to play a musical instrument, learning the guitar is a fantastic choice:

• it's cheap
• uses up very little space
• playing a song that you have been listening to your entire life, or simply jamming to a backing track will be really enjoyable

Learning guitar as an adult is not so easy though. Why?

Because adults are pressed for time. We have busy schedules, always juggling our responsibilities.

But you don't need to give up on your dream of jamming along with your favorite songs.

Is it hard for adults to learn guitar?

This might be the first question that comes to your mind if you are an adult who wants to learn to play guitar.

In short, it's just as hard as it is for kids.

But is it more difficult to learn guitar as an adult?

Undoubtedly yes. But not for the reasons you would think.

The only reason it's harder to learn guitar, or anything else for that matter, is that adults do not have as much free time on their hands as young people do.

Being an adult means rushing to get kids to school, then rushing to work, possibly working overtime, coming home to prepare dinner, learning with the kids, etc.

With all of the chores and responsibilities adults have (vs kids), time becomes a rare commodity.

If you want to learn to play guitar as an adult, you need to consciously set aside practice time every day. If you can find 1 hour per day to practice, you can learn guitar just as a child or teenager would.

How can adults learn to play guitar?

The most effective way an adult can learn to play guitar is through online guitar lessons. Online lessons are great for adults, since:

• you can turn them on whenever you have time
• you can learn at your own pace, revisiting any video whenever you need to
• the best lessons are succinct and efficient

There are many websites offering guitar lessons on the internet. ...

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Before you start learning to play the guitar, you don't really know what you're listening to.

I don't mean this in a bad way. Most people listen to music, the have their favorite songs that they can sing by heart and hum in the shower.

But as you learn to play guitar, or any other instrument for that matter, you will naturally want to learn how to play your favorite songs.

This is probably the stage you are at right now, and I've got good news for you.

Using a handful (OK, 2 handfuls) of guitar chords, you can play hundreds, if not thousands of really popular guitar songs. ...

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Teaching yourself to play guitar is a challenge, there is no doubt about it.

Would it be easier with a guitar teacher? Maybe, but it would cost a small fortune to pay for the recommended 2 lessons per week.

If you've decided that you will learn go play guitar by yourself, here are 15 very useful tips you need to take to heart.

Tip 1: Sign up for QUALITY online lessons

Back in the day when I taught myself to play guitar (around the year 2000), the internet was not what it is nowadays.

All we had back then were guitar books, an occasional VHS instructional tape, and our ears.

Nowadays, online video guitar lessons are everywhere you look (or search). Some of them are great, some of them are bad.

You will be tempted to learn guitar for free using YouTube videos. While some of the lessons you can find on YouTube are great, there is an inherent problem with learning from YouTube.

You need a structured way of learning every guitar skill, where each lesson build on another.

YouTube cannot provide this.

Great sites that provide structured beginner guitar courses are: ...

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When I start teaching a total beginner how to play guitar, I am always thankful that we have tabs to make things easier.

Guitar tablature (tabs) makes learning songs so much faster and simpler than having to read standard notation.

Do you doubt me?

Let's prove it! Here are the tabs to 20 acoustic songs which are super popular, yet easy to learn and play on guitar.

Reading guitar tablature

If you don't use tabs yet to learn songs, you're really missing out. You can find the tablature to basically any song ever written. Some good sites to get tabs are:

• ultimate-guitar.com
• chordie.com
• guitartabs.cc

At first, tabs may look like a bunch of numbers on lines. Well, technically they are.

But after you learn how to read guitar tabs, you'll realize how logical it all is. Here is an amazing video on deciphering tablature:

Now it's time to get to the real meat of this post, the song tablature.

As promised, here are the beginner acoustic guitar tabs to 20 popular songs. ...

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After playing guitar for 20 years, I would say that if I had to name 1 song that I've played most often in front of kids, it would be Happy Birthday.

If you want to learn how to play Happy Birthday on the guitar, I have great news for you.

It involves playing just a few simple beginner chords on your guitar.

And singing of course. Can't help you there, I've been told on occasion that my singing voice stings ears like needles 🙂

Let's get to it.

Here are the chords, after which I'll also give you the strumming pattern I use, then a surprise at the end.

Guitar chords to Happy Birthday in G

You can play this song in many different keys. Most people will choose the key that fits their voice better.

I like playing it in the key of G, I think this is the classic version:

• G
• D
• D7
• C

You can transpose these chords to different keys if you wish, I'll give you the chords in other keys as well in a second.

You can also use a capo to create a higher voicing.

G major	D major	D7	C major

Keep in mind that Happy Birthday is in 3/4 time, which means that there are 3 beats to a measure.

There you have it, nice and easy. ...

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