How to Learn Guitar in 2025

Do you want to learn guitar? Or maybe get better at guitar? Or get more consistent with the guitar? Or any instrument? (Wow that's a lot). I got you.

Who am I? I'm Adrian of Adrian Unplugged and I've been playing guitar (mostly electric) for 20 years as of this writing. However, I've only been taking classical/fingerstyle guitar seriously for the past year. I wanted to share with you some of the process I used to get to my current level, which I figured out fairly quickly and almost on accident.

We're going to this without the need for exercises, scales, music theory, or even being able to read sheet music or tabs. There's nothing wrong with any of those and they all have their place, but they're not an absolute requirement if you just want to pick up your instrument and play.

As a huge asterisk, I'm not a composer or an improv-er (yet), so all of the above skills have their place. I'm more of the cover artist type and I think most people also want to play songs they love.

Where to Begin?

I will read posts on the internet of people that are confused as to where to start. Do I learn scales? If so, how many of them? Should I learn the entire fretboard first? What's the best book to buy or YouTuber to watch or course to get? What are the best warm up drills?

This is not where you start.

You started to play music.

Music = songs.

I have no tragic before and after story with failing with the guitar then figuring it out, but I also didn't start with professional training (even though it's highly recommended by others). I had songs that I really loved first which drove me into learning the techniques second. The harder the song, the more advanced techniques I had to figure out. Song first, then the skills. No one is listening to someone playing scales repeatedly for entertainment.

Again, this is for people who want to play songs they love. Let's get started.

Step 1: Why are you doing this?

Go ahead and take a second to answer that question. Seriously.

Are you doing this as a hobby? Is there a song you want to learn? Wanting to impress someone? Want to grow a YouTube channel? Do you want to make money? I can't answer this for you, but a good starting point is that there's a song in mind that you want to figure out.

Whatever you pick, remember that the stronger the reason the more your brain will want to stick with it.

Step 2: Get a guitar. Any guitar.

This is not a joke.

People get more caught up on the right guitar (or any instrument) to choose than they do just starting and practicing. I've seen those "can you tell the difference?" videos where someone plays a $100 guitar vs a $1000 guitar. To most people, there is no difference (or a tiny one).

I've also seen players that can make a cheap guitar sound great. It's not the guitar, it's the player.

Don't major in the minors.

By the time you save up for that "best guitar ever," you could have been practicing for the time it took you to research and save up for it.

I'll make a deal with you: once you've proved your consistency with the instrument, then you can upgrade.

Go get a guitar. Any guitar. Get one that's cheaper than you think you need just so you can prove yourself worthy.

Step 3: Songs over exercises

Pick your song first. If you're a human that likes music, then there's probably a ton you could choose from. The excitement of playing a song you already enjoy pulls you into learning the techniques necessary.

As a personal story, in the electric guitar world there's something called "sweep picking." The first time I saw it performed, I had no clue what I just saw or heard. I had to Google it, watch a few YouTube videos on it and practice the song I heard it in. I didn't see a list of techniques, see "sweep picking" and started learning.

Go forth and pick a song. Something reasonable or maybe just beyond your skill level. Is it too easy? Good. Go learn it in a few days and then move on to harder songs.

Step 4: Build a practice habit

This is where the rubber meets the road. Nothing else matters if you aren't showing up to practice.

Set a time frame. 20 minutes to 1 hour. You can do more if you want as long as you don't burn out. Stick with it as consistently as you can. That's it.

Step 5: Perform

Performing a piece is the best proof that you "know" what you're doing. Would you trust someone that just says they know how to play guitar? Would you trust a teacher?

Probably not.

Play for friends. Play for family. Play at open mic night.

That and if you set a deadline for it, it amplifies your learning. You want to make sure you're playing well so you don't make a bunch of mistakes. Pretend you're going to college for music. Would you want to have a recital with a bunch of mistakes? No. You want to "survive" the experience, so your brain is going to learn better so you don't get embarrassed.

The easiest way to perform is to just put yourself playing up on YouTube. It's free. There's still a bit of fear involved because you're on the spot, but that's good. Historically if you want to perform in front of an audience, you'd have to beg people in restaurants to let you perform one night.

Go forth and try it.

So that's it. You can apply this to learn anything fast.

• Have a strong reason.

• Pick your project

• Show up and work on it.

• Put yourself out there.

This helped me and I hope it can help someone out there.

Thanks for reading this first letter!

Now go practice and binge my music when you're done.