Embarking on the guitar journey is exciting, and for many beginners, the burning question is always: “How long until I can actually play a song?” If you’re just starting out with your acoustic guitar, feeling a bit lost, and wondering when you’ll be able to strum along to your favorite tunes, you’re definitely not alone. Like many others, I started with zero musical background and a head full of questions about the learning process. You might be wondering how quickly you can expect to play your first song, and this article is here to guide you through that initial stage.
Breaking Down the Timeline: Your First Song Journey
If you’re a complete novice to music and have just picked up an acoustic guitar, welcome! It’s a fantastic instrument to learn, and from personal experience, it’s been an incredibly rewarding journey. Learning guitar has become a fulfilling way to spend my time, boosting my sense of accomplishment and significantly improving my mental well-being.
Initially, holding a guitar will feel awkward. Your fingers will need time to adjust to the fretboard and strings. This is perfectly normal. Before you even start learning a song, just getting comfortable with the instrument is the first step.
Soon after you begin, you’ll likely experience finger soreness, especially on an acoustic guitar. Don’t worry, this is a common experience and usually subsides within the first couple of weeks as your fingertips toughen up.
The good news is, by learning just two or three basic chords in these first few weeks, you can unlock a surprising number of songs. These might be simplified versions, or you might discover that many songs you like are simpler than you imagined!
Unlock 10 Songs with Just 2 Chords
A fantastic starting point is learning two open chords: Em (E minor) and A major. With just these two chords, you can play a wide range of songs. To get you started, check out this helpful video tutorial that demonstrates how to play these chords and then walks you through ten songs you can play with them:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-BRpn38L8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-BRpn38L8 “Play video “Play TEN guitar songs with two EASY chords | Beginners first guitar lesson””)
This video lesson from Andy Guitar is a great resource for learning these foundational chords and applying them immediately to real songs. Learning these simple songs early on provides valuable “easy wins.” These initial successes are crucial for building confidence and motivating you to continue learning guitar.
How Quickly Can You Learn These Simple Songs?
Assuming your fingers are getting used to the strings and can reach the chord shapes, you can realistically learn to play songs using just two chords in about an hour of focused practice. And that’s if you are a complete beginner!
This hour of practice should ideally be spread over four days, with around 15 minutes of practice each day. A structured approach is beneficial. Dedicate a portion of each session to chord transitions. Timing yourself for one minute of chord changes can be particularly effective. Here’s a sample practice schedule:
| Practice Activity | Duration |
|---|---|
| Em Chord Practice* | 2 minutes |
| A Chord Practice* | 2 minutes |
| One-Minute Chord Changes (Track your progress)*** | 1 minute |
| Song Practice | 10 minutes |
| Total Daily Practice | 15 minutes |
| Total Practice Over 4 Days | 1 Hour |
*During the 2-minute chord practice, make sure to reform each chord multiple times. This helps build muscle memory and gets your fingers accustomed to the shapes.
*** The one-minute chord change exercise is inspired by JustinGuitar’s Beginner Course, a highly recommended resource for beginners. Timing your chord changes and trying to increase the number you can do in a minute is a fantastic way to track your progress and stay motivated. You can see an example of this exercise here:
[https://youtu.be/0U-X9dsouWw](https://youtu.be/0U-X9dsouWw “Play video “Beginner Guitar: The best effective exercise for chord changes: One Min Changes [B1-110]””)
After dedicating about an hour of practice using this method, you should be able to play your first song! It might not be perfect, but you’ll be able to play along with the tutorial and it will sound recognizably like the song. While mastering a song to perfection takes more time, it’s best to aim for a “good enough” level at this stage and then move on.
Why move on before perfection? Because early progress is key to staying motivated. Learning guitar is a cumulative process. Each new skill and song you learn builds upon the previous ones. By learning a few of these two-chord songs, even if some sound better than others, you’re developing crucial skills.
For example, you’ll encounter songs with different tempos (bpm – beats per minute). Playing along with varying bpms improves your timing and rhythm, often without you even consciously realizing it. Slower songs are generally easier to start with, but practicing songs with different tempos refines your chord changes and overall timing.
Once you’ve learned your first song, you’ll likely find that subsequent two-chord songs become easier and faster to learn. This is because you’ve already developed the muscle memory for the Em and A chords. From my experience, after learning the initial chords, it takes around 2-3 practice sessions of 15 minutes each (30-45 minutes total) to learn a new two-chord song.
Remember, everyone learns at their own pace. Learning guitar isn’t a race; it’s a personal journey. The most important thing is to enjoy the process. For me, enjoyment comes from identifying my weaknesses and working to turn them into strengths.
Song Complexity and Learning Time
Naturally, the complexity of a song significantly impacts how long it will take to learn. The two-chord songs we discussed are at the simpler end of the spectrum. Once you’ve mastered those foundational chords, learning more songs from that initial list becomes much quicker.
However, when you venture into more complex songs, especially those introducing new techniques, the learning curve changes. It becomes harder to put a specific timeframe on it.
For instance, when I began learning the simple blues shuffle, demonstrated in the video excerpt below, it took me about two weeks to get it sounding consistent. At that point, it felt like a long time because most songs I had learned previously involved techniques that my fingers adapted to relatively quickly.
[https://youtu.be/wrHyU28FBe8?t=87](https://youtu.be/wrHyU28FBe8?t=87 “Play video “OLDER BEGINNER GUITAR JOURNEY| JustinGuitar Blues – Stage 8 Progress| NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN GUITAR””)
Another example is “Anji” by Davy Graham, a song covered by artists like Simon and Garfunkel. This is the most challenging song I’ve attempted to learn so far, and I still haven’t completely mastered it. I’ve been working on it on and off for about six months. “Anji,” which was featured in the book Guitar Man (a highly recommended read for beginner guitarists), inspired me to start documenting my guitar journey on YouTube and my blog.
[https://youtu.be/Cl_eEJOYqWE?t=83](https://youtu.be/Cl_eEJOYqWE?t=83 “Play video “Guitar Progress 6 Months – This One Song Has So Many Techniques!!””)
This song is packed with new techniques for me, including an independent bass line played with the thumb, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, challenging finger stretches, movement across the fretboard, and a fast tempo of 166 bpm. It’s definitely not easy! That’s why I consider it my “Project Song” – one that requires a significant time investment to learn.
The key takeaway is that there’s no fixed time for learning any song. However, from my experience, the more techniques and music theory you learn, the faster you’ll learn new songs. This reinforces the compounding effect of guitar learning. Each new skill you acquire builds upon your existing foundation, making it easier to tackle increasingly complex pieces.
Avoid the temptation to jump into extremely complex songs too early, unless you possess exceptional discipline. Trying to learn something far beyond your current skill level can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating, potentially leading you to abandon your guitar journey altogether.
One of the main reasons many people quit learning guitar within the first year is frustration. Feeling overwhelmed, not knowing what to learn next, or struggling with challenging material are common pitfalls. Having experienced these frustrations myself, I’ve developed strategies to overcome them. You can find helpful tips in my article 11 Tips To Beat Guitar Learning Frustration.
So, how can you learn songs more efficiently and minimize frustration? Let’s explore some effective strategies.
Learn Songs Faster: Effective Practice Tips
Two highly effective tips have significantly accelerated my song learning: focusing practice on your weakest areas and adopting a structured learning approach.
Targeted practice on your weak spots is incredibly powerful. Identify the specific parts of a song you struggle with – be it an introduction, a verse, or a chorus. Even if it’s just a single bar causing trouble, concentrate your practice there. Aim for 100% accuracy in that section, even if it feels slow initially. In the long run, this focused approach saves time. Once you can play it accurately, gradually increase the tempo using a metronome. Then, practice the transitions into and out of that section.
By directly addressing your weaknesses, you eliminate roadblocks and speed up your overall learning. Often, we tend to play the parts we already know well, neglecting the challenging sections, which hinders real progress.
For more tips, especially tailored for older beginners, check out my article 14 Guitar Tips For Older Beginners. It offers advice on making guitar learning easier and more effective, which is invaluable for beginners.
A structured learning path is also crucial for developing well-rounded guitar skills and techniques. By systematically learning techniques, you build a toolkit that makes tackling new songs, even those with unfamiliar elements, much easier.
The Justin Guitar Beginner course is an excellent example of structured learning. What’s great about it is the abundance of songs provided at each stage of the course. This allows you to immediately apply newly learned techniques in a musical context, making song learning faster and more engaging.
If you’re serious about learning guitar, a structured beginner course like Justin Guitar’s provides a solid foundation for long-term success. Justin offers an incredible amount of free, high-quality content, making it a fantastic resource for beginners.
I personally purchased Justin’s guitar songbooks to support his work and give back some of the value I’ve received from his free course. The course itself is entirely free and is continuously being updated and improved. You can access both the classic and the updated versions of the Justin Guitar Beginner Course here: Justin Guitar Beginner Course.
How Often Should Beginners Practice Guitar?
Consistent and focused practice is key to accelerating your learning. But how much practice is actually needed for a beginner?
I’ve dedicated an entire article to this topic to help you optimize your practice time. As someone balancing a full-time job, family responsibilities, and other commitments, I understand the challenges of time management.
The short answer is: aim for a minimum of 15 minutes of practice per day, at least 5 days a week. However, for more noticeable progress, I recommend practicing for about an hour a day, 4 to 5 days a week.
This is the practice schedule I followed, and while I’m not a virtuoso, I made significant progress relatively quickly. To see my progress, check out my 5-month guitar progress video below. I’ve been documenting my guitar journey on YouTube from the beginning, hoping to inspire others, especially adults learning guitar later in life.
If you’re learning guitar as an adult, I invite you to join my guitar journey! Subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell to stay updated. I release progress videos monthly and plan to share more tips and reviews in the future.
[https://youtu.be/yiQOpeJuWVc](https://youtu.be/yiQOpeJuWVc “Play video “Guitar Progress 5 months. thanks justin guitar!””)
Guitar Learning Stages: Setting Realistic Expectations
Before starting my guitar journey, I spent considerable time researching how long it takes to learn guitar and whether it’s truly possible to become proficient as an adult beginner. It’s natural to want to understand what to expect and gauge your chances of success.
The encouraging answer is a resounding yes! You absolutely can learn guitar and become skilled at it, even when starting later in life. I’ve broken down the guitar learning process into 6 stages, detailed in my article How Long Does It Take To Learn Guitar? The 6 Stages Explained. This article provides valuable perspective for anyone learning guitar, particularly those starting as adults.
I wrote that article before I even began learning guitar. Now, having tracked my practice time and documented my progress on YouTube, I’ve been able to compare my actual experience against those initial estimations.
The first stage I outlined, “The Basics,” covers the journey from absolute beginner to playing a handful of songs confidently. My initial estimate for this stage was 150 to 300 hours of practice.
Tracking my own progress, I completed the Justin Guitar Beginner course in approximately 5 months, totaling around 130 hours of focused practice. I likely spent an additional 20 hours watching guitar-related content, like YouTube tutorials and blog articles. The Justin Guitar Beginner course culminates in a consolidation phase where you need to play 10 songs in their entirety to complete the final stage.
Remarkably, I completed the first stage, “The Basics,” at or even slightly under my projected time. I was surprised and pleased to see that my initial hour estimates were quite accurate.
This isn’t just luck! I published the original article outlining the 6 stages on February 28, 2019, and began recording my guitar progress in the last week of April 2019.
You can see my accomplishment of completing the first stage in my 5-month progress video shared above.
Here’s an infographic summarizing the 6 stages and the estimated practice hours for each, along with a brief description of what you can expect to achieve at each stage:
Alt text: Infographic titled “Guitar Learning Stages: How Long Does It Take To Learn Guitar?”. It outlines 6 stages from ‘The Basics’ (150-300 hours to play handful of songs) to ‘Advanced’ (1000+ hours to advanced techniques and diverse styles). Each stage lists estimated hours and achievable skills, progressing in complexity and musicality.
Finally, if you’re wondering about the advantages of learning guitar as an adult, rather than as a child, read my article 17 Reasons Why You’re Never Too Old To Learn Guitar. Many believe learning is harder later in life, but this article highlights the strengths and advantages that adult learners bring to the guitar, setting the record straight and demonstrating why your life experience can actually enhance your guitar learning journey.
