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Why guitar playing should be accessible to all

Writer's picture: Philip WellerPhilip Weller


Learning to play an instrument and channeling our heroes shouldn’t be something for the privileged few

 

Not every player can sweep pick at 600mph like Yngwie Malmsteen, and not every player makes DADGAD their bitch quite like MMA chief John Browne, but I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Guitar playing should be accessible for all.


Tone, so many people will tell us, is in the fingers. But we’ll always look starry-eyed at gear we can’t afford and tell ourselves it will make us play better. In truth, investing in yourself is far more important than investing in gear, as there’s no point having a rig that costs $10K if your skills don’t extend beyond a butchering of Smoke on the Water.   But we’ll still do it anyway, and that’s fine.


There will always be elitist pieces of gear and learning platforms, there’ll always be gigs with shit-I’m-gonna-have-to-sell-a-kidney prices, and that’s okay, too. However, the chance to learn to play guitar should not be reserved for the elite few with pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon.


I didn’t grow up with money. Owning a guitar – my first was a birthday gift from my mum after years of begging – felt like a godsend. The rest, with the help of free and affordable resources, was up to me.


The fact these platforms existed was make-or-break for me, and they should never be taken away from us.

 

Cheap vs expensive guitars

The rise of budget gear


Typically, we are drawn to wanting to learn the electric guitar from a trigger moment. For me, it was seeing Matt Bellamy from Muse in the Plug In Baby music video, playing that riff upside down. For others, it might be a David Gilmour solo or an Ed Sheeran loopathon. It’s all sick.


But with those trigger moments, and the resulting journey, comes the establishment of musical heroes. Many players starting today may see a guitar god like Plini shredding on a headless Strandberg – an alien axe for extra-terrestrial talent. Then, when wanting to replicate their hero, they may discover that owning a Strandberg can cost thousands. That can be a heartbreaking realisation. It can make you feel like you don't belong and can see many players discouraged from continuing playing.   


That’s why the rise of affordable gear is a joy to behold. Brands like Harley Benton and Gear 4 Music are bringing everything from eight-string guitars and baritones to standard Strats to market for around the price of a year’s worth of Netflix. For £399, you can get a HILS Next headless guitar for a little more than 10% of Plini's signature guitar. Suddenly the prospect of replicating your hero feels a lot more real.


Sure, if you want a really good guitar, you’ll need more money. Even then, finance deals help; they’ve existed for years. Rory Gallagher couldn’t have afforded his now-iconic Strat in 1963 without them. But the point here is that, with the rise of budget gear – hell, a Quad Cortex-type modeller can be bought for just over £100 nowadays – and getting close to the high-end gear we see our heroes playing isn’t an impossible dream.



Learning & improving without the risk of bankruptcy


I’m a self-taught guitarist. Once my brother showed me how to make sense of tabs, Ultimate Guitar – a free-to-access tab website – and my intuition were my most important teachers. Sure, I had the occasional player point out that I was doing something wrong, but for the most part, I’d troll through my iTunes and figure out which songs sounded easy to play. Then I'd try to learn them and reverse engineer them.


In fact, I didn’t understand how to play power chords early on, so if one appeared on a tab, I’d just play the lowest note. It was all very primitive, but I was doing it. I didn’t have pocket money to spend on guitar lessons, but I didn’t allow that to stop me from doing something I was falling in love with at an exponential rate.


Since then, certain artists have pulled back on having their tabs available on websites. I won’t name them here, but I see their logic. Tabs are a product, ultimately, and in an era where music generates very little money, they hold an even greater value. Streaming is vastly outstripping direct album sales, and the profit discrepancy between them is enough to make you want to cry.


Selling tabs, with some bands and individuals shifting PDFs and Guitar Pro files for just a few quid/dollars, can represent a valuable revenue stream. I get it. But not everything must be hidden behind a pay wall, and if there is a pay wall, it should be one that every player can comfortably climb over. 


I wouldn’t be where I am today, as a player – nor a professional – if it wasn’t for cheap routes opening up to me on my guitar playing journey. Pulling up an Avenged Sevenfold or Gary Moore tab helped me build the foundation for my skills. If there was a steep pay wall, I never would have been able to learn the guitar, which has been life-changing for me in many ways.

 

Busting the myths about social media and guitar playing

MMA Ignite




This is why we’ve launched MMA Ignite. It’s our most affordable package yet, and the easiest way to gain access to the core lessons, tips, and tricks we offer.


Priced at £9.99 (€12.99 Euro / $14.99 USD) per month, Ignite subscribers get access to four pillars of our Master's lessons: Fundamentals, Learning Pathways and Learn Songs. It also grants players access to workshops and live streams, daily guitar hacks to fast track your playing, and our monthly riff wars competition, which is an absolute blast, even if you’re just spectating.


Finally, you’ll also have a ticket to the Members Community, our community platform full of creative and dedicated players sharing tips, advice, and memes (of course). This community, we feel, is the heart of what makes MMA special. We’re a learning platform, yes, but we’re also a community where each player is treated equally, where we’re all united by the desire to get better and get inspired by one another.  


Guitar playing and getting shit hot at the craft so many of us obsessively dedicate every second of spare time to, shouldn’t be a closed club. MMA Ignite is the most affordable way to join the MMA community and elevate your playing to new heights.


And because we understand that your financial situation can change in a heartbeat, players can pause their subscription, or unsubscribe, whenever they need to. You’re not tied down to lengthy contracts.


Head over here to sign up.

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