Reese
The Songwriter · Warm. Patient. Real.
Reese writes sad songs in major keys and believes every beginner is one campfire away from their first great night. She teaches like she's letting you in on a secret, because she is.
“You're closer than you think.”
Reese's guides
How to Hold a Guitar Properly
Which leg the guitar goes on, how to balance it so your fretting hand stays free, and the posture fixes that end the hunching and the aching back.
How to Tune a Guitar for Beginners
String names, which way to turn the pegs, and the tune-up-to-pitch habit that saves strings. Plus why drifting out of tune is normal, not a defect.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Guitar?
Honest milestones: a first song in weeks, smooth chord changes in months, feeling like a guitarist inside a year. The daily dose moves the timeline.
How to Play Your First Song with Three Chords
Three chords, one downstroke per chord, and completion as the goal. How to pick a song that fights fair and play it start to finish, mistakes included.
Beginner Strumming Patterns
The secret under every pattern: the hand never stops moving. Downs on the numbers, ups on the ands, and the first pattern worth a week of your time.
A 10-Minute Beginner Practice Routine
Ten focused minutes of guitar a day is enough, and this is the shape: short warm-up, one job, end on a song. What to do when you sit down, minus the guilt.
Why Do I Freeze Up When Someone Watches Me Play?
Being watched drags autopilot skills back into conscious hands, and they wobble. The mechanism, the exposure ladder, and why a camera is the first cure.
Fingerstyle Guitar for Beginners
No nails needed. The finger-to-string map (your thumb owns the bass), the first p-i-m-a pattern, and why fingerstyle isn't gated behind pick playing.
What Is a Chord Progression?
A progression is chords in a loop that leaves home and comes back. Why the same handful powers thousands of songs, and the two loops worth learning first.
How to Write Your First Song on Guitar
Three or four chords is enough, and the first one is supposed to be rough. Borrow a proven progression, hum a melody over a phone recording, finish it.
How to Write Lyrics When You're Not a Poet
A lyric isn't a poem: write how you talk, show the cold coffee instead of naming the feeling, and let near-rhymes work. The cringe is a compass.
How to Finish the Songs You Start
Starting runs on inspiration; finishing runs on decisions. The bad-complete-version rule, the second-verse fix, and why done means recorded once.
Capos Explained
A movable nut: each fret up raises everything a half step, same shapes, new key. Not cheating; pros use them constantly. And retune after you clamp.
Why Can't I Play Without Looking?
Looking is a stage, not a sin. Your fingers are building a touch map; the goal is optional looking, not blindness. The wean-off drills, minus the guilt.
How to Play and Sing at the Same Time
Your brain can't run two conscious tasks, and singing can't be automated, so the guitar part must be. The autopilot test and the layered build.
What Should I Learn After the Basics?
The next stretch is the same for everyone: barre chords, a first scale, deeper rhythm, chord families, songs throughout. After that, the fork is your taste.
Can You Teach Yourself Guitar Without a Teacher?
Yes, it's the majority path now. The honest costs are feedback, structure, and accountability, each with a cheap fix. Teacher optional, feedback mandatory.
Am I Too Old to Learn Guitar?
No. People start at 55, 66, 75 and get good; the childhood window is a myth. Hours decide skill, not your birth year. The honest adult pros and cons.