I got a phone call today asking this question.

My response is that it depends what you want to do. It can take a few minutes to learn a couple of simple chords and strum a simple accompaniment to a tune or a song, and if that’s all you want -then it’s job done.

However, the other side of the coin is that you never “learn” how to play the guitar, because the more you study and practice the instrument, the more you realise there is always something new to explore.

For those of us who seriously have the guitar bug, learning becomes a life sentence, but if you love the instrument, in its many forms, it is a light yoke to bear and every new challenge is something to relish.