I’ve been playing since I was 14. I learned musical theory through playing violin up to grade 8 and was in the county youth orchestra etc but with guitar, I soon realised it was the perfect instrument to get a few basics and from then on, develop your own style, don’t worry about others, only refer to tabs or score when you can’t work it out by faffing around on the settee.

Standard tuning for a versatile chromatic instrument that can flow between chords for accompanying vocals and open tunings or modal ones such as DADGAD to pick out melody lines or give a drone quality that goes well with jigs, reels etc.

In all, a guitar is a very diverse instrument that is not rigid in its outlook, it suits all and no matter what floats your boat, it can fit in. If only some people were as tolerant of different styles as the guitar is....