play guitar? no "the"?

Question

Hi, The title speaks for itself. I see many sentences like "how to play guitar," but guitar without an article makes no sense to me. Is it grammatically correct?Thank you,M

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I agree.

Either how to play the guitar or how to play guitars is more acceptable.

Blue Jay · Answer

Yes. If you were referring to playing a particular guitar you might have to use the article, but in describing guitar playing in general you can use the article or not as you prefer.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Thank you for the reply, Blue Jay,

Would you give some other example in which a noun is being used in the same way? "I got here by car" is one of those?

M

Blue Jay · Answer

mitsuwao23Would you give some other example in which a noun is being used in the same way? "I got here by car" is one of those?

Car is an uncountable noun here, but there is a slight difference. With musical instruments, when using the name to refer to the type of instrument, you can use the article or not. You can say I play piano or I play the piano. It doesn't change the usage or the meaning. With car, as with most nouns, you can't include or exclude the article in the same sentence as you see fit. You can't say I got here by the car or I drove car. In circumstances where the sentence makes sense with or without "the", including or omitting it usually changes the meaning. Musical instruments are unusual in this respect.
Incidentally, in actual use you are likely to find that "the" is more likely to be included with traditional instruments used in playing classical music. He plays the organ; she plays the harpsichord. "The" is more likely to be omitted with modern instruments playing modern music. She plays bass guitar in a band.

Mitsuo23 · Answer

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Everything got cleared.

M

play guitar? no "the"?

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