Help for someone just getting started...

fletch

I'm just beginning the learning process of how to play guitar. I have a "For Dummies" book w/CD, another learner's book w/CD, and a computer program. Does anyone have any helpful hints or suggestions for me, so I can really learn how to play?

DriftingByTheStorm

yeah.

speaking from years of dysfunctional guitar experience,
this would be my message of 'wisdom' :

reading tab is fun,
and man, do you feel really cool when you suddenly learn a new song with 'minimal' effort.

however,
tab IS EVIL.

it's like watching TV all day, and feeling like you've learned something.
you ain't learned dick, and whatever went in will go right back out the next day or week.

memorizing a song via tab teaches you nothing other than that particular song, AS YOU LEARNED IT, with virtualy no ability to improv.


I highly recommend spending your first month or so really becomming familiar with the fret board on frets 1 - 12 (as frets 12-24 are simply the exact same up an octave) ... i mean take your finger and put it on a note, name the note.

Go download the freeware "Fretboard Warrior" ... it will help you with fret\note recognition and maybe with the actual sounds of the notes.

go get a scale book ... (when i get home i will edit this post to give you the exact name of the one i have that includes all the positions and what not, and it fits in your guitar case) ... spend a ridiculous amount of time learning the basic major scale in all of it's positions ... and then switch between that and the major pentatonic scale until you really understand which steps are missing from it.

start immediately making the connection between the scale as you've learned it (which most certainly was "by route", meaning, you learned the positions but weren't paying attention to what notes you were actualy playing) .. start making that connection between those scale positions and the notes you were learning on fretboard warrior.

start saying the names of the notes as you play them ... then alternate by saying "whole whole half whole whole whole half" as you play them ... (those are the steps, you dig?) ...

when all that is down, move on to the natural minor scale, and MAYBE the pentatonic minor ... but make sure you understand the difference in relations between the major & pentatonic major and the way the natural minor & pentatonic minor are related ... they aren't as in step as the majors are. (some one break down this one for him?)

anyway ... that is my basic recommendation.
don't be totaly adverse to tab, as it is a lot fun and brings instant feelings of accomplishment ... but speaking as someone who is still fighting off a tab addiction .... it is VERY detrimental to your playing if you abuse it.

for technique i recommend finding and learing some basic "finger training" exercises, which i won't try to explain in detail, but it is basicaly moving your fingers in preestablished, non-scale, paterns to just warm your fingers up and getting them used to playing what you are telling them to play and not otherwise fucking up.

well ... i'm sure someone has better advice, but that was mine.


good luck ! ! !

oh ... i guess i neglected chord theory, and laid it heavy on the scale memorization. both are equally important ... but i really do think understanding the scales is more fundamental than the chord relations.

definately grab yourself a chord book and just start learning as many as you can ... and PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the B STRING ... if you can demystify this string and the fact that it is only 4 semitones from the G string unstead of 5 semitones like every other string, then you will see clearly that almost all chord shapes on the guitar are "in theory" identical. It's just that the fretboard is "bent in 1 semitone towards the neck" on the b string, because of it's relation to the g string, and thus chord shapes involvin the B string must be "unbent" away from the neck. Thus the basic 1st position E Chord and 1st position A Chord are really one in the same, only instead of making the e chord shape for the A, you must move the finger position for the5th of the chord (the G# in E, and the C# in A) from it's 1st fret on the G string in E to where it is on the 2nd fret on the B string in A.

Does that make any sense?

Squidge

wow, cannot equal 'driftings' hints...took a couple of them myself. One thing i was told was to tap your foot when playing chord progressions. learn all the major chords ie A B C D E F G.
B and F are a little tricky because they are Barre chords (although you can cheat the F by playing the bottom half, you'll know what i mean)
Strumming is quite important.
Take you bottom E (the thickest string) and learn the notes all the way up the fretboard. Basically every note is a fret (or tone) apart except, and this is mighty important, E to F and B to C, which are next to each other (semi-tone). So, open E, 1st fret is F (because they are nexr to each other) miss a fret and thats G, miss a fret and thats A and so on up to fret 12 which, if you did this correctly, should be E but an octave higher.

Sorry if that all seems like gibberish but i am crap when expaining things. If you can work out the gibberish you'll easily decipher the actual lesson within it.

good luck mate

moster78

Find a good teacher! I tried the self teach route and went nowhere. Found a good local guy and have really gotten into it. Learning a little bit of everything and loving it a lot more than when i was messing around on my own.

nick1977

Drifting covered it all. Follow his advice. Do not rely on tabs at all. If you want to learn something, learn it by ear. Listen to the notes played, and play them on the guitar. write it down after you figure it all out.

Other adivce....play with a metronome. Timing is everything in music. If you don't have it, you will sound like shit. Start off playing slowly....play a scale very slowly. Once you know the notes and your fingers go right to them, speed it up a bit at that point.

Learn to read a bit of music too. It never hurts, and always helps. Don't get too bogged down in this, but learning to read music will do you good.

fletch

Thanks for all the help everyone!
I already have a limited understanding of reading music and notes, etc.
This all sounds like really great advice.
Thanks again!

Pearl Jam and toast

moster78 wrote:

Find a good teacher! I tried the self teach route and went nowhere. Found a good local guy and have really gotten into it. Learning a little bit of everything and loving it a lot more than when i was messing around on my own.

i'm self-taught and i'm more than adequete

but thats not for everyone.. most people need a teacher, especicially when just starting out.

moster78

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

i'm self-taught and i'm more than adequete

but thats not for everyone.. most people need a teacher, especicially when just starting out.

More power to you! I tried and as a result my guitar just sat and collected dust until I said enough and found a teacher. Now I play every day and I love it.

fletch

OK then, another question. What is a good price to pay for lessons?

moster78

waysideledder wrote:

OK then, another question. What is a good price to pay for lessons?

I pay $20 for a half hour.

Pearl Jam and toast

moster78 wrote:

I pay $20 for a half hour.

thats about right.

Eddie_Vedder_83

moster78 wrote:

I pay $20 for a half hour.

i paid $14 and this guy is freaking amazing, he plays every instrument i can think of near perfection with guitar and viola as his best. he was almost hired by Trent Reznor for NIN but he decided he liked teaching better, how fucking cool is that?!

franziska

waysideledder wrote:

I'm just beginning the learning process of how to play guitar. I have a "For Dummies" book w/CD, another learner's book w/CD, and a computer program. Does anyone have any helpful hints or suggestions for me, so I can really learn how to play?

i just can say that you shouldve fun.. dont let the damn bettermen bring u down. defeats are normal and is a need to get to know yourself.. thats all. playing guitar is still better than love (you know.. ).. but the best is both

MetalGod75

moster78 wrote:

Find a good teacher! I tried the self teach route and went nowhere. Found a good local guy and have really gotten into it. Learning a little bit of everything and loving it a lot more than when i was messing around on my own.

i agree get a good teacher because a teacher will push you to learn stuff rather than aimlessly wondering about not knowing what to learn next or is this right etc.