Learning Guitar

I have been playing guitar for about 7 years, and practice as much as I possibly can lol

I'm currently trying to learn the entire Backaspacer album using no help from any outside sources (friends, internet, etc.). It can be quite challenging only having your ears to guide you through the music, but at least a lot of songs on Backspacer aren't that hard to play.

ofthegirl99 wrote:

I've tried to learn guitar on my own about 10 different times and I never get anywhere. I took my first lesson last week and my second starts in about 2 hours. 30 minutes with someone who knew what they were talking about and could show me hands on was the smartest thing I've done. I still can't believe I can actually play (and play correctly) some guitar!

TAKE LESSONS!!!!

This is true, not only paid lessons. I've met up and played with a friend just a few times over the last year or so, who plays much better than me and has years of experience, and a couple of hours with him is worth more than weeks at home on my own. He shows me a lot of stuff I am doing wrong, gives me a little confidence to try new things and also puts me on to a few songs that are a good level for me.

If you are learning, don't be afraid to ask friends who can play for a "jam session". They may be flattered and really willing to teach you a few things and show off their talents

Black Diamond wrote:

It's really hard, I have big hands and keep putting fingers in places they should not be

yeah, my wife gave me a row for that also.

Its a life long journey. Stick with it. It can't seem like work, you gotta enjoy picking it up and strumming. I try to learn a new song a week. Really all I do is hum them and try to note it out on the fretboard.

4and20 wrote:

I'd like to learn to play the guitar, so here is my situation:
I was shown a few intros and could play them...but that was 15 years ago...
I played piano for 7 years, so I know how to read music (yeah it was a long tome ago, but I can pick it back up)
Heard that you can interchange piano music with guitar music (yes/no?)

Should I learn to play tabs or go with the reading music (I hear about so many gutiar players that don't know how to read music)
I have a crappy electric guitar but no amp, so should I buy an acoustic guitar or a small amp?

thanks for any advice!

It's a big step up and advantage if you can read music, because it trains you to be able to read and know where to place what where, what note to be playing. Builds sight reading skills which will help you read guitar tabs.
I'd go with learning using tabs - very easy for you to figure out - simply because a HUGE amount of music is out there in tabs. Harder to find sheet music for guitar, unless like you said you convert piano music to guitar. Which is possible. A lot of piano sheet music is converted into guitar chords/tabs. Despite the instrument being different, the notes and forming a chord is the same
To be honest though, whichever you find easiest. You'll probably find it easier to figure out songs using tabs, simply because there are more tabs than sheet music (available free online)

As to what guitar I'd go for an acoustic to learn on. It will build strength in your fingers and hands as acoustic guitars are harder to play. So that after you've made progress, learnt the basics, you'll be surprised and amazed at how good you are on electric My guitar teacher suggested it and at first I was pretty bummed out, because I was so keen to play loud songs on an electric. I played acoustic guitar for 2 years before I even touched an electric ! But I'm so glad now, because I find electric guitar much easier to play than I would've if I had just gone straight to electric first.
Another bonus of learning on an acoustic is that you'll be able to switch between both. A lot of people who learn on electric guitar first find it harder/impossible to play acoustic guitar, because electric guitars have smaller necks,smaller frets, smaller bodies, easier strings to press down on etc. It's all about strength and endurance when learning to play on acoustic and it really helps

If you're dying to play electric though (if your budget allows) you could buy a small amp as well and play both. Swapping between both is very fun, keeps it interesting (especially in the beginning stages of learning to form and play chords)

But I really really advise that you learn how to play the basics - open chords, barre chords - on acoustic. It'll be better in the long run IMO

anyway hope that helps

About the only thing I can't do is lead work. I can play little pieces here and there, but I have never gotten the hang of it. I know I just need to practice scales but that is so boring. To me it is much more fun to find the tab or just figure out the chords and learn the song. I've been playing around with it for years, but doing any kind of lead still escapes me. Its like I can't get the timing down.

Lately I just tuned my guitar to open G, bought a capo and have set out to learning as many songs as I can in that tuning. Open G is fun as hell to play in and easy too.

there was a helpful post on here recently, someone suggested playing your own songs.

For the first year of playing I just learnt simple rock and folk classics and it was great but I found that most songs use a very limited amount and range of chords. After a while I was at a certain (quite low) level and it was enough but I wasn't getting better.

I got an acoustic guitar at Christmas and I've been experimenting with sounds and chords and finger positions and just improvising. I feel like it's taken me forward a long way. I'm working out what things sound good togther and having more fun than I did just following tabs. I'm still a pretty dire guitar player compared to most others but I'm better than I was. I think...

Thanks 10C members for the good advice, again.

I'm no expert but I spent a year on a low-price classic guitar then ought a reasonable acoustic one. Classic has bigger spaces betweent he strings so it is a little easier for beginners playing basic chords. Not great for rock music though.

http://img18.imageshack.us/i/dsc01121cx.jpg/

Start early if you can!

We had the annual attempt to break the record for the most people simultaneously playing guitar here in Wroclaw, Poland today. There were 5600 guitarists of all ages and abilities playing 'Hey Joe' together. Didn't break our own record but it is always a lot of fun.

More on: heyjoe.pl

cog wrote:

I have a beginners question: is it better to start with acoustic over electric?...from what I can gather...perhaps acoustic and if that's the case nylon or steel strings??

I saw Ed play solo a couple of weeks ago and it reignited my passions to try guitar again...

thanks

As a teacher, i get asked this question ALL THE TIME!

The answer is, it depends on what music you want to create. i actually wrote an article on what to look for when buying your first guitar. Here's the link and if you have any other questions after you read it, I'd be more than happy to answer them!

http://guitarlessonsinscranton.com/inde ... &Itemid=58