Best way to learn acoustic?

elvistheking44
elvistheking44 Posts: 4,553
edited April 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
My wife got me an acoustic for christmas last year, and aside from learning Happy Birthday for my daughter and the intro to smoke on the water, I know nothing else. Is the best way to learn to take instruction or can a book and DVD do just as good?

Thanks
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Lukin66
    Lukin66 Posts: 3,063
    I've been learning too....the posters here are awesome about helping a newbie out.
    deep, deep blue of the morning
    gets to me every time
  • elvistheking44
    elvistheking44 Posts: 4,553
    Are you taking lessons? Or going alone?
  • mca47
    mca47 Posts: 13,351
    I'm self taught, been playing for about 3-4 years now.
    If you are serious about it and really want to learn, I would recommend taking some lessons. You can do it on your own, but it will take a lot longer and you can fall into some bad habits on technique.

    Start by learning all open chords. Learn their transitions (G to D to C...etc.). From there, I'd start learning some scales.
  • BinFrog
    BinFrog MA Posts: 7,314
    I recommend learning your basic chords, some power chords, and the major scale BEFORE taking lessons. Take lessons with the basics down and have your instructor show you where to go from there. Don't waste $20 a half hour learning the very easy stuff you can do on your own. There are tons of sites that show you basic stuff and give you easy songs to learn like Knockin' on Heaven's Door and Rocking In The Free World.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • Rhyno
    Rhyno Posts: 304
    I started about 2 years ago. When I first started out, I took some community ed guitar lessons which were really cheap, but the instructor was still decent. It was a group class.

    Now, I am just teaching myself with a few books and online resources.

    The biggest piece of advice I've gotten was to make sure you practice at least a little bit every day. Even if you can only fit in 15 minutes...try and do some scales or chord progressions to keep your hands/fingers in shape.
    Cheers!
    Rhyno

    11/30/1991 ~ 3/25/92 ~ 8/28/92 ~ 6/30/98 ~ 10/8/2000 ~ 6/18/2003 ~ 6/21/2003 ~ 6/26/2006 ~ 6/27/2006 ~ 7/7/2006 ~ 8/5/2007 ~ 6/24/2008 ~ ALPINE VALLEY in '09 ;-)

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