Learning the guitar

[Bound]

Is bloody hard.

Who plays on here? got any tips for a complete newb who has never touched a guitar untill three days ago?

Gonna try and teach myself e.g. no lessons, but gonna get a couple mates who have a grasp on it to show me some basic stuff as I am musically retarded.. Like I have no idea what a octave is or how to read it (music).. It took me long enough to understand tablature :D. Oh, I'm learning with an acoustic as I read somewhere that's better to learn on.

[nicole_]

i tried to learn and failed miserably lol
i found it too hard so stuck to horses :p

[Aly]

I dream of one day being as good as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyfDLAmh16Q

Love that video!!!

[Giraffe]

I'd start by learning a chord a day, or more if you have time. Scales are good to practise as well, should get your fingers loose and moving nice and freely.

I struggled with guitar, much preferred bass just because it is easier :D

Oof, I used to be able to play all of that song on bass, and up until the last solo on guitar, it's not that difficult, bar the last solo, which was just too fast for me.

[Jay_]

i would recommend once you have the basics get one or two lessons otherwise you might have really shite technique that will hinder your future progress! :y: otherwise its just a case of persistance. start slowly and build things up!

[Bound]

I do not know what a chord is.

[Mordente10]

I can play guitar but i cnt read music lol.. i play by ear ha.

[Aly]

I do not know what a chord is.

Watch that video I put from 3mins onwards, total ear porn.

[Jay_]

Like I have no idea what a octave is.

I do not know what a chord is.

an octave is the same note just higher or lower pitch. IE you can play a C in several difference places on a keyboard and it will be deeper or higher.

A basic chord is 3 notes played at the same time. C E G etc. :y:


edit - i am a drummer so only given my basic idea on shit...

[Giraffe]

I do not know what a chord is.

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.php?ch=C&mm=&get=Get

try that site, it shows you where to put your fingers, but ultimately the best way I could describe a chord is it's like playing a cluster of notes at the same time to create one overall note.

so C# (C Sharp) might have a few notes in it, but ultimately the overall note is still c sharp. You know like on a piano, usually the left hand plays chords

[haz_pro]

I have always wanted to be able to play the guitar. I think its cool how people who have the ability to play can entertain a room full of people with it.

[Cal]

If you like electric more... learn power and barre chords, covers most simple songs ala Blink182, Green Day, Foo's etc...

I learn from tab personally, find it easier.

[logic_guy]

Try learning to scratch and mix at the same time, 100% concentration.

[blakeyy]

Played for ten years, also play bass and drums!

[Moke]

i tried to learn and failed miserably lol
i found it too hard so stuck it in horses :p

+1 tbh...............

[Toms112]

I tried and failed so taught myself drums. And have now been drumming for 6 years.

Just keep at it mate I didn't have the patience for it.

[Morgzc]

I took it up again recently.
Ultimate guitar is the place for tabs, as said, stuff like blink,feeder is easy to play.
If you get an electric too you can fuck things up and still sound reasonably decent lol.

[CHIP]

I play with tab. Been doing it a few month now... It take's a lot of patience. Fun though :y:

[Bedford126]

tabs is not learning the guitar stay away from tabs and get a book and learn your chords a chord a day is the way to go. stay away from greenday as most of there stuff is played on a guitar that's tuned up differently. also get yourself a electronic tuner.

[Tom]

I just started learning in the last week too (Acoustic). Not too sure what tutorial or book to use yet though. Fuck having lessons.

[Jay_]

tabs is not learning the guitar stay away from tabs and get a book and learn your chords a chord a day is the way to go. stay away from greenday as most of there stuff is played on a guitar that's tuned up differently. also get yourself a electronic tuner.

tuned differently to what? :wacko: greenday etc is simple effect stuff that goes down well!

[haz_pro]

Is bloody hard.

Who plays on here? got any tips for a complete newb who has never touched a guitar untill three days ago?

Gonna try and teach myself e.g. no lessons, but gonna get a couple mates who have a grasp on it to show me some basic stuff as I am musically retarded.. Like I have no idea what a octave is or how to read it (music).. It took me long enough to understand tablature :D. Oh, I'm learning with an acoustic as I read somewhere that's better to learn on.

What guitar did you get?

[Bound]

What guitar did you get?

Mate I have no idea, it's my brothers. I'll try find out the make :y:.

Then i'm gonna set about describing the things I don't understand :p. It shall be a long list.

[Giraffe]

tuned differently to what? :wacko: greenday etc is simple effect stuff that goes down well!

Standard tuning would be EADGBE but you can tune it different, i.e. drop D tuning I believe on a guitar is DADGBE, at least on bass it's DADG, not sure about the top E on a guitar. Drop D is probably the most common, but there are others, like half a step down is half a step down on every string, making it EbAbDbGbBbEb, the b being flat.

[Jay_]

Standard tuning would be EADGBE but you can tune it different, i.e. drop D tuning I believe on a guitar is DADGBE, at least on bass it's DADG, not sure about the top E on a guitar. Drop D is probably the most common, but there are others, like half a step down is half a step down on every string, making it EbAbDbGbBbEb, the b being flat.

yeah yeah i get that but i thought greenday was pretty standard sorta tuning....but maybe thats cos that is the sorta music i listen to and play with my band ...:homme:

[leeham987]

i taught myself, i only know the basics, basic chords and a few scales. but its just a case of practicing.

ultimate-guitar.com is a good site for guitar tabs, play something easy, the site tells you how to play the chords aswel. alot of free lessons on there aswel mate

[Giraffe]

yeah yeah i get that but i thought greenday was pretty standard sorta tuning....but maybe thats cos that is the sorta music i listen to and play with my band ...:homme:

Fair enough, not all their songs are going to be tuned differently like, maybe you don't play any that require different tuning, or maybe your band mates do tune differently and you just don't realise!

[Jay_]

Fair enough, not all their songs are going to be tuned differently like, maybe you don't play any that require different tuning, or maybe your band mates do tune differently and you just don't realise!

being a drummer. your probably right :cool:

[jonas2112]

Started too learn the guitar, gave up after 6 months, too hard so learnt too play drums, easier too learn.

[Gabbastard]

GOOD books and instructional videos make all the difference, next best thing to being taught. A good teacher (or vid/book) will make sure you dont pick up sloppy habits at the start by encouraging correct technique. Theres plenty of them for free on the internet.

Learn chords and some easy songs, www.ultimate-guitar.com is the business for tabs. Guitar Pro is a cracking bit of software that will let you play tabs for songs at a slow speed til you get used to them.

I normally get books out the local charity shop, Im daft on metal but I buy country and blues books as well, as some of the licks really get your fingers moving and will be in scales that can be used in just about any kind of music youll want to play.

Lastly, start by learning your pentatonics. Look them up :)

[Jay_]

Started too learn the guitar, gave up after 6 months, too hard so learnt too play drums, easier too learn.

you obviously aint a very good drummer then :homme:

[outrage_uk]

Practise and patience are the main things while learning the guitar. Playing it is easy, it takes time to get the technique to make the guitar sing.

[jonas2112]

Jay im no neil peart on the drums, but the band I played with did manage too secure a recording deal blah blah blah, imo most styles of drumming is quite easy, unless your talking jazz and thats very very hard.

[gord]

http://www.justinguitar.com/

Free online guitar lessons. its a real good place to start off.

been playing 2 years now still not good but i enjoy it. ;)

[stevo192]

i taught myself, i only know the basics, basic chords and a few scales. but its just a case of practicing.

ultimate-guitar.com is a good site for guitar tabs, play something easy, the site tells you how to play the chords aswel. alot of free lessons on there aswel mate

yes ultimate-guitar is a great site for tabs. As someone has said earlier, green day songs are good for beginners as they have alot of simple riffs and mostly use 5th chords (powerchords). Also, try looking at some blink 182, very simple stuff and good for beginners. Key thing is just to keep practicing and don't give up! In fact, one of the best things you can do is try and form a band with your mates, no matter how good or bad you are. You will find that you all improve and it helps to keep things fun

[leeham987]

yes ultimate-guitar is a great site for tabs. As someone has said earlier, green day songs are good for beginners as they have alot of simple riffs and mostly use 5th chords (powerchords). Also, try looking at some blink 182, very simple stuff and good for beginners. Key thing is just to keep practicing and don't give up! In fact, one of the best things you can do is try and form a band with your mates, no matter how good or bad you are. You will find that you all improve and it helps to keep things fun


yes, greenday and blink 182 are good stuff to learn even if you're not a fan, will get you used to timing, where the notes on guitar are, and generally moving around the fret board.

also forming a band does help alot!! been on about 4 bands, and loved every moment, even played quite a few gigs, all good fun.

[Jay_]

Jay im no neil peart on the drums, but the band I played with did manage too secure a recording deal blah blah blah, imo most styles of drumming is quite easy, unless your talking jazz and thats very very hard.

so your saying Latin, New orleans, Afro Cuban is easy? Christ. send us a few vids of you doing that stuff bud! very interested! :y:

[chinkostu]

if you can, invest in a teacher. otherwise you'll pick up habits that really hinder you. i'm a bassist myself, taught myself and now i'm stuck as my hands are used to just doodling around and when i'm trying to learn stuff they get stuck in funny positions :-/

also, dont give up! i didn't see any difference in myself until a few years had gone. its been nearly 7 now!

don't try too much too soon either. get the basics down first, so you can move between chords easily without having to concentrate on where you are on the fretboard. have some funds aside to be able to buy some strings when they break (a fiver is usually enough for guitar, be glad its not a 6 string bass!) as they will break, especially when you're trying to tune. oh, and a tuner is very much important!

start off with something cheap/lent from someone. that way, if you do decide its not for you, you're not too far out. if you've stuck it through for a year and can see yourself playing for a while, get a nicer guitar as it WILL help. I bought a few expensive ones after a while and the difference was night and day. plus they were a hell of alot easier to maintain and sounded nicer ;)

if you're going electric,don't overdo the effects. its fun to mess around with them, but after a while you'll find you're just strumming random powerchords and its all mush with distortion and flange thrown in ;)

[Giraffe]

if you can, invest in a teacher. otherwise you'll pick up habits that really hinder you. i'm a bassist myself, taught myself and now i'm stuck as my hands are used to just doodling around and when i'm trying to learn stuff they get stuck in funny positions :-/

also, dont give up! i didn't see any difference in myself until a few years had gone. its been nearly 7 now!

What? :| Do you only use 2 fingers or something? Lol.

[jonas2112]

No jay I said most styles of drumming is quite easy, not all, havent got vids, when I started playing drums, camcorders were a luxury I couldnt afford.

[wadoryu]

Is bloody hard.

Who plays on here? got any tips for a complete newb who has never touched a guitar untill three days ago?

Gonna try and teach myself e.g. no lessons, but gonna get a couple mates who have a grasp on it to show me some basic stuff as I am musically retarded.. Like I have no idea what a octave is or how to read it (music).. It took me long enough to understand tablature :D. Oh, I'm learning with an acoustic as I read somewhere that's better to learn on.

an octave is the range . abcdefg and around again so A to A is an octave. i can't read what most guitarits play ( can't remeber what it is called) but can fluently read treble, bass, and alto clefs. edit tabs is what it's called.

[Jay_]

No jay I said most styles of drumming is quite easy, not all, havent got vids, when I started playing drums, camcorders were a luxury I couldnt afford.

what are you classing as msot then..? pop rock and metal :homme:

I aint starting an arguement its just people think they can play when they cant tbh. :y:

[jonas2112]

what are you classing as msot then..? pop rock and metal :homme:

I aint starting an arguement its just people think they can play when they cant tbh. :y:

yes rock,pop,metal, death metal etc, death metal is quite hard too play more so when playing along too a click track, jazz for me is impossible too play.

[Morgzc]

Lol, me and a mate just found tabs for cockney thug, him on the main rythm, me on the trumpets. Was ace!

[nuttysaxo]

Your fingers need to make the chord shapes it might be worth doing some finger exercise ! sounds funny but i have been playing for years and if i do not practice atleast once a week playing scales etc becomes harder , if your stretching your fingers say across 4 frets doing pull offs etc or fast licks then you'll best to do basic finger work , i would say work on the first 2 frets working on basic e / d / g / etc chords then work up to your power chords with first finger bridging ! when you've been doing this for a month or 2 then start jamming to basic rock tunes , i started learning " sex pistols " and " the ramones " simple but effective and great to rock too :cool: