Learning guitar

[Sythe]

Hey all. So my gf got me a guitar and i want to start learning to play. Where do i start? how do i practice etc... It came with a cd that teaches chords and a few other things so how should i use these to get going? Where should my expectations be anyway, will i still be struggling 2 months from now? thanks for any advice

[Moss]

That CD should keep you occupied for a little while, but I suggest lessons fairly early on before you develop any bad habits.

If you get some lessons and practice often it really doesn't take that long to be able to play decently.

[warc]

Depends how far you want to go with it. If you want to just fuck around and learn some songs, learn how to read tablature and look up songs to play. Tabs will show you what notes to hit but up to you to learn rhythm. I learned by tabs in my freetime and like 7 years later I still fucking suck. If you want to learn music, get some lessons.

[SubzeroDiabolos]

The best advice I can give you is look up for good habbits, and avoid all bads at all costs because once they're imprinted in your mind they're hell to get rid of.

[Tidy]

Practice often.

[bechyni]

Here:

[Sythe]

lol nice. thx for the responses. the videos might have been of some help if i didnt already have a gf : / lol

[bechyni]

I don't see how the two correlate

[Cadsuane]

The first thing everyone learns and memorizes are the basic chords, ie. the major and minor chords that aren't barres. 99% of pop songs can be strummed with G C D E F and A. Learning how to grab those chords on measure and strum with a bit of dynamic is the biggest hurdle facing beginners. Try Radiohead's Creep. It's fucking banal but it's just four chords (C, E, F, Fm), easy to count measure and generally makes for a good first song to cut your teeth on.

There are a variety of directions to go after you get the basics down. You can learn lead playing, graduate to electric or bass, or learn fancier chording for more sophisticated harmonies, finger picking, whatever. Youtube has everything you could ever want for lessons and theory, but get an instructor if you feel unmotivated.

[sephir]

Guitar pro or powertab is a great program for establishing yourself once you understand basic chord forms. Being able to slow the music down and actually SEE how it is played made a world of difference in my playing career.

Also buy a Metronome early and learn to alternate pick. Learning to use these two techniques early on will save you a tonne of hassle later on and make your playing sound that much better.

[Rabidelly]

In the same situation as you, except my boyfriend got me the guitar for Christmas. It's an acoustic, and I didn't want to spend tons of money on lessons or anything. People are right, Youtube has just about everything, but it's hard to find good stuff. Most of what I have found is people trying to get you to sign up for their pay-for websites.

I DID however find one good set of beginner lessons here: http://guitar.about.com/library/blgu...sonarchive.htm

I had been practicing 1-2 hours each day since I got it, but I actually began feeling pain in my wrist after about a week. I plan on investing in some sort of hand exerciser to help, since I have weak arm strength and small hands.

As a further question to guitarists here, about what could I expect to pay for a few lessons, and how long do they generally go on for? I may actually invest in a few to help me keep from getting into bad habits and finding out where I reeaally suck lol.

[Cadsuane]

In the same situation as you, except my boyfriend got me the guitar for Christmas. It's an acoustic, and I didn't want to spend tons of money on lessons or anything. People are right, Youtube has just about everything, but it's hard to find good stuff. Most of what I have found is people trying to get you to sign up for their pay-for websites.

I DID however find one good set of beginner lessons here: http://guitar.about.com/library/blgu...sonarchive.htm

I had been practicing 1-2 hours each day since I got it, but I actually began feeling pain in my wrist after about a week. I plan on investing in some sort of hand exerciser to help, since I have weak arm strength and small hands.

As a further question to guitarists here, about what could I expect to pay for a few lessons, and how long do they generally go on for? I may actually invest in a few to help me keep from getting into bad habits and finding out where I reeaally suck lol.

Dunno, never took lessons.

I would think that anyone training a beginner who's taking more than 40 for an hour long session is more or less robbing you. The best thing though is just to hang around with other people who play music.

[Matricide]

Other than what people said, don't give up from sucking early on, you're going to blow ass for about 2-3 months depending on how regularly you practice. But once you get the hang of picking and fretting (even if you're not great at it) you'll enjoy it much more.

[Yuri-G]

I actually have a step-by-step guide/flowchart to help people in your situation:

1) Do you have musical talent? If no, proceed to step 3. Otherwise, proceed to step 2.
-
2) Get books of sheet music from bands you listen to
2a) Learn the chords in the backs of those books
2b) Figure out which chords sound cool together
2c) Play those chords
2d) Repeat 2a through 2c until you are good
-
3) Get books of sheet music from bands you listen to
3a) Attempt to learn the chords from the back of the book, realize you are in way over your head
3b) Get a beginner's guitar lesson book instead
3c) Try to learn from the beginner's guitar lesson book, realize you are still in way over your head
3d) In the interests of saving money, try online lessons
3e) Realize online lessons are bullshit unless you have enough natural talent to make sense of them
3f) In a last-ditch attempt to keep this abortion of a hobby from falling completely apart, take a half-hearted look at professional lessons as an option
3g) After getting a few quotes, realize professional lessons are way too expensive unless you're so talented you could probably teach yourself for free anyway so why the fuck would any adult get professional lessons, seriously?
3h) Guitar -> Closet. Ass -> Couch. TV -> House, or Family Guy, or whatever it is the kids are watching these days

but seriously, learning to play as an adult without a musical foundation is going to be difficult. it's not impossible, especially if you have hidden talent (and some people do!) but it's going to take a lot of hard work and practice. like, an hour a day at minimum if you actually want to get good in a reasonable amount of time. step back and think about that: are you willing to devote an hour, a whole hour of your precious free time, every single day, to learning this instrument? if you are, you might have a chance. if you aren't, make a half-assed attempt to keep your girl from feeling like she bought you a lame gift you'll never use, and once the grace period is over, ditch that thing.

oh, I forgot, there is one other option: play sporadically and learn a few random easy songs like Freefallin and Puff the Magic Dragon or some shit so you can bust the guitar out randomly while drunk without actually knowing how to really "play" the guitar at all. that's what most people seem to do, and honestly, it works out pretty well.

not trying to discourage you but I don't think most people who want to pick up an instrument as an adult have any idea how difficult it is, even if you are talented. and if you're not, well... be prepared to put in the effort, that's all I'm saying.

[Bingbong]

oh, I forgot, there is one other option: play sporadically and learn a few random easy songs like Freefallin and Puff the Magic Dragon or some shit so you can bust the guitar out randomly while drunk without actually knowing how to really "play" the guitar at all. that's what most people seem to do, and honestly, it works out pretty well.

QFT!

For the lulz: Add in a Kelly Clarkson tune or two. Her songs are all the same 4 chords. Belting that shit "while drunk" makes for awesome youtube fodder.

[bechyni]

Yuri I want to say you made my fucking day.

[Headspace]

Not going to start a new thread for it, but I'm going to start learning to play piano. I know tabs and all that shit for guitar (bass really) so are there any online sites that have lessons and shit for free?

[bechyni]

I start my piano lessons this coming up semester for my music degree. If my instructor gives me any good sites/info I can pass it along to you.

[Dracaunt]

Buy a ukulele... I've found it works best with people I've helped get started on guitar. It sounds awesome and has 4 strings with probably a larger fretboard space for those 4 than most guitars would have for 4 strings. The strings won't hurt your fingers and your left (or right if you're left handed) hand gets used to make similar (or the same) shapes as guitar chords. It's an easy way to train your hands to doing things they don't normally do.

[Woozie]

Not going to start a new thread for it, but I'm going to start learning to play piano. I know tabs and all that shit for guitar (bass really) so are there any online sites that have lessons and shit for free?

Get a method book. A method book basically does what a textbook does for teachers/professors. It will teach you how to read music, how to play chords and inversions, how to play scales and arpeggios, and it will (try to) teach you technique. The only way to guarantee you wont develop bad habits is to have a teacher (that's not to say that you can't learn piano on your own. Lots of people learn it on their own, but having a teacher will always be you best bet if it's an option). A method book wont teach you music theory or ear training, but if you've been playing bass for a while, I'm assuming you're comfortable with the level of ear training and music theory you already have, and you're just trying to learn how to play from sheet music and chord charts.

You can download the most popular method books online for free (illegally) through a torrent or mediafire/4shared. The The Pianist Library is my favorite place to download sheet music, and there are method books there too. You have to create an account to use their search function, I think. If you're interested in classical music, most popular classical songs are public domain and can be found legally for free at International Music Score Library.

My favorite method books are kinda old and outdated (Making Music at the Piano and John Thompson's Modern Course For the Piano. I believe there are newer editions available, but the versions I have are about 50 years old).

Some of the popular methods today are Faber, Alfred, and Bastein. I can't really comment on them because I don't use them. They usually have an adult version and a kid version.

Your local library probably has some method books too.

As for online video lessons, I never really found any that I like. Well, some guy on youtube named "Lypur" had a few lessons I found interesting when I was first starting.