Attempting to guitar myself.

[Cadsuane]

Something you might wanna consider: get a decent finger pick technique, maybe grow some fingernails, especially if you're not transitioning into electric guitar. You don't want to box yourself into only being able to play lead scales, bar chords and G C and D because you can't do anything but strum and use a pick. Not that there's anything wrong with strumming.

On another note, I've never heard so much emphasis on metronomes before. What's so hard about staying on measure, jeeze.

[Nightfyre]

Staying on measure and locking in with the rhythm section aren't necessarily synonymous and I know way too many musicians who do the former without doing the latter. None of them practice with a metronome or made an effort to create a strong internal metronome. Rubato only sounds good if you're soloing or the entire group is working it with you.

Fingerpicking is a lot of fun, definitely recommend at least looking into it.

[Plow]

Only if you draw attention to it. Playing the wrong note and making it sound good is an art all its own. There are exceptions, of course.

I agree with Zalius. Scales/modes and their arpeggios are fundamental building blocks for anything you'll play. As you progress though they'll take a backseat to other aspects because by then you should have them down pretty well and be able to see the patterns on the fretboard. At this point you're progressing from a basic understanding to a deeper understanding based on intervallic relationships and suddenly the entire fretboard opens up because you can progress beyond scales or rather move among them in a way that is still musical.

On the other hand, I disagree with the assertion that modes have specific emotions... or rather, I disagree with the implied limitations that description places on them. Colors or overtones (not in the sense of harmonics of course) strike me as better descriptors.

It's the same as anything that takes practice, they require less and less practice to keep your mastery, but if you ignore them altogether your playing will start falling apart.


And yeah I dunno how to word it well because what they're doing for you is basically honing instincts, just knowing where everything is and how it all fits together as you move around.


It's funny, a lot of people that play guitar seriously find guitar hero harder than people that don't, the strum bar is a big part of that, but I think another big thing is that there's no consistent patterns for creating basic sounds.

[Plow]

also, with all the youtube stuff, this has to be up here:

[GentaiShinigami]

Get this and practice it a lot with a metronome, and you will be way ahead of most people (and it's cheap for what it is... $14 USD):

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-World-P...3981546&sr=8-1

Also, you can Youtube some of his teaching videos, but I think they would be too advanced right now.

Good luck with it! ^_^

Edit: A sample of the mans talent (just an example no flames please!)

[YOUTUBE]qpn-3e-YNCU[/YOUTUBE]

[OzzofAsura]

http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php

http://www.mysongbook.com/

Those might help. Guitar pro also has a metronome in it. Pretty much how I learned to play.

[Blabj]

Learn as few of other people's songs as you can - especially if you want to keep your own style. That's not to say don't listen to other stuff, but don't become obsessed with one guitarist's sound or play style because you'll eventually end up like a carbon copy if you're not careful.

[Davricle]

I have an acoustic guitar, and have been using Guitar For Dummies volume 2 to learn so far. Haven't taken any professional lessons, but I would like to.

I want to be able to jam with friends, or be able to whip out my guitar and play something that everyone can sing to. Eventually, I'd like to write my own music, but nothing serious or career-wise.

I know the main Chords so far, A C D E F G Fm Am Em etc. Still learning others. I am watching youtube video tutorials for some songs, namely Jumper and Wonderwall at the moment. I can at least make something resembling the opening of the songs so far haha.

Fingerpicking is something I definitely want to look into. Mainly because I love Death Cab for Cutie, and I know that Ben does a lot of fingerpicking in his songs. It looks kinda difficult!

Thanks for all the advice so far. I found a website that has a metronome I can use, I will do that more now.

Edit: I also have a Capo and a lot of aspiration

[Zalius]

Zalius I would disagree with you on the importance of scales - in particular the importance of modes. Knowing what notes are in which key all over the guitar can be the one of the most important aspects of playing. Being able to shift horizontally or vertically down the fretboard and stay in tune is absolutely essential, and no matter how fast you can play, if you hit the wrong note - everyone will notice.

In every interview I have ever seen with Joe Satriani talking about tips and tricks to learning guitar, he talks about the importance of modes and how they are essential.

Hell I've been playing for close to 11 years now, and I'm still discovering new patterns in new keys and am constantly trying to add these licks to my musical vocabulary.

there are no such thing as wrong notes, only poor phrasing, which is based on the context of intervals surrounding the "wrong" note. a scale is not a universal law, they are man made constructs of what WE think sounds good. everyone has a different ear, and how they use modes will be drastically different based on their upbringing and musical tastes.

the whole purpose is to be able to create music that you enjoy. i didnt ever say scales were not good to know, i said that they become less important over time, and its not like theyre the holy grail of guitar playing. if you just play major and minor all day, all youre going to be able to do is play sad or happy sounding music. it takes so much more than scales to do anything with a guitar, which is why i specifically said that about plow's post.

intervals are where it's at. they are the foundation concept of all other aspects of music, and all that scales do is teach you interval arrangement that someone else created. music theory isn't about learning "how to play music," its about learning how music has been played. you will not agree with everything you find in a music textbook, but you don't have to. everyone has their own tastes.

[Melion]

If you're liking it 1 year after you've been playing, spend the money and take a music theory class or two ^o^ ...fills in a lot of holes~

[Day]

Here are my suggestions for anyone starting to play guitar:

1. Practice.
2. Private Lessons.
3. Practice.
4. More Practice.

It's all about what you put into it. I highly suggest private lessons to beginners though, you will learn so much faster and the correct techniques, I can't even begin to go into how badly I wish I had taken lessons from the start. I'm mostly self taught, but it's been rough, and you spend time unlearning things that you thought you were learning correctly.

Don't let me discourage you if you don't have the money or time for private lessons, because practice is the real key. If you can put in an hour a day you can make some serious progress.

[Blabj]

I did private lessons too, and found I learnt a lot quicker with the guidance of someone who was already expert at playing. It helped too when it came to gear decisions, and also helps you create friendships (both with your tutor, and their students) which can lead to finding band members or getting recruited yourself!

I think if you're serious about your hobby then lessons are a great way to speed up the learning process, and expand your musical knowledge.

[wipers]

I used to take lessons every week but playing by yourself gets boring very fast. As other people mentioned if you can find people to play with you will enjoy playing a lot more. I had the good fortune of playing with a drummer for a while. He moved away so I don't get to do that anymore. So now playing the guitar has become a lot more difficult for me.

[Blabj]

I had the good fortune of playing with a drummer for a while. He moved away so I don't get to do that anymore. So now playing the guitar has become a lot more difficult for me.

I think once you're used to playing with other people, and you suddenly stop, you realise that that's what it's all about, really. It's no surprise I stopped playing after 2 bands I'd been in fell through. It really took my enjoyment out of playing.

[antihero]

and, as always, the motivation:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUkEvXWk68c[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY8wyKuLY2k[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU1uwBNSCF0[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG74eVb6V10[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-ksko-2HQ[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AouNgDIluns[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

everything's been said but private lessons/practice are the way to go. just adding to zalius with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et6BSDMNLY
my biggest motivator, obviously

[Stiker]

I started guitar myself years ago trying to teach myself and ended up taking some lessons for a few months and I can tell you from that experience, getting the expert help made things a lot easier. I wasn't just learning how to mimic tabs, but also understanding the instrument and basic music theory.

I wish I could've taken more lessons, but it just didn't work out for me and my schedule at the time. Since then I've been able to keep up with basic and power chords and have developed into a decent rhythm guitarist.

I'm still wanting to work on my lead skills though which means scales and such out the ass.

Also, if you happen to own an iPhone, I highly recommend Guitar Toolkit. IIRC it's $9.99, but very well worth it. Contains a tuner, metronome, and an extensive chord/scale/pentatonic library. It's seriously my guitar bible these days.

[Suited Aces]

tbh I would recommend NOT using tabs. When I first learned , like over 10 years ago, I used nothing but tablatures to learn songs. Not that its a bad thing, but I became a slave to the tabs, I couldn't learn a song unless I read the tab or someone showed me how.

Then I eventually stopped playing.

A few years ago I dusted off my guitar and started playing again. This time I started by learning all the scales and playing by ear. I think its more rewarding and helps with understanding how the different parts of the fretboard relate to each other.

Being able to "see" the right notes instead of playing the numbers on the frets has made me (i feel) a better musician and guitar player.

I also recommend getting a cheap keyboard. I find it easier to figure out melodies on them and then transpose them to guitar.

[Woozie]

Try Guitaretabs.com if you can't read the notes, then learn to read the freakin notes.

Fix'd.

I hate musicians who can't read music and/or haven't studied theory. This is extremely common among church musicians for some reason. With classical music, I often see the opposite problem (most classical teachers around here tend to teach a lot of theory and reading but little ear training). Relying on your ear can get you very far, but every musician should study theory, know how to read music, and have a trained ear instead of being good at one or two of those areas and weak at the other.

Speaking of ear training, start that as early as you can. It takes a while to develope a really good ear (especially for me x_x).

Well, first things first, get comfortable with your instrument and have fun with it. Learn the basics, learn some songs you like, and have more fun while you learn at (and get comfortable with reading music as well as tabs and charts as soon as you start playing guitar).

But at some point, make sure you have ear training and theory down. There's no excuse for people who have been playing for decades and can't read music or don't know the basics of theory.

For the record, I'm a pianist, not a guitarist (well I do know how to play the guitar somewhat decently), but my advice holds for all musicians.

[Day]

Bleh, I will argue for the other side.

There's nothing wrong at all with tabs, it just depends on how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go. You could become a famous musician and never really know how to read sheet music... granted that doesn't happen often... however I think people are too quick to discount tablature and too quick to harp on learning to read music when that can be a bit much for someone who just wants to learn to play guitar with their friends and such.

You can learn a lot from Tabs because you can quickly look up a song you know and like and quickly figure out how to apply it to guitar. Trying to learn a new instrument and a new language (sheet music) at the same time can be disheartening.

I do think it's important to learn at some point, as well as theory but I don't look down on the use of tablature or chord music at all.

[Zalius]

tbh I would recommend NOT using tabs. When I first learned , like over 10 years ago, I used nothing but tablatures to learn songs. Not that its a bad thing, but I became a slave to the tabs, I couldn't learn a song unless I read the tab or someone showed me how.

Then I eventually stopped playing.

A few years ago I dusted off my guitar and started playing again. This time I started by learning all the scales and playing by ear. I think its more rewarding and helps with understanding how the different parts of the fretboard relate to each other.

Being able to "see" the right notes instead of playing the numbers on the frets has made me (i feel) a better musician and guitar player.

I also recommend getting a cheap keyboard. I find it easier to figure out melodies on them and then transpose them to guitar.

this is exactly what learning music teaches you. you no longer see the fretboard as a daunting evil messy set of numbers, you see it as a tool to make music with.

tabs arent bad, practicing nothing but tabs and never working out your own music is bad. it promotes NOT learning music, which is what eventually cripples most players. they dont know music, they know songs, but they dont know how to make a song because they dont know music.


also, in regards to private lessons: they're worth it to see what you can really learn from others. being around other people that have a love for the instrument is a good way to expose yourself to the environment and be comfortable with talking to others about the instrument, which, in my experience, is just as helpful as exercises.

beware of guitar teachers though. some of them will just carbon copy a few scales and waste your time to keep you as a student to support themselves financially, without ever really teaching you how to make your own music.

browse around for some online sites. the best free one that i could possibly recommend is http://justinguitar.com. he doesn't really get too in depth in theory very often, but he does a very very good job of explaining things in a clear and concise manner, which is always good. he's a nice dude and you can hit him up for things on his forums and he's CONSTANTLY adding new videos and stuff. i have a pretty good deal of musical education and some of the stuff he has, especially in the categories of voicing and rhythm, are still totally new to me. i don't use it too much, but when i do, i can always find something i'd like, and from what i've seen browsing the beginner content, everything is rock solid.