Guitar - Learning methods??

Hi All,

Have had an Electric guitar for 2 years now, thought it was a great idea, have always wanted to play.

I'm nowhere close to being able to play this thing...........I just don't put the time in and maybe i loose interest in it for a while. Well, its time to pick ip up again.

I only know the 5 cords, C A G E D, and can slowly change between these, have never tried to play a song, I know i have a long way to go............

Do I get a teacher to motivate me? Do I just pick it up ever night for 15 min? Do I need to know what type of music i would like to play, because i do love blues but it sounds so hard to play.

Any ideas or help would be great.

There are 1000's of websites out there, i think i have visited half of them !!! :eek:

Should i learn Tabs or read music???

I'm not after a quick fix, because i know there isn't one..but i just want to get onto the right track.

Oh and a nother question: For those who do play, when you pick up the guitar and play by yourself, is it a relaxing thing to do? Is that a silly question?

I have so many things going on in my life at the moment but i think it is important to have "your own time"

GG
 
I'm in the same position as you, haven't had it as long.

But i do have trouble trying to find the time to practice.

Good Luck
 
Got an acoustic. Not for me though, fingers aren't strong enough ... might get an electric one day when I have some space. Didn't help the guitar I got was free and hence crap, but y'know ..

Anyway, I learnt a few songs just by printing out some tabs for songs I liked that had simple chords and practising those. Most tabs come with the fingering charts too. Was fun. Not sure about relaxing, more like a bit of a buzz when you get a song right, but that's not a *bad* thing ;)
 
I'm in the same position as you, haven't had it as long.

But i do have trouble trying to find the time to practice.

Good Luck

Hi DLB,

Not sure time is the issue with me, i guess you can always find 15min a day, maybe i'm just lazy.....i want the end result but do i want the hard yards in between :eek:

HELP!!!

GG
 
I only know the 5 cords, C A G E D, and can slowly change between these, have never tried to play a song, I know i have a long way to go............

You can play a truck load of songs with those chords.

If you like blues, you have enough chords to play some 12 bar blues in C and A. There are many Beatles and Paul Kelly songs you can play with those chords.

Keep at it. You'll get there
 
I've been playing for since I was 14, so a tad over over 20 years now.
I'd say when first learning the easiest way to learn a song is youtube, there's bucket loads of stuff on there.

The best way to learn is find a teacher who you a comfortable with and have the same interest in music, it's quite easy to not pick up a guitar for a couple of weeks and all of a sudden you've forgotten everything so regular practice is the key.

Basic blues is easy to learn, you should be able to get a couple of blues chord progressions going pretty quickly.

After your sick of youtube, learn how to play tabs and then just search for what ever your after on a site like 911 Tabs.
You can go one step further with the tabs and get Guitar Pro which will play tabs on your pc as you follow along.

Oh and is it relaxing? It certainly can be
 
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Do I get a teacher to motivate me? Do I just pick it up ever night for 15 min?
I think you might struggle with only 15 minutes a day. You'd barely get your fingers warm in that time. I'd suggest at least an hour a day, or most days anyway.

A teacher is good early on to get you into the right habits, but it's not worth it unless you can really dedicate a fair amount of time to practice.

Do I need to know what type of music i would like to play
That can affect what you need to learn. If you only want to play blues, then you don't need to know a lot of theory. However, if you want to learn classical, then you'd need to learn to read music, and if you want to learn jazz, then you would need a reasonable understanding of music theory (ie. chord structures and scales).

I think the start is the worst, where you can't play anything, your fingers don't work well, and everything just seems so damned hard. It's rather tedious doing finger exercises, trying to hold and change chord shapes, and trying to develop accurate picking when all you really want to do is get in there and blast out a tune. It's very easy to lose motivation at this stage.

As for chords, you can buy books with every chord you could possibly ever want to know, but you'll never just sit down and learn them all - there's way too many. I think it's probably best to just learn them on a need-to-know basis.

RumpledElf: Don't give up on acoustics just because you've got a crap one. Chances are the action is way too high, making it a strain on your hand. I love the sound of an acoustic guitar.

GP
 
Do they still have adult education classes for thing like guitar?

A small group where you are doing thongs together can be both educational and motivating. While keeping the budget down.

There may be community classes available as well.
 
I've been playing for since I was 14, so a tad over over 20 years now.
I'd say when first learning the easiest way to learn a song is youtube, there's bucket loads of stuff on there.

The best way to learn is find a teacher who you a comfortable with and have the same interest in music, it's quite easy to not pick a guitar for a couple of weeks and all of a sudden you've forgotten everything.

Basic blues is easy to learn, you should be able to get a couple of blues chord progressions going pretty quickly.

After your sick of youtube, learn how to play tabs and then just search for what ever your after on a site like 911 Tabs.
You can go one step further with the tabs and get Guitar Pro which will play tabs on your pc as you follow along.

Oh and is it relaxing? It certainly can be

Hi Shady,

I downloaded Guitar Pro 5, WOW!!!! What a fantastic program!!!!! Then I downloaded some Tabs to play in Guitar Pro, Fantastic..............

GG
 
Do you want to learn how to play guitar and understand it? Or just play a few songs?

if you just want to play some songs, get tabs/chords and learn them.

if you want to understand music and learn how to play properly, you need a teacher.

I have never had a teacher, I can play lots of stuff, but I can't understand music (I don't just mean reading music... I mean when you are playing with someone and they say "just add a 7th" and you have no idea how to do that)

so up to you what skill level you want to have
 
i was kicked out of music classes in grade 3, havnt been back since!

love my music but cant play a note!

my ear is still sore from that teacher.........the cow!
 
I taught myself when I was a teenager. I was not a great player, but good enough to play along on the standard chords. I guess it took around 6 months of practice to be able to play adequately.
My fingers were not strong enough to to bar chords, and I ended up with really bad tendonitis when I played too much. So, I had to stop, unfortunately.
Learning chords in one step, but I think the most important thing is learning the rhythm of strumming, and being able to change chords in that rhythm. I think an acoustic might be easiest to learn that.
Its also really important to be able to play with someone, because thats when you get the rhythm and timing right, so YouTube might work, but the songs are maybe too complicated. I would suggest children's songs initially - the Wiggles and that sort of thing..... not exciting, I know. But you have to start somewhere!

Cheers,
Pen
 
Funnily enough my son started with Guitar Hero and this gave him the bug, I got him an electric guitar for his birthday a year ago and he has been learning via computer, I think with the guitar Pro 5 that you mentioned and it has been really good. Now a friend comes over and plays with him and they are actually starting to sound quite good!

As for me I just play by ear but haven't had time to even look at it for a very long time!
 
learning to play guitar

i once went through a beginners book and learnt quite a bit

i know people who have gone to courses at local tafes or cae where its a group and they teach you alot over several weeks once a week and pretty cheap.

good luck

you dont want to hear this but i know someone who could just play tunes on guitar and key board by ear. very talented. it was his meditation for many years really would relax him

francine.
 
Lucky you chose guitar and not some obscure Mediterranean instrument in a town with no techers

Got two great books on them, one in English one in Greek.
Both written in a good format of steps to learn from.

To follow the diagrams you have to lern how to read music.

come on

I just worked out which end you sit in your lap and which is points upwards


Lern the basics and if you have that, a techer is great (as well as what you are doing with tabs etc). Playing with others really helps. Even if yo go for a couple of lessons and then bck to practising on your own, the help with forming correct habits and the literal help you can get with particular detail can assist a long way
 
Hi All,

Have had an Electric guitar for 2 years now, thought it was a great idea, have always wanted to play.

I'm nowhere close to being able to play this thing...........I just don't put the time in and maybe i loose interest in it for a while. Well, its time to pick ip up again.

I only know the 5 cords, C A G E D, and can slowly change between these, have never tried to play a song, I know i have a long way to go............

Do I get a teacher to motivate me? Do I just pick it up ever night for 15 min? Do I need to know what type of music i would like to play, because i do love blues but it sounds so hard to play.

Any ideas or help would be great.

There are 1000's of websites out there, i think i have visited half of them !!! :eek:

Should i learn Tabs or read music???

Oh and a nother question: For those who do play, when you pick up the guitar and play by yourself, is it a relaxing thing to do? Is that a silly question?

GG

I've been a Pro Muso (Trumpet/Singer) for 27 or so years and I can say without doubt that music can southe your soul at the best and worst of times. You don't even have to be good at it.:cool:

Playin' AT the blues (as opposed to Playin' the Blues) is probably one of the easiest things to do, and with the chords you know (with an added 7th - C7 G7 etc... ) can get you playing a minefield of tunes.

3 chords is enough to get you playin' most of the crap you'll hear on the radio nowadays :D and strive for more knowledge when you're comfortable with your instrument.

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE can play a basic guitar chord progression, but it takes a loooooong time to be really good at it, like most everything else in life.

A really simple yet great bluesy song can be something like this, with only 3 chords. Look it up for you'll know this tune: 'I just wanna make love to you'.

It's used on a TV add too of late. Assume your in the key of A.

Play A for 12 bars. Bridge = D (6 bars) E (2 bars) then A for another 12 bars.
http://www.guitaretab.com/w/waters-muddy/20556.html

Getting lessons from a working Pro muso will cut a mile of corners for you, not from someone who's got 100 music degrees and knows bugger-all.:)

Good luck and have fun with it.
 
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