Learning to play the guitar

[Vader]

Everyone should have a proper guitar.......

A lefthanded guitar?

What strings are you using? Have you ever heard of these gold plated Maxima/Optima strings? I love them.

[dANdeLION]

Yes, left handed, strung with D'Addario's. Yes, I've heard of Maxima strings; had a set on one of my basses. I wasn't impressed.

[Vader]

Haven't tried them for my bass guitars (actually why didn't I?) but I absolutely love them on my western guitar.

And I love the black bridge pins you have.

[stonemaybe]

It's mostly a practice thing.
Thing that helped me you're likely already doing
....I called it a "hand push-up." When you watch yourself
do it, you'll see why.
On the first fret, just switch back and forth
between F [the e-barre] and Bb [the a-barre], one strum each.
Start medium speed...speed up when you stop hearing clunker notes. Some things about it:
1) It's boring.
2) Your index finger should not move/lift. Your middle and pinky shouldn't move around, only lift enough to be off the strings.
3) I'm sure your teacher said, but your thumb should be under your ring finger [so if you were playing the a-barre and the neck suddenly vanished, the tips of thumb and ring would meet.]
4) You can do it with shifts between the strums...you'll start accidentally "discovering" famous rock tunes when you do, probably...
But the first fret only, in sets of 10 or 20, will increase strength the fastest, cus the hardest [and bad thumb placement will make it twice as hard...the thing is at least as much position as strength.]

Thanks Vraith! I had forgotten what he said about the thumb!
point 2 I'm struggling with - in order to get strength in my ring finger it seems i have to straighten out my middle and pinky. very frustrating!

[Krazy Kat]

Guitaria

I'm just testing out the link to a music hosting site. The tune is a bit boring, and the
drums seem to have packed up before it finishes .
It's all I have for now - hope you enjoy!

'Hergrom's Lament' for Spanish guitar and flute.

To be edited...once I'm patched in, and miked-up!

[sgt.null]

i start lessons this thursday...

[Krazy Kat]

Good luck with your lessons, sarge!
What style of guitar will you be using. Electric, acoustic, steel guitar...?

[sgt.null]

Good luck with your lessons, sarge!
What style of guitar will you be using. Electric, acoustic, steel guitar...?

I plan on starting with my father-in-law's acoustic that i inherited when he died. maybe at some point i will bring the electric that Julie bought me.

is there a big difference in learning the acoustic and the electric?

[Vraith]

Good luck with your lessons, sarge!
What style of guitar will you be using. Electric, acoustic, steel guitar...?

I plan on starting with my father-in-law's acoustic that i inherited when he died. maybe at some point i will bring the electric that Julie bought me.

is there a big difference in learning the acoustic and the electric?

Not really...though the difference that do exist favor starting with acoustic.
In general, an acoustic will demand development of a bit more strength, dexterity, and precision/technique. If you can play acoustic, you can play electric...going the other direction is slightly more problematic. [though as you advance, there are things...strictly physically, not talking "effects"...that you simply can't do on an acoustic but can on electric]

[Cagliostro]

I'm learning through Rock Band 3 with the kind of "training guitar" that they have. And no, I'm not talking about the 5 fret button model. I'm learning on the $150 Fender Mustang-like thingy. I'm getting a lot more of out than lessons and working my way through guitar books have ever done for me, and it's fun. I'm still not good enough to play anything that sounds like anything yet, but I'm building up some skills.

[Krazy Kat]

I plan on starting with my father-in-law's acoustic that i inherited when he died. maybe at some point i will bring the electric that Julie bought me.

is there a big difference in learning the acoustic and the electric?

For a beginner, I'd say the electric has the advantage of being kinder on the fingertips. When using an acoustic, more so than with the electric, sooner or later the playing hand tries to do too much, and something in the grip has to give. Then, one of the fingertips will get zapped. Ooouuchh!!!!!

I've often said to someone who is picking up an acoustic for the first time is to not use a guitar tuner. Tighten up the strings to comfortably suit the fingertips. As the tunes you're learning become easier to play, tighten the strings up gradually until they reach the correct pitch. Although, I suspect your guitar tutor may not agree to this technique.

I'm using a nylon string half-size guitar. The strings and neck are even more kinder on the hand. I had been practicing the electric guitar alone in my room, then jamming with a bass guitar with two friends; one on electric guitar and the other on drums. I think I bruised a nerve or two. (Repetitive Strain Injury). It has has taken me over a month to pick up a guitar again. So at the moment the nylon strings are just fine. Anyway, I digress!

One way of looking at it is, the differance between electric guitar and acoustic guitar can be somewhat like the differance between using a paintbox or a set of HB pencils to make a picture/music.

[Cagliostro]

Let me add that I've had a nice sounding Alvarez acoustic sitting around collecting dust for years, which I occasionally drag out and tinker with, and try to pick out something here and there until my fingers start to hurt. Then I pick up a new book to help me learn, hurt my fingers more, and think "I'll just take a couple days to let my fingers feel better" and return to it a year later and do the same thing.
I'm sure a lot of you guitarists think this weak and blasphemous, but I think the method I'm learning with is best for me. See the fella here, which will make sense of my next point:

So for me, a bit of it is the dedication and a bit of it is the building of callouses, so the little buttons definitely doesn't hurt the fingers - at least at first. Sliding the fingers across buttons with ever so slightly sharp edges does butcher your fingers during extended play. But you still get used to strumming the strings and putting your fingers on the "strings" along the correct fret. And supposedly it translates over. I've diddled about with my acoustic, and it sounds bare and ugly what I've messed about with so far, so it doesn't translate quickly, but I'm very much of a beginner. There are 4 modes of play for each song - Easy, medium, hard, expert. I'm currently moved into medium and it is kicking my ass, with easy chords. Easy is the occasional single string pick, and is missing a lot of notes, but it was fun, and I can sight read the majority of it now. Hard I'm sure it a bit more of the song, and Expert is the full thing.
I don't have enough time to practice, and I've been very lax lately as I'm finding it a bit intimidating at the moment switching between chords, but I just need to slow everything down in the practice area and do it until I can do it.
Because it is Rock Band, it does make it fun to practice, and practice is a large part of what you must do to learn an instrument. So, making it fun for me is a big part of the battle of remaining dedicated to learning it, and I have every confidence I will keep up with it until I get further along in this. I've been posting about this in the Rock Band 3 thread in video games if anyone has more interest in this.
However, I'm looking forward to RockSmith, which is another videogame guitar learning tool that you can supposedly plug in any existing guitar (but only acoustics with a pick-up, supposedly), and go. And that sounds pretty cool, although what they have shown of the look of the thing is pretty ugly and clunky. But we'll see how it goes.

[Vraith]

looking forward to RockSmith, which is another videogame guitar learning tool that you can supposedly plug in any existing guitar (but only acoustics with a pick-up, supposedly), and go. And that sounds pretty cool, although what they have shown of the look of the thing is pretty ugly and clunky. But we'll see how it goes.

I searched it, it looks pretty hot to me...I think I will be buying my first videogame ever [not counting WOW. And not counting crap that came free with computers I've owned] since I already own guitars. I hope it has a bass mode, too, just for extra sweetness.
Heh...it even processes the sound so you don't have to buy a whole bunch of other gear to get the actual guitar sound [for peeps who don't already have sound processors, saves a major cash outlay to sound right.]

[sgt.null]

vraith & kat : julie informed me it will be acoustic. i get a book and weekly lessons. and i will have to develop whatever callouses i will need.

and while i will do everything i am told, and will practice - this is mainly an exercise in futility.

i am hoping at best to be able to play my own songs. but i am not musically inclined and have poor memory skills when it comes to this sort of thing.

but i will my hardest to mine whatever (limited) musical ability exists within me. and i will update.

[Krazy Kat]

vraith & kat : julie informed me it will be acoustic. i get a book and weekly lessons. and i will have to develop whatever callouses i will need.

and while i will do everything i am told, and will practice - this is mainly an exercise in futility.

i am hoping at best to be able to play my own songs. but i am not musically inclined and have poor memory skills when it comes to this sort of thing.

but i will my hardest to mine whatever (limited) musical ability exists within me. and i will update.

Having fun with any musical instrument is the key. Doing all the boring, labourious stuff is essential, but this has to give the player the freedom to lose oneself in the music. I can't think of any other reason anyone would put in all that hard work.


Alternative Guitar Tuningcan be great fun to do. Best if you have two guitars, keeping one instrument for conventional playing. There's lots of those tunings I've never seen before. Will enjoy checking them out!


CAG - did a little googling on the Rock Band 3 guitar. The drums have certainly caught my interest. I am wondering if you can play music in a mode outside of the game. If so, that would make the sound recordable, and well worth experimentation.

[sgt.null]

learned three notes and two chords. fingers sore.

need to see i f an old electric i have is fixable. and would love to find a cheap banjo. and a bass guitar.

[Vraith]

learned three notes and two chords. fingers sore.

need to see i f an old electric i have is fixable. and would love to find a cheap banjo. and a bass guitar.

if it's the electronics, not the body/neck, it's fixable, 90 percent chance some $2. parts and soldering.
[even body/neck technically are...]
Good luck with the banjo...I don't think I've ever seen one cheap that wasn't demolished...but I haven't looked at one at all since pre-ebay.

[sgt.null]

even the demolished banjos around here are way too much for the condition. i am hoping the gutar will be cheap, as i got it free.

[Krazy Kat]

learned three notes and two chords. fingers sore.

need to see i f an old electric i have is fixable. and would love to find a cheap banjo. and a bass guitar.

if it's the electronics, not the body/neck, it's fixable, 90 percent chance some $2. parts and soldering.
[even body/neck technically are...]

I live round the corner from a Maplin store and have been buying components recently, with the idea of some electronic guitar FX design and construction. I don't have an electric guitar at the moment, but a friend has told me of a way to get one quite easily and without too much expense (I do full-time voluntary work for very little money). (BTW I'm amazed at how cheap chips have become nowadays )

Some people like to do crossword puzzles - I love to sit and do component layout design, either on paper or breadboarding.
I've always stuck with Rat's Nests. I just prefer it, and like to think I've elevated it to an art form!

Does anyone else make electronic guitar FX?

[sgt.null]

you mean i could build my own guitar someday?