Learning to play the guitar

[ur-James]

Well, I'm new here, so I'll be bumping old threads for a while until I get used to this place. Hope y'all don't mind.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years now, so I'll chime in with my thoughts. I do agree with the poster that what you play should reflect the kind of music you want to play. But I can't stress enough the idea of starting on acoustic, which it looks like you have.

Granted, yes, steel string acoustics can be harder to get used to, and rough on the fingertips, but that's a good thing. You'll have to develop callouses on your fingertips regardless if you're playing acoustic or electric. Starting on acoustic will toughen your fingers up quicker. Also, it's a lot easier to notice your mistakes when playing on an acoustic, as they're more pronounced. Sometimes playing an electric, especially with distortion of some kind, can hide a lot of mistakes. And if you don't know you're making them, you'll never fix them.

Starting on acoustic will not only toughen up your fingers a lot quicker (and better, I might add) than electric, it will also discipline you to play and finger everything correctly. If you're not playing a chord right on the acoustic, you'll know right away, and can work on making it better.

Other than that, as far as books are concerned, anything by good old Mel Bay will work wonders for you. They're generally older books, but it's what I started with and I always recommend them for starters. There are quite a few sites online with tons of information. One that I like is www.ibreathemusic.com, though it can be directed more towards intermediate to advanced players at times. But it's still a good site to check out.

Hope you read this, and good luck!

James

[Sheriff Lytton]

I can't turn left.

Easily remedied:

1) Face the other way

2) Turn right

[stonemaybe]

Seeing as there's at least two rockstars and one music major that I know of, posting here, I was wondering if I bumped this thread, could I ask for the occasional bit of advice?

[dANdeLION]

Names; you have to mention names!

[rdhopeca]

yeah who are the rock stars?

[dANdeLION]

I wield the Illearth Bass, but it doesn't make me a star.

Illearth Bass:


Me wielding the Illearth Bass:

[Menolly]

Me wielding the Illearth Bass:

That particular scene looks familiar...

[rdhopeca]

I also wield the bass, but that doesn't make me a star either...

[dANdeLION]

Looks like an early '90's Ibanez EXB 404 you have there.......

[stonemaybe]

Playing on stage=rockstar! No arguments!

[dANdeLION]

I'm no star. And you're right, no arguments will be allowed......by me. I'm not a star, but I am a mod here!

[Krazy Kat]

Seeing as there's at least two rockstars and one music major that I know of, posting here, I was wondering if I bumped this thread, could I ask for the occasional bit of advice?

What is it you do?

Do you play bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon string guitar?
Are you a begginer or do you gig?
Which styles of music do you play?
Who do you aspire to?
What are your goals?

I'm not that hot on the guitar but it might be fun to swap idea's.

I should also answer my own questions:-

I play a Les Paul Vintage through a 15Watt Session Amp - which should answer the other question - I don't gig, and consider myself the eternal begginer.
I wish I had've been more patient and saved more money for a Les Paul original, but my guitar is ok, for now.

I play mostly rock&pop, and like to learn classical pieces for dexterity and syncopation.

At the moment, I listen to how Andy Latimer (Camel), Steve Hillage (indian scales and speed), and Bill Nelson (bitchin musical accent) play, and run from there.

I've been using a Digital Audio Workstation for a couple of years now, although I've been having real difficulty with my outboard equipment recently.
I'd like to record some riffs and melodies in the style of Thin Lizzy. By which I mean, playing 3rd, 4ths, and 5ths, in tune with the leading guitar.
It's a little obsession I have been meaning to deal with.

Anyway, I'll be off line for two or three weeks - so bye for now!

BTW I saw your links for Husky Rescue and rushed out to buy their new album, Ship of Light. It wasn't in store so I've ordered it and will just have to wait.
Going by your recommendation I decided to leave their best for later.

One more thing -
I'm learning to play the Grandstand, the Wimbeldon, the Ski Sunday, and the Horse of the Year Show, theme music. Just for fun. Grandstand has really interesting chord progressions.
The Munsters theme is also good fun to play.

[stonemaybe]

I'll answer your question by saying, most of that's over my head! by MILES!

I thought it'd be cool to learn guitar as a teenager. Learnt a few basic chords then realised that I couldn't tune my guitar (which was hopeless and went out of tune in a day) so i couldn't practice the few tunes my friend taught me in his fortnightly visits, so quietly gave up.

Christmas before last a local supermarket had acoustic guitars (nylon strings) going cheap (really cheap!) and they came with an electronic tuner thing so i thought the price was worth giving it a go.

Since then I've been looking up tabs online (wow you can find anything!)and practicing by myself. mainly folk/trad simple C/D/G/Am occasionally an Em (just to be exciting), lots of sixties stuff like kinks cat stevens donovan, occasional indie rock stuff.

I've got fairly proficient at most of the open chords, can do bar chords but not so good at combining them with open ones, I can't pick to save my life, and though I pick up the guitar at the first sign of boredom, the tunes I like playing were getting a tad repetitive.

I started having 'lessons' a few weeks ago, and just talking to someone who is proficient and plays on stage, has showed me a couple of little tricks and flourishes that have totally energised my desire to learn, again. Adding little finger to basic chords (sus?), different ways of strumming etc.

Which is why I bumped this thread. I want more!

[Vraith]

If you've found the sites with the tabs, you probably noticed that most of them have sections for "hot licks" and exercises for scales/modes/picking practice/techniques. They're often boring, but the picking ones will really help.
[scales/modes, too later... especially when you're ready to try lead/soloing and songwriting]

One easy trick that helps get your mind around the fretboard is to move the shape of open chords to other places, or play bar chords without the bar...this usually does 2 things: leaves a finger free to add other notes [like the sus. you mentioned], and make the chord sound more spacious.
Depending on where you play the chord on the fretboard you may or may not have to mute/not pick some of the strings.

[stonemaybe]

Thanks Vraith!

I get most online tabs at ultimate-guitar.com but to tell you the truth I haven't explored the actual site - I just search for songs I want to try to play. Will try to pay more attention to the stuff around the edges and see what there is.

I like the sound of your tip about moving the open chords up. i see people doing this when playing and think how do they do that without a bar, but I suppose certain ones will sound good and as you say, leaving out certain strings would be important. I promise to experiment!

[Vraith]

I think when I was printing out lots of tabs, that mxtabs or guitaretabs were the ones with most of the technique lessons...if I remember correctly. [mx was the best for printer-friendly tabs, but this was quite a while ago]

[stonemaybe]

OK, time to get your thinking hats on, rockstars and teachers.

We have decided that while my left hand shaping chords is competent, my right hand strumming is not!

I don't use a plectrum/pick (and don't intend to), when left to my own devices I will strum only downwards, using finger(nail)s. I can just about manage the basic down updown updown of your typical folk song. I've been given a couple of songs with contrasting styles of strumming to practice, Me & Julio (fast but even) and (can't find an appropriate link) Christy Morre's Ride On, strumming more ups than downs, and with huge emphasis (ie strumming louder) on the intro to the chorus.(sorry my musical vocabulary is limited!)

I would like more different types please!

[SleeplessOne]

I can play a bit, not super-proficient but can manage bar chords, a few licks etc .. I play in a band in Melbourne (well, on the rare occasions that we score a gig that is) and write all the bands songs - my tip is : do not attempt anything by Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors - the guy seriously must have two brains to play the way he does and sing at the same time - I found some tabs to the DP's 'Temecula Sunrise' online yesterday and have made it through about 1/16th of the song (and not very fluently at that) - the chords and licks he encorporates are often rather bizarre (compared to what I'm used to playing) - to think that he actually sings whilst playing these complex compositions is somewhat depressing !
Stick to Creedence or Nirvana or somethin' ...
I was lucky enough to see them in Melbourne live the other night and they were amazing (apart from Longstreth's amazing guitar skillz the female vocalists were incredible too, their 'hocketing' tricks had to be heard to be believed !)

[Vraith]

OK, time to get your thinking hats on, rockstars and teachers.

We have decided that while my left hand shaping chords is competent, my right hand strumming is not!

I don't use a plectrum/pick (and don't intend to), when left to my own devices I will strum only downwards, using finger(nail)s. I can just about manage the basic down updown updown of your typical folk song. I've been given a couple of songs with contrasting styles of strumming to practice, Me & Julio (fast but even) and (can't find an appropriate link) Christy Morre's Ride On, strumming more ups than downs, and with huge emphasis (ie strumming louder) on the intro to the chorus.(sorry my musical vocabulary is limited!)

I would like more different types please!

Why so anti-pick?
There are a couple things I could show you in like 30 seconds...typing is gonna take longer, might not be clear.
First, when you're strumming, put your thumb and index finger together as if you were holding a pick [you can extend the thumb a little, so it does most of the actual striking of the strings, or the index a little so it does...they give slightly different sounds...later on you can get lots of effects by doing things with your assorted fingers, even just with strums.
Second...watch yourself strum..do it soft, easy, slow, relaxed...when you look at this, there should be very very little up/down motion in the elbow/forearm...almost all the motion should be a rotation all the way from the forearm, and there should be looseness and natural flexing...just a little..in the wrist [don't make that happen, just relax and let it happen.] You can vary the tone of the strum by varying the tension in the fingers, but the wrist should always have some looseness/freedom.
Jethro Tull [particularly first 4 or five albums] and Pink Floyd [especially "Animals"] have interesting full-chord strumming patterns without the chord changes always being fast/difficult, so you can focus on the strum.

[stonemaybe]

Sounds like good advice! Thanks again!