Learning the Guitar

[Marc]

Theory is not really me I am more of a practical person. Porbably something that I will start to look into once I have got some practical expereince.

[Glen666]

The Yamaha Pacifica is one of the best guitars around to learn on. Very reliable too, good choice. Avoid getting anything like a Gibson Les Paul for a while. They are incredible guitars but not for beginners. I love mine but then I've been playing for 24 years! God, I feel old now (I'm only 29 but started when I was 5).

I found that the best way to learn was to play along to stuff and pick things up that way.

Make sure you can keep it in tune before anything else, then learn how to do power chords. Once you've got this, play along to some Ramones stuff. Very simple but quick so improves the speed of changes.

Send me an e-mail if you need any more help.

Don't give up.

[Keith Richard]

I've been learning for the past two years...I have never known anything so frustrating. I'm far from being a natural so it's very hard work but rewarding nonetheless. Prepare to have your finger tips feeling as though you've been rubbing a cheese grater for days - It'll take a while to build up calouses. Also, your forearm will likely pump up quickly as you start to bang away on the power chords. Don't give up......I just wish I started 30 years ago. Practice with the open major and minor chords.....use one chord as an anchor and go from the anchor to each of the other chords returning to the anchor each time.

I also find that practicing on an acoustic improves your playing since you need to be so much more precise.

[craigdopes]

Also on a related note, i am selling one of my babies, please see the relevant thread, she is gorgeous, not for a beginner though The joys of a Floys ROse lol

luv yas

xxxx

[Marc]

It's arrived

Just got to get to the shop and pick up all the bits that go with it

Time for me to get very frustrated lmao.

[Marc]

Well thats G C and D chords sorted.... now just got to work out how the friggin hell i can move between them seemlessly....

[Keith Richard]

Well thats G C and D chords sorted.... now just got to work out how the friggin hell i can move between them seemlessly....

Add in "E" and "A" (both easy) and you're up and running.

[Workyticket]

remember to buy a strap which is long enough to wear the guitar around your balls

There speaks a wise man...

Being a fellow beginner, I'd also recommend tackling barre chords as soon as you're able. It takes ages for you to get the hang of them, as well as building up the finger strngth to keep the barres held down, but once you start to get comfortable you can play a surprisingly large range of chords with little to no change of fingerings. Again, Ramones songs are perfect for learning them and working on your speed and accuracy. And they sound great!

I also found it far easier to see how the notes in the scale relate to each other with barres, as they change tone as you go up and down the fretboard - imagine plucking a tune on the low 'E', only there's a chord attached - and give you a visual reference (Unlike open chords, where it is often difficult to see how the tones relate to each other due to the complexities of the fretting)

It's kinda hard to explain (And I'm afraid I haven't done that great a job), but if you try it you'll see what I mean. After a couple of weeks of dedicated barre practice I found myself playing along to riffs on the radio, just because I could work out where each chord should be on the fretboard. It's been really helpful in terms of songwriting too.

Hope that helps (And made sense! ) but be warned: they are frustrating as shittery at first, but if you stick at it you'll never look back.

[skychaserhigh]

I'm 2 months into learning guitar..

How long does everyone practice per day,i'm clocking up 2-3 hours

bloody hard work,just hope it pays off..

would love to start knocking out everlone and sonic-shake

[Dark Lord of Barnet]

An hour or so every couple of weeks...

However, I found out yesterday we got 3 gigs booked - so I'd better get my finger out.

[Aj]

I've been playing for nearly 11 years now (on and off). My first guitar was a very crappy spanish acoustic which was second hand from a junk shop and had definitely seen better days. Not the best to learn on.
I play a 12 string d12 Washburn now, which is gorgeous

Aj
xx

[Marc]

I'm 2 months into learning guitar..

How long does everyone practice per day,i'm clocking up 2-3 hours

bloody hard work,just hope it pays off..

would love to start knocking out everlone and sonic-shake

I have been doing about the same... Found quite a good song to try to get the fingers moving and getting to know the strings (i.e. by not looking) - Metallica (Nothing Else Matters).

http://www.guitaretab.com/m/metallica/22035.html

It doesn't seem that complicated (but only done the first 6 bars lol), but its good for picking the strings and getting your away around in a basic kind of way.

I am really enjoying it

[eyeheartsatan]

work through that frustrating bit of getting to grips with your barre chords, turn them into power chords and then the following link will tell u all u need to know.
http://hem.passagen.se/ak5/ramones/

[Ross]

Hehe! Just keep going. Your fingers need time to get used to the new shapes they'll be making. Like anything, practising and practising will make you improve. Practice changing between chord shapes and learn theory if you want as well (I've been playing nearly ten years and now want to start learning the actual notes rather than tenth fret g string). It all becomes easier as you go on. Play along with stuff and try to recognise where different notes meet up and sound good or the same. The rest is academic. You can become a great songwriter/soloist/classical player/whatever. Just give everything a try and the guitar will never be boring.

[pete gusher]

I'm 2 months into learning guitar..

How long does everyone practice per day,i'm clocking up 2-3 hours

bloody hard work,just hope it pays off..

would love to start knocking out everlone and sonic-shake

errrrrr practice?
even when i had lessons (which was about 12 years ago) i didnt practice THAT long per day!
i think if your gonna do that much, its gonna pay off!
it depends how good you wanna get tho. i never really wanted to learn fast wanky solos, i just wanted to write songs and riffs