I think i would like to learn to play the guitar

Nzyme

Nzyme

Nzyme

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Joined
18 Jun 2004
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Darlington//Sheffield
Hi,

I've not played a musical instrument for 10 years os so and recently have quite fancied learning to play the guitar.

This is just something i'd like to teach myself in free time and not take to seriously.

Any advice on what i should do, how to get started, anyone else been in a similar position?

Any advice or thoughts welcome as i ponder this move.

Thanks
 
Get a few lessons is my advice, I've had about 10 in total.

I'm now teaching myself, although ive hit a bit of a rut, but quite pleased with my overall ability.

Get a cheapo guitar and of course the internet is at your disposal, Youtube has helped me on a few occasions.

oh forgot to say: Practice Practice Practice ;) At least 30mins a day, but you probably already know that.
 
I think the pacifica is your best bet (particularly if you can get one cheaper second hand), and i iwsh i had learned on one - they are great feeling/playing/sounding guitars for the price. A lot of the choice should depend on your musical incling however - certainly i would advise you go to a shop and try out some budget guitars before you buy on the internet. There is something to be said for buying a musical instrument from a shop - you get a feel for the tone and the setup that you wont get if you buy online. Shops will often throw in quite a lot of free stuff if you push them.

EDIT: If you want to learn the acoustic, nylon strung guitars are slightly easier to play unless you have very small hands, but have a very different sound to a steel strung acoustic. I would definately recommend you try an acoustic before you buy. My bro has a cheap acoustic (~$70 IIRC) that sounds great for the price, and he still uses it today.
 
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Buy a guitar. You might want an amp too. Leave it at strategic places around your bedroom. Pick it up now and then. Make an effort to learn the chords 'C', 'A', 'E', 'G', 'D', 'Em', 'Am', 'Dm', move up to 'F' once you can handle barring, and learn the 12bar blues. Learn the minor scale. Learn how it can also act as the major scale, just with a different root note. Learn all about the other modes. Learn how to bend strings. Learn every Oasis song from the nineties. Learn 2 handed tapping, palm muting and pinched harmonics. Learn the majority of Master of Puppets, Surfing with the Alien, and the good bits off Passion and Warfare. 6 months before you're a guitar god. I swear. Something like that.

I chose not to learn guitar. I chose something else.
 
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Lessons.

That is the only answer I ever give when someone is starting out on a musical instrument. Even if you're dead set on teaching yourself (which is almost always a bad idea in my experience), take lessons. A teacher will help you avoid all the common pitfalls and iron out all the bad habits early on.

A good teacher will also set you targets, exercises, patterns, tunes and scales to practice week by week - a structure like this helps avoid the "I'm bored now, I'll do something else" state of mind that hits 99% of self taught beginner guitarists after the first 2-3 months.
 
I bought myself a guitar a few years ago with a practice amp. Not played it that much but starting to play again. I normally teach myself but my b/f is now teaching me some things.
It all depends how you like to be taught stuff. I like learning things then I go to my b/f and he shows how to perfect it.
Have fun playing.
 
Practice playing along with your favourite tracks, if you aren't very good turn down the guitar and turn up the song, then it doesn't matter so much.

Also if you aren't instantly good, stop playing and simply lean the guitar up in the corner of the room, you may still get all the chicks.
 
Excellent. You can never have enough guitarists in the world ;)

Lessons would be great to get you started with chord shapes and basic scales (major, minor, pentatonic etc.) .

Your dexterity will be rubbish at first, unless you are naturally dextrous, but that will pick up as you keep playing. Just keep at it.

Get some tabs of some simple songs from the web.

http://www.power-tab.net/ This little piece of software is very useful to view and edit tabs. I find Guitar Pro easier to use and has much more functionality, however it costs.

As for buying a guitar. Go to your music store and try out guitars. Focus on the way they feel. Ask a member of staff to help you out. I would recommend the Yamaha Pacifica as a starter. Squier Strats are a bit hit and miss from my experience. And a poorly made/setup guitar can be a nightmare to play on and will set you back. When you do buy your guitar ask the guitar tech at the shop to do a full set up for you. It will cost you a bit extra but will make playing that guitar a lot easier since a lot of guitars come from the factory poorly set up.

As for an amp a cheap one will do for the first couple of months to get you started. Then you might want to invest in something a little better. A lot of shops sell Roland Cube amps with varying power. These amps are fantastic value and sound great.

Also, a useful bit of advice is to learn the technical aspects of the guitar itself. (String gauges/tension, how to set up a guitar, intonation, truss rod adjustment, spring tension for tremolo equipped guitars, action height, electronics). All of these will help you understand your guitar much better and make your playing experience much smoother. Plus it saves you money from taking it to a shop.

Learn how to change strings properly. When I worked at my local music store there were a lot of beginners paying me to change strings for them costing them £10 + cost of the strings.

Good luck and enjoy your journey. :)
 
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Yamaha Pacifica as a starter guitar is the one I would go for too, in hindsight.

Sweetloaf said:
Practice playing along with your favourite tracks, if you aren't very good turn down the guitar and turn up the song, then it doesn't matter so much.

Also if you aren't instantly good, stop playing and simply lean the guitar up in the corner of the room, you may still get all the chicks.
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That reminds me of a tale I heard from a friend (who may have lifted it from some tv programme, possibily My Family, I forget) about a girl who used to date guys, and dump them instantly upon the discovery of either a guitar or some other object in the bedroom (computer??!).
 
I learned by playing the stuff I listen to most, which used to be old Blink 182, but if you give other bands a chance you can learn a lot. Also, stick with it, it's harder than you might think, but it's certainly worth sticking if you want to be half-decent. When you're bored, pick it up, even if it's only for 10 minutes. Also, learn different types of chords and structures, they can come in handy when learning new songs, or even writing you're own songs.
 
CDj-Rossi said:
My advice would be not to buy a semi decent guitar or dmpoole will lynch you.
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My advice would be to buy the most expensive guitar you can afford and hopefully it will give you the will to learn.
However, I ask you kindly not to form a band that plays live if can't even put 3 chords together.

you got me wrong CDj-Rossi because you haven't read the thread.
 
dmpoole said:
My advice would be to buy the most expensive guitar you can afford and hopefully it will give you the will to learn.
However, I ask you kindly not to form a band that plays live if can't even put 3 chords together.

you got me wrong CDj-Rossi because you haven't read the thread.
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I had actually, I read through it all before I posted, it was a rather amusing read thank you very much.
 
oldbag said:
Out of interest, what are Fenders like these days (the ones that aren't worth £1000)?
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That depends, most US ones are very good.

Some Mexican and Japanese ones are also good.

You really have to try them out because they can vary even if they are from the same place, a well setup Mex will be as good as a US to most people.
 
I have been doing something similar for many years.

When I turned 16 my dad bought me a Westfield Les Paul copy and an amp, I played for about 6 months but stopped when my friends did because I found it more fun to play with them than by myself. In that time I had a couple of lessons and could play lots of simple stuff, but never really got good with it.

With family problems and other things it took me until I was 19 to pick up the guitar again. I didn't like the way the Westfield sounded, and it needed some repairs doing to it, so I bought a new guitar (the Epiphone Les Paul). This spurred me on and I played for about 6 months again, until I injured my left hand and had to stop. Just before the injury I joined a band with my mates and we had a few fun sessions. The hand injury meant my whole hand was numb for about 6 months and I didn't hae any real control over my fingers so I was useless. WHne I could finally play again the band had gone off in different directions and I had no one to play with again. Also my injury meant that when I picked up the guitar it was like learning anew, couldn't do anything I used to be able to and I got frustrated with it and put it away.

Fast forward to yesterday (now 22) and I have decided I want to play guitar properly. Before when I was playing I was just playing other peoples songs, but now I aspire to get good enough to write my own because I think I have something to say now. I also saw a tv programme with someone playing my dream guitar which spurred me on.

Currently I am pushing through the absolute frustration of not being able to play songs I used to be able to do easily, because my fingers just won't do what I tell them. Hopefully its just a case of retraining them rather than any permenant damage.
 
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