Learning Guitar at 24?!

RationalGaze said:
Ah OK, cheers mate thanks for looking, will stick with Tux for now.
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Guitar Pro and Tux Guitar are such powerful programs that a lot of muso mates have no idea how good they are.
For instance 2 weeks ago my 2nd band decided to do Led Zeppelin's Dazed & Confused so I got the relevant GP file and edited an MP3 file which I linked the band to.
Last night I just asked them if they were ready and we played it there and then with no rehearsals because we didn't need to because the GP files had already taught us.
Marvellous.
 
Thanks for the help guys, will be taking a few notes (no pun intended) into the music shop tommorow with me :)

RationalGaze said:
I just started playing in January. I was also going to get a Pacifica, but when I tried it compared to an Epiphone Les Paul, it felt really cheap and twangy, like the kind of guitar you would play some old rock 'n roll songs on. The Epiphone is nice and beefy and of course the bands I like play on Les Pauls. Now I can play Stinkfist (Tool), Change in the house of flies, 46 & 2 (Tool) and Sonne (Rammstein). I am currently learning March of the fire ants (Mastodon), which is quite difficult on the solo part.

I also bought a Digitech RP155 to play through headphones/PC, and it has all the effects you need (like £80).

Dimple, do you think Guitar Pro is worth it over Tux Guitar? I use Tux since it's free and does the job, but maybe there is some benefit in GP?
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How often do you practice mate?
 
NeoReloaded said:
Thanks for the help guys, will be taking a few notes (no pun intended) into the music shop tommorow with me :)



How often do you practice mate?
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I play almost every day for about 2 hours after work. Also at weekends when I can. I spend quite a lot of time trying to get the tone perfect though! There are so many setting they can use, different amps, cabinets, wah, flanger. If you use tabs it's pretty easy to learn, as long as the song has loads of barr/power chords :D.
 
The Songsterr website is pretty decent for tabs and it plays the song like Powertab used to until it got shutdown.

Dont overlook the Fender Squier series either, plus there are lots of good practise amps out there such as the Vox Valvetronix, Line 6 Spider, Peavey Vypr and the Roland Cube.
 
So guys I went in today and had a chat with one of the guys with the noes i jotted down from here and after asking what I wanted to play he reccomended I get a Ibanez Gio GRG150DX (£189) and a Fender Mustang I amp (£109) which is what I now have and he shredded the **** out of the guitar in the shop and it sounds awesome! I can see how the jumbo frets would have helped though as my fingers are too fat for some chords haha. I have printed out a sheet with the basic chords (E minor, A major, A minor, E major, D major, D minor, G major, C major) to help me get started! So good so far?
 
NeoReloaded said:
Yeah the Fuse software seems interesting, but I'm not that advanced yet :p

Any experience with http://www.jamplay.com/?
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No but go for it.

Just remember in my day I had to sit with a vinyl record on trying to copy what I heard but now we have the world.
Funnily enough the rhythm guitarist in my main band still uses this technique even though I link him to the Guitar Pro files which will show him exactly how to do it.
 
all probably a bit confusing at this stage...?

Hopefully some of this will make sense when you look at your printed chord boxes of the basics you listed (E minor, A major, A minor, E major, D major, D minor, G major, C major)

USE THE DOTS ON YOUR GUITAR NECK AS REFERENCE POINTS!!! (fretts 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 - also you should have 5, 7 and 12 on the side of the neck facing you)

As a way of practising barre chords, have a look at the CAGED method - there should be something on youtube about it.

Also have a go at playing major/minor scales as chords... sounds confusing but it's not.
Sorry my chord/tab boxes are not so very good, I had a jpeg of some old tuition notes I was going to post, but I cannot lay my hands on it. :confused: so this is from memory...
E|A|D|G|B|E
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
numbers = fretted note (starting from the head stock end of the guitar)
X = muted string
0 = open string

C
X|-|-|0|1|0
-|-|2|-|-|-
-|3|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

Dm
X|X|0|-|-|1
-|-|-|2|-|-
-|-|-|-|3|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

Em
0|-|-|0|0|0
-|2|2|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

F
X|-|-|-|1|X
-|-|-|2|-|-
-|3|3|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

G
-|-|0|0|-|-
-|2|-|-|-|-
3|-|-|-|3|3
-|-|-|-|-|-

Am
X|0|-|-|1|X
-|-|2|2|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

B something :o
X|-|-|-|-|X
-|2|-|-|-|-
-|-|3|-|3|-
-|-|-|4|-|-

C
X|-|-|0|1|0
-|-|2|-|-|-
-|3|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

reverse

It's a good exercise to get you to make the shapes of the chords without having to think about it; after you get the hang of it your muscle memory will take over. You can mute the low E with your thumb curling over the neck, and the top E with the meat of your 1st finger (index)
I forget how difficult writing this stuff is as opposed to actually showing someone :o

Also worth noting - Barre chords are just the same as all of these shown above (with the exception of F, as it's a partial barre chord anyway), but the important thing to know it you are substituting the open strings (the nut of the guitar) with your first finger barring the whole neck

A (major barre chord)
5|-|-|-|5|5
-|-|-|6|-|-
-|7|7|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

For maximum definition - to keep even pressure over all strings, and to stop individual strings from 'buzzing' on the fretts, good THUMB position on the back of the neck is essential - In the above barre chord, your thumb should be opposite your middle finger on frett 6.

Barre chords have 3 basic shapes (for the sake of argument, there are many more, but first things first) A-shape, E-shape (major/minor) D-shape (major/minor)

E-shape (A major chord)
5|-|-|-|5|5
-|-|-|6|-|-
-|7|7|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

E-shape (A minor chord)
5|-|-|5|5|5
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|7|7|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

E-shape (D minor chord)
X|5|-|-|-|5
-|-|-|-|6|-
-|-|7|7|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

A-shape (D major chord)
X|5|-|-|-|5
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|7|7|7|-
-|-|-|-|-|-

D-shape (G major chord)
X|X|5|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|-
-|-|-|7|-|7
-|-|-|-|8|-

D-shape (G minor chord)
X|X|5|-|-|-
-|-|-|-|-|6
-|-|-|7|-|-
-|-|-|-|8|-

You index finger remains in place, whilst you other three fingers assume the 3 shapes (of the basic major E and A and D chord) - notice the same shapes can make a major and a minor sounding chord.

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/ this web site shows it better than I have hehe, good for chords, scales, arpeggios etc.


If you can get someone to teach you a bit of proper music theory - about chord and scale relationships, fifths and thirds and intervals, plus some of the really basic C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B stuff it really will make understanding what's going on much easier.
You don't need to know how to read sheet music to play guitar, but it will help a lot later on if you have some understanding of the basics of music theory, if only to name chords correctly and understand their relationships to scales and modes and musical keys.
It is something I have always lacked when it comes to reading etc and have regretted that I did not start it earlier.


Having said that... if you have a 'good ear for music' - that you can recognise one note from another and when 2 notes are in harmony as opposed to being tone deaf, then you already have an advantage. If you can hum the same note as a song you hear on the radio and recognise it as being the same and reproduce it again; is a rudimentary description of having an 'ear for music'.

Think I'm dragging on a bit now ;)
 
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Learning to play guitar is one of the best things in the world - it might seem like a mountain to begin with, but you can do an awful lot with some basic skills once you have honed them.

Whilst learning on your own can and does work, especially if you are motivated, being able to have someone show you what is the right technique or method saves a ****load of trial and error (and bad habits).
Sometimes the simplest of things, like how to place your fingers on the strings correctly, makes a world of difference.

Everyone has to start at the beginning, which is sometimes a daunting experience... "ooh look at all of those cool guys shredding out those mad riffs in the guitar shop... I bet I'll look like a right n00b if I ask how they play that"

Any musician who thinks less of a beginner because of their lack of knowledge and experience, is not a musician worth knowing imo.

Even joe satriani was a n00b once ;) - no way man, he was born a guitar genius :p





EDIT: by the way OP do you have a decent guitar tuner yet?
Nothing worse than struggling for ages to tune up right and having your instrument make your chords sound bad, not because you're doing it wrong, but because the tuning is out a little. (learning to tune by ear with open strings/harmonics will come with time and experience)
 
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jumpy said:
EDIT: by the way OP do you have a decent guitar tuner yet?
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He's got one built into his Fender Mustang 1.

Like jumpy said, go and watch bands and ask the guitarists how they do stuff and they will show you.
On Saturday I was showing a couple of blokes riffs & bits for some of the songs we do and it's wonderful to pass that knowledge on.
The other lead guitarist in the band is a fine pedal steel and banjo player and he learnt it all by asking musos at his local Country & Western Club.
 
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