Self-Teaching (Guitar)

Nearly 5 years self taught and i can play allsorts.
Its mathematics really, in terms of choosing which fingers to you. Dont just practice the pieces figure out a way to playing the piece which requires minimum effort, so experiment with your fingers and apply some logic.
 
Hellsmk2 said:
Lynrd Skynrd - Sweet Home Alabama (v.easy)
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That's actually quite a tricky one, I have that in my 'intermediate' section anyway :p As it's got some hammer-ons and pull-offs that need to be executed quite quickly. I think so anyway :)
 
Been playing for about 10 years now. Initially started with a teacher once a week for about 3 years learning classical pieces, sight reading, sheet music and stuff and doing proper music association grades (got to about grade 5).

Then I gave up on the lessons and just taught myself from then on. I found that I enjoyed playing more when I was learning on my own because I was able to play stuff that I wanted to learn rather than just pieces that were on a list. I also learnt a lot more in a shorter amount of time and it brought me into an entirely different style of music and playing.

Admittedly, my start in classical and 'proper' music helped quite a bit when it came to learning technique and scales etc for particular songs and being able to sight read is useful. Also for songs that needed a finger picking style - like classical guitar - it came much easier.

I still play with my fingers - just can't stand to use a pick at all. I feel lost if i cant feel the strings!
 
Six6siX said:
Been playing for about 10 years now. Initially started with a teacher once a week for about 3 years learning classical pieces, sight reading, sheet music and stuff and doing proper music association grades (got to about grade 5).

Then I gave up on the lessons and just taught myself from then on. I found that I enjoyed playing more when I was learning on my own because I was able to play stuff that I wanted to learn rather than just pieces that were on a list. I also learnt a lot more in a shorter amount of time and it brought me into an entirely different style of music and playing.

Admittedly, my start in classical and 'proper' music helped quite a bit when it came to learning technique and scales etc for particular songs and being able to sight read is useful. Also for songs that needed a finger picking style - like classical guitar - it came much easier.

I still play with my fingers - just can't stand to use a pick at all. I feel lost if i cant feel the strings!
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Same here, I love fingerpicking! Although I love using the plectrum for chord strumming. :D

Can you play romanza de amor? It's a fast fingerpicking song.
 
smsmasters said:
Same here, I love fingerpicking! Although I love using the plectrum for chord strumming. :D

Can you play romanza de amor? It's a fast fingerpicking song.
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Fingers for chords here :p

Never heard of that song...only one that comes immediately to mind for fast finger picking is the start of Call of Ktulu (Metallica). The rest is just a solo - I tend to use my finger nail for harmonics and for a harder sound with high treble. Im sure there are others I can play which have a similar picking style, but I dont really notice unless im playing them...
 
I'll look into sorting out some lessons soon, but for now can anyone give any advice on getting started and practicing by myself?
 
1) Try and number your fingers to frets (1st finger - 1st fret and so on) so that your pinky finger is used for those longer stretches. Will get easier further up the board as the frets are smaller apart.

2) Hold your pick/plectrum so that it would be like you were stabbing the tip into your body so that you can alternate pick (picking up and down on the strings instead of just down - also called "strokes")

3) Start with some basic scales like the major scales or minor pentatonic. (i'll get some sites later tonight if you can find any to get you started) and work your fingers to get a little bit of speed.

4) Then start with open chords and get them sounding all perfect and fluent in changing between them. Don't worry if rhymth is hard, that will come.

5) Try and learn the notes on both E strings and the A so that you have half the string notes memorised and ready for playing. (will help you with barre chords no end when you come to do them)

6) The barre chords are quite tricky and will take weeks before sounding like they should, if not a bit longer. Once you have mastered them though it's so easy. Start with "powerchords" and play just 3 strings. Then move on to the E shape barre chord and see where that takes you. Finally, the A shaped barre chord will resemble the powerchord fingering, but you play more strings/

^ That's enough for at least 6-9 months. Maybe i've gone a little too hard ahead but at least you know whats ahead in the coming months. :p
 
Cheers for the reply.

I'm going to get started tonight, I don't suppose you've got any paticular websites at hand which will go over the aforementioned in more detail?

There's a few songs that I know I want to learn to play, whatever it takes.

The Libertines - What Katie Did (I just love the start lol).
Oasis - Wonderwall (Accoustic).
The Verve - Lucky Man (Accoustin - best song ever made).
 
I started here...

This is also a good place to start...

Go through lesson 1 and try to get all of the chords (G,C,D) to all sound full without muting other strings with your fingers. Luckily for those that just want to play along to most popular songs, it is just a matter of playing the corresponding chords and that is the case with at least two of those songs (wonderwall and lucky man both use G and D chords and no doubt a C)

Tab for "What Katie Did"

Tab for "Wonderwall"

Tab for "Lucky Man"

But make sure your guitar is in tune first.

Free Download Here

If you have msn add me and i can run you through any problems too. :)
 
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