Share some tips on learning to play the guitar

loopylou · 1 Jul 2007 at 23:30

After 2 years of walking past my boyfriends guitar I have decided to give it a go and learn to play the guitar!

What are your top tips for learning?

I started yesterday trying to learn Live Forever, which I can do very slowly but struggling with the F Barre chord (my fingers just don't want to move in that way) and generally moving between chords fluidly.

I guess I am going with the method if I keep practising over and over, I will be able to play it like second nature (as well as build up an irrational hatred for the song) and then move on to a new song.

Are there better ways to learn? Better songs to start with? Exercises to improve changing chords fluidly? Any pearls of wisdom you can share that you wished you knew when you started to play yourself?

Thanks

NickK · 1 Jul 2007 at 23:37

1. Learn what you like as you'll know the tune and you'll want to play it. Nothing will turn you off playing the guitar than mindless scales exercises, This will also give you a goal

2. Like all things, it's a matter of practice and through that you'll strengthen your grip. Alternatively you could replace the strings by a lighter weight set (it will alter the sound). There's plenty of finger/hand coordination exercises on the web.

3. Put 15-20 minutes a day to it initially.

banja · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:31

Buy the Guitar Case Chord Book. Learn some chords. Get strumming

It's a nice book because if you want something different to do, there's always a new chord to learn.

Don't be put off if it gets frustrating (barre chords should be a while away really) just keep going. You'll occasionally feel like you've "hit a wall" in learning and improvement, but if you carry on you'll find you'll then have a spurt of improvement which makes you go 'wow' and the sense of achievemwnt makes it worthwhile.

Good luck

Nitefly · 2 Jul 2007 at 01:13

loopylou said:
I started yesterday trying to learn Live Forever, which I can do very slowly but struggling with the F Barre chord

I find F the hardest chord of all and I have been playing for 6 years

Grab yourself a 3 chord songbook and learn a few good'uns (Preferebly without F , but you will have to cross this hurdle eventually!). I was a pro at Mr. Tambourine Man in no time

As for chord changing, play a chord and make sure all notes are ringing out cleanly. Then just alternate slowly between chords and playing them cleanly one strum each. Thats how I nailed that monster death change of D to G anyway

loopylou · 2 Jul 2007 at 09:08

Thanks for the tips guys, I have 4 sore finger tips today which I am told is a good thing so yay.

I will pop out at lunch to get some books.

Any tips for reading tab? it just looks like a whole bunch of numbers to me at the moment.

SidewinderINC · 2 Jul 2007 at 09:21

tab is a lot easier than it seems at first, each line represents one of the strings.
the bottom line being the Low E string (fattest one) and the top line being the High E string (thinnest one) and each number represents what fret you have to have pressed down at that point in time.

reading chords in tab form can be rather annoying, as even the simplest of chords look like a chore.

loopylou · 2 Jul 2007 at 09:23

I figured it was something like that, just another thing to pratice I guess.

SidewinderINC · 2 Jul 2007 at 09:26

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/tab-notation.txt

says it better than i ever could

Sweetloaf · 2 Jul 2007 at 11:03

Learn E, A, D then C.

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.php

When you know them well learn some variations on then, Am Em etc.

Congratulations, you can now play virtually every AC/DC song there is

Practice that F Barre shape and learn to play it up and down the neck in various different positions, you can now play every Oasis song ever written as well

This guy has some excellent tips and advice:

http://uk.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=JustinSandercoe&p=r

IceBus · 2 Jul 2007 at 12:26

Buy a metronome. It's never too early to learn tight timing

SexyGreyFox · 2 Jul 2007 at 12:31

The best tool I've ever seen for learning the guitar is the wonderful Guitar Pro.
I've been gigging for 37 years and its improved my playing no end.
The only problem is finding the files that go with it although there are plenty of freebies about.

loopylou · 2 Jul 2007 at 12:41

dmpoole said:
The best tool I've ever seen for learning the guitar is the wonderful Guitar Pro.
I've been gigging for 37 years and its improved my playing no end.
The only problem is finding the files that go with it although there are plenty of freebies about.

I see they do free trails, I may have a look at this.

As for the metronome, I was thinking about this yesterday, as I think I need something to disapline my timing, plus it makes it easier to read the music. I seen that there is a on line one so I may give that a go when I pratice tongiht.

I've also found the chords to Mr. Tambourine Man, it seems pretty simple to follow.

The Tab information was useful, I shall be reading it on my lunch break.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I just want to get home and play now.

Clinkz · 2 Jul 2007 at 12:46

dmpoole said:
The best tool I've ever seen for learning the guitar is the wonderful Guitar Pro.
I've been gigging for 37 years and its improved my playing no end.
The only problem is finding the files that go with it although there are plenty of freebies about.

No offence dm but while guitar pro and power tab are really useful for writting i find them practically impossible and cumbersome for learning. I really dont think its a very useful tool to recommend to a newbie.

ruffneck · 2 Jul 2007 at 13:19

Clinkz said:
No offence dm but while guitar pro and power tab are really useful for writting i find them practically impossible and cumbersome for learning. I really dont think its a very useful tool to recommend to a newbie.

why?, I find it very useful for learning and I've only been playing 2years...

alexthecheese · 2 Jul 2007 at 14:15

ruffneck said:
why?, I find it very useful for learning and I've only been playing 2years...

Why indeed?

You can use it to read music, play songs at different tempos, repeat certain sections, play different instruments on the section/song, transpose it to a different tuning, it'll show you all the scales...

Why wouldn't you want all that from the off? I think it's brilliant.

SexyGreyFox · 2 Jul 2007 at 14:22

Clinkz said:
No offence dm but while guitar pro and power tab are really useful for writting i find them practically impossible and cumbersome for learning. I really dont think its a very useful tool to recommend to a newbie.

Are you talking about the same program ?
This actually shows you in real time (or time you choose) where exactly to put your fingers and how to play the riff on a guitar neck.
This is without doubt the tool for a newbie and pro's.

Hellsmk2 · 2 Jul 2007 at 15:37

Learn the finger placement for a few chords, then sit in front of your TV and concentrate on that whilst not giving the guitar in your hand too much of your attention. Simply keep strumming the chords and change chord every so often.

Seems kind of silly but I always found if I sat down and concentrated on the guitar that I lost patience and put it down. Once I'd subconsciously learnt a few chords I found concentrating on the sound I was making far more enjoyable as it didn't sound terrible or feel like a chore.

I wouldn't bother trying to learn other peoples' songs at the moment. You'll find that as you improve, you begin to work out how to play various songs anyhow. It's always nice to randomly stumble across how to play a popular song.

SidewinderINC · 2 Jul 2007 at 15:39

dmpoole said:
Are you talking about the same program ?
This actually shows you in real time (or time you choose) where exactly to put your fingers and how to play the riff on a guitar neck.
This is without doubt the tool for a newbie and pro's.

for pro's i'd suggest it isnt "the tool" becuase you cant get the fast paul gilbert stuff working in real time, the visuals always lag behind

for beginners i'd suggest its amazing

and as this is the case in this thread then yes, its for you

SexyGreyFox · 2 Jul 2007 at 15:54

SidewinderINC said:
for pro's i'd suggest it isnt "the tool" becuase you cant get the fast paul gilbert stuff working in real time, the visuals always lag behind

But does it or does it not show you where to put your fingers (as long as it was tabbed right)?
I know plenty of pro's who use it just to get an idea of where they are supposed to be.

SidewinderINC · 2 Jul 2007 at 16:00

if you're a pro surely you should know where they're supposed to go anyway

i generally use it becuase its tricky to find official sheet music for half of the songs i want to play.