The Gee-tar!

Blobson

Blobson

Blobson

Associate
Joined
12 Nov 2002
Posts
122
Location
Nottingham
I've started to learn the guitar, been saying for ages I fancied a stab at it so took the plunge & bought one with a couple books & youtube has loads of good guitar tuition vids that are free. I think I may have hit my brick wall now though, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to learn new techniques & songs even though my fingers are a bit more nimble than when I started. I think I would find it easier to be tought by a tutor so I can see how songs are meant to be played & I can ask questions (I like asking questions!). So a question for everyone, who can play the guitar here & how did you learn? (question no2!) How much would it cost, if worth it at all, for a guitar tutor?
Cheers
Blob
 
i would say guitar tutor is definately the way to go, it costs someone i know £30 an hour to get their son lessons, and that is up north
 
i started out on my own, was doin pretty well then just wasnt getting any better. Ended up gettin lessons from a tutor I know at work and it has made quite a difference :)
 
start with the basics changing between major chords then minor once you are fluent in these some songs will seem very easy

just type in a song you like in to google with the word chords after it and you will find a easy song sooner or later

playing a song you like will give you a sense of achievment and incentive to try more complex stuff that is how i started

there are some good tips on this site

http://www.justinguitar.com/index.php
 
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I've learnt myself. I think the more you play the quicker you learn and the better you become. Jam sessions and playing with friends is a great way to improve and experiment :)

ultimate guitar website is also useful for tabs, breaking songs into chords- explaining what each of the chords are etc :)
 
I think the trouble with learning to play the guitar is that you are on your own trying to produce a Full sound.
Go to more live gigs & watch the Guitarist for starters & note what part he plays in the band & in the song. Get a cheap drum machine & some backing tracks specifically designed wothout the Guitar parts in them & then learn the part & play along. You'd be surpirsed just how easy it is to play along with a band compared to trying to create a complete sound on your own on just a guitar.

Also Power chords for the winrar ;)
 
Instead of a guitar tutor I'd buy tuition DVDs featuring songs of your favourite artists.
That way you can learn at your own pace and it won't cost an arm & a leg.
 
dmpoole said:
Instead of a guitar tutor I'd buy tuition DVDs featuring songs of your favourite artists.
That way you can learn at your own pace and it won't cost an arm & a leg.
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Sadly a DVD doesn't have unlimited camera angles and an 'analyse your playing' ability :p

My old teacher was £15 an hour, very good.
 
Nitefly said:
Sadly a DVD doesn't have unlimited camera angles and an 'analyse your playing' ability :p
Click to expand...

I'll give you analysing but I can't see where camera angles come into it.
I can't ever remember a time when I've been showing somebody something and they've asked for a different view other than straight on.
 
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I've been teaching myself for nearly 4 years now and as yet haven't hit a wall. It might have helped me that I learnt to play the trumpet/cornet from the age of 6 or 7. I tend to spend most of my time just playing songs, sometimes learning new ones (not as often as i'd like though). Every 2 or 3 months I'll find the inclination to spend a bit of time on the technical side of playing, so I find my copy of one of Troy Stetina's books (very good BTW if you're into that kind of music) and work through a bit.

When I was playing hte trumpet the main help my tutor offered me was guidance on WHAT to play and motivation to do it. The rest I could do myself (now I'm a bit older I certainly could, probably when I was younger I couldn't).
 
dmpoole said:
I'll give you analysing but I can't see where camera angles come into it.
I can't ever remember a time when I've been showing somebody something and they've asked for a different view other than straight on.
Click to expand...
More of a case of where you hands should lie as a beginner eg palm muting. Very slow of me I know, but I just didn't get palm muting until my teacher explained it using my own hands.
 
Nitefly said:
More of a case of where you hands should lie as a beginner eg palm muting. Very slow of me I know, but I just didn't get palm muting until my teacher explained it using my own hands.
Click to expand...

It took me a while too, but after a while you just begin to feel more comfortable and I found palm muting just "came to me".
 
I found that once i started applying techniques etc in songs, i found it so much more interesting to play.

Also, being in a band helped me improve infinitely. I doubt i'd have stuck it out without others to jam with.

Maybe practice with a drummer or something, see what you can come up with. It's fun =)
 
I found that teaching myself via tabs I'd printed from OLGA was a bit like doing a picture in a paint-by-numbers fashion. I could sit down for a couple of hours and keep going over and over the same stuff parrot-style until I was happy I could do it. I wasn't really learning much though, and I'd find that if I hadn't played a song for a while, I'd forget what the chords were, strumming patterns, etc...

A short while ago I decided I'd have some lessons to see if that would help me better understand the theoretical side of playing the guitar, as well as teaching me the things I was doing wrong or could be doing better. I've found that I've learnt a lot since I started - stuff that maybe you guys already know... triads, circle of fifths, scales, etc... but which I'd neither known about nor had the motivation to discover on my own.

I've gone through several different instructors at the school where I learn. Some have been great, some less so. I currently pay £12.50 for a ½-hour lesson, which I think is expensive and I could get a better deal by going through an individual as opposed to using the school I do use (I'm too lazy to switch, tbh).
 
self-taught here, couldnt even tune a guitar up when i bought my first second hand plank. Learning guitar is not an easy task, it just takes a lot of time and practice and the more you put into it the more you get out of it. Learn the basic chord shapes then just experiment and dont force yourself too much.

the one bit of advice i would give is to not expect too much too soon, some players pick things up in months , others in years and above all just have fun learning a song by a group you are into. Ive never had a lesson so i cant comment on whether they are worth the cash.
 
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