Learning to play the guitar

[Photogrrlz]

I have owned a guitar now for many years, never took the time to learn how to play it, but now I want to learn. Any suggestions or tips from the folks that know how to play out there.

BTW, its an electric one.....

Thanks in advance

[Spee-Dee]

What do you want to play? The easiest is to just play powerchords and that'll make you a great punk guitarist, but that's about it. Buy an instructional DVD with a book and a play-along CD and just practice practice practice until your fingers bleed. I tried to learn how to play guitar, but I gave up and took up bass instead. My fingers are too short and stubby to reach the strings to play any chords other than a few powerchords.

[Photogrrlz]

What do you want to play? The easiest is to just play powerchords and that'll make you a great punk guitarist, but that's about it. Buy an instructional DVD with a book and a play-along CD and just practice practice practice until your fingers bleed. I tried to learn how to play guitar, but I gave up and took up bass instead. My fingers are too short and stubby to reach the strings to play any chords other than a few powerchords.

hmmm bass what is it like to play that?

I just know I want to take up some new hobbies....

[Medea]

hmmm bass what is it like to play that?

I just know I want to take up some new hobbies....

You going to be the next Melissa Manchester on the GEETarr!!

[Spee-Dee]

hmmm bass what is it like to play that?

I just know I want to take up some new hobbies....

It can get pretty boring pretty fast, but if you can come up with a cool bassline, it can be really fun. It all depends on what you play. Most punk songs consist of 8th notes on the root of the chord. When you get into ska it gets a lot more interesting and a lot more complicated. Most ska songs I can't even play the whole song. I can figure out the easy parts though.

You don't have gel nails, do you? If so, say good-bye fast. Ripping a nail off on a string is painful as hell. My nail are half a mm long right now and they're too long.

[Photogrrlz]

You going to be the next Melissa Manchester on the GEETarr!!

Melissa Who?

[Photogrrlz]

It can get pretty boring pretty fast, but if you can come up with a cool bassline, it can be really fun. It all depends on what you play. Most punk songs consist of 8th notes on the root of the chord. When you get into ska it gets a lot more interesting and a lot more complicated. Most ska songs I can't even play the whole song. I can figure out the easy parts though.

You don't have gel nails, do you? If so, say good-bye fast. Ripping a nail off on a string is painful as hell. My nail are half a mm long right now and they're too long.

Nope don't have any girlie nails, I do my own type of manicure...hehehehe....

[letshearit4blue]

Restring it.

I learned to play guitar this summer. Self-taught. I was amazed at how fast I was able to pick it up.
What helped me was this: ALWAYS tune before playing. It'll take some of the frustration out of it if you think you sound "horrible". Also buy new strings if they're old. My acoustic guitar was made in the '50's, and hadn't been restrung since 1980! The new strings helped A LOT. If you've never strung a guitar before, get someone to help you.
Oh, and make sure to cut the strings as far close to the peg-things as possible. I picked up my guitar a couple weeks ago and a bit of sharp wire leftover left a real nice 3-inch slice across my forearm. It's still there, I can tell its gonna scar.
LOL, when I got back to school people thought I tried to slit my wrist but was too stupid to figure out where it was.

Anyways, my two cents, and best of luck!

[Spee-Dee]

I learned to play guitar this summer. Self-taught. I was amazed at how fast I was able to pick it up.
What helped me was this: ALWAYS tune before playing. It'll take some of the frustration out of it if you think you sound "horrible". Also buy new strings if they're old. My acoustic guitar was made in the '50's, and hadn't been restrung since 1980! The new strings helped A LOT. If you've never strung a guitar before, get someone to help you.
Oh, and make sure to cut the strings as far close to the peg-things as possible. I picked up my guitar a couple weeks ago and a bit of sharp wire leftover left a real nice 3-inch slice across my forearm. It's still there, I can tell its gonna scar.
LOL, when I got back to school people thought I tried to slit my wrist but was too stupid to figure out where it was.

Anyways, my two cents, and best of luck!

Until you develop your ear, invest in an electric tuner and work your way to using harmonics to tune. I recommend a chromatic tuner as opposed to one that's just for guitars or basses. They're not too expensive either. Usually around $20. I had a Korg one until my brother stole it after I bought him a tuner/metronome for Christmas.

I also recommend investing in a metronome. It will annoy you to no end, but it's a necessary evil in the world of music.

If you tune your guitar and find that it's going out of tune a lot, you should take it in and get it checked by a professional guitarist. It might have a warped neck or something else wrong with it that needs fixing.

Do finger strengthening exercizes on your guitar without the amp while watching TV, and noodle around on your guitar. However, when you're seriously practicing, use an amp so that you can hear when you're making mistakes. That said, keep the gain and distortion low so you don't mask your mistakes.

Also, I can't stress this enough, LEARN YOUR SCALES!!! They're easy on guitar because it's just a matter of learning the finger pattern and starting at different frets and strings.

[letshearit4blue]

I also recommend investing in a metronome. It will annoy you to no end, but it's a necessary evil in the world of music.

Ugh I HATE metronomes... I got an electronic one, it's actually halfway decent. I like that it has an audible beat setting and also one with an LED that blinks each beat with no noise. I prefer the LED setting.

[Photogrrlz]

Hey thanks for the tips.... I have a couple of coworkers that play and one said he would belp me string my guitar, no is actually finding time to get to the music store for new strings

[ptcop531]

You going to be the next Melissa Manchester on the GEETarr!!

I am sure you mean Melissa Ethridge.........

[Photogrrlz]

I am sure you mean Melissa Ethridge.........

I only own 1 of her cds

[savage4presiden]

Here is some good advice: get a guitar instructor until you are satisfied with your own ability. It was very helpfull to have an instructor when I started. They know far more than you do and for a half hour a week the benifets are great.

[Delta784]

File this under "Things you didn't know about me", but I'm actually a very accomplished j*** guitar player. I used to play live quite a bit, until recurring ganglion cysts in my fretting hand made me greatly curtail playing a few years ago.

The best advice I can offer is to start taking lessons with a competent guitar teacher. I was largely self-taught for the first few years, and when I finally sought professional instruction by a Berklee grad, I spent the first 6 months un-learning all the bad habits I had developed.

Unless you're a prodigy, things are going to come slow at first, so don't get discouraged. I taught guitar for a awhile, and I quickly realized the two biggest things that discourage new players;

1) A cheap guitar that won't stay in-tune. It's tough to stay enthusiastic when you do everything right, but it still doesn't sound right.

2) Unrealistic expectations. I lost count how many brand-new guitar students wanted me to teach them how to play "Eruption" by Van Halen, or some other incredibly difficult piece that I could barely manage myself.

My advice....take some lessons, have some fun with it, and if you don't like it, then drop it. If you do like it, stick with what your teacher tells you, and once again have fun with it. Don't try to become Andres Segovia overnight.

My "main squeeze";

LP 1

LP 2

LP 3