Learning the guitar. Again. For the first time.

[necroerotica]

OK, long(ish) story short – probably about 18 years ago now, I decided I wanted to play the guitar. I got the guitar, I got the amp, I got the calluses on my fingers. I was (am) a metal and blues listener, so I learned to tap, learned scales by rote (although I never knew why) and learned the easier parts of my fav. Metal tracks from Tabed music books.
Hell, I even considered sleeping with my guitar like Jimi Hendrix did when he was in the army.

Thing is, I eventually realised that I knew fuck all.
I’d learned everything mechanically, I’d aimed too high too quickly, and sure I could play my fav metallica guitar intro, but I had no idea how to play a simple tune.



So now that I’m a lot older and lot more realistic, I want to learn to *play* the guitar.

I know that the best way to learn is by having lessons. I’m going through a separation, and I have no money to spare for those. I do have a computer, a bedroom, and time though.

So, question – can anyone recommend any online resources which have good lessons I can print out and practice at home, and try to learn the basics by myself again?

Note that I can use google as well as anyone, but what I’m looking for is *recommendations* from you good people.

Peace, and be well......

 

[desertslave]

Please understand that I'm biased, right from the start. I grew up in a musical family, started with "method" piano at 6, went off to guitar at 10, and I just plain love classical guitar anyway. I've been playing off and on ever since, and re-started formal lessons a year ago with an excellent, and very versatile teacher.

I believe that the best way to learn guitar is through a classical-based method. You will learn everything you need to know about the fretboard this way, and will be able to build chords and riffs for everything else you might ever want to play with this fundamental knowledge.

All that said, I would recommend this book, which is one that I studied from for several years AFTER my total beginner lessons. I still love playing various pieces from it even though I'm more advanced now. Just because it looks and plays "simple" doesn't mean it sounds simple.

Here's an Amazon link. I love the fact that there's a CD included, now.

Play on!

 

[desertslave]

Sorry, the server is slow and I'm impatient this morning.

 

[desertslave]

Sorry again!

 

[necroerotica]

I believe that the best way to learn guitar is through a classical-based method. You will learn everything you need to know about the fretboard this way, and will be able to build chords and riffs for everything else you might ever want to play with this fundamental knowledge.

Play on!

Yup - thanks to Yngwie Malmstein I tried to jump into finger picking and classical as well (I wasn't joking when I said I 'aimed too high too quickly' )

That looks to be a good book, and I do realise I'm missing out a lot by not having lessons. But at this point, I just want to strip it right back to the absolute basics and start again - this is an E chord, this is an F chord, this song uses them like this, blah blah blah.


I have time and maturity now, but that also means I have access to other things I want to do (archery for example) and the last thing I want to do is frustrate myself to the point of giving up the guitar yet again, because I'll just concentrate on something else and likely never go back to it.

 

[ayrton]

Find an online chordbook. Google any song you want to learn and loads of guitar tabs will come up. If you don't know the chords the chordbook will show you. Much easier than when I learned trying to pick out the chords by ear while listening to the record. Took days to learn some songs while driving my parents nuts. It's so easy today it feels like cheating. As far as fast leads I'd leave them alone until you master the basics, but there are tabs online for them as well. That said, the best way to learn rock guitar is developing a good ear and for that I would still recommend trying to learn the songs without the aid of the net.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I taught myself to play rock guitar.

1. Learn to read tab
2. Get the tabs for the songs you want to learn.
3. Ear is the most important thing.
4. Practice with a metronome
5. first 3 pages of Mauro Giuliani's 120 Exercises for Right Hand

 

[Brundar]

There is an excellent begginers learning guide at www.about.com
Go there and search learning to play the guitar. It walks you through tuning your guitar, playing the chromatic scale, chords, and so on. I found it very helpful

 

[coastal-boy]

nothing easier than 12 bar blues...

 

[necroerotica]

There is an excellent begginers learning guide at www.about.com
Go there and search learning to play the guitar. It walks you through tuning your guitar, playing the chromatic scale, chords, and so on. I found it very helpful

This is actually something I started on yesterday - like I said, I wanted to go right back to basics.

After 10 mins of the chromatic scale, I was still miss-picking, damping strings with my fingers and my neck-hand hurt.

Oy, I'd forgotten what it was like to start

But I'm determined to take my time, this time.

 

[desertslave]

Another excellent book (yes, it's classical-based....aka "finger style" LOL) is Pumping Nylon, by Scott ******t. There's also a newer version with TAB as well as standard notation. He gives you fantastic exercises for both the left and right hands, for strengthening and accuracy (including those Giuliani exercises). I've always had a weak left pinky (I'm double-jointed) and working through this book has helped me immensely.

 

[SlickTony]

I wish I could even get that far...I have this nice Ibanez, my son got it when he thought he wanted to take up the guitar. He lost interest, and I took over the Ibanez and the lessons he was taking. The instructor is a classical guitarist who's got a good rep in this area, but I found him to be intimidating, and I don't like being intimidated by guys half my age. And then he got unaffordable, on top of the fact that he was clear across town, and I had to quit. I put the Ibanez in its case and didn't pick it up again for nearly 4 years.

Now I'm in this kind of odd situation...July 4 before last I went to this party and met this guy who'd brought his guitar with him. He started playing and singing and I started singing along with him, and we ended up jamming half the night. I had more fun than I'd had in years. Before I had to leave I said I'd email him a music file of Eric Clapton's cover of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen." I did, but the email bounced; I'm not sure why. I tried again, thinking I'd misspelled his name, and it bounced again. Finally it occurred to me to ask a guy who had been one of the hosts of the party about him, and cuss the luck, my new musician friend was in jail. He'd violated his probation. I wrote him a letter and he wrote back, amazed that I should think he wouldn't remember me, and it turned out we'd been thinking the same thing: wouldn't it be fun if we could hunt up some small venues and private events to play for? We decided to put some sets together and go for it, if the State of Florida would ever be pleased to let him out of stir; in the meantime, I've picked up the Ibanez and tried to start over again with it.

There have been more problems than I'd anticipated. First, I couldn't tune it; I broke three strings when I tried. Well, a flamenco guitarist where I work told me that after such a long time the strings had probably gone sour and needed to be replaced. So I replaced them. But I'm still having problems. I've gotten the thing mostly tuned except the biggest string keeps trying to come out at the other end, and I'm scared I'll break it again. I swear, if I were a guitar instructor, I'd make all my students learn how to restring their guitars before they learned so much as a chord.

I've gotten as far as getting my fingertips sore. It's very difficult. In fact it feels like it's harder than it was three or so years ago. I wish that learning the guitar were as easy as typing--I'm a very good typist; it's what I do for a living. The two guitarists I know are of two opinions: the flamenco guitarist at my job says that skill in typing might not necessarily translate into skill at an instrument. My incarcerated friend says that if I once got far enough to get calluses on my fingers, which I did before, I could take it up again. He's taught guitar off and on for years.

I feel like things are militating against me in general. Do you know how hard it is to practice in a small open plan house when you've got family? The sound of all practice drives all cohabitants batshit. When I was taking lessons before, we only had the one computer in the house, and we all vied for time on it. I learned that the one thing that would get my husband to abandon his backgammon games and offer me computer time, was to listen to me practice for fifteen minutes. (About the guitarist, he goes back and forth between eh, two middle aged people and a guitar, who's going to pay to listen to that? and me Being Out With Another Man at the local clubs every weekend night of the year. Well, which is it? The whole situation, needless to say, is very much up in the air and on hold now.)

Meanwhile, how do I keep the biggest string from pulling the peg out?

 

[coastal-boy]

IThere have been more problems than I'd anticipated. First, I couldn't tune it; I broke three strings when I tried.

Meanwhile, how do I keep the biggest string from pulling the peg out?

1) Buy a electronic tuner for $20...sounds to me like you may be tuning it too high. 2) It is possible the wrong pin is in the wrong hole. 3) Finally...you can buy new ones.

 

[SlickTony]

1) Buy a electronic tuner for $20...sounds to me like you may be tuning it too high. 2) It is possible the wrong pin is in the wrong hole. 3) Finally...you can buy new ones.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not sure how that can happen, I mean about the wrong pin being in the wrong hole. I changed my guitar strings just like I change my spark plugs and spark plug wires: one at a time.

I've got an electronic tuner. It has two settings: one where you can listen to an actual tone and one where you have the gauge with the needle going from side to side. That one is problematic to me, because it has seven settings, in case you have a seven string guitar. How does it know when I'm trying to tune one that has 6 strings?

I didn't want to do it, on account of the hassle factor, but I'm going to schlep the thing to work and see if my flamenco-playing coworker can't help me with it on our lunch hour.

 

[desertslave]

Is it an acoustic or electric? If it's been neglected, depending on the model, the wood might have dried out somewhat and allowed it to slip. If you have a guitar shop near you, they might know a reputable repair person.

Just a funny note about intimidating teachers. Mine is 29...the same age as the guitar I bought in high school!!!!! He was nervous when he started working with me. LOL (I'm just about old enough to be his mother. The freaky thing is, I think he's adorable.)

 

[SlickTony]

Is it an acoustic or electric? If it's been neglected, depending on the model, the wood might have dried out somewhat and allowed it to slip. If you have a guitar shop near you, they might know a reputable repair person.

Just a funny note about intimidating teachers. Mine is 29...the same age as the guitar I bought in high school!!!!! He was nervous when he started working with me. LOL (I'm just about old enough to be his mother. The freaky thing is, I think he's adorable.)

It's acoustic, and I don't think that's what the problem is. It's always been kept indoors, away from strong sunlight. I think my flamenco-playing coworker will know--he's had a guitar shop himself, in the past--he still builds them on occasion.

 

[coastal-boy]

How does it know when I'm trying to tune one that has 6 strings?

E, A, D, G, B, E from largest to smallest. There should be something telling you what note you are tuning

The pin could have been wrong if someone else took them all out and mixed them up. They are different. They fit tight...if it isn't, there is something wrong.

 

[percept]

Get a close look as to how Mark Knoffler plays his guitar.....Just think of a tune and keep playing until you get a line right or till you get into the rhythm and groove. If you are a natural you don't need to take classes all you need is dedication and practice. Hardwork along with some smartwork.

 

[SlickTony]

E, A, D, G, B, E from largest to smallest. There should be something telling you what note you are tuning

The pin could have been wrong if someone else took them all out and mixed them up. They are different. They fit tight...if it isn't, there is something wrong.

The first time anybody ever took any of those bridge pins out, they were taken out by me, and like I said, I did it just the way I do spark plugs and wires, one at a time.

Anyway, I had to go to the chiropractor this afternoon, so I drove in to work, and I schlepped the Ibanez to work with me, and the flamenco guitarist in Graphics was kind enough to spend part of his lunch hour working with it. Come to find out, THAT BRIDGE PIN WAS BROKEN! And that's why it didn't hold the e string in. I should have realized that it was shorter than the others, but I had the others in there nice and tight and damn if I was going to take them out again. Anyway, my coworker said he had handfuls of them at home and he'd bring me one.

 

[coastal-boy]

THAT BRIDGE PIN WAS BROKEN! .

There you go...see solution #3 above.

I think of strings as I do an oil change, changing them at least once every season (4x a yr) at minimum regardless of the mileage. I don't play as often as I used to (maybe once a week for an hr or so to unwind), and I use silk and steel. There is nothing like the sound of a new set of strings. When I was playing more, I could change them between once and twice a month easy. You can seriously hear the difference once the strings reach over 24 hrs worth of play time (depending on how hard you play)

 

[coastal-boy]

Seriously, download some blues standards...and then just play along. When you are tired of playing chords, just work the scales to the music. When you get better, you can beat a few chords to keep the rhythm and finish with a rip at an appropriate time. It is a great way to learn.

A second suggestion: Get the music for Ten Years After, I'd love to change the World (Em G Am C B7)....it is great practice for chords. Once you get this, change the key (don't use a capo). You can get practice for most of the chords this way with one song.

 

[thehoaxer]

just don't give up

just don't give up, guitar is the most rewarding past time there is. When I get my guitar out the time just melts away. When I was younger I had nothing but time to practice, since you are older you may not be able to put in alot of time daily but stick with it. Practice Practice Practice. Good luck

 

[thehoaxer]

i forgot to add this

if you decide to get some tabs, this is one of my favorite sites http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

 

[necroerotica]

just don't give up, guitar is the most rewarding past time there is. When I get my guitar out the time just melts away. When I was younger I had nothing but time to practice, since you are older you may not be able to put in alot of time daily but stick with it. Practice Practice Practice. Good luck

Aye, once I get my daughter to bed I try to practice every night, along with read a bit more of a book, play some warcraft, shower, blah blah blah.

Heh.

This weekend I was just too knackered to care much for reading another lesson, so I just sat and noodled away on a blues scale I'd learnt, pretending I was Stevie Ray Vaughn. I'm so glad no one was there to hear me, but it was fun