Learning guitar

[dr_kabuto]

Hi ubunteros,
some weeks ago I decided to make my life a little less boring. So after reading some thread about you guys discussing which guitar is better and so on, I had the crazy idea to learn playing a guitar. What is the problem then, you may ask: well, I'm 36, so probably not quite a good age to learn an instrument...
So I want to ask here for suggestions and if some of you had this kind of problem....

Thank you!

[userundefine]

For what it's worth, I just got my first guitar lesson the other night. It really hurts your fingers at first! I'm told after a few weeks calluses develop and it's not a problem.

[mips]

Hi ubunteros,
some weeks ago I decided to make my life a little less boring. So after reading some thread about you guys discussing which guitar is better and so on, I had the crazy idea to learn playing a guitar. What is the problem then, you may ask: well, I'm 36, so probably not quite a good age to learn an instrument...
So I want to ask here for suggestions and if some of you had this kind of problem....

Thank you!

I'm in exactly the same boat as you so will keep an eye on this thread.

[bryncoles]

some clear video lessons for the guiitar can be found here:

http://www.justinguitar.com/

and some tabs can be found here:

http://www.guitarprotabs.org/

and a bit of tuxguitar (from the repos, for reading the guitar pro tabs) should start you off nicely...

[tdrusk]

Just start out with songs that are all chords.
LEARN YOUR CHORDS.

Then learn a major and minor scale.

Just keep playing. You'll get better. No rush.

If you need any help or suggestions just pm me.

[cmay]

whatever you do just do not give up. there comes a time when you have played for about two years when you feel you cant learn anything more. once you get pass that you really start to learn. i played since i was 14 and i am almost 37 years old now. i still learn to play new instruments.
good luck to you.

[Eisenwinter]

Don't "learn" to play. Just play.

I have a guitar, I have never taken a lesson, and I play. I just make melodies, play them in a loop, until something new comes out, then I play that, etc.

Don't learn. Learning will restrict you, it'll imprison your creativity.

[chucky chuckaluck]

the only problem with learning an instrument when you're an adult is that your tolerance for stupid, little songs is much lower than a child's. after the novelty wears off and you're still playing "go tell aunt rhody", you're more likely to say "asterisk this asterisk" and give up. that said, while guitar is a pretty hard instrument to play well, it's one of the easier ones to play badly. so, you'll at least make some progress. as bad as it might seem, the suggestion to learn just chords of a song and play it like a sing-a-long, is a good one (you'd have to sing to make it worthwhile, though).

[Bölvaður]

Don't "learn" to play. Just play.

I have a guitar, I have never taken a lesson, and I play.

Absolutely! Get some songs from the internet, fire them up in tuxguitar and try to copy it. You dont learn how to play as it is just practicing.

Best ways to practice is in my own opinion to


Play songs from tuxguitar
Make my own song
Improvise and replay it


Just dont try doing the hardest songs at first. But you definitely wouldnt want to play the easiest ones either. Just pick something popular... I think playing metallica songs is the most popular way to practice, even if it is difficult you dont have to know a whole song, perhaps bits and pieces from here and there, and in the end, you will have the skills to be able to play a whole song.
(perhaps playing metallica is too difficult, so playing any song from popular radio is the best. the guitars from there are very simple to play and newbie friendly)



Just start out with songs that are all chords.
LEARN YOUR CHORDS.
Well if you want to play the guitar, please stay away from chords. If you want to make guitar sounds that fit what you are singing or want to have a singalong in parties... then use chords. Many singers find that the best way to make it look like they are doing something more than just sining... well they are.. just not very impressive :KS

[Northsider]

Don't "learn" to play. Just play.

I have a guitar, I have never taken a lesson, and I play. I just make melodies, play them in a loop, until something new comes out, then I play that, etc.

Don't learn. Learning will restrict you, it'll imprison your creativity.
BEST advice I have ever heard. Listen to him. I've been playing guitar for ~10 years and I have never had a lesson. I first learned the basic chords from my mom who plays (A,D,C,E,G). After that I got guitar magazines (well, now you can just search the net) with tablature (tabs) of my favorite songs in them and learned them all, no matter how hard it seemed. There is no sense in learning songs that you don't care about...learn something you enjoy!

1. Your fingers WILL hurt...it takes a while to build up callouses.
2. Don't limit yourself to "easy" songs (I began trying to crank out Metallica in my first few months...not an easy task but I got good real quick)...the only way to get better (as with sports, school, anything) is to push yourself.
3. You have to want to learn. You have to WANT to learn. You really have to WANT to LEARN. It takes dedication and time to learn. You won't get good in one week, or one month, or one year, or even 5 years. I'm going on 10 years (~5 years of serious playing every day) and I am still learning and getting better at techniques.
4. Play with others. Get a band or another guitarist together and do some jamming. You can learn a whole lot just from playing with someone else.
5. Don't fuss over technique at first...there's no reason to "memorize" the E minor pentatonic scale if your pinky finger can't even reach the strings comfortably. Just learn to play songs, technique will come naturally after a while. I don't know any chord names other than the basic ones I first learned, but I can play/form pretty much anything just because I have been playing for so long:

"Play D#6add9"

Me: "Huh?"

"This one" (shows me)

Me: "Ohh, that one. Ok, I know that one from ___ song"

[MikeBrown]

-Start out on an acoustic guitar to build callouses. Yes they will hurt. -"Play until your fingers ble[e]d".
-Take lessons or get the basics down (such as chords, tuning, etc).
-Try to play along with the radio (simple songs).
-Don't quit.
-Figure out what exactly you want to do (start a band, play professionally, entertain, do it just to learn, etc), set goals and focus on them.
-If taking lessons is your thing, find a local place that teaches. (I used to teach lessons that were once a week for half an hour).
-If you don't want to take lessons, there are lots of sites out there that have people that write and post tabs. Be careful whose tabs you use because they are that authors interpretation of the song and could be played differently by someone else
-Learn how to tune by ear if possible
-Don't buy expensive equipment assuming it will help you learn better, I started out on a used $100 guitar that I still have and prefer to most others I've played.
-Don't feel bad if you go into a music store that allows you to play before you buy and people are better than you, they've been playing longer or just like to show off.
-ALWAYS, ALWAYS try out an instrument in the store if at all possible before you buy it.
-If you want to learn how to solo, great. But there's nothing wrong with just wanting to play rhythm guitar.
-Greenday's "Nimrod" album is a good album to learn chord progression.
-Buy an electric tuner (Fender sells one that's a chromatic for around $20 that works great for me)
-Remember to have fun learning and playing
-You don't have to start out with "Mary had a little lamb, but it's a good way to learn the basics"
-Nirvana's "Come as you are" will probably be one of the easiest song riffs to learn, you just need to get the tuning right.


I'm sure I have more, just can't think of them now...

Good luck! Keep us posted on how the learnin' goes!

-Mike

[blackened]

Let me give you the best advice (and gift) anyone ever gave me. Go out NOW and buy a guitar stand. I can't stress this enough. It'll cost somewhere around $30, but it's probably the best investment you can make to further your playing. It's hard to stay motivated at first when the breakthroughs don't happen often, but just having the guitar out in the open will be enough to nag you into playing. You'll find yourself picking up the guitar when you're bored or idle. Sometimes something will pique your interest and you'll pick the guitar up to play something and then look at the clock to find that 2-3 hours have passed.

It also really helps if you already have some sort of background in music. If you have a good fundamental understanding of, at least some, music theory, then it will go a long way towards your progress as a guitarist.

All these guys have given some really good advice but, however you approach it, just make sure that you're enjoying it. Before long you'll start to think back on when you couldn't play such-and-such lick or chord progression that you can now play flawlessly. Learning these things as an adult can be both daunting and extremely rewarding at the same time. Trust me on the stand thing though.

[sharon.gmc]

For what it's worth, I just got my first guitar lesson the other night. It really hurts your fingers at first! I'm told after a few weeks calluses develop and it's not a problem.



This is the main reason why I stopped learning how to play guitar. . .

[RiceMonster]

After playing guitar for 5 years, here a few things I think are important for people learning how to play.

Too many people who learn on there own think theory is completely pointless and don't learn any of it. I'm not saying learn to read music, and know all the scales, but learn the basics, like what all the notes are, and the major and minor chords. It will pay off big time in the future.

Find some songs you like and learn to play them. Sometimes people quit guitar lessons because they're learning how to play, but they're not having fun learning the songs they love.

Don't set a goal to be some shreding guitar guro, make smaller goals, such as being able to play a certain song, or do one thing right, and keep making more as you go. If you make a goal that takes years to achieve right away, you'll just get fed up.


For what it's worth, I just got my first guitar lesson the other night. It really hurts your fingers at first! I'm told after a few weeks calluses develop and it's not a problem.

Yep, they do.


3. You have to want to learn. You have to WANT to learn. You really have to WANT to LEARN. It takes dedication and time to learn. You won't get good in one week, or one month, or one year, or even 5 years. I'm going on 10 years (~5 years of serious playing every day) and I am still learning and getting better at techniques.

+1

Too many people think they're going to be playing well within a week or so. The reality is, you probably won't feel yourself improving at vast speeds, I mean you'll notice improvements, but they're all gradual.

[dr_kabuto]

I wanna say a big THANK YOU guys for all the advices so far; now I need also an advice for a guitar to buy: I own already an acoustic guitar but I plan to learn play an electric one, so what you suggest: first learn acoustic or can I go stright to electric?

[blackened]

I would say acoustic first, then electric. Acoustics tend to have much higher action than electrics. This will help you to build finger strength and dexterity, so, by the time you switch, electric will feel like a kids guitar, but in a good way.

[Saint Angeles]

to all these people who think "learning" music puts you in a box... please don't try to cripple people.

i'm a classically trained saxophone player. i've been sightreading music since i was 9 and I've taken years of private lessons in piano, bass, sax, and guitar. also, 2 years in a private music school.

whenever i try to jam with somebody who "just plays" instead of "has learned" music, they never play more than a couple chords and everything is played in either a diatonic or pentatonic scale.

theres 12 notes, but zillions of ways to group them... don't think that by "learning" those groupings you are going to put yourself in a box. please study music, like you would any other hobby or subject.

you wouldn't just throw together bits of BASH until it made a script that worked would you? no. you would want to know what its gonna do before its done. because i've studied music, i know what the notes will sound like before i play them and i know how the notes relate to eachother. This only adds to your creative vocabulary. why would learning more about something make you less-good at it? that's nonsense.

[randy78]

The best piece of advice I can give is to take it slow... it's going to be boring and frustrating for at least the first 6 months, but with diligence, practice and perseverance, you'll be rewarded tenfold.

I read a book back when I was a couple of years in (been playing 17 years now!), called Zen Guitar by Phil Sudo and that book has had the most impact on my playing ability and personal style. Well, besides Dimebag, Pepper Keenan, Iommi, Hendrix, SRV, Django and all the rest ;) ;)

You owe it to yourself to check it out ;)

Study your Major and Minor Pentatonic scales, Chromatic runs, 12 bar blues progressions and learn how to transpose music into different keys.
When you don't have your guitar handy, close your eyes and visualize playing it with your mind's eye... it really works and will help you with your ear training.

Good luck and Take Care
:popcorn:

[renzokuken]

Just buy Guitar Hero and play that for a few weeks. I promise you that you'll be able to instantly play a real guitar straight after.

Hehe >_<

But seriously, just keep at it. I tend to pick mine up intermittently and try new songs (although further to the comment above, it was playing GH3 that made me seriously get back into playing and learning the songs off the game, so I suppose i can't fault it too much).

A good order to learn in

Chords -> Scales -> Riffs/Licks -> Solos etc........

another good resource for tabs is www.ultimate-guitar.net . they have tutorials too but the internet is littered with good help videos now.

Also, a good place to buy cheap instruments from www.thomann.de (they ship worldwide). I bought a cheap Harley Benton HBL500BK for about £80 quid and its excellent as a "lying around" guitar for just picking up and playing.

[mips]

Let me give you the best advice (and gift) anyone ever gave me. Go out NOW and buy a guitar stand. I can't stress this enough. It'll cost somewhere around $30, but it's probably the best investment you can make to further your playing. It's hard to stay motivated at first when the breakthroughs don't happen often, but just having the guitar out in the open will be enough to nag you into playing. You'll find yourself picking up the guitar when you're bored or idle.

A musician I spoke to the other day told me to go and buy a guitar and keep it in the toilet or take it with you when you go :) (He was serious)

[cmay]

if you already have acoustic then by all means learn to play it. the electric is more easy to learn in my honest opinion (i learned electric guitar when i was 14) i use now only acoustic guitar. both with slide and in open tunings and in standard (classical ) tuning. i have written more than 50 songs by now in standard tuning and over 25 in open d . but none of the song i know by hart is popular songs. the point is that you should care less what ohters say the first 2 years as there are some people you will meet that thinks you can only play an instrument if you can pick the first 3 right notes on the 1 string of the song that they happen to like the most. experiment. write your own songs also. after learning basic blues rounds and simple songs from the radio it is pretty easy you will also find that the old guitar that cost the less is often the one you end up using the most.

[s.fox]

I play acoustic guitar. I never took any lessons or anything. I have gotten endless enjoyment by just playing simple songs and strumming away until the early hours. Its also a great way to unwind after a hard days work.

I think lessons can limit creativity but it really depends on what you want. Either way playing a guitar is awesome :guitar:

[Pasto]

to all these people who think "learning" music puts you in a box... please don't try to cripple people.

i'm a classically trained saxophone player. i've been sightreading music since i was 9 and I've taken years of private lessons in piano, bass, sax, and guitar. also, 2 years in a private music school.

whenever i try to jam with somebody who "just plays" instead of "has learned" music, they never play more than a couple chords and everything is played in either a diatonic or pentatonic scale.

theres 12 notes, but zillions of ways to group them... don't think that by "learning" those groupings you are going to put yourself in a box. please study music, like you would any other hobby or subject.

you wouldn't just throw together bits of BASH until it made a script that worked would you? no. you would want to know what its gonna do before its done. because i've studied music, i know what the notes will sound like before i play them and i know how the notes relate to eachother. This only adds to your creative vocabulary. why would learning more about something make you less-good at it? that's nonsense.

Best advice you can get. Please ignore the people saying "don't learn". Go out and find someone who gives private lessons, preferably a guitar player with a solid background in music (studied in some institute or school), and preferably a sessionist or jazz musician.

By just 'playing' the odds are you'll get frustrated and lose interest quickly.

Learn, I can't stress this enough.

/edit

To add something, I play the bass guitar, and I've been taking lessons for two years now. I tried sometimes grouping with people who just 'play', and I assure you I will NEVER EVER do it again. It's just a waste of time, the lack of theory behind their practice is a real slowdown for either jamming or composing. They have no rhythm, no improvisation skills, no timing, etc.

So now when a friend tells me to just come by his house and 'play a while', I just don't, it's boring. It's like trying to talk about design patterns with a visual basic programmer (no offense, just vb is not an oop lang.).

Learning will also make you understand what you play, what you hear on the radio, and suddenly everything 'makes sense'.

The ONLY excuse to stop learning is money, if you can't afford it. I hope this is not the case for you.

[RiceMonster]

Best advice you can get. Please ignore the people saying "don't learn". Go out and find someone who gives private lessons, preferably a guitar player with a solid background in music (studied in some institute or school), and preferably a sessionist or jazz musician.

By just 'playing' the odds are you'll get frustrated and lose interest quickly.

Learn, I can't stress this enough.

Yeah, I taught myself for the first year, and then took lessons for two years after. Payed off a lot. I mean, I'm sloppy as it is, but if I didn't take lessons I'd be even worse. For example, I went to play blues with my cousin who "just plays" and he said he could play the lead, and he honestly just played a bunch of crap anywhere... he didn't even use the pentatonic scale, which I thought he would know (I mean, how can you play lead and not know a single scale?). Then when I tried to teach it to him, he dismissed it, saying "he doesn't need any theory crap". Trust me, you don't want to sound like he does. That was awful.

[Pasto]

Yeah, I taught myself for the first year, and then took lessons for two years after. Payed off a lot. I mean, I'm sloppy as it is, but if I didn't take lessons I'd be even worse. For example, I went to play blues with my cousin who "just plays" and he said he could play the lead, and he honestly just played a bunch of crap anywhere... he didn't even use the pentatonic scale, which I thought he would know (I mean, how can you play lead and not know a single scale?). Then when I tried to teach it to him, he dismissed it, saying "he doesn't need any theory crap". Trust me, you don't want to sound like he does. That was awful.

Exactly, people tend to dismiss music as something that needs to be studied. They say they don't need theory to play. I wonder what would they say if we repeat that about programming. "Blah, I don't need that stupid oop theory, I can just write goto's everywhere, don't restrict me".

Worse thing is, they don't recognize that they sound horribly. They suffer the so-called "Dunning-Kruger effect", "unskilled and unaware of it", which can be read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger

[blackened]

A musician I spoke to the other day told me to go and buy a guitar and keep it in the toilet or take it with you when you go :) (He was serious)

That's really taking it a bit further than I meant. :) Having your guitar out and available keeps you from using the excuse of not wanting to get it out of a case/bedroom/closet/attic in order to play. You'll find you practice alot more if it's always sitting out begging to be played.

[Saint Angeles]

That's really taking it a bit further than I meant. :) Having your guitar out and available keeps you from using the excuse of not wanting to get it out of a case/bedroom/closet/attic in order to play. You'll find you practice alot more if it's always sitting out begging to be played.
when i was at music school, i would accidently sleep with my bass. practicing all night and day and not remembering when i'm asleep or not...

and because it was a year-round degree program - in hollywood. i lost my mind.


but i'm still a damn good musician.

[SteveHillier]

I had the crazy idea to learn playing a guitar. What is the problem then, you may ask: well, I'm 36, so probably not quite a good age to learn an instrument...


Baby! I was almost 20 years older than you when I took the mad step to buy a guitar. I now have 6. They are all bass,
one acoustic
one 5 string
one semi acoustic
one fretless
one headless
and one bog standard which does not get played very often.
Yes the fingers will hurt.
I have not worked out which is better, to have proper strings which have some bulk and meat or these thin cheese wires on standard six string. My son in law believes cheese wires are better. I'm not sure.
More tricky thing is I have since been playing blues harp and that is more difficult!

On a serious note I would say that starting out you should make sure to pick up and play the instrument for at least 10 minutes a day. Do not be tempted to play for 2 hours one day and then not pick it up for another week. You will not get your fingers bedded in properly.

Good on yer!

[SteveHillier]

To add something, I play the bass guitar, and I've been taking lessons for two years now. I tried sometimes grouping with people who just 'play', and I assure you I will NEVER EVER do it again. It's just a waste of time, the lack of theory behind their practice is a real slowdown for either jamming or composing. They have no rhythm, no improvisation skills, no timing, etc.

This is the problem for bass players. All said and done it is not a solo instrument so you need to play along with other people, but as bassist you anchor the music and allow lead men to wonder off all over the place if they want.
I want to play with other quality musicians who might just be tolerant of my faults as I learn more but my lifestyle doesn't help.

[Riffer]

Buy a decent guitar ($500 to $700) to begin, you'll grow into it, and its a joy to play even when you're not so great. Learn blues, they are most 3 chord wonders with a lot of chord forms so you can spice it up. Also learn some basic blues bass lines, they're easy and helps you develop timing and rhythm. Get lessons on technique and theory both will serve you well in so many ways. Find some good chord sites, there are tons of great 3 chord wonder songs out there, so no "3 Blind Mice". Learn scales in different keys, it helps later when you want to do lead. While you're chording a song sing along, it helps you to develop flow. And practice, practice, practice, nothing good is easy.

AND for GOD sake don't learn "Stairway".

[SteveHillier]

I think lessons can limit creativity but it really depends on what you want.
This is an interesting thought.
I was once told this.
Up to the age of 5 most children have wild imagination and can be highly inventive/creative.
Up to the age of 10 the proportion of children able to be inventive/creative drops to about 60%.
By age 16 this is even lower and by the time you are in your 20s it is as low as about 10%.
What has happened in the meantime - education.

I bet we were all inventive in our code until we were given code standards and told - "This is the way to do it"!

[Riffer]

This is the problem for bass players. All said and done it is not a solo instrument so you need to play along with other people, but as bassist you anchor the music and allow lead men to wonder off all over the place if they want.
I want to play with other quality musicians who might just be tolerant of my faults as I learn more but my lifestyle doesn't help.

John Entwhistle.

I guess what I'm saying is that its about how you anchor. You can be basic or add a swing to what you're doing. It changes the whole song.

[SteveHillier]

I bought a cheap Harley Benton HBL500BK for about £80 quid and its excellent as a "lying around" guitar for just picking up and playing.

The downside of this is that if it does not give you a good sound you will get to learn to play bad sounds.

[SteveHillier]

John Entwhistle.
Well of course, he played bass as if it were lead. I can dream!

[SteveHillier]

Learn how to tune by ear if possible

I know what the first bar of the chorus to "Honky Tonk Women" should sound like and can set the tuning to that.

[Northsider]

By just 'playing' the odds are you'll get frustrated and lose interest quickly.
I disagree. That is only true if playing guitar is the latest flavor of the week for you. If you truly want to learn you won't get frustrated but rather you will continue to push yourself. I don't think anyone is saying "don't learn"...many people (like myself) don't like classrooms or lessons. I didn't want to feel that I "had to learn", I wanted to do it by myself and I did, that doesn't mean I wasn't learning. If classes/lessons are what you want to do, great! But honestly, learning the fingering and chords are simple and can easily be done freely by yourself in your house. Lessons to learn scales and other techniques are great, but make sure you want to really learn first by sitting down by yourself, learning the chords, and playing some of your favorite songs.

[Pasto]

This is the problem for bass players. All said and done it is not a solo instrument so you need to play along with other people, but as bassist you anchor the music and allow lead men to wonder off all over the place if they want.
I want to play with other quality musicians who might just be tolerant of my faults as I learn more but my lifestyle doesn't help.

I can place the base, rhythm and armony (or is it harmony in english?) for the melodic instruments, but if they have no clue what they are doing, it's just garbage.

One thing is being tolerant at faults, which is how it must be, since noone is perfect. But a clear complete lack of musical foundation becomes evident when playing for just three minutes, and it's really boring/frustrating.

To add a small thing, the bass can be a great solo instrument, chord melodies on bass guitars can be pulled off wonderfully because of its great harmonics, altogether with the broad frequency range the instrument carries. However, I personally prefer to be the rhythm-man.

[84loops]

to dr_kabuto:
I started playing when I was 21. I'm now 24. I only had 3 years of practice and I still think I suck. I don't care I still try to jam and have a good time with it. Like you, I was asking other people of ways to learn and what kind of bass to buy, I play bass by the way, until one day I figured, hey it's me trying to play not them, they already play I want to play on the guitar that I want to play on and learn the things I want to learn. It's all about what "you" want to do with it not what other people can do. I know this post is a few weeks old, I just stumbled upon looking for ear training software for ubuntu. Well now that it's mentioned if anybody knows of anything let me know please.

[garryhill]

Well i guess age shouldn't be a barrier to learn anything,be it playing guitar (http://www.totallyguitars.com/) or any other instrument. Because as long as one is smart enough to grasp the subject or lessons, that is more than enough. But one point that is of great concern is : "Getting our doubts cleared on time". Because quite often the lessons that are taught are interlinked. So make sure to cover up on these parameters.

[frankleeee]

The comments on learning to read and studying music theory are right on the button as far as the fast track to developing. I would say that in jazz and other forms of music the bass is a solo instrument, we have heard of Jaco Pastorius, eh, John Patitucci, Marcus Miller, just to mention a few.

[mindbucket]

Practice chords, Practice scales, Practice patience.

(perhaps the song mind you...though I was referring to the virtue.)
There is a beauty in life when you find something you love doing. And to be truly great at anything it involves lots of practice.
Music is that way as well, and the guitar is one of the coolest instruments to learn music with. Here is a helpful tip: Let your fingers rest, you will soon develop callous and strength as well as finger dexterity.
Also when you strum, strum with your wrist not your whole arm this makes playing a lot less work.

:guitar:

keep rocking