Help me play guitar

[barnstormers]

I played trumpet and trumbone in elementry school but quit. Now i am trying to play guitar. i have tried for about a month now and i have been teaching myself and i am not very good. If you have any song tabs that you could post that are good for beginners like me. Thank you for your help in advance.

[Omegaham]

If you are actually serious about learning guitar, take lessons from a private instructor. Self-teaching is not the way to go.

[barnstormers]

My bro has gotten real good by teaching himself how to play songs. He can get perfect at a song in 20 min. He is a lot better than me tho. Now, i can't get lessons either until my baseball season is over. And then soccer starts a month or so after that, so i dont have alot of time

[StrOwez]

Google for beginner lessons, good luck.

[greenslime89]

Buy a good book with the notation rather than tablature. The notation helps with your inventing if you take music at school. Examiners aren't too keen on Tab stuff. Or so I've been told :-k But anyway, get a good book that has step by step lessons in it. Don't skip any of the steps, no matter how easy you find them. That way you're working 100% from the book rather than going with what you know till you reach a point where the book has to explain something that it has taught differently than you've taught yourself and you're stuck at that level. It won't be easy and will require alot of dicipline, but I'm sure you'll get hours of enjoyment out of your new instrument.

[insane]

If you are actually serious about learning guitar, take lessons from a private instructor. Self-teaching is not the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I beg to differ.

[WutangFlu]

 

If you are actually serious about learning guitar, take lessons from a private instructor. Self-teaching is not the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I beg to differ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as do i...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i like tabs, if u go to a private they will make u learn musical notes..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i learn plenty by trial/error with tabs so its all good.

[Azvareth]

 

 

 

i like tabs, if u go to a private they will make u learn musical notes..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not always. I was taught tabs.

[Viktorkrum77]

You can't learn like this. From experience I know, I tried teaching myself to Salsa and Tango, but what a laugh! You need an instructor or at least, in your case, a CD and a visual aide of some kind.

[Bubsa]

Yeah and you usually need someone else to dance with..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I told you you'd need to practise every day for 6 months to be considered anywhere near average, would you still want to learn?

 

 

 

Commitment is the first and biggest step to learning.

[Azvareth]

You can't learn like this. From experience I know, I tried teaching myself to Salsa and Tango, but what a laugh! You need an instructor or at least, in your case, a CD and a visual aide of some kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can't say that. Guitar and dancing are two different things; how you can compare the two, I don't understand. Secondly, several successful guitarists were self-taught, for example Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Marty Friedman among others, and last time I checked, they're doing pretty well. Learning how read music is essential, whether it be tabs or notation, and after you've mastered that, the possibilities are endless. As long as you keep playing devotedly, and practice, practice, practice there's really no need for a tutor. I'd advice you to read some basic lessons and tips on the internet (finger-placement, scales, picking up and down etc), as it will only help you progress faster and help you understand how the instrument works, as well as the different techniques and how they work.

[games_sneak]

What sort of music do you like first?

 

 

 

Favourite bands, etc.

[pbjdude91]

Try searching for a little program on the internet called Jamorama,t it costs about 20-30 bucks, can't remember. I've been using it for about 3 months since the begining of January, it teaches you chords and notes which may not seem like fun right now, but it's worth it to learn it now. It's got videos of the actual chords, and these little things called jam tracks that you get to play what you learned (omg).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the exact same feeling that you have probably right now before Jamorama. My tone, picking, learning ability weren't getting anywhere. I could only play extremely simple riffs like the one from Mutter and Hypnotize. It's a two part series, one for beginners and the other for intermediates, I'm finishing up the second one right now. After that, I guess you should be able to play kind of what you want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: try searching for lessons on http://www.ultimate-guitar.com , that place has almost everything

[ponybeat]

Just do what Robert Johnson did. Take a walk down to the crossroads and wait till midnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, learn tabs AND notation. Mainly because if you ever want to get work as a session player being able to sight read tabs and notation is essential. And trust me, thats the only real work you're ever likely to get as a guitarist or almost any musician without going broke for a living.

[How2PK]

Yeah and you usually need someone else to dance with..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could hold the guitar, while you pull the strings. Maybe you preform better when you need to focus on one thing only.

[Kwisatz]

Self-teaching works if you're serious about everything. As in, you ask people relevant questions and are playing because you want to, not for girls, not so you can play the solo to Seek and Destroy and impress your friends, and not so that you can become rich and famous. And ESPECIALLY not so you can post stupid pictures of you and your guitar on Myspace. If you are truly serious and self-motivated about things, then you can teach yourself with ease, so long as you have friends that you can ask about stuff (and so they can check you on your technique).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've come fairly far for somebody that's been playing for about two and a half months, especially as compared to many of my friends. One of them has been playing with lessons for a year and four months, and he can't hold a decent rhythm, doesn't know any scales, can't tune by ear, and strums so inconsistently it's not funny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In short, if you are truly motivated and willing to put time, effort, and not develop sloppy habits, you can easily teach yourself. Granted I can't do anything but play rhythm, and solos are far and away for me (tapping doesn't count!), not to mention the fact that I bug the hell out of my more gifted friends when I see them with questions, but I take immense pride in the fact that with willingness and determination I've come a sizeable way. Analagously, if you aren't truly willing to go the distance, then a teacher won't help you one bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My advice to you is this: if your bother has a guitar, then ask him to loan you a halfway-decent one that he doesn't mind getting banged up. Get a chord chart, some basic tabs, and some kind of basic theory book and try to play by yourself for a month or so, and get him to see if you're on the right track. If you feel you need a teacher than you can always go out and get one.

[assassin_696]

I'm sure you're more than capable of teaching yourself, but there is absolutey no substitue for practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice playing some scale runs, practice chord changes, practice different techniques (like vibrato and string bending). Don't be sloppy or lazy, if you teach yourself the basics well then the rest will come easy. The hardest part of learning to play any instrument can be to stay motivated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play music that you like to listen to. Don't expect to be able to play it exactly as you hear it, don't expect to be able to play anything like Clapton for a long time, but just find a song that you like, and that's quite easy to play and practice it until you can play it with your eyes closed. Honestly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, www.ultimate-guitar.com is the way to go for tabs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don't worry about learning classical notes. There are some very, very good guitar players at my school who cannot read sheet music. They're also doing very well in their music GCSE.

[Poopingman]

yay, ultimate guitar for sure. I learned a lot playing keyboard over the last year thanks to that site, and LOTS of practice!

[jimi2424]

I'm sure you're more than capable of teaching yourself, but there is absolutey no substitue for practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice playing some scale runs, practice chord changes, practice different techniques (like vibrato and string bending). Don't be sloppy or lazy, if you teach yourself the basics well then the rest will come easy. The hardest part of learning to play any instrument can be to stay motivated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play music that you like to listen to. Don't expect to be able to play it exactly as you hear it, don't expect to be able to play anything like Clapton for a long time, but just find a song that you like, and that's quite easy to play and practice it until you can play it with your eyes closed. Honestly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, www.ultimate-guitar.com is the way to go for tabs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don't worry about learning classical notes. There are some very, very good guitar players at my school who cannot read sheet music. They're also doing very well in their music GCSE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

agreed. you should learn notation so you understand it but you can still use tabs. also try other styles of music, don't live by it but it will make you a more versatile player. lessons help but you don't have to take them if it doesn't fit with your current lifestyle. Ultimate-guitar is a great resource to use also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if you have any questions feel free to ask

[cocacolabottle]

Some easy songs to learn the basic chords are "Born In The Usa" by I don't know who, and "Hard Times" by The Scabs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're looking for easy songs to learn the notes try Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple, One by Metallica, Come As You Are by Nirvana, ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are the ones I started with back in the day :) Good luck with playing, maybe someday I'll see you play some Zeppelin songs on Youtube :P .

[How2PK]

Born in the USA is by Bruce Springsteen of course.

[Arran05]

If you are actually serious about learning guitar, take lessons from a private instructor. Self-teaching is not the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've taught myself for 2 years now... I can play some pretty complex solo's, the first thing I ever learnt is chords. Just simple Major chords like A and E. Learn to play either chord in a simple rhythm until you're confident you can remember the fretting for the chord, then do the same with the other chord. Once you can play the 2 chords to a simple beat and know the frets for the chords very well, learn to switch between the 2 chords. Once you can switch between the 2 chords perfectly in time to a simple beat, experiment with more difficult chords, such as G or C, or if you're feeling confident, try chords such as G7 and Dm and other comlex open chords.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you feel you can play open chords confidently, learn bar chords. These are chords played higher up the fretboard whilst "barring" a certain fret with your first finger to act as what would be an open string when playing an open chord. A good example is G7, but this can also be played as an open chord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you feel you can play bar chords and open chords confidently to a simple beat, try more complex rhythms. All this is pretty much what I did to learn about rhythm guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lead, learn the techniques first, not the actual songs you would like to learn. Techniques such as pull-offs, hammer-ons, bends, pre-bends, alternate picking, tremolo's and pinch harmonics are possibly the most used techniques, but you can also use these in chords, although to a lesser extent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you have learnt these, try to learn very simple songs, I won't give examples as I don't know what type of music you like. Just pick one that sounds easy to you, and find the tablature or notation for it. I personally use http://www.ultimate-guitar.com to find my tablature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you have learnt a few simple songs, try to find the notation or tablature for a blues or pentatonic scale and learn that. Scales are quite often played on all 6 strings, and can be played with alternate picking. Mess around with these... Use hammer-ons, pull-offs, bend the strings a little. Solo's are normally based around a certain scale depending on the key of the song. Once you can confidently play a few scales at a decent speed, (guitar isn't about speed, but technique, but if you want to be able to play fast, feel free), learn some more complex songs of your choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You should also learn to play mixolydian modes and arpeggio's, as these are quite commonly used to write solo's around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are MANY types of tuning for your guitar too, the most common is the Standard E tuning. The tuning for the strings is EADGBE, that's low to high. You can also use tunings such as Open E, where if you play all the strings, you will hear an E chord...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The action of your guitar may also depend on your progress. The Action is the gap between the string and the fretboard, the lower the better. Usually. Too low and you may fret the string too quick and by the time you have picked the string you may have moved onto another fret.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most guitarists often have a unique style, whereas some are influenced by other guitarists and automatically play like them. I pick like Jason Becker, but move my left hand like Dimebag Darrel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if you're playing electric guitar, and have an amp, play around with the treble and bass settings. If you have something like a 30 watt Marshall Amp, then play around with the delay and reverb. You can also use Wah-Pedals to get different effects, or get an effects processor which gives you a huge range of effects, such as sound gates, reverb, amp-type, distortion, clean... Just a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember to learn guitar theory such as the Circle of Fifths... But lets try not to go into too much detail! :roll:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't be afraid to learn new things, you won't improve if you don't push yourself.

[moortz666]

You should look here. There you find both beginner lessons and more advanced lessons w/ vids. And the best thing is that it's completely free! \