Yes last summer I bought a guitar with an intention of learning to play a few songs to entertain friends and myself. I fiddled around with it a bit and then school started as well as quite a few after-school activities. Either way I never got around to signing up for some lessons. A few months passed and I decided hey, I might as well just teach myself! The only problem is I have no clue were to begin! I have played the saxophone for 4 years so I can read music, understand rhythms and all that jazz so I just need to get down the technical part of playing the guitar. My question is where shall I begin? Are there any good songs to start out on? I can read tabs by the way. Are there any good exercises to help me with chord changes, picking, and such? Any help is appreciated, preemptive thanks for all the help! :D

excersize ur fingers.. and hand... any way...

Congratz with your new guitar!

 

Im playing guitar for 6 years now, if you need help, ask me :wink:

 

 

 

just start with the simple basics, point finger first, middle finger second,

 

and play alot on it, that way you will teach more and more, just by yourself.

 

 

 

keepon playing, it might become boring, but all the hard work is worth it! :wink:

what kind of guitar is it btw? got pics of it?

I would say don't start out too quick, just take it slow. Good Luck.

If you can read tabs, you're well on your way. I'd just suggest alot of practice and patience. If you want to learn a specific kind of guitar, why not order a cheap book off of amazon?

If you want to build up your confidence with your fingers it might be just as easy to play random improvisations, they don't have to sound any good but they might help your fingers develop without you having to worry about hitting the right note.

Ok thanks for all the tips! As for the gutar I got a cheap little electric one, I figured I probably shouldn't spend awhole lot of money untill I'm sure I'll use it for a few years. I'll get started with some of the tips :D

yea, just learn to palm mute first, maybe play some music with alot of power chords and what not.

 

 

 

after that you can begin to try out bending and picking techniques.

 

 

 

i would also suggest learning the basic chord names such as G, C, D, E, F...

 

 

 

but as that other guy said, the most important thing starting out is building your finger strength and speed.

 

 

 

learn alot of strange chords too that force your fingers to learn seemingly "odd and uncomfortable" positions.

 

 

 

have fun man, good times ahead.

also, before you get frustrated by the pathetic sound of your playing after a while of practice, try out some more expensive guitars, because even some of the best players can sound like crap on those cheap electrics :)

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

 

 

 

that site has pretty good online free lessons. Just go type in the search for then choose in "lessons".

Basically

 

First you may want to learn proper fingering and pick-handling.. will help later

 

 

 

Then I suggest learning basic chords

 

 

 

Finally move on to tabs, much less frustrating than sheet music

 

 

 

Some basic songs you may want to start with are:

 

 

 

Green Day - Good Riddance

 

Blink 182 - Adam's Song

 

Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water