DescentBB

and i don't really have much help as far as a teacher, so i was hoping maybe someone here knew of a website or some program that helps beginners learn to play. I know jack, and today will be the first time i pick one up, so any and everything will be appreciated.

thanks!

learn basic theory until it makes you sick. put the guitar down for 2 weeks. learn as many beatle tunes as you can until it makes you sick. put the guitar down for 2 weeks.

post again in 2 months.

btw... that is really good advice.

I know this is *bass* related, but theory is theory!

if you are serious about learning how to play, you'll thank me when you're famous!!

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56761

the forum is a lil screwed up, atm, but the links are there!!

i also suggest finding a book with some good diagrams and explanations of technique!

harmony-central.com has some OKish lessons...

im always here, while im no expert, if ya need me, baby.

I had a bass in my hands the other day, and it made me want to learn bass because of the phat sound

I've had an electric guitar around for a while, but I can't seem to learn chords. I'm just not trying hard enough. I know what the music should sound like, so I search where the notes are and I can do some very limited blues-ladder based tunes, one note at a time.

I'm not gonna invest in a bass guitar right now though. I gotta pay stuff for my car and the piano investments still hurt

Suggestions:

1. get an electric guitar because an acoustic will hurt your fingertips so bad it'll make you want to quit.

2. get a book of songs that you like and learn to play them. this will help keep you interested. the book needs to be made for guitar: using "sharp" keys (C, G, D, A, E) and having chord symbols above the line. btw, www.harmony-central.com has a database of 1000's of songs (called OLGA) that have been charted for guitar.

3. eventually, you'll benefit from learning theory. People who think music is all about emotion may resist, but learning theory will help you. You basically need to know how scales and chords are put together. Most any theory book will do. Go to a library and check one out. I took a semester of theory at school, ymmv.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by De Rigueur:
<b> Suggestions:

1. get an electric guitar because an acoustic will hurt your fingertips so bad it'll make you want to quit.

2. get a book of songs that you like and learn to play them. this will help keep you interested. the book needs to be made for guitar: using "sharp" keys (C, G, D, A, E) and having chord symbols above the line. btw, www.harmony-central.com has a database of 1000's of songs (called OLGA) that have been charted for guitar.
<b> </font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

i MUST disagree whole heartedily(sp) about this!

yes, learning songs from TAB is an OK idea for starting off with, and keeping yourself busy, but! K-dawg, i stress that you go for an acoustic first!

Yes, you little puny guitar fingers will hurt, but only for like two weeks until they heal and form calous. using an acoustic will also help you learn where the sound is! the acoustic is 100% natural, you will learn more about the feel of the instrument, how much force you should put into plucking, where you'll get the sound, etc.

Two weeks? They'll hurt for a year Acoustic is harder to play because you have to press harder, but you're gonna need that anyway, so use the acoustic first. Besides, it's cheaper to get a $50 acoustic, than an eletric, an amp, and cables. Also, believe me, you only play as good as your amp. Especially when learning. You have a crappy amp? You're going to sound like crap, and it will not motivate you.

What music do you like? Find it on OLGA. Learn those songs. It's practice you will like. Get the easiest song for your favorite band. As a (bad) example, I started with Shortest Straw from Metallica on And Justice For All. Practice was a blast. Hearing a progression of three power chords that actually sounded something like Hetfield playing on acid was rewarding More practice! Took me years to play it(Along with a dozen others from them).

Do a search on Google for music theory. This is really a must. The 'all about emotion' line is true...but if you don't know where you're going on the guitar, you cannot use emotion to play! Believe me, I learned backwards. I've been playing for 12 years, and I've never learned theory. I just picked up parts of it as I was playing and have put it together halfass over the last few years. In short, it has taken me almost twice as long to learn what a few lessons could have showed me 8 years ago. Theory is important. You need to learn your scales, modes and chords.

coo kuru, you can join Ingus's band "The Glazed Donutz". we'll wear yellow tuxedos with black pokadot spots on them sumbitches.

you don't have to be good just jiggle the strings n $hit.

You'll get a million different replies, because there are a million different ways to learn. Here's my advice:

[*] get an instructional book with a tape/CD. There are plenty out there, and are worth their weight in gold compared to lessons.
[*] use OLGA, but try using your ear too
[*] Miles Davis' answer to a very similar question: "listen".

I have to reccomend the acoustic. A cheap acoustic sounds better IMO than a cheap electric. I run a small online musical instrument shop and the cheap acoustics will always sound better, mainly because with a cheap electric guitar comes a cheap amp. If you have the money, spending 2-3 times as much on your amp as you do your guitar. The sound of the electric guitar itself is very subtle compared to the range of switching amps and speaker cabinets, though most guitarists seem to purchase in an opposite fashion.

If you can't find the fingering for a chord or need a scale or something http://www.looknohands.com is a great resource.

Good luck learning to play. If you stick with it, it can be one of the most rewarding things in the world...this coming from an avid guitarist

P.S. Guitar=Chick Magnet (it's how I met my wife )

It's all good advice, no surprise there, playing guitar is all good!
Testi's right, start with something you like, pick a simple one.

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned and it's probably the best single move you can make.
Get someone who plays to show you some stuff. Even just a few minutes a week, a chord here, a few notes in a familiar riff there... will get you learning faster than any other means available.

will is right, but just wait, just you wait, boy, until you try and go for a band, and have to suffer 100's of mindless idiots who think bands like blink 182 are TEH R0WK!11

yea man. and mark hoppus is god compared to jaco.

koRn r0x0rz ma booxers.

i. hate. living. here.

haagy..
you have no idea how stupid your comments are. korn is some band... yahoo. jaco is one of the reasons why anyone takes a chance on bass. there is no need to dog him out. he is dead and i thank him for his contributions. can we please leave the narrow minded video game "ownage" out of creativity? it makes me sick.

Oh yes, find someone who can play. It's invaluable. The free lessons are nice too. I really, really, really wish that I knew someone who could play, or even someone to learn with. My friend is just starting (been a year) and he's picking it up at good pace due to being shown the things that I had to figure out on my own in years..not months.

uhh, I think he was kidding, Meaty. You know, sarchasm.

wow meat. i cant you actually took me seriously.

hoppus isnt even worthy of placing flowers on jaco grave.

my god.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by Will Robinson:
Get someone who plays to show you some stuff. Even just a few minutes a week, a chord here, a few notes in a familiar riff there... will get you learning faster than any other means available. </font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

that ain't no lie! But... there is a downside, you develop their style, which defeats most of the purpose. You wanna make your own music, learn theory first. I know it sucks ballz but that's where to start.

If you must learn some sort of tab, try to make sure it's chord progression sheets. They only tell you what key/chord the band is playing at a given time, now when you listen to the song you'll notice the little nuances and runs that most guitarists incorporate. You can then learn the proper scales, modes, timings, it's all good.

After reading Testi's comments about theory i went off to try again.

Music theory just never stuck in my head, or i'm just thick, or to old to learn new ****z. I've been playing accoustic, writing songs and performing (nothing big) for years, but i can't tell you how i've been doing it if you ask me. Anyway, i stumbled across this site http://www.wholenote.com/ and it's wonderful. I've been playing for twenty years now and finally i got a few answers to questions i'd been wanting to ask for ages.

FC

I'll just pipe in with my two cents and say that learning guitar is fvcking HARD! I can remember talking with Testi and some others in chat a few years ago saying I wanted to get a guitar, and they all told me "ohh, you'll do fine. It's easy!"

Well, I've had a cheapy acoustic guitar for about two years now, and I can still barely play the intros to some songs. Granted, I dont have nearly enough time to practice as I should (maybe an hour a week), so I know that has something to do with it, but damn, it's just hard! I can't listen to a song and play it by ear, tabs help but there are some things I just can't do.

Is it frustrating? Terribly. Is it fun? Definitely. It's very difficult for me to learn the intro to Dream Theater's "Stream of Consciousness," but now that I have it down, it sounds awesome.

So, I guess all I'm saying is, be prepared to be frustrated and slow going. Practice a LOT, much more than I do, use OLGA, learn some easy sonmgs first (Enter Sandman, Short Stories With Tragic Endings, Good Riddance, Dueling Banjos) and learn some basic chords. Practice them until you can do them with your eyes closed, and then move on to harder stuff, and always keep practicing and repeating stuff you already know.

Hey Kurupt, did you get a guitar? What kind of music are you trying to learn?

BTW, Kur, my last piece of advice is not to be like this:


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by HaAGen DaZS:
<b> will is right, but just wait, just you wait, boy, until you try and go for a band, and have to suffer 100's of mindless idiots who think bands like blink 182 are TEH R0WK!11

yea man. and mark hoppus is god compared to jaco.

koRn r0x0rz ma booxers.</b></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

i've been searching on google for TAB since i got my guitar years ago. i still search for tab and this is probabaly why i am still playing. i'm pretty good now though, relatively. feel free to give me a buzz if you want some help or anything, but it will be pretty hard to tell you stuff without actually showing you on teh guitar in person, but hey anything's possible. i'm just started kindof teaching a friend howto play after he just bought a guitar.

me personally, i started off with blink182 "i guess this is growing up" just like you guys i took forever to get good at it too. ohoh and some kid at school showed me howto do POWERCHORDS and i prettymuch went nuts from there.

whoops, let this thread slip under the radar

yeah, i went out and got a guitar. its a greg bennett guitar, it was on sale (from $549 to $249) so i figured wtf, why not. i have no idea if i got a deal or got ripped

havent played much though, havent really had a few hours in a row where i could sit down with it, but i've managed to mimic a few short routines i saw in a video i downloaded off the internet. guess you ogtta start somehwere eh?

My guitarist came up with a novel idea I never thought of: he grabbed the free version of ACID from Sonic Foundry's site and compiled a 10-minute drum track with different loops. He stuck in tempo changes and what not. Serves as a great practice tool (much better than a click track). Now I have to somehow record some loops for him to play along with -- kinda hard to record drums in a noise-controlled house.

And don't skip out on the theory. You'll need it if you want to do anything inventive.