Guitar players in here.....

[nighthawk]

Hi, i'm hoping that some of the great piston head collective can play a guitar or even better, have taught themselves to play one.

I've wanted to learn how to play for years,so today i finally took the plunge and bought a statocaster and a small amp

The shop threw in a "learn to play" book, but tbh, it's somewhat lacking in the explaination dept, either that or i'm being thicker than usual

tips or advice on the best learning aids would be great.....free lessons from an expert would be even better

[Mikey G]

I started to learn about 10 years ago,..... i also gave up learning about 10 years ago
Still interested in trying again but never got round to it, my fingers seem to be too slow

[Don]

There's a good few guitarists on here, amazingly.

www.dwmhughes.demon.co.uk/Video5.avi

Me. A couple of years back. Shredding.

[Don]

A good book is:

The Complete Guitarist by Richard Chapman.

Basics of music theory.
Practical playing tips WITH PICTURES! (Essential).

[nighthawk]

Don

[IOLAIRE]

nighthawk said:

Hi, i'm hoping that some of the great piston head collective can play a guitar or even better, have taught themselves to play one. I've wanted to learn how to play for years,so today i finally took the plunge and bought a statocaster and a small amp The shop threw in a "learn to play" book, but tbh, it's somewhat lacking in the explaination dept, either that or i'm being thicker than usual tips or advice on the best learning aids would be great.....free lessons from an expert would be even better

Hi Brian,
I'm 55 and been playing since I was 14, so I've done a bit.
You picked a good guitar to learn on, nice sound and very sweet action.
The guitar is capable of such diverse styles and types of music that it's a good idea to decide on one particular style at the start and this will help you learn quicker.
But don't have any illusions, if you want to learn to play properly, you have a lot of hard work and practice ahead.
The first thing to concentrate on are string positions and scales in all keys, and you could intersperse this with learning basic chord shapes at the same time.
If you can play chords, you can accompany other instruments and singers or yourself if you are a singer.
I think nowadays the fastest way to learn is on CD or DVD programmes that you can buy in the music shops or PC world; some of these are really good, and you can watch and listen to other guitar players at the same time and this will bring you on very much quicker.
It's almost like getting private lessons.
Good luck and get stuck in!!

[trooper1212]

I started learning 15 years ago now, so no dvds in my day

The best thing I did was to take lessons for the first year to give myself a good grounding and work out what I wanted to learn. Lots of people want to be the rock shredder, plaing lead as fast as possible, but I realised that wasn't for me after playing for a while. A good teacher will be able to take you through a few different styles and you can choose to learn what you enjoy playing.

I pretty much only play acoustic these days, and a little bit of rhythm metal when i'm in the mood. I just didn't enjoy the solos.

[planetdave]

Play till it hurts.

Stop.

Repeat ad nauseum.



Well worth the bother

Think about it as a normal learning experience - how would you teach a kid to read and adapt the same principles to yourself.

[bga]

My Brother teaches guitar and for beginners he usually gets them to start by learning basic major and minor chords. You only need to know a few to be able to play thousands of songs. This is usually enough to get a bit of interest - you can see your progress.
Quite soon after that it's onto the scales etc and build up from there.
www.olga.net has tabulature (guitar music by numbers) for almost any song you could imagine and is a great resource for when your playing picks up.

[ginge]

@ Don!

I've been thinking exactly the same for a few months now and having been looking out for a decent CHEAP electrical guitar. I conclusion is that a Yamaha Pacifica is the one to go for. Am I right or is there something better suited to me (and my budget!). Cheers!

[Incorrigible]

Practice pratice practice

There are some great "learn to play" books, stuff where you bung on a CD and play along with a few chords

It's a good idea to get someone who can play to show you what the book is trying to say as it's sometimes only obvious when you've learnt the lesson



PlanetDave, Incorrigible et al at PistonFest 2003

[animal]

Best advice I've ever had was to play as much as you can and to listen to everything. Read the manual and then throw it away - you have to decide for yourself what sounds good and what doesn't.

After a little while you'll be able to go back to old albums and hear all sorts of things you didn't notice before.

[edc]

ginge said:

@ Don! I've been thinking exactly the same for a few months now and having been looking out for a decent CHEAP electrical guitar. I conclusion is that a Yamaha Pacifica is the one to go for. Am I right or is there something better suited to me (and my budget!). Cheers!

Pacifica is a good starter guitar. Cheap easy, to play, low action, thin neck. I've got one I might be tempted to sell ...

[telecat]

Shame! if you had posted sooner you could have gone to this.

www.billnelson.com/live/populus_show.htm

[nighthawk]

Thank you all so much for taking the time out to reply

I've ordered the book mentioned earlier in the thread and i'm in negotiations with my brother in law's brother for some lessons as he plays in his own band on the pub and club circuit around the north west.

I've not even thought about what styles i want to play, I just want to be able to make a sound which sounds like a guitar first! and then maybe give the Edge (U2) a run for his money

[srebbe64]

I can play reasonably well. One tip. Initially, put a drop of super glue on the end of each finger, otherwise it can really hurt after a while!

[Don]

srebbe64 said:

I can play reasonably well. One tip. Initially, put a drop of super glue on the end of each finger, otherwise it can really hurt after a while!

It works? I remember my fingertips actually bleeding whilst learning once. Better to stop first! They soon build up a nice hard little pad.

Oh, Nighthawk, if you keep it up long enough it gives you a handshake like you wouldn't believe...

[Don]

telecat said:

Shame! if you had posted sooner you could have gone to this. www.billnelson.com/live/populus_show.htm

Damn. That looked GREAT!

I was working weekends around then, though, so it wouldn't have helped...

[bga]

ginge said:

@ Don! I've been thinking exactly the same for a few months now and having been looking out for a decent CHEAP electrical guitar. I conclusion is that a Yamaha Pacifica is the one to go for. Am I right or is there something better suited to me (and my budget!). Cheers!

I have heard very good things about a new range of electrics from Crafter.
Traditionally they made cheap acoustics of a fantastic quality for the price - their electric range is supposed to be pretty good too. Might be worth checking out along with a pacifica

[shadowninja]

I quite like my Vintage Les Paul I don't play it as much any more because I don't have time to play in a band and disliked playing along to CDs... which was like karaoke for guitar. Still haven't found a way of getting round this so I can play more... ended up back on piano as you can use one hand for "lead" and another for "melody".

Anyone got any suggestions for playing with... oops... by myself? (preferably rock guitar, but I also have an acoustic)