Learning to play guitar
Discussion
How long did it take you to learn? Also how often do you need to keep at it to keep your hand in it so to speak?
Ive learnt some basics shown by the OH on a electric Blade brand of guitar with a small neck, so its pretty easy to use. But hes been playing since a kid and can play anything even repeat TV commercial rifts, he just picks it up and plays it when hes never heard it before makes me sick Lol !! So I feel like a right plonker.
Anyway I am still at the stage of trying to tell my fingers where to go and cant relax, so I have got a looooong way to go before its comes naturally. Be interesting to see what everyone else is doing.
Ive learnt some basics shown by the OH on a electric Blade brand of guitar with a small neck, so its pretty easy to use. But hes been playing since a kid and can play anything even repeat TV commercial rifts, he just picks it up and plays it when hes never heard it before makes me sick Lol !! So I feel like a right plonker.
Anyway I am still at the stage of trying to tell my fingers where to go and cant relax, so I have got a looooong way to go before its comes naturally. Be interesting to see what everyone else is doing.
How long to learn. " Forever " because you never stop learning.
It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
it really does depend on the individual really. some people pick it up very quickliy and appear to have a natural flair for it, while others take longer.
I started learning when i was about 13, and i was good enough to be in bands and write my own material by the age of 16. but as said earlier, you never stop learning, and i reckon i was at my very best from the age of 20.
Stick at it, and good luck.
g
I started learning when i was about 13, and i was good enough to be in bands and write my own material by the age of 16. but as said earlier, you never stop learning, and i reckon i was at my very best from the age of 20.
Stick at it, and good luck.
g
I started playing the guitar at 14 (bert weedons play in a day)-you get to a stage after a couple months where its really easy just to give up in frustration -dont !
practice your scales but more importantly find some cool easy riffs you like ,this will keep your interest up.
Jamming with a friend or playing against a backing track really helps with timing etc.
To keep your hand in half to an hour a day is plenty.
practice your scales but more importantly find some cool easy riffs you like ,this will keep your interest up.
Jamming with a friend or playing against a backing track really helps with timing etc.
To keep your hand in half to an hour a day is plenty.
I've had a few week long breaks since I started learning and it takes an hour a day for another week to get back to where I was. If I play every day, even just for 5 or 10 minutes, I find I can maintain the same level. To improve I've found I need to put in an hour a day every day.
I would recommend learning a song that you like that has 3 easy chords in it. Play along with the song. Once you can play along with a song or play it to someone else and they know what you're playing it's a fantastic boost. It might take you a month or two to get there. You've just got to keep practicing.
Ideally have your guitar somewhere so you can just grab it if you've got 5 minutes to kill. Waiting for a phone call, on hold, waiting for a friend to come over, advert breaks, waiting for your other half to get ready to go out. You can sneak a few minutes of practice into all these times and before you know it you'll have made real progress without even realising it. I don't really notice my improvements until someone I've not seen for a few months points them out. You might feel like you're getting nowhere but believe me that you are making progress every time you pick your guitar up.
I would recommend learning a song that you like that has 3 easy chords in it. Play along with the song. Once you can play along with a song or play it to someone else and they know what you're playing it's a fantastic boost. It might take you a month or two to get there. You've just got to keep practicing.
Ideally have your guitar somewhere so you can just grab it if you've got 5 minutes to kill. Waiting for a phone call, on hold, waiting for a friend to come over, advert breaks, waiting for your other half to get ready to go out. You can sneak a few minutes of practice into all these times and before you know it you'll have made real progress without even realising it. I don't really notice my improvements until someone I've not seen for a few months points them out. You might feel like you're getting nowhere but believe me that you are making progress every time you pick your guitar up.
suthol said:
How long to learn. " Forever " because you never stop learning.
It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
Gosh, yeah lots of our friends are in the music industry and thought I should atleast try and get into it a bit more. It would be one of my wildest fantasys to peel out some hard rock song at full noise at a party and after some time learn some Dire Straits and make up some blues of my own....Wow! Like most things in life its only me thats holding me back. It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
suthol said:
How long to learn. " Forever " because you never stop learning.
It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
It doesn't take long though to be able to bash something out at a party and not embarrass yourself too much.
I stopped playing regularly ( played professionally most nights ) about 25 years ago and the mind still remembers it all and the ears still hear it but the hands have no idea at all.
true !! Yeah cant wait to actually play any song well!gbbird said:
it really does depend on the individual really. some people pick it up very quickliy and appear to have a natural flair for it, while others take longer.
I started learning when i was about 13, and i was good enough to be in bands and write my own material by the age of 16. but as said earlier, you never stop learning, and i reckon i was at my very best from the age of 20.
Stick at it, and good luck.
g
Well I dont know if it helps or not but I am a landscape/seascape etc painter in my spare time, so I can visualise stuff and pick up new techniques pretty easily. However I do have massive respect for people who have mastered these instruments. If it were easy.....everyone would be doing it right?I started learning when i was about 13, and i was good enough to be in bands and write my own material by the age of 16. but as said earlier, you never stop learning, and i reckon i was at my very best from the age of 20.
Stick at it, and good luck.
g
I think the best way to learn is to pick music that you actually love! My best friend and I bought guitars on the same day and he bought books and started to learn, whereas I got the tabs of songs I liked and went from there.
The songs in his books were stuff he hated...Mull Of Kintyre for example! So he lost interest after a month and 8 years later I'm still playing
The songs in his books were stuff he hated...Mull Of Kintyre for example! So he lost interest after a month and 8 years later I'm still playing
FM said:
The monthly guitar mags are very good...all sorts of backing tracks & little tricks & ideas to help you out.
seconded ,some great stuff-ive been trying the solo from hotel california ,you get the tab and a step by step video.Years ago i wouldnt of bothered thinking it was too hard.gingerpaul said:
I've had a few week long breaks since I started learning and it takes an hour a day for another week to get back to where I was. If I play every day, even just for 5 or 10 minutes, I find I can maintain the same level. To improve I've found I need to put in an hour a day every day.
I would recommend learning a song that you like that has 3 easy chords in it. Play along with the song. Once you can play along with a song or play it to someone else and they know what you're playing it's a fantastic boost. It might take you a month or two to get there. You've just got to keep practicing.
Ideally have your guitar somewhere so you can just grab it if you've got 5 minutes to kill. Waiting for a phone call, on hold, waiting for a friend to come over, advert breaks, waiting for your other half to get ready to go out. You can sneak a few minutes of practice into all these times and before you know it you'll have made real progress without even realising it. I don't really notice my improvements until someone I've not seen for a few months points them out. You might feel like you're getting nowhere but believe me that you are making progress every time you pick your guitar up.
Thanks got it on a stand in the home theatre room, but ventures into the other lounge while watching a bit of tele. So yeah just when there that opportunity I attempt to make some horrid twang noises I would recommend learning a song that you like that has 3 easy chords in it. Play along with the song. Once you can play along with a song or play it to someone else and they know what you're playing it's a fantastic boost. It might take you a month or two to get there. You've just got to keep practicing.
Ideally have your guitar somewhere so you can just grab it if you've got 5 minutes to kill. Waiting for a phone call, on hold, waiting for a friend to come over, advert breaks, waiting for your other half to get ready to go out. You can sneak a few minutes of practice into all these times and before you know it you'll have made real progress without even realising it. I don't really notice my improvements until someone I've not seen for a few months points them out. You might feel like you're getting nowhere but believe me that you are making progress every time you pick your guitar up.
Mystic Slippers said:
I started playing the guitar at 14 (bert weedons play in a day)-you get to a stage after a couple months where its really easy just to give up in frustration -dont !
practice your scales but more importantly find some cool easy riffs you like ,this will keep your interest up.
Jamming with a friend or playing against a backing track really helps with timing etc.
To keep your hand in half to an hour a day is plenty.
Yip got a small list of easy songs that I adore and easy enough to learn. Definately the way to go as after all its why we want to play in the first place isnt it.practice your scales but more importantly find some cool easy riffs you like ,this will keep your interest up.
Jamming with a friend or playing against a backing track really helps with timing etc.
To keep your hand in half to an hour a day is plenty.
It's really all about practice. I started playing when I was 9 - my dad was a sax player in a jazz band in his spare time so I learnt to play a lot by ear, picking up the guitar and playing along while he practiced (in hindsight I bet he loved it )
By the time I was 14 and old enough to play in bands I had a solid knowledge of chords, less so of scales but enough to get by, but I wanted to play rythmn guitar anyway so it worked for me. From the age of 14 through to when I packed up playing in bands about 5 years ago I was never short of a gig when I wanted one and even now I will occasionally get asked to step in for someone.
Of course it helps being a rythmn guitarist because most people want to be the lead guitarist and get all the glory so there's a bit of a shortage of good rythmn players
So in short, what worked for me was deciding fairly quickly what I wanted to do as a guitarist and then working on building up my knowledge through practice and playing stuff I liked!
Cheers
DC
)By the time I was 14 and old enough to play in bands I had a solid knowledge of chords, less so of scales but enough to get by, but I wanted to play rythmn guitar anyway so it worked for me. From the age of 14 through to when I packed up playing in bands about 5 years ago I was never short of a gig when I wanted one and even now I will occasionally get asked to step in for someone.
Of course it helps being a rythmn guitarist because most people want to be the lead guitarist and get all the glory so there's a bit of a shortage of good rythmn players
So in short, what worked for me was deciding fairly quickly what I wanted to do as a guitarist and then working on building up my knowledge through practice and playing stuff I liked!
Cheers
DC
Same as Dai just about.
If you really want to learn it will be difficult to put the guitar down.
When I was at school I just played, practiced and experimented every possible moment. It was really like nothing else mattered in life.
Taught the OH to play and after a couple of years she's really quite good and manages a passable second guitar for numbers like Badge, Take it on the run, Brothers in arms etc.
The most important thing is to find a guitar that has a good, easy action. Theres nothing more demoralising for a learner than a naff guitar.
Swap you a nice '79 ES335 for your SP350 then??
If you really want to learn it will be difficult to put the guitar down.
When I was at school I just played, practiced and experimented every possible moment. It was really like nothing else mattered in life.
Taught the OH to play and after a couple of years she's really quite good and manages a passable second guitar for numbers like Badge, Take it on the run, Brothers in arms etc.
The most important thing is to find a guitar that has a good, easy action. Theres nothing more demoralising for a learner than a naff guitar.
Dai Capp said:
so there's a bit of a shortage of good rythmn players
+1Swap you a nice '79 ES335 for your SP350 then??
Le TVR said:
Same as Dai just about.
If you really want to learn it will be difficult to put the guitar down.
When I was at school I just played, practiced and experimented every possible moment. It was really like nothing else mattered in life.
Taught the OH to play and after a couple of years she's really quite good and manages a passable second guitar for numbers like Badge, Take it on the run, Brothers in arms etc.
The most important thing is to find a guitar that has a good, easy action. Theres nothing more demoralising for a learner than a naff guitar.
Swap you a nice '79 ES335 for your SP350 then??
Wow so the OH can do brothers in arms If you really want to learn it will be difficult to put the guitar down.
When I was at school I just played, practiced and experimented every possible moment. It was really like nothing else mattered in life.
Taught the OH to play and after a couple of years she's really quite good and manages a passable second guitar for numbers like Badge, Take it on the run, Brothers in arms etc.
The most important thing is to find a guitar that has a good, easy action. Theres nothing more demoralising for a learner than a naff guitar.
Dai Capp said:
so there's a bit of a shortage of good rythmn players
+1Swap you a nice '79 ES335 for your SP350 then??
I agree about learning a decent guitar, how often do you hear about your mates bying a cheap guitar from some corner shop thats just junk. Neck too large, guitar body digs into your side, strings are rubbish.
I have this http://www.bladeguitars.com/guitargallery_classic.... made in Switzerland. Its a bit posh for me to learn on but handy knowing its already tuned by the OH so I dont have to worry how its sounding and quality strings too. Its light and sits snug against my side and the neck is small enough to get my fingers around it. Ive also got access to a large range of Carvin guitars to play on as well if and when I feel the need.
Practice practice practice!!!
Youll have to fly over and ill take you for a blat 
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