Learning Acoustic Guitar
Discussion
I seem to have a lot of spare time just sat around at work these days and have allways wanted to learn acoustic guitar so thought ide take the plunge.
I have just purchased this guitar http://www.rockemmusic.com/product/takamine-eg540s... and pick it up on saturday.
So anybody got any tips or tricks for a complete beginner.
I have just purchased this guitar http://www.rockemmusic.com/product/takamine-eg540s... and pick it up on saturday.
So anybody got any tips or tricks for a complete beginner.
Get some lessons to get you started. You local music shop will know who's worth going to. A bit of theory is worth picking up, once you've understood that many/most popular songs are written in either Em, G or D mixolydian (which are all the same scales, just with different starting points) you'll be half way there.
Nah, screw getting lessons. It's much more fun to muddle through. 
I'd recommend getting a friend who plays to show you how to hold the guitar and how "tab" notation works.
Get on http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
And learn the C, D, E, Em, G, Am, and A chords and you'll be able to play quite a lot of stuff. Then Concentrate on getting the F chord right and you'll be able to play most songs without too much difficulty.
Once you've got the basics down and can muddle through a few songs it's really quite rewarding and makes you want to learn more.
I'd recommend getting a friend who plays to show you how to hold the guitar and how "tab" notation works.Get on http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
And learn the C, D, E, Em, G, Am, and A chords and you'll be able to play quite a lot of stuff. Then Concentrate on getting the F chord right and you'll be able to play most songs without too much difficulty.
Once you've got the basics down and can muddle through a few songs it's really quite rewarding and makes you want to learn more.
mat13 said:
So anybody got any tips or tricks for a complete beginner.
Firstly, great choice of first guitar 
My first guitar (bought with twenty five pounds of my hard earned trainee cash) was a Gibson SG imitation that was as useful as a cock flavoured lollipop.Secondly, my guitar teacher is upstairs. In the wardrobe, bottom shelf. In the form of tens of 100's of various guitar magazines published between 1998 and 2007. All bought because they included tabs of songs I wanted to play, or lessons from very accomplished guitarists (Hammett / Page / Dimebag / Skolnick / Thayil / Morse / Satch / Johnson etc etc etc).
I had three lessons, and - for me - they were worthless. At the time (18 y.o.), pedal tones and country-style fingerpicking were hubris when all I wanted to play was Chicago blues and Led Zep
So I'd echo davepoth's post above. Unless you want to be the next Leo Kottke or Martin Taylor.
Well I've never had a guitar lesson in my life ... and it shows. You can learn on your own but it's a slow and painful process. There's no substitute for being shown the way by someone who's been through the process already.
And I personally wouldn't bother with all the tab mags. There's no point in learning loads of songs that you may never be called upon to play. Far better to learn techniques which you can then use to play anything and perhaps create something new and original.
And I personally wouldn't bother with all the tab mags. There's no point in learning loads of songs that you may never be called upon to play. Far better to learn techniques which you can then use to play anything and perhaps create something new and original.
Evangelion said:
Well I've never had a guitar lesson in my life ... and it shows. You can learn on your own but it's a slow and painful process. There's no substitute for being shown the way by someone who's been through the process already.
And I personally wouldn't bother with all the tab mags. There's no point in learning loads of songs that you may never be called upon to play. Far better to learn techniques which you can then use to play anything and perhaps create something new and original.
Absolutely. I spent years 'strumming along to songs' and wondering why I wasn't getting any better. 6 months of lessons have set me on the right road. Tabs are all very well, but they are very often wrong, or at least oversimplified. And I personally wouldn't bother with all the tab mags. There's no point in learning loads of songs that you may never be called upon to play. Far better to learn techniques which you can then use to play anything and perhaps create something new and original.
Evangelion said:
There's no point in learning loads of songs that you may never be called upon to play.
Yet I was in the OP's position. I just wanted to play tunes that I enjoyed listening to.Playing air guitar to a Led Zep solo is a very poor relation to actually playing it yourself, and learning it yourself is 90% of the enjoyment. Well. IMHO anyway. Nothing is prescriptive when it comes to learning the guitar.
davepoth said:
Nah, screw getting lessons. It's much more fun to muddle through. I'd recommend getting a friend who plays to show you how to hold the guitar and how "tab" notation works.
Get on http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
And learn the C, D, E, Em, G, Am, and A chords and you'll be able to play quite a lot of stuff. Then Concentrate on getting the F chord right and you'll be able to play most songs without too much difficulty.
Once you've got the basics down and can muddle through a few songs it's really quite rewarding and makes you want to learn more.
This. I'd recommend getting a friend who plays to show you how to hold the guitar and how "tab" notation works.Get on http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
And learn the C, D, E, Em, G, Am, and A chords and you'll be able to play quite a lot of stuff. Then Concentrate on getting the F chord right and you'll be able to play most songs without too much difficulty.
Once you've got the basics down and can muddle through a few songs it's really quite rewarding and makes you want to learn more.
I started learning about a month ago and have slowly mastered the above chords.
Can now play a lot of oasis, verve, starsailor etc etc.
Still early days for me, but its a really nice way to waste an hour every evening and unwind.
Try using youtube and http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
ETA: Get a good digital tuner and a decent cappo. You will get frustrated if the guitar is out of tune and cant play properly, tune it before every time you play.
Edited by M3333 on Friday 2nd July 23:41
Have lessons with the RIGHT teacher.
I've always found anybody who's had a bad experience and found their lessons worthless (Kitless above, for example) was with the wrong teacher. Seems strange to me (as a teacher) that the teacher would force country fingerpicking on a student when all the student wants to do is play along to Led Zep!
The right teacher would recognise that that's what you wanted to do, and show you all the tricks, scales, modes and techniques involved with playing that particular style of music - and get you leaving a lesson buzzing with what you've learnt, and keen to practice the new stuff for next week.
It may take a few goes, but the effort involved in finding the right teacher for you is worth its weight in gold. It's the difference between being a pub the guitar ending up in the corner after a month gathering dust, or being out there within a couple of years, in a local covers band gigging in pubs and clubs - quite literally a life changing decision! If you want it to be...
I've always found anybody who's had a bad experience and found their lessons worthless (Kitless above, for example) was with the wrong teacher. Seems strange to me (as a teacher) that the teacher would force country fingerpicking on a student when all the student wants to do is play along to Led Zep!
The right teacher would recognise that that's what you wanted to do, and show you all the tricks, scales, modes and techniques involved with playing that particular style of music - and get you leaving a lesson buzzing with what you've learnt, and keen to practice the new stuff for next week.
It may take a few goes, but the effort involved in finding the right teacher for you is worth its weight in gold. It's the difference between being a pub the guitar ending up in the corner after a month gathering dust, or being out there within a couple of years, in a local covers band gigging in pubs and clubs - quite literally a life changing decision! If you want it to be...
Edited by timbob on Saturday 3rd July 10:07
Nimbus said:
Second this. Finding the right teacher can be hard, especially when you're a beginner and can't tell if one is wasting your time or not. So it must say something good that I've never seen a bad word for Justin Sandercoe (the link Nimbus posted).Lessons can help enormously, but more often than not they will just be leading you down a long dark road with no sign of when it's all going to start helping you understand the guitar.
Edited by Alfanatic on Monday 5th July 20:28
Another vote for Justin Sandercoe. When I was a beginner, this guy's lessons were immensely helpful. He breaks down things really well, I find. To this day, I never took any "official" lessons; just got by with some good books and Youtube. Never underestimate the latter.
Although teachers who'd cater to the needs of students are harder to find, when you do find someone like that, it'll absolutely transform your playing. I know it has for couple of my cousins.
Although teachers who'd cater to the needs of students are harder to find, when you do find someone like that, it'll absolutely transform your playing. I know it has for couple of my cousins.
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