Learning the Guitar
Discussion
Hi guys,can anyone give me any advice regarding learning to play the guitar.
Been meaning for ages to start,like my music and had a challenge from a mate that i'd never get round to it.
How simple is it to pick up..I met a teacher by chance today who seemed a real top guy and demonstrated his guitar prowess whilst i worked at his house.
He charges £10 per 30 mins or £18 per hour and advised me to obtain my own guitar to practice in between lessons at home.
His advice for an Electric guitar was a yamaha pacifica as prefer electric to acoustic.
What can i expect.how soon can i play stairway to heaven etc ? any tips will be appreciated.
Been meaning for ages to start,like my music and had a challenge from a mate that i'd never get round to it.
How simple is it to pick up..I met a teacher by chance today who seemed a real top guy and demonstrated his guitar prowess whilst i worked at his house.
He charges £10 per 30 mins or £18 per hour and advised me to obtain my own guitar to practice in between lessons at home.
His advice for an Electric guitar was a yamaha pacifica as prefer electric to acoustic.
What can i expect.how soon can i play stairway to heaven etc ? any tips will be appreciated.
Take him up on the lessons (seems a good price), you'll learn proper habits and quicker. It's about how much time you put in between lessons. I've found myself playing for at least an hour a night. I'm learning acoustic and my teacher is classically trained. Without her input I'd still be confused.
You can only get so far on books and DVDs IMHO. A good teacher will tailor lessons to fit your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as taking into account what you want to get from it.
Pacifica is a good call for a beginner electric guitar. I have been told that electric is easier to start on but learning on acoustic is better for your!
The trick is regular practice. Make sure you do some every day.
Pacifica is a good call for a beginner electric guitar. I have been told that electric is easier to start on but learning on acoustic is better for your!
The trick is regular practice. Make sure you do some every day.
Definitely take up the offer of lessons.
My teacher charges £10 for half hour, and I know of one other who is £20 per hour, so the charges seem to be the going rate.
IMO you can only get so far with tabs and instructional DVDs (although justinguitar.com is a good place to start). A good teacher can point out all your bad habits before they become a problem, and will be able to keep you motivated. As an example I took some Aynsley Lister tunes along to a lesson a few months ago, and on first hearing the tune "Hero" the teacher was playing along and improvision solos to accompany it. Inspirational stuff!
My teacher charges £10 for half hour, and I know of one other who is £20 per hour, so the charges seem to be the going rate.
IMO you can only get so far with tabs and instructional DVDs (although justinguitar.com is a good place to start). A good teacher can point out all your bad habits before they become a problem, and will be able to keep you motivated. As an example I took some Aynsley Lister tunes along to a lesson a few months ago, and on first hearing the tune "Hero" the teacher was playing along and improvision solos to accompany it. Inspirational stuff!
davepoth said:
Pacifica is a great choice. I'd rather start on acoustic though, it's a bit less antisocial to play at home in the evenings.
I'd say the opposite! You can strum away without an amp, or amped but with phones, while other people watch telly or something without annoying anybody¬NiceCupOfTea said:
I'd say the opposite! You can strum away without an amp, or amped but with phones, while other people watch telly or something without annoying anybody¬
I'd agree with that. My guitar (Epi. Les Paul) sits on a stand in the living room, quite often I'll pick it up if my wife is watching something on the TV and just strum or pick away. I find it good for practicing new stuff just to get my fingers used to the movements without having it amped.A teacher but only to a certain extent, otherwise you will sound like the other trillion guitarists out there. Learn the basics from a book/dvd/teacher, but then if you take to it just practice doing your own thing and develop your own style and technique.
Practice practice practice as stated in earlier posts. And dont be afraid to try different things which to you sound good and work well. Dont worry whether its a pentatonic, major etc etc
Practice practice practice as stated in earlier posts. And dont be afraid to try different things which to you sound good and work well. Dont worry whether its a pentatonic, major etc etc
Deanno1dad said:
What can i expect.how soon can i play stairway to heaven etc ? any tips will be appreciated.
Do it. What can you expect = hurting fingers, surprise that it's not as easy as it looks. Stairway to heaven = not so long, if you focus on learning to play it. Tips = Pacifica or any electric is easier on the fingers, but acoustic is good because you can just pick it up and start playing. Either way, having lessons and practicing a little every day is the best way IMO. I have a lovely Yamaha acoustic and a Strat but don't give either enough of my time. PS: Justinguitar is a great site, too.
when I used to teach I always liked to teach what my students actually wanted to learn: so something like stairway to heaven could probably get through, say, the intro in an hours lesson (even beginners) and with a weeks alone practice they'd have it nailed.
In practicing their preferred they'd inadvertantly be learning techniques that are important all round.
Electric will be easier on your fingers for picking further up the fretboard. And you don't want to be put off by painful fingers.
Also helps you learn a soft touch, as you have the amplification.
In practicing their preferred they'd inadvertantly be learning techniques that are important all round.
Electric will be easier on your fingers for picking further up the fretboard. And you don't want to be put off by painful fingers.
Also helps you learn a soft touch, as you have the amplification.NiceCupOfTea said:
I'd say the opposite! You can strum away without an amp, or amped but with phones, while other people watch telly or something without annoying anybody¬
There's nothing more anti-social than someone noodling on an unamplified electric, especially a cheap one. It sounds awful without the sustain you get from an amp. Just my opinion mind. 
Well I'm now two months in- Brought the yahama pacific 112v (with the rage kit at guitarbitz.com) your teacher mentioned, also picked up the JustinGuitar beginners dvd.
Firstly, an un-amped or headphoned electric guitar is fine for practice and quieter than an acoustic, you then have the flexibility of how you want to play, and when no one is around you can crank it up and pretend your Jimi reborn.
What I have established so far is whilst I can memorise chords patterns/progressions reasonably well and quickly, strumming & rhythm is my downfall at the moment, for simplicity I'm just sticking to all down 4:4 or even just one strum per chord change whilst I'm picking up new songs.
Nothing sounds great but there's plenty that sounds good enough to spur you on, and progress at my age (36) seems slow, although I think I'm doing OK.
I've also just started messing with garageband on my macbook and it's a great way to record and listen back to your playing or just try and fit in with some backing tracks, there are some pretty good lessons on there to but they progress far too quickly, but there is also great chord trainer which senses whether your hitting all the strings correctly, chords I thought I was getting ok were picked up by this, so I had to go back and re-learn them.
I'm doing probably about 3hrs a week in 30-45min sessions when the children are asleep. and just create some noise when there around as they invariable want to join in when their awake.
I've got a log book of my practice and try and used focused time to practice to improve. So for instance if I'm doing a finger workout for 5mins I set a countdown timer and focus totally on it until the timer has finished.
I think I'll probably book in a 1:1 course of lessons over the summer or next winter with a tutor when I've got a bit further to iron out any bad habits and get some specific feedback.
Firstly, an un-amped or headphoned electric guitar is fine for practice and quieter than an acoustic, you then have the flexibility of how you want to play, and when no one is around you can crank it up and pretend your Jimi reborn.
What I have established so far is whilst I can memorise chords patterns/progressions reasonably well and quickly, strumming & rhythm is my downfall at the moment, for simplicity I'm just sticking to all down 4:4 or even just one strum per chord change whilst I'm picking up new songs.
Nothing sounds great but there's plenty that sounds good enough to spur you on, and progress at my age (36) seems slow, although I think I'm doing OK.
I've also just started messing with garageband on my macbook and it's a great way to record and listen back to your playing or just try and fit in with some backing tracks, there are some pretty good lessons on there to but they progress far too quickly, but there is also great chord trainer which senses whether your hitting all the strings correctly, chords I thought I was getting ok were picked up by this, so I had to go back and re-learn them.
I'm doing probably about 3hrs a week in 30-45min sessions when the children are asleep. and just create some noise when there around as they invariable want to join in when their awake.
I've got a log book of my practice and try and used focused time to practice to improve. So for instance if I'm doing a finger workout for 5mins I set a countdown timer and focus totally on it until the timer has finished.
I think I'll probably book in a 1:1 course of lessons over the summer or next winter with a tutor when I've got a bit further to iron out any bad habits and get some specific feedback.
Edited by OneDs on Friday 18th February 11:35
OneDs said:
Well I'm now two months in- Brought the yahama pacific 112v (with the rage kit at guitarbitz.com) your teacher mentioned, also picked up the JustinGuitar beginners dvd.
Firstly, an un-amped or headphoned electric guitar is fine for practice and quieter than an acoustic, you then have the flexibility of how you want to play, and when no one is around you can crank it up and pretend your Jimi reborn.
What I have established so far is whilst I can memorise chords patterns/progressions reasonably well and quickly, strumming & rhythm is my downfall at the moment, for simplicity I'm just sticking to all down 4:4 or even just one strum per chord change whilst I'm picking up new songs.
Nothing sounds great but there's plenty that sounds good enough to spur you on, and progress at my age (36) seems slow, although I think I'm doing OK.
I've also just started messing with garageband on my macbook and it's a great way to record and listen back to your playing or just try and fit in with some backing tracks, there are some pretty good lessons on there to but they progress far too quickly, but there is also great chord trainer which senses whether your hitting all the strings correctly, chords I thought I was getting ok were picked up by this, so I had to go back and re-learn them.
I'm doing probably about 3hrs a week in 30-45min sessions when the children are asleep. and just create some noise when there around as they invariable want to join in when their awake.
I've got a log book of my practice and try and used focused time to practice to improve. So for instance if I'm doing a finger workout for 5mins I set a countdown timer and focus totally on it until the timer has finished.
I think I'll probably book in a 1:1 course of lessons over the summer or next winter with a tutor when I've got a bit further to iron out any bad habits and get some specific feedback.
great advice cheersFirstly, an un-amped or headphoned electric guitar is fine for practice and quieter than an acoustic, you then have the flexibility of how you want to play, and when no one is around you can crank it up and pretend your Jimi reborn.
What I have established so far is whilst I can memorise chords patterns/progressions reasonably well and quickly, strumming & rhythm is my downfall at the moment, for simplicity I'm just sticking to all down 4:4 or even just one strum per chord change whilst I'm picking up new songs.
Nothing sounds great but there's plenty that sounds good enough to spur you on, and progress at my age (36) seems slow, although I think I'm doing OK.
I've also just started messing with garageband on my macbook and it's a great way to record and listen back to your playing or just try and fit in with some backing tracks, there are some pretty good lessons on there to but they progress far too quickly, but there is also great chord trainer which senses whether your hitting all the strings correctly, chords I thought I was getting ok were picked up by this, so I had to go back and re-learn them.
I'm doing probably about 3hrs a week in 30-45min sessions when the children are asleep. and just create some noise when there around as they invariable want to join in when their awake.
I've got a log book of my practice and try and used focused time to practice to improve. So for instance if I'm doing a finger workout for 5mins I set a countdown timer and focus totally on it until the timer has finished.
I think I'll probably book in a 1:1 course of lessons over the summer or next winter with a tutor when I've got a bit further to iron out any bad habits and get some specific feedback.
Edited by OneDs on Friday 18th February 11:35
Driller said:
The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer is all you'll ever need.
It's a great book (fantastic book, actually, I've still got the copy I bought in about 1980), but it's not the sort of thing that inspires you to play.My 2p's worth: guided tuition with a teacher is the right step. A good teacher will structure things properly, and help you nail the fundamentals.
But I'd also recommend finding someone local to you who you can jam along with (no meter running!) on just-for-fun stuff. Ideally it's someone who's further along than you, and someone who has enough confidence to show you chord/melody sequences of songs that you like.
Good luck and ignore the occasional bad days where nothing seems to stick.
55allgold said:
It's a great book (fantastic book, actually, I've still got the copy I bought in about 1980), but it's not the sort of thing that inspires you to play.My 2p's worth: guided tuition with a teacher is the right step. A good teacher will structure things properly, and help you nail the fundamentals.
But I'd also recommend finding someone local to you who you can jam along with (no meter running!) on just-for-fun stuff. Ideally it's someone who's further along than you, and someone who has enough confidence to show you chord/melody sequences of songs that you like.
Good luck and ignore the occasional bad days where nothing seems to stick.
I found seeing all of the amazing theory stuff layed out in the book and explained so well, thoroughly inspiring all by itself
The big trick is repetition. All of the lessons in books are great, but they don't tell you that you need to be able to do them while thinking about something else before you've learned them properly.
I found the best way of doing that is to repeat the piece over and over again, steadily building up the speed until you are doing it much faster than needed. Keep going at the fastest speed you can for as long as you can bear, and repeat.
You'll find that after a few days you can think about the shopping list while playing it at the normal speed, and then you've learnt it. That's especially important if you want to sing and play.
I found the best way of doing that is to repeat the piece over and over again, steadily building up the speed until you are doing it much faster than needed. Keep going at the fastest speed you can for as long as you can bear, and repeat.
You'll find that after a few days you can think about the shopping list while playing it at the normal speed, and then you've learnt it. That's especially important if you want to sing and play.
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