Learning The Guitar

[MrPin]

I had an electric guitar in the house that I had literally 'twanged' a few times and then, just like you, went and bought an F310 and then, just like you, wentvan watched Justin's videos.

Can't say I'm any good at it yet as I don't have the time to invest but every time I hear Johnny Cash I pick it up and play the two chords I know!

I like playing the drums as well.

With practice, you will know three! As for the drumming! Somebody has to do it!

[Bradbury Robinson]

Selling myself short a little. I 'know' four but can play two so they actually sound musical!

[John51]

Once you've got 3 basic chords down, say A, D and E or C, F and G, you only need to learn one more chord to be able to play in another key.

eg C, F and G means you can play in the key of C. Learning D means you can also play in the key of G. (G, C and D.)

There's a bit of theory as to why 'The 3 Chord Trick' works but it works whether you know the theory or not.

[JoeDavola]

Top tip that I wish someone had taught me on the first day: learn how to learn. The art of playing an instrument isn't in the playing but the practice. Get the practice right and you'll be a total monster within 36 months.

You may not realise that you are not warming up properly or your hands are cold or your practicing with mistakes and actually learning the mistakes.

Any tips on how to struture a good practice regime, or is that too general a question?

[JoeDavola]

Mark Knopfler is my favourite guitarist. The guitar sound on the Communique album is probably my favourite guitar sound ever...that first note followed by the trill that starts Once Upon A Time In The West....it doesn't get much better thatn that in my opinion!

I'll never be able to play fast but I'd like to be able to do some slow melodic soloing....the Mark Knopfler/David Gilmour type stuff.

Also a big fan of Nile Rogers.

[JoeDavola]

I have electric, bass, and an acoustic guitar. With unlimited funds and room I'd own more of 'em!

I had some bass guitar lessons from a great teacher a while back but unfortunately theory bores me senseless. Which is a shame cause it means I'll never really progress much in my playing.

Thing is though he was really into Jazz, which I'm not. So he was trying to get me to play these jazz tunes that are in multiple keys and it was just too much.... I'd have rather started with a three chord pop songs, learned the theory behind those, and gotten progressively more difficult.

I like writing songs too - got an albums worth of stuff written in terms of chord charts/melodies, just find lyrics difficult!

[MrPin]

I have electric, bass, and an acoustic guitar. With unlimited funds and room I'd own more of 'em!

I had some bass guitar lessons from a great teacher a while back but unfortunately theory bores me senseless. Which is a shame cause it means I'll never really progress much in my playing.

Thing is though he was really into Jazz, which I'm not. So he was trying to get me to play these jazz tunes that are in multiple keys and it was just too much.... I'd have rather started with a three chord pop songs, learned the theory behind those, and gotten progressively more difficult.

I like writing songs too - got an albums worth of stuff written in terms of chord charts/melodies, just find lyrics difficult!

That is the way of Pin!

[dinker]

Top tip that I wish someone had taught me on the first day: learn how to learn. The art of playing an instrument isn't in the playing but the practice. Get the practice right and you'll be a total monster within 36 months.

Playing an instrument is a motor skill, like learning to walk. Repeat the operation enough times and your brain will build new neural paths to perform it.

[dances with sheeple]

Any tips on how to struture a good practice regime, or is that too general a question?

Subscribe to Guitar Techniques magazine and work through one exercise/tune until you have it down, then move on to the next one. Get a copy of the Guitar Handbook and do the same, or just accept that there are only twelve notes, drop some acid and start mixing things up.

[SpectrumFX]

Any tips on how to struture a good practice regime, or is that too general a question?

Ideally you'd split it up into sections, something like this;

1. Technique (scales, practising with a metronome etc.)

2. Repertoire (polishing the songs you know)

3. Transcribing (working songs out by ear and writing it down)

[dances with sheeple]

Mark Knopfler is my favourite guitarist. The guitar sound on the Communique album is probably my favourite guitar sound ever...that first note followed by the trill that starts Once Upon A Time In The West....it doesn't get much better thatn that in my opinion!

I'll never be able to play fast but I'd like to be able to do some slow melodic soloing....the Mark Knopfler/David Gilmour type stuff.

Also a big fan of Nile Rogers.

Started off as a Ritchie Blackmore enthusiast, then quickly added Knopfler to the list, and remember just being blown away with the guitar playing on Lady Writer when I first heard it back then, thinking it was almost impossible to copy. Recently however I had a few drinks, popped that song on the CD player, and found it quite easy to fit some scales and runs to the song that sounded pretty good, (although if you learned it note for note there are techniques that would need to be worked on for the fluid feel he gets ) That is what happens if you just have the thing around for years, you learn almost by osmosis.

Having a properly structured practice regime will take you stratospheric I should think (Steve Vai writes and teaches a lot about how to practice and do ear training) IMO the feel that guitarists like Blackmore and Knoplfer produce can`t be taught, it is an emotional and personal thing that we all have, but need to put in the hours on the instrument to find, a bit like a writer just banging away at the typewriter for years and then finding a "voice".

[dances with sheeple]

[sexton]

Built the guitar himself too.

[John51]

Any tips on how to struture a good practice regime, or is that too general a question?

This might be useful to you:

http://www.ronimusic.com/amsldowin.htm

Slow down whatever you want to learn and play along.

Also, for at least 5 minutes a day, work on whatever it is that you least want to work on.

[shindigger]

Built the guitar himself too.

Great. Never heard of him before.

Love the bit at 1.06 where he hammers off and looks at the camera, couldn't help himself. As in did you check that lick hepcats?

Been a Davy Graham fan for a good while.

Been a Knopflerist since first two albums. Down To The Waterline being my absolute fave. Basically Dylan with good guitar playing.

But he lost me when Sting started singing on his reckids. Still no doubting the guys chops all thru his career though.

I had a stab at Romeo and Juliet last year i also got the chords through that Justin Guitar website, and consequently discovered open G, and have since written a few new acoustic tunes, just as a result of new tunings. Capo on 3rd fret and capo off.

Can be very liberating retuning the guitar. Drop D also fun with a Gibson 333 cranked up.

[MrPin]

I like writing songs too - got an albums worth of stuff written in terms of chord charts/melodies, just find lyrics difficult!

Just mumble or shout a lot! People may find you "profound"!

[MrPin]

Congratulations to Mr Pugh for trying the guitar! It's almost impossible to buy a dud instrument now! A friend of mine took up the guitar at 30 ish years, and took a few lessons! His father however was a "relatively famous" ( ie I'd never heard of him ) and a complete cocky-head, which put my mate off for years!

[dances with sheeple]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GO0jK0udNTo&list=RDGO0jK0udNTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE1CtgQvAH4&feature=player_detailpage

[dances with sheeple]

Great. Never heard of him before.

Love the bit at 1.06 where he hammers off and looks at the camera, couldn't help himself. As in did you check that lick hepcats?

Been a Davy Graham fan for a good while.

Been a Knopflerist since first two albums. Down To The Waterline being my absolute fave. Basically Dylan with good guitar playing.

But he lost me when Sting started singing on his reckids. Still no doubting the guys chops all thru his career though.

I had a stab at Romeo and Juliet last year i also got the chords through that Justin Guitar website, and consequently discovered open G, and have since written a few new acoustic tunes, just as a result of new tunings. Capo on 3rd fret and capo off.

Can be very liberating retuning the guitar. Drop D also fun with a Gibson 333 cranked up.

Never heard of him either until he was on the Greatest Riffs at the BBC the other night, brilliant, stuff like this makes you raise the bar for how good it is possible to be. Always loved Down to the Waterline, and Southbound Again, from the first album.

[JoeDavola]

Thanks for all the guitar/practise tips there folks, lots there to try out!

[MrPin]

Thanks for all the guitar/practise tips there folks, lots there to try out!

The great thing about guitar, is it is portable! You can go anywhere with it! It's the two 4x12 cabinets, and 500 Watt amplifier that needs a van! !

[Andy T]

Try not practicing every day, have a few days break for the learning to 'soak' in.

Been playing for about 15 years, didn't have a structured practice routine so took me a long time to get good. Sometimes I don't pick mine up for over a week, and I seem slightly better than last time I played.

Saying that I find my playing swings from either terrible or great depending on if I'm tired, amount of sleep had, mood etc. sometimes it's more about where you head is than the skills/dexterity of your fingers.

Might be worth getting some help from someone who can play, they can check your guitar and see if the setup/action is ok, could be hindering your learning. I found lessons good for the first couple of months, to get things off the ground, then I just taught myself with tab books and playing along to albums.

Keep at it and you will get there, it gets much easier!

[dances with sheeple]

Try not practicing every day, have a few days break for the learning to 'soak' in.

Been playing for about 15 years, didn't have a structured practice routine so took me a long time to get good. Sometimes I don't pick mine up for over a week, and I seem slightly better than last time I played.

Saying that I find my playing swings from either terrible or great depending on if I'm tired, amount of sleep had, mood etc. sometimes it's more about where you head is than the skills/dexterity of your fingers.

Might be worth getting some help from someone who can play, they can check your guitar and see if the setup/action is ok, could be hindering your learning. I found lessons good for the first couple of months, to get things off the ground, then I just taught myself with tab books and playing along to albums.

Keep at it and you will get there, it gets much easier!

Yes, noticed that years ago when I was struggling to get basic bar chords and open chords to sound smooth as I played through them. Had to go away without a guitar for a week, and picking it up when I got back there was a definite surge in my ability, as if all the chord practice had been absorbed and incubated somehow.

[MrPin]

Try not practicing every day, have a few days break for the learning to 'soak' in.

Been playing for about 15 years, didn't have a structured practice routine so took me a long time to get good. Sometimes I don't pick mine up for over a week, and I seem slightly better than last time I played.

Saying that I find my playing swings from either terrible or great depending on if I'm tired, amount of sleep had, mood etc. sometimes it's more about where you head is than the skills/dexterity of your fingers.

Might be worth getting some help from someone who can play, they can check your guitar and see if the setup/action is ok, could be hindering your learning. I found lessons good for the first couple of months, to get things off the ground, then I just taught myself with tab books and playing along to albums.

Keep at it and you will get there, it gets much easier!

Really only an option for an electric one! You can't do much with a traditional acoustic without filing bits. A Yamaha will be pretty well set up out of the box! It will be a compromise, designed for the gauge of strings fitted on it. Some people like heavier, or lighter strings! I prefer slightly lighter than stock! I find many good guitarists are absolutely crap at getting a good setup, and I have done that for a few people! Oh and when you change the strings on an acoustic, get "proper" acoustic strings!

[Guest_northshore_*]

The late lamented Bolton Fury always used to suggest this site to newby players:

http://www.justinguitar.com/

I started on that site following TBFs advice. Been about a year and a half - still sh!t, still can’t play a barred F quickly enough, but still going. Tend to use youtube because learning songs is what keeps it interesting. Pick one I like then find a tutorial. Does mean though that you learn a lot of positions where have no idea what they are technically. So I bought fingerstyle and formal technique books to plug the gaps, but haven’t got past page 8 on technique because it’s boring.

Question. I have a yamaha pacifica electric. Recommended as a basic starter guitar. Finding I’m more into fingerstyle, maybe because it’s easier. Can anyone suggest a starter acoustic? Doesn’t have to be electro-acoustic. There are loads of recommendations out there, but wondered what the hpc hive mind might suggest. Up to about £150?