Playing The Guitar

O-Randy-Hunt

Anyone on here play the guitar.

Got an acoustic guitar for Xmas as I've always wanted to learn to play it.

So im a complete beginner learning the basics. I've got a book and DVD that I've been going through.

Any tips or advice would be great. Struggling at the moment with the frets. When I hold a string down part of my hand is touching other strings so theres a buzz as I play.

Ta

cafc-4-life

Start with the basic chords, try to put some together when you get a hold of some so you can learn easily where the chords out so you don't always have to look. Play until your fingers bleed (last one is from Bryan Adams) but I've never bled from playing. Enjoy yourself and have fun, great to relax with.

Leroy Ambrose

Been playing for twenty years. Move your wrist so that the knuckle of your thumb is resting against the middle of the back of the guitar neck. Apply pressure to the neck and lift your fingers away from the fretboard. Most beginners grip the guitar neck wrong, holding it as if they would a baseball bat. You need to lay your hand flat against the strings to be able to fret properly. Unfortunately, this doesn't feel 'natural' to begin with, and seems awkward - get the hand position right and you'll find everything a lot easier.

Wheresmeticket

Find a song or 2 you like with simple chords and tear the arse out of it.  Get in the habit of picking the guitar up and playing it a bit whenever you go near it. The fret-buzz and muffling will go with practice.

addick1965

I tried to learn about 20 years ago got frustrated and gave up.....but i found my old guitar at the back of the garage still in its now very dusy cover so i'm going to give it another bash

StubleyAddick

I started playing the guitar back in March....one of the best things i have ever done. 

Learn the basic chords...and then you will be able to discover some songs with them in....its a terrific feeling. 

stilladdicted

Leroy knows his stuff. I wanted to improve my playing and start classical guitar. it took nearly 6 months to 'unlearn' all the things I had been doing wrong. Maybe worth having a few lessons first to learn about hand and wrist positions etc.

Saga Lout

Been playing for 40 years - still pretty average, but I don't spend enough time on it.

Not a bad idea to pay for a few lessons. I've not seen any instructional DVDVDs, buy surely one for beginners should show you basic things like how to position your hand?

RedMist

I'd recommend starting by having some lessons- learn the basics properly can save a year fumbling around on your own trying to make sense of anything, Plus, make sure your guitar is actually good to play, if you can get someone who plays to check it over- or a friendly shop? - this way you won't be trying to learn ballet in army boots!

BaronPaolo

Practise a lot, especially when the football is on telly,just watch the game and strum away also youtube has a lot of good tuitions lessons. It doesnt take long to filter out the crap ones.

 

Oakster

I've been playing for about 4 years, i play every chance I have & what seemed like the impossible when I started, is now routine. I have put in countless hours of practise, it's the key in my opinion. Don't give up & practice, practice, practice.

I definitely recommend this website, his lessons are pretty good. http://www.justinguitar.com/

My absolute favourite youtube guitar resource is http://www.youtube.com/user/jbruceguitar as his choice in music is right up my street & he explains everything so well.

O-Randy-Hunt

Thanks for links and tips etc

At the mo it seems extremely hard but I guess thats the case with many things in life. When I first started driving lessons I wanted to give up.

Will just have to knuckle down and give it a good go.

Thanks for the links oakster. Will give them a try.

Fingers are killing me already

Stig

Practise a lot, especially when the football is on telly,just watch the game and strum away also youtube has a lot of good tuitions lessons. It doesnt take long to filter out the crap ones.

 

Try playing the guitar when the adverts are on, practice playing along with the jingles.  

Oakster

Thanks for links and tips etc

At the mo it seems extremely hard but I guess thats the case with many things in life. When I first started driving lessons I wanted to give up.

Will just have to knuckle down and give it a good go.

Thanks for the links oakster. Will give them a try.

Fingers are killing me already

once you get those callouses on your fingertips it becomes a bit easier....

I also subscribe to http://www.totallyguitars.com/index.html - there are a lot of songs on there, they are broken down into quite a lot of detail & the bloke seems to know what he is talking about - there is a lot of guitar crud on the internet!!

RedMist

...understatement of the decade!

Powell Is Pleasant

Thanks for links and tips etc

At the mo it seems extremely hard but I guess thats the case with many things in life. When I first started driving lessons I wanted to give up.

Will just have to knuckle down and give it a good go.

Thanks for the links oakster. Will give them a try.

Fingers are killing me already

I started learning about 7 years ago, and I remember painful fingers as a massive barrier!  Just believe me when I say that they won't always hurt that much!

Stig

I just remembered a bit of advice that my guitar teacher used to give.  I suspect it's very good, but I failed to heed it at the time which is one of the reasons that I'm still crap.

When you're practising a new piece and you reach a part that stumps you, don't go back to the beginning.  Keep practicing the bit that you find difficult, otherwise you'll just learn the easy bits and wont conquer the whole song.

bingaddick

I am self-taught. Wish I had some lessons. 

My son is having them at school.

Learn a few basic chords - keep at it, it will come. G C and D or D7 will play you many many songs.

Fingers will get better but it takes a while for the skin to harden

Practising bar chords helped me immensely once I had the basic chord patterns. Check out Bob Dylan - Lay Lady Lay and keep practising it over and over!

Have fun, it is an enormously satisfying instrument even with just three chords.

March51

Mrs. M went to evening classes once a week for a few months to learn how to play. She found it much easier to concentrate without all the usual distractions of home life though this was a few years ago and I don't know if colleges still do that sort of thing.

mattaddick

Played for over 30 years and have played some half decent places like The Cavern and The Marquee plus more pub gigs than I care to remember. I taught myself basically by buying The Beatles complete. As I knew all the songs really well I just worked through the books. Nail all the basic chords and practise, practise, practise. You'll probably want to give up when you come to F, Bflat and Eflat but don't let that worry you too much. I would buy a songbook of a band you really like and know the songs already and just work through them. It will sound rubbish at first, your fingers will hurt and for a while you might hate the thing. But stick at it. Lastly, always, always always keep your guitar in tune - it will never sound any good if you don't. My advice is buy an electronic tuner so you can always be sure it's 100 per cent in tune. Good luck!

Wheresmeticket

Good post.

 

Not sure about electronic tuners tho - still find I have to "fine tune".

 

Been playing for 35 years and still hate Bflat.

Leroy Ambrose

Check this out

RedMist

It's all about inspiration, and you don't need to look any further for how good you can make 3 chords sound than AC/DC!

Tune down and drink up!

Big William

"Been playing for 35 years and still hate Bflat."

Know what you mean. Also, If anybody on here knows Glenn Tilbrook, ask him why they put an Eb in the middle of Cool for Cats. Cruel.

Randy, like many others have said work at the chords and it'll come. One (more) tip, don't neglect the other hand, a little bit of work on picking etc can give the most mundane chord sequence a new lease of life. A folk book is good for that stuff, but nowadays you can probably get it off Youtube for nowt.
Good luck!

3blokes

Must be the oldest on this thread just realised I started on the guitar 40 years ago.
Would echo Mattaddick's sound advice ( no pun intended) and try to find someone who is a bit better than you, a mate who you can watch and learn from. That was what helped me. Failing that maybe a few lessons.
I found that was the best way to pick stuff and technique up. Also play runs really slowly at first so that you are playing them accurately and cleanly. Speed up gradually instead of trying to go at 90 mph , it will sound better in the long run.
Good luck with it, I still always enjoy picking up a guitar, that thrill never goes.

Oakster

so what guitars are we all playing?

i invested in a Custom 62 Tele Reissue & Fender Twin Reverb Amp as I love that Buck Owens sound - which this combo delivers beautifully - I also use Amplitube for messing around with different tones

my acoustic is a Taylor 416ce

i have spent a small fortune on guitar gear these last few years!!

RedMist

Hagstrom swede- as played by Frank Zappa.
Laney protube 100 watt heads.
Orange 400watt 4x12 speaker cabinets.

3blokes

Parker Fly.
Still got the old ac30 :-)

Oakster

Hagstrom swede- as played by Frank Zappa.
Laney protube 100 watt heads.
Orange 400watt 4x12 speaker cabinets.

what kind of music are you playing RedMist - sounds ideal for a bit of Stoner/Doom Rock!!

RedMist

Ha ha ha, but no good for anything else!

Used a gorgeous twin reverb for our last studio session for some clean sounds, got a real spaghetti western feel with a telecaster.

Leroy Ambrose

Sure we've done this before, but could have been on Netaddicks or another forum somewhere I guess. I play a translucent-blue Jackson dinky strat. I also Play an Ibanez 7-string drop-tuned to A to give me some more bottom-end (ooer!) and have a Jackson Warrior for screaming lead (prefer the screechier sound I get from that than the Dinky). Play through a JCM 2000 and a Marshall 2x12 (got rid of the 4x12s a while ago as they're too big). I had an 8-string for a while, but just couldn't get to grips with it - fretboard is too wide and I've got stubby fingers as it is