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Acoustic Guitar

Got one at Christmas after a year with my ukulele. Going to knuckle down with it this weekend.

Anybody got any tips or websites which are of good use?

Or any advice in general :)
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Comments

  • Book of chords and scales.
  • Justin guitar on YouTube is very good.

    Five minutes every day is more beneficial than one hour once a week.

    It gets easier and more rewarding as you go along. Keep at it. Record yourself on your phone and then listen to it one month later. You will here the progress and will be encouraged.

    Good luck.
  • I use these two websites, dipping in and out of both sets of lessons depending on what I want to practice. Andyguitar has better songs to learn though.

    https://www.justinguitar.com/

    https://www.andyguitar.co.uk/

    As for practice, don't just knuckle down at the weekend, that's the mistake I made. You're better off doing a bit every day rather than big sessions once a week.
  • Funny name for a striker but if he can stick em in the onion bag who am I to take the piss?
  • I picked mine up over Christmas for the first time in 25 years. Put new strings on and downloaded a tuner app. Enjoying dabbling although I’m completely rubbish. Been finding a few random lessons on YouTube but need some structured tuition. And boy do my fingers hurt! Going to persevere though.
  • edited January 2018
    As above, for all returnees and newbies, Justin Guitar on Youtube.
    And get yourself to places like the Pelton Arms for their acoustic nights and chat to the musicians, all worthwhile musicians will give you tips.
    Enjoy the journey.
  • Learn to tune it properly and treat yourself to new strings once a month. Learn Am G F C Em and D chords and invest in a quick release capo. Go to a site like Ultimate Guitar, look for your favourite simple songs and use the transpose function if there are lots of # or b (sharp and flat) signs until the chords look like something you recognise. Use the capo up the neck if it is in the wrong key for your voice. Consider a teacher for 2 or 3 lessons just to get you started.

    I agree with the people who say pick it up every day for a few minutes.
  • 25May98 said:

    Justin guitar on YouTube is very good.

    Five minutes every day is more beneficial than one hour once a week.

    It gets easier and more rewarding as you go along. Keep at it. Record yourself on your phone and then listen to it one month later. You will here the progress and will be encouraged.

    Good luck.

    Second this. Top bloke he is.
  • If you can't play Stairway to Heaven by next week then give up.........

    only joking. Good luck & hope it gives your hours of enjoyment.
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  • Lots of good tips here. Agree with 5m a day rule, get a flesh and blood teacher, practice with rhythm (metronome ..?) And slow down !!! Jam with others, and always sing to develop chord/melody
    Relationship understandin.
    ...and I'm a piano player....
  • edited January 2018
    Greenie said:

    As above, for all returnees and newbies, Justin Guitar on Youtube.
    And get yourself to places like the Pelton Arms for their acoustic nights and chat to the musicians, all worthwhile musicians will give you tips.
    Enjoy the journey.

    As Greenie says, and set yourself a goal, open Mic or something like that. If you wanna sing do it now you won't regret it.

  • Marty Schwartz
  • edited January 2018
    Bert Weedon, that is how I learnt to play. After playing the guitar for forty years I am rather good. Also try and get yourself a decent guitar. If you can afford it a Gibson or a Martin.

    Bert Weedon's Play in a Day: Guide to Modern Guitar Playing
  • edited January 2018
    Hope nobody minds but I've created a new thread for any musos/players on the forum.

    http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/80465/musicians-bands/p1?new=1

  • dickplumb said:

    Bert Weedon, that is how I learnt to play. After playing the guitar for forty years I am rather good. Also try and get yourself a decent guitar. If you can afford it a Gibson or a Martin.

    Bert Weedon's Play in a Day: Guide to Modern Guitar Playing

    And if you can't afford the Gibson or Martin. Recording King @ £3/400 are excellent.
  • dickplumb said:

    Bert Weedon, that is how I learnt to play. After playing the guitar for forty years I am rather good. Also try and get yourself a decent guitar. If you can afford it a Gibson or a Martin.

    Bert Weedon's Play in a Day: Guide to Modern Guitar Playing

    And if you can't afford the Gibson or Martin. Recording King @ £3/400 are excellent.
    A Taylor GS Mini is great for leaving out around the house.
  • Lots of good tips here. Agree with 5m a day rule, get a flesh and blood teacher, practice with rhythm (metronome ..?) And slow down !!! Jam with others, and always sing to develop chord/melody
    Relationship understandin.
    ...and I'm a piano player....

    What if your singing voice is like rubbing your ears with an out of tune cheese grater?
  • What is it that Jay says in the Inbetweeners about there always being a chap with a guitar ?
    :smiley:
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  • edited January 2018
    .
  • Rob7Lee said:

    dickplumb said:

    Bert Weedon, that is how I learnt to play. After playing the guitar for forty years I am rather good. Also try and get yourself a decent guitar. If you can afford it a Gibson or a Martin.

    Bert Weedon's Play in a Day: Guide to Modern Guitar Playing

    And if you can't afford the Gibson or Martin. Recording King @ £3/400 are excellent.
    A Taylor GS Mini is great for leaving out around the house.
    If you like the Gibson’s you can get something very similar from Epiphone, you just need to get it set up by a decent luthier.
  • I really like this guy - his song choice is excellent - vert clearly explained which helps

    https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/songs-etc/
  • IdleHans said:

    Lots of good tips here. Agree with 5m a day rule, get a flesh and blood teacher, practice with rhythm (metronome ..?) And slow down !!! Jam with others, and always sing to develop chord/melody
    Relationship understandin.
    ...and I'm a piano player....

    What if your singing voice is like rubbing your ears with an out of tune cheese grater?
    The singing bit is not some kind of 'The voice' performance for approval, it is necessary in order for the whole thing to make sense.
    You may pick up a Guitar, but you are actually learning music.
    As my classical piano teacher slamming the piano lid on my finger shouting: ' Sing !!!' Use to explain: if you sing it, your fingers will follow.
    P.s. I bet if you sing with conviction - leaving all the British inhibition bollocks behind you'll sound like... you.
    Life's too short and all that...
  • If you're not a singer then you can always hum....it helps especially if your house has thin walls between adjoining neighbours!

    Keep your fingernails short and with practice you'll harden your finger tips. Takes a while but you'll get there and it won't hurt on the steels.

    Learn D, C, G, Am, Em chords and you'll then be able to jump between those chords to make up a melody for rhythm/strumming.

    Good luck but most of all enjoy.
  • All good advice on here for you and agree short, regular practice is good, fiddle around with the main basic chords, D in particular has many variants that give great opportunities for little hammer on's. Listen to people like Greenie and Saga Lout as they are proper players and one last thing whilst owning a Martin or Gibson is nice they are VERY expensive. Rarely do players own this kind of guitar straight off I have a Freshman, which is UK made, extremely good guitar that cost about £400, spruce top no laminates and is just beautiful. Can also recommend Yamaha who also produce great value for money acoustics. Enjoy
  • Ah... one more thing, I know as a piano player I'm biased but get yourself a little keyboard. Anything, the cheapest you can find but one that will serve you as a drawing board. The notes on the keyboard are easy to see and all the chords progressions will make a lot more sense...
  • I am aware that there is some advice flying around about guitar preferences. You've just got a guitar...what did you get? Ukulele is not at all a bad preparation for guitar playing. What kind of Uke did you play? Baritone or soprano? (DGBE or GCEA?) The chord shapes are similar or transpose easily and strumming and fingerpicking are great skills to have. As a guitarist of a few decades I only played a Uke for the first time around 5 years ago and I loved it. Keep your Uke playing going while you learn guitar would be my advice...playing one instrument informs the playing of another. I now play banjo, guitar, Irish bouzouki, Uke and dobro. I learn a song on one and then try it out on the others...amazing how it changes the interpretation and great fun too.
  • Similar experience to Wheremeticket. After playing the guitar for about 45 years, I picked up a Uke at the beginning of 2017 and found it great fun. I agree that it's good preparation for learning the guitar as the chord shapes are the same.

    As to where to learn, in recent years if I want to learn a song I just type it into YouTube - there's normally a lesson on there, assuming you're not into really obscure stuff. Quality is variable though.
  • Oakster said:

    I really like this guy - his song choice is excellent - vert clearly explained which helps

    https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/songs-etc/

    Cheers for that link, Oakster. I clicked through to the Happy Mondays page and had a good time learning those riffs this afternoon.

    One book I can recommend is Neil Cowmeadow's 9 Weird Things Guitarists Do. It won't teach you a single chord, scale of riff but it will highlight some of the common pitfalls (mainly in our own thinking).
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