Anyone play guitar?

#1
SDV

SDV

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#1
I inherited my late father's Fender acoustic guitar about 8 years ago and have never played in my life. I am 34 years old and have always dreamed of learning to play. I finally broke down and signed up for some lessons, which I begin in January at a local guitar shop.

Anyone on here play? Have tips, suggestions for a beginner.:rock:
 
#2
#2
I'm sure we have a few people that have mastered the main riff to Smoke on the water.
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#3
#3
San Diego Vol said:
I inherited my late father's Fender acoustic guitar about 8 years ago and have never played in my life. I am 34 years old and have always dreamed of learning to play. I finally broke down and signed up for some lessons, which I begin in January at a local guitar shop.

Anyone on here play? Have tips, suggestions for a beginner.:rock:
Click to expand...
First thing I would do is restring the guitar with Elixir Nanoweb Medium Light strings a week or so before the first lesson. These won't stretch much, and should be in good shape when you begin. Your fingertips will thank you. If you're unsure how to string it, most shops will do it for price of the strings plus $10. Or, google it. Many helpful videos and instructions out there. If you really want to learn and advance faster, practice between lessons. Your touch and dexterity will grow much faster. Taking lessons is the best basic steps because a lot of people learning on their own don't get the concept of how to actually fret correctly. That's all I could help with for your beginning. Follow through on the lessons as far as you feel you need to, but make sure you have the basics down and formed before going away from them. Been playing at it for awhile. 'Bout 40 years or so.


 
#7
#7
Slydell said:
First thing I would do is restring the guitar with Elixir Nanoweb Medium Light strings a week or so before the first lesson. These won't stretch much, and should be in good shape when you begin. Your fingertips will thank you. If you're unsure how to string it, most shops will do it for price of the strings plus $10. Or, google it. Many helpful videos and instructions out there. If you really want to learn and advance faster, practice between lessons. Your touch and dexterity will grow much faster. Taking lessons is the best basic steps because a lot of people learning on their own don't get the concept of how to actually fret correctly. That's all I could help with for your beginning. Follow through on the lessons as far as you feel you need to, but make sure you have the basics down and formed before going away from them. Been playing at it for awhile. 'Bout 40 years or so.


Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it
 
#8
#8
Been playing for about 5 years or so. i have an ibanez s series and takamine acoustic. stick with it because it is a great hobby
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#9
#9
bleedorange1983 said:
Been playing for about 5 years or so. i have an ibanez s series and takamine acoustic. stick with it because it is a great hobby
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I look forward to it. I am the type of person that usually sticks with something I start. Someone asked me a couple of months ago what my hobbies were. Although I didnt say it, all I could think of was drinking beer and watching football. haha. I need a hobby and think this will be a fun one
 
#10
#10
Slydell is right, but your fingers are going to have to get the good callus' on them. I started by just learning bar chords, easy and only takes three fingers to make a chord. But on an acoustic will not sound as good. I play almost exclusively on an acoustic now too, and my best recommend is to just learn the major chords first. Like an E chord. They have charts all over the place for reference. When I was younger I had to go seek out help, but the internet has opened up all kinds of good information.

If you have a favorite song just look up the chords for it and start playing along. The scales and all that other crap will come along in time.

Most important, is play for your fun and enjoyment, and you will love it your whole.
 
#11
#11
VOLnVEGAS said:
Slydell is right, but your fingers are going to have to get the good callus' on them. I started by just learning bar chords, easy and only takes three fingers to make a chord. But on an acoustic will not sound as good. I play almost exclusively on an acoustic now too, and my best recommend is to just learn the major chords first. Like an E chord. They have charts all over the place for reference. When I was younger I had to go seek out help, but the internet has opened up all kinds of good information.

If you have a favorite song just look up the chords for it and start playing along. The scales and all that other crap will come along in time.

Most important, is play for your fun and enjoyment, and you will love it your whole.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks
 
#12
#12
If you ever get stuck, or need a tip, or need to figure out how to play something, just ask on this thread and I am sure alot of folks will help you. Among them myself.
 
#13
#13
used to play quite a bit 4 or 5 years ago, but don't play nearly as much as i used. i've got both an electric and acoustic......the electric being a delta and the acoustic being a washburn model by oscar schmidt. i play the washburn 50x more than the electric.
 
#14
#14
Here's a tip; if you can learn how to read music instead of learning by tab.
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#15
#15
VOLnVEGAS said:
If you ever get stuck, or need a tip, or need to figure out how to play something, just ask on this thread and I am sure alot of folks will help you. Among them myself.
Click to expand...

preciate it. I'll keep you posted on my progress
 
#16
#16
666 said:
Here's a tip; if you can learn how to read music instead of learning by tab.
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I took piano when I was a kid, so I think I should be able to read music again pretty easy I hope
 
#17
#17
Learning by tab is easier at first but it becomes a crutch that holds you back when you start getting into more advanced playing.
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#18
#18
SkyDell's suggestion of elixers is spot on.

As far as learning, I find the first step is developing muscle memory to grab chords. A lot of instructors overwhelm students with to much in the beginning, and it turns students off. One method that I find works well is taking a song like Brown Eye'd Girl or Comfortably Numb and just practice playing with the recording. Once you start getting your hands comfortable grabbing the chords, then work on your rhythm. I find that once you have put in the time getting your first song under your belt, the rest of the chords come a lot easier.

Stick with it, the hardest part is getting through the pain of developing callouses and developing the muscle memory for strumming and grabbing chords.

my 2 cents.
 
#19
#19
I'd suggest learning the minor pentatonic scale and basic 12 bar blues (3 chords).

Then, when you watch TV or are generally hanging out just noodle around on the guitar. It will get you used to picking notes, the feel, etc.

If you learn the minor pentatonic in E then you can move it to other keys. I used to listen to an album and try to play the pentatonic scale along with it. The first challenge is locating the key. The nice thing about pentatonic is that it is pretty idiot proof in terms of scale notes fitting a rhythm. The other thing is that it is also the major pentatonic scale (which fits better with country). So the same notes for a E minor pentatonic are also a G major pentatonic. I found that a disk like Eric Clapton Time Pieces vol 2 has most songs in E or G and works great to play along with using the same basic notes found in the E minor pentatonic. Another album that helped was War's Greatest hits. It used the major pentatonic version more but the song structures allowed for goof proof riffs in the G major pentatonic.

The E minor pentatonic is as follows.

E (open string) ----- G (3rd fret)
A (open string) ----- B (2nd fret)
D (open string) ----- E (2nd fret)
G (open string) ----- A (2nd fret)
B (open string) ----- D (3rd fret)
E (open string) ----- G (3rd fret)

If you start that with the big E string (fat one at top) and play those notes in order it's the minor pentatonic in E. If you start with the big string at the G position (3rd fret) and play from there it is basically the major pentatonic in G.

You can change Keys by using the same pattern (e.g. start with big string at G position and go up 3 frets, drop to next string directly below G (C) and go up 2, do the same to the little string and you've done the minor pentatonic in G.

Long explanation but I found just noodling around with this along with a record really helped my ear development. Once that happens you'll naturally add stuff that sounds right and you are on your way.
 
#20
#20
volinbham said:
I'd suggest learning the minor pentatonic scale and basic 12 bar blues (3 chords).

Then, when you watch TV or are generally hanging out just noodle around on the guitar. It will get you used to picking notes, the feel, etc.

If you learn the minor pentatonic in E then you can move it to other keys. I used to listen to an album and try to play the pentatonic scale along with it. The first challenge is locating the key. The nice thing about pentatonic is that it is pretty idiot proof in terms of scale notes fitting a rhythm. The other thing is that it is also the major pentatonic scale (which fits better with country). So the same notes for a E minor pentatonic are also a G major pentatonic. I found that a disk like Eric Clapton Time Pieces vol 2 has most songs in E or G and works great to play along with using the same basic notes found in the E minor pentatonic. Another album that helped was War's Greatest hits. It used the major pentatonic version more but the song structures allowed for goof proof riffs in the G major pentatonic.

The E minor pentatonic is as follows.

E (open string) ----- G (3rd fret)
A (open string) ----- B (2nd fret)
D (open string) ----- E (2nd fret)
G (open string) ----- A (2nd fret)
B (open string) ----- D (3rd fret)
E (open string) ----- G (3rd fret)

If you start that with the big E string (fat one at top) and play those notes in order it's the minor pentatonic in E. If you start with the big string at the G position (3rd fret) and play from there it is basically the major pentatonic in G.

You can change Keys by using the same pattern (e.g. start with big string at G position and go up 3 frets, drop to next string directly below G (C) and go up 2, do the same to the little string and you've done the minor pentatonic in G.

Long explanation but I found just noodling around with this along with a record really helped my ear development. Once that happens you'll naturally add stuff that sounds right and you are on your way.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll have to reread that, lots of info haha
 
#23
#23
I suggest buying a chord chart and practice the different progressions which will get your "finger memory" started and start building those callouses. Until your fingers are toughened, your practice time will be limited, which in turn limits your learning curve. I agree with the poster regarding learning the notes as opposed to tabs. Once you know how to read music, you can play any song.
 
#24
#24
I would love to learn how to play, I would also like to learn how to play the slide like the old blues men. Does anyone know how to play the slide and how hard is it?
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