How to learn to play guitar quickly and easily while having fun?
I have wanted to play the guitar all my life. My parents got me a guitar a couple years ago, and some books. I have tried maybe three different forms of lessons, all start off at different places. Where is the best place to start when learning to play? Also, got some money now, any advice on some good software or book (idiot proof) to teach me how to play? I really do want to learn this, I’m just kinda overwhelmed. Any other advice welcome please.
Thanks!
September 19th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Use cyberfret.com for free online guitar lessons (click on the Beginner Guitar Lessons on the left side of the page).
Buy Teach Yourself Visually Guitar if you’re a visual learner. Good book with simple directions and lots of pictures. Lots of stuff is covered in that book.
It will get frustrating, so be warned.
I also HIGHLY recommend lessons. You can use the book and website as “second teachers” if you will.
September 19th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Well, since you have money, you have a much better chance than I did. I just looked up tabs for songs I knew by heart and did it there, but if you can, I would advise getting a music teacher.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
here’s what i think: those books are a waste!! u can learn the stuff they teach on the internet for free, u can learn em on jamplay. com they’ll teach you all sorts of great techinques…now im not saying the books won’t help…believe me they will…but first off..learn the string names and chords. it’ll make the process a lot easier…here’ show i remember it:
E(ddie) [thickest string]
A(te)
D(ynamite)
G(ood)
B(ye)
e(ddie) [thinnest string]
but that’s only for normal tuning. and speaking of normal tuning, learn some songs in normal tuning first, then work ur way up to drop D:
D
A
D
G
B
e
and explore some other sounds like Low C…which i honestly do not know…but it’s used for death metal and such.
well good luck and Enjoi!
i kno its a little cliché but practice makes perfect pal…
September 19th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Ok i can’t guarantee it’ll all be fun, easy, and quick if you serious about playing the guitar a lot of times it’ll be the opposite but almost nothing beats the falling of learning a new song on the guitar or mastering a new technique. That being said i suggest you get books made by CVLS they have probably the best guitar books ever. THey come with an audio cd so that you can hear if what you’re playing is right. It breaks down all the steps and is easy to follow. There also very cheap 15 bucks a pop.
Hope that helps feel free to email me if you have anymore questions
September 19th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
i suggest you go to http://www.justinguitar.com – a site that has everything that you need to know about guitars. or buy the book “The Complete Billboard Illustrated Guitar Handbook” which also does the same thing.
Well if you’re new i suggest you could start by learning the chords and chord progression. once you get it. play playing some rhythm songs, and try to get used to it. After learning rhythm guitar try to switch to lead guitaring. Which can be done by learning to improvise solos. try to learn the scales so that you could learn to improvise. and lastly practice. it’s the only way to improve
September 19th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Here is a great beginning book and DVD for you:
http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-Guitar-Method-DVD/dp/B000056VQS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1215613562&sr=1-2
Stay away from the internet lesson sites; some of the info is good but a good deal of it is WRONG. Internet sites are of the most value to people who already know what they’re doing because we know how to weed out the wrong from the helpful and correct.
Hal Leonard, who publishes the book, is a very old and well respected company.
Guitar is like everything else you may want to be good at; it requires practice and a knowledge of the fundamentals. Just stick with it and take it slow.
September 19th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Just get tabs from ultimate-guitar.com. Its cheap easy and fun
September 19th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
try tablisher lessons it quick and easy to learn just search for
how to do tablisher and its really easy or its also known as tab guitar
September 19th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Its Generally very hard to learn, i’d prefer starting with buying a chord book learning those and memorizing them, after you do that start learning notes and tabs. And eventually you could write your own music. It takes alot of practice so don’t get frustrated, keep on it. By the way when buying chord books i’d get ones with pictures of what it’s supposed to look like. Books in general I prefer Mel Bay.
September 19th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
First Get a simple guitar book with chords, scales and riffs in.
Youtube is a wonderous thing so use it there are lessons and tips and tricks on there. I started learning by ear picking up things from friends, now I have lessons twice a week and learn from a book.
Learning from peers is also useful as you can learn certain techniques from them that won’t always be taught to you
September 19th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
you should take lessons, but just learn the strings & nots.
ask your mom if you can buy a gutar if she says no than ask if
you can earn the gutar by doing chores or baby-sitting:]
September 19th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Everyone has given you great advice, but I’d like to add one very important aspect that often gets ignored…
Play well with others!
You will improve 10 times as fast playing and practicing with another, then you will sitting at home in your room alone.
Try to find someone who’s a better guitarist, if they can put up with you, and get together to sing songs, write music..etc..at least once a week.
It’s also very important that you FORCE yourself to sit down everyday with the express purpose of practicing.
Some days you may not feel up to it, but if you force yourself..if only for 15 minutes a day, you’ll find the time stretching into an hour or more.
Learn a minimum of 3-4 different ways to play each chord. This will involve partial or whole bar chords up and down the neck, but will give you a great understanding of the fret board.
For example, if someone is playing the standard G chord 3-2-0-0-0-3 realize that you can play a little 3 string G chord up at the 7th fret, that’s shaped like the normal D chord
x-x-x-7-8-7
I know this sounds boring, but learn the Pentatonic Blues scale, and finally…find someway to record yourself…this is an invaluable tool for hearing areas of your playing that need more work.
Best of luck..guitarist of over 40 years
September 19th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Use powertab! You can get any song you want to learn and it will teach you it (in tab form) step by step. Its awsome
September 19th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
quite honestly there is no such thing as learning to play the guitar quickly or easily. when i started the first thing i learned was the most challenging and most boring but it helped alot. i dont think books really work that well at all. if i were you i would try to get lessons from a good teacher. i have been playing for a while and i got to the point where i could do nothing to get better. i learned how to play every song i liked but just couldnt figure out how to get better so i got lessons and now i am getting better and being chalenged every week. if you cant get a good teacher i recommend to start learning chords cuz that helped me alot,
September 19th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
You can learn songs that you like go to ultimateguitar.com and type in what ever song you want and start learning.
September 19th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I agree. you can’t learn guitar that fast. You need to learn all the basics, once that is done you practise until it becomes second nature and then listen to lots of music and start to pick up tunes by ear etc etc. soon you’ll be good. check out the amazon book guitar lessons for beginners
October 14th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
well – to learn quickly you have to practise a lot! but you should learn the basics really well so you can build on that to be a pro. check out this book on amazon.com Guitar Lessons for Beginners– it covers all the basics so practise these until you can do it with your eyes shut and you are well on your way to being a pro