Can you learn to play the guitar when you have already learned to play the clarinet?
I was in my school band for three years and I played the clarinet.I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar but it seems so complicated compared to the clarinet.Aren’t the notes for playing the guitar completely different from the clarinet?Isn’t there a differently method of readng the notes for the guitar compared to the clarinet? How difficult do you think it’ll be for a fourteen year old girl to learn how to play an acoustic guitar when all she’s known how to play is the clarinet? Thanks for answering 🙂
November 29th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Playing any instrument will give you an advantage when learning another instrument. The guitar and clarinet are both written in the treble clef, so the notes are on the same lines in the sheet music. The only difference is you’ll be reading more than one note at a time with the guitar. Also, there’s more than one way to play the same note on the guitar (for example, a C can be on the second string 1st fret or the third string 5th fret.) I know it seems daunting, but it’s easier than you probably imagine.
November 29th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
If you get lessons it shouldn’t be all that hard. As long as you enjoy it and try I’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂 good luck
November 29th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
FREE AMAZING LESSONS!!!!
http://www.justinguitar.com
free video guitar lessons
On the left side there’s link that says “Beginners Course”. It’ll take you through lessons in the order to learn what you need. Having knowledge of another instrument will allow you to learn a lot faster but you need to practice strumming, and making cords with the other hand.
November 29th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Notes are the same for guitar as well, but the easiest way to learn songs is with tabulatures. Learning how to read tabulatures takes about 10 minutes 🙂 GuitarPro is a recommended software, you can open, edit, and even play songs that you have downloaded in gp3, gp4 or gp5 format. You can get a lot of these at: http://www.911tabs.com
This tabulature thingy simply indicates what note you have to play: which string, which fret. EADGBE is the standard tuning of the guitars from the thickest to the thinnest string, these are the names of the strings.
Tabulatures look something like this:
E—————–
B—————–
G—————–
D——-7——–
A——-5——–
E——-5——–
This one means that you have to hold down the 5th frets on the lower E string and the A string, plus the 7th fret on the D string at the same time. So if these numbers are on top of each other, it means that you have to hold down all of them at the same time.
E———————–
B—————–2-5-
G————2-4——
D——-2-4———–
A–2-4—————-
E———————-
This time the numbers are not on top of each other, which means you have to play them separately (like in solos).
You’ll get the hang of it in no-time!
November 29th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
That’s exactly what I did. So I play the clarinet and I wanted guitar too so I got one for Christmas. It’s very different. I find it harder because my hands are unusually small but I’m sure yours are normal so reaching for chords should be easy for you. As for the music when we read music its in the normal sheet music. As for guitar theres different ways. Theres TABs which show the notes like this picture.
http://www.swer.net/images/tablature/tablature.sexual.healing.gif
This is what I tried to learn but it took awhile and I know most of it but get confused occasionally.
Then theres traditional sheet music which I find sort of confusing but you might get it more than me.
http://www.8notes.com/scores/576.asp
It might be hard for you at first, well probably the first couple of months, but practice fixes that. I suggest finding a friend who plays guitar because their alot easier than the internet and alot cheaper than lesson teachers. For playing the guitar though learn the chords and especially the strings. (haha i know obvious but you’d be suprised) Get a tuner to so you can tune your guitar unless you have perfect pitch. As for what kind of guitar to get if you don’t know yet, I can’t really help you on that because my mom got mine on eBay and mine sucks so make sure your guitar isn’t like 20 dollars because you’ll be tuning it constantly. More money might sound bad at first but its defintiley worth it in the end. Brands too I’m not sure at either. I would also ask friends who play or go to a music shop and just ask around on what kind of brand is best. Lastly make sure you have a lot of dedication because guitar takes time. I know from playing clarinet that I get callices and from guitar you will get some too that might hurt depending on your skin. So good dedication is the best way to learn! Hopefully I helped and didn’t bore you with my boring and very long explanations.
November 29th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Hey there(:
I played clarinet in 6th grade and only did one year of it because I hated my music
teacher so much haha. No I’m in 9th and last summer I began playing guitar. The music
you read is the same, only you don’t need to use that kind of music in playing to often,
but it’s very useful to know at other times. You while most commonly be reading chords or tabs.
It’s a completly different instrument and playing clarinet doesn’t in any way help you play guitar, so it will take a while to get accostumed to. It was a little difficult at first to learn to play, but any instrument it. It gets alot easier once you get the hang of it though. I highly reccomend taking
lessons, it will help you progress SOO much faster! Hmm, good luck though, shoot me an email if you have any troubles or need advice with guitar!
November 29th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
wow, i did exactly the same thing. learning a second instrument after 3 years on your primary one does give you some advantages: you can already read the notes, know musical terms etc. clarinet and guitar are both written in trebel cleff. now, i’m assuming when you say that the notes are completely different that you’re refering to concert pitches on clarinet (concert Bb= C on clarinet for example). you really can’t compare guitar to clarinet because one is string and one is wind. however, learning to play the guitar wasn’t too difficult for me. find yourself a good teacher and you should be fine! good luck, keep playing 🙂