I want to learn to play guitar, dont know how to start.?
So yeah. i want to start learning but i dont know what to look for. any suggestions for what to buy as a begginer. Also how can i learn to play. do you have any good tips.
i dont have a guitar yet. i dont know what to look for.
its funny u all think im a dude. but im not.
October 6th, 2010 at 2:21 am
First rule: don’t give up. Playing’s going to take awhile. Be patient and you’ll play effortlessly.
I’m a bassist, so there are different dynamics with hand movement.
You’re going to have to start slowly:
Left hand=Practice using all four fingers on the fretboard.
Then, move on to powerchords. For example, E string 1st fret, A string 3rd fret. This works EVERYWHERE on E-A-D strings.
When you’re comfy, find some chord charts online (They’re free and it takes 5 mins to find them) and practice some chords. I think Emaj, Gmaj, and Amaj are easy to play, yet I’m not sure.
Right hand=Practice strumming one string at a time. Gradually, move up to strumming 2 strings, then 3.
Most importantly, treat your guitar like a girlfriend; If you make her happy (take care of her and be patient), she’ll make you happy. You’re going to get frustrated with her, but don’t give up on her because she could make you ecstatic as a monkey in a banana tree.
October 6th, 2010 at 2:50 am
Do drugs
October 6th, 2010 at 3:01 am
Ok well you didnt really give us anything to work with here…
Do you have a guitar?
Do you have an amp?
What type of music do you like?
How long have you played?
Any other instruments you’ve played?
October 6th, 2010 at 3:56 am
First, you’re going to want to look for a solid beginners guitar (either electric or acoustic, depending on your preference). Don’t waste all of your money buying a top end guitar now, as when you start to get better at the guitar, you’ll understand more of what you will personally want in a guitar. You will also want to buy a basic book of guitar chords, and maybe a beginners songbook of some tunes that interest you. There are also several books that actually help you to learn how to play also. The final item that I would recommend you buy is a guitar tuner, unless you have a piano available and have a good understanding of standard tuning for a guitar.
As for learning how to play, make sure that you practice regularly and give yourself time to get better. Don’t expect to be amazing when you first start. Start off by learning the basic chords and finger placement, then progress to different strumming techniques and more advanced styles of playing. If you work at it regularly, you’ll be playing songs around a campfire in no time! Once you understand chords and strumming, it’s pretty easy to pick up any music with chords and be able to play along.
I hope this helps, and good luck!
October 6th, 2010 at 4:54 am
If you want to get good you better listen to everything I tell you right now.
Motivation, Dedication, and Determination.
1. Learn the fundamentals. Do not skip learning the basics, or you will never ever ever get good and you will never be taken seriously by other musicians. Practice with a metronome when you’re doing scales or pretty much anything. Learning to play in time will help you play with other people.
2. Learn the fundamentals. Seriously. Learn the scales. There are tons of good lessons on http://www.ultimate-guitar.com if you can’t afford a guitar teacher, but I recommend doing both (learn all you can). A guitar teacher is invaluable, you should definitely take lessons. You should read up on all you can about your instrument. Get beginners books from the music store. Read lessons on ultimate-guitar.com. Work with your guitar teacher.
Scales and basic theory may seem boring at first but KEEP AT IT and eventually everything will flow. When you learn your scales you will eventually be able to SOLO and why the hell wouldn’t you wanna do that?
Why do you need to learn the basics? Why can’t you just learn tabs?
Tabs are great for learning new songs and having fun but if you don’t know the basics you will never be able to write your own songs and you basically will never be able to play music with other people (well). Tabs are great for learning songs that go along with what you’re learning. For example, you’re probably going to learn the G major scale first (G A B C D E F#). These chords are used extensively in rock music. For example, if you wanted to learn “Mary” from Sublime (easiest song I can think of) you would only have to play G, C, Am, F, and Dm. So basically what I’m saying is, don’t just learn tabs, but learn the music theory behind the strings you are playing. That will make you a better player than just some kid learning tabs.
Eventually as you practice you will find yourself getting into “The Zone”. This is good. Rock the fuck out.
3. Play with a friend, or friends. If you have a friend who is also learning guitar (or bass, or whatever) play with them and, like magic, you will get noticeably better every time you practice. This is good for keeping your self confidence up and its a lot of fun, and you learn what its like to play with other people.
4. Practice. What else are you doing with your life? Instead of playing the new call of duty 4 all day, why don’t you practice your scales? Instead of watching TV (you should probably never watch TV again if you can help it), play your guitar. Or if you have to watch TV, practice your scales and mess around on guitar while you’re doing it. If you want to actually get good at guitar you need to make it your primary hobby. You can’t get lazy! If you want to get amazing it has to be your priority. It’s up to you and what your goals are, but I would suggest at LEAST 20 minutes to an hour every day. But really, practice all god damned day if you want to. Every day of practice adds up. Play every day for a year and think of how good you’ll be in a year.
5. Practice on an acoustic first. You might get discouraged but this will build hand strength. If you’re playing something and your hand starts to kill you, take a 5 minute break and go back to it. After practicing on an acoustic for a while then switching to electric you will be able to play twice as fast and you will impress yourself.
6. When you’re learning your chords, songs, anything, focus on clarity, not speed. Go slow and make sure you can play every note perfectly before you attempt to move faster.
7. Have fun! That’s the most important thing. But even in those times when you feel discouraged, focus on your goals and remember that practice will make perfect. In time, you will get good. All of the great players out there had to practice their asses off to get good, so remember that everyone else has felt what you’re going through.
good luck my man (girl)
P.S. for the guy that said do drugs…I can’t deny that smoking weed will make jam sessions with your friends awesome. Smoking weed will put you into “The Zone” almost immediately. But you need to keep in mind that smoking weed will not make you a good musician, that’s retarded. For a lot of guitar players, myself included, it helps me to relax and practicing scales becomes more fun and less of a chore. But you need to have the skillset first, you can’t just smoke a joint and then expect to be a good guitar player. You also can’t smoke weed too often or you’ll smoke yourself retarded, you best watch out for that. If you’re ADD at all, take Adderral and start practicing and you will be in the zone for a while.
October 6th, 2010 at 5:18 am
Get a cheep guitar… No need to buy an expensive one when you’re not really sure if you’re going to stick with it. Have patience, and take a few lessons.. Practice is the only thing that will make you a guitarist.
October 6th, 2010 at 5:55 am
OK. You first of all have 2 choices – electric or acoustic. To start on, I’d recommend acoustic – you don’t have to worry about amplifiers and such that way. Having made that decision, you then have to decide between steel strings or nylon. Steel strings: brighter sound, more painful on the fingers. Nylon strings mellower sound, less painful. If possible visit your local music store with a friend who plays. Check out prices, see what you can afford (it may all end here!!!!) If there are a few in your price range, get your friend to play them and see what sound you like best.Then check with the store to see what kind of deal they ight give. You need, with the guitar, a gig bag a couple of plectrums an electronic tuner and a book of chords. You might want a strap as well.If you can get the sort of tuner that clips on to the guitar an works by vibration, that would be better.
Playing: Tune the guitar using the tuner from the lowest string EADGBE. In the chord book find the chords of D and A. D is probably easier. Put your fingers where it tells you in the book and strum down with the plectrum . It will hurt. A lot. If you persevere the pain will go away. Make sure that the strings ring clearly. whe you can do that, try A. When you ca do that, try changing between them.
With practice it will come. There are simple songs like Frere jacques that use only those 2 chords. Then you can go on to E whci will give you the 3 basic chords in the key of A – perfect for rock’n’roll. like Johnny B Goode. Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes and stuff like that.
I wish you all the best, and hope this helps
October 6th, 2010 at 6:28 am
You will have an array of advice on your dilemma, but I strongly suggest you start with a quality acoustic guitar, such as what Alvarez, Ibanez, Ephiphone, Fender, Takamine, and Yamaha offer. Look for a guitar in the price range of $300 and you won’t go wrong.
I never suggest to any student to start off with the electric guitar because most often the beginner is focusing on the distortion, volume, chorus, and echo sounds that the amplifier produces instead of concentrating on basic chords and their progressions.
Furthermore, lugging an amplifier around to some place to play isn’t conducive for a beginner to do. Buy that first acoustic guitar because it will test your determination and motivation to play, to move beyond the painful fingertips until the calluses arrive, and will build strength in your fingers.
While checking the Internet websites for tutoring, I suggest you buy a quality chord book from your local music store and focus on building up your chord repertoire.
As you do that, also put a lot of concentration in learning how to read music. Get the booklet, Hal Leonard’s Beginning Guitar Method Book One. Inside are instructions in tuning, maintenance, basic chords, and, most important, basic music theory with exercises that can advance your expertise if you are willing to work at it.
Do not expect to play like a professional guitarist within the first week or even the first year. Much time, practice, research, and study must go into making a fine guitar player. If you are willing to put forth the effort then you will eventually excel at the guitar.
October 6th, 2010 at 6:57 am
well i guess you can go to a music store like guitar center and ask what would be a good guitar for a beginner and look for a place that gives guitar lessons(search like in yellowbook.com or something like that)
October 6th, 2010 at 7:36 am
you need to look for a teacher in your area, or you could buy a book, if someone if your family plays, you could ask the to gteach you a bit or if you could borrow their guitar to try it out before you get your own, i play guitar, iv been playing for a few years now (about 4) and it can be hard at times, your fingers will hurt a bit at first, but after a little while they will stop hurting when you play, they wont become rough or scaly, they just will be stronger and wont hurt (it doesnt hurt that much in the fisrt place anyway but you know what i mean)
October 6th, 2010 at 8:31 am
I’m a girl. I play guitar. I started off by taking lessons. I learned all the string names, I strung them up and down while saying the names (EADGBE) I tried some finger work outs. Search some finger work out papers on google or something. I started off with electric and I still play electric. Good luck, it’s sooo much fun and totally worth it! :]