What’s the best medium for a concert pianist to learn guitar?
I am an advanced, classically trained concert pianist who wants to start playing blues and rock on an electric guitar. I’ve attempted to learn acoustic guitar in the past, but have had huge problems getting my fingers into “guitar mode.” With the electric guitar being my ultimate goal, is it best for me to start with acoustic, or to just dive right into electric?
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Yah start it off with an acoustic…
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I played the trumpet, and then decided to take up the guitar. I started with acoustic, which is the advice I was given. I found I did not like it at all, and so I swapped to playing bass. I then borrowed a friends electric guitar, and found that it was much easier to play than acoustic had been, because when you mess up slightly, the previous note is still resonating, and so almost masks it.
If I were to do it again, I would buy a very cheap acoustic guitar, work up they skills a bit on that, and then try renting an electric guitar to see what it’s like, rather than diving straight in with electric. Electric guitars are a lot more expensive than acoustic, and they need more ‘paraphernalia’, and so overall are a more costly mistake.
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Strum along with the radio for a while. Don’t jump into lead. Just learn the chords to some of your favorites. Then start working on the scales.
September 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
there is probably no right answer to this question. Acoustic is a bit harder to play beacause is harder to bend the strings and get hammer ons and pull offs to sound out. But this difficulties will stregnthen you fingers up and development your craftsmanship on the guitar. Electric is easier on the fingers and can be more fun to play because you can add effects like distorions and delays. You can practice on both just the same but there are a lot of things that you can do on an electric that you can’t do on an acoustic. but then again, one acoustic guitar can be a lot cheaper than buying an electric guitar, amp, chords, strap and peadals. I would just get what ever’s accesible to you. Most guitarist I know get both eventually. Don’t worry about you fingers not getting into guitar mode, after some pratice, playing chords and such will be second nature.