I bought an electric guitar. Make me better.

[bisonbison]

Take lessons from a guitar teacher.

I have a lesson scheduled for Monday

[bisonbison]

First off, Easy mode is hella easy. Being good at that really doesn't mean much. Second, I hate the fact that some people think that playing Guitar Hero and playing guitar are related. They are only tangentially related. Wanting to be good at one is not at all related to being at the other.

You gotta lighten up champ.

[LetItBe]

BUT GUITAR HERO ISN'T LIKE ACTUALLY PLAYING THE GUITAR WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT

[Ineedaride2]

[ QUOTE ]
1. learn tab
2. use google (it's a web thingy)
3. ???? (actually 3 is practice)
4. Profit!1!

[/ QUOTE ]

I strongly second this. Learning to read tabs is very simple, and a powerful tool when you first start out, although applying those tabs to accompanying chords can be tough at times if you don't know the correct finger placement.

Once you get the basic gist of reading tabs, type in '"name of song" talbature' into google, and get your learn on.

Edited: (<font color="red">Did you mean</font> <font color="blue">"name of song" Tablature?</font>)


FWIW, first song I was ever taught was Every Rose Has Its Thorn. (Because he didn't think I'd ever be able to play anything else)

- Smoke on the Water is the prototypical first song to learn.

- AC/DC pretty much reuses the same chords over and over, so they're good to start with as well.

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1. learn tab
2. use google (it's a web thingy)
3. ???? (actually 3 is practice)
4. Profit!1!

[/ QUOTE ]

I strongly second this. Learning to read tabs is very simple, and a powerful tool when you first start out, although applying those tabs to accompanying chords can be tough at times if you don't know the correct finger placement.

Once you get the basic gist of reading tabs, type in '"name of song" talbature' into google, and get your learn on.

Edited: (<font color="red">Did you mean</font> <font color="blue">"name of song" Tablature?</font>)


FWIW, first song I was ever taught was Every Rose Has Its Thorn. (Because he didn't think I'd ever be able to play anything else)

- Smoke on the Water is the prototypical first song to learn.

- AC/DC pretty much reuses the same chords over and over, so they're good to start with as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Learning tablature is easy. Switching between chords quickly isn't.

[farang0]

www.actiontab.com - Animated Tabs

[sards]

It is important to find a good teacher. This means that if your first lesson on Monday is not very helpful (or if the teacher quickly runs out of helpful advice after a few weeks), you should try to find a better teacher. In my opinion, someone with no musical experience who wants to start learning the guitar should focus on these things:

1) Make sure you know how to hold the guitar and the pick properly and use correct technique with both hands. Your teacher should help you with this.

2) Learn to fret basic open chords with your left hand. G, C, A, E, D, and maybe some variations on these such as E minor, D7, etc.

3) Learn how to strum. This isn't difficult but takes a bit of practice.

4) Learn how to keep a steady beat. This can be surprisingly difficult for some people who have no musical experience.

5) Combine the above skills and learn to change between different open chords while strumming with a steady beat. Once you have this down, you are ready to start learning songs. You should start to become good at this after a few weeks.

Finally, guitar tablature is very useful and you should eventually learn to read it. But don't become reliant on it; this is a trap that stunts the development of many guitarists. It is much more important to use your ears. From the onset, you should focus intently on how your playing sounds. Learn to recognize the sonic relationships between the various notes of the various chords, and eventually try to associate those relationships with the various fretboard patterns and positions. This will accelerate your progress towards using the guitar creatively (as opposed to simply using it to play other people's music).

[Duke]

I'd say learn how to hold it right, and figure out how to hold it so that you can hold a string down without inadvertently affecting the strings around it. Figuring out where to put my thumb made me angle my hand in such a way that it's easier to "finger" it or whatever.

I played guitar for 2 hours and forget the names of the chords or whatever they're called that I figured out. A, C, E, E Minor? Something like that. I'll just practice those, transitions, and then figure out if I can really play 20,000 songs or not.

I don't think I'm going to get big into it, but I figure being able to play something that sounds like something might be fun. Good luck!

[Dan BRIGHT]

private guitar lessons with a good teacher and frequent practice

[Blarg]

I am jealous of anyone achieving anything in this regard, yet too lazy to do anything to alleviate my jealousy. Therefore, damn you all, as I am damned, and good luck!