I bought an electric guitar. Make me better.

[bisonbison]

A week ago I played Guitar Hero for the first time, a couple rounds before mahjong with the office asians. I was pretty [censored] amazing, beating up on two poor saps who were dumb enough to play on hard while I played easy. Many comments were made about my ability to play Guitar Hero well at the easiest level.

I said to myself: You should go to Fry's and buy this game. But why would I want to be great at Guitar Hero when I could pay more to be terrible at guitar? So Saturday morning I went out and resurrected my lifelong dream of learning an instrument and fulfilled my weeks-long dream of maybe getting a guitar.

Having bought the epiphone les paul special ii rowland microcube amp guitar cable strap gig bag picks and stand, I then took the time to decide whether buying it was a good idea:

Pros:
- I have almost no music playing experience or ability, thus no bad habits.
- My singing has been described as "tone deaf", allowing me to focus solely on guitar.
- I tend to pursue new hobbies for a couple weeks and then abandon them, so I have few competing interests.

Cons:
- Ned does not fear the guitar. He may eat it.
- The guitar will not plug into an Xbox 360.
- I have not named my guitar, and thus cannot start a band that I also haven't named with musician friends I don't have except for the drummer.

The pros win by roughly a light year, but the last six days have made clear that playing guitar is not as easy as failing to hook up with girls I like from my office.

I have a lesson scheduled for Monday, but in the meantime, OOT guitar guys, please instruct me on:

1. Good first songs to aim at. Please note that my metal meter stops at GNR.
2. Good sites/books for music theory.
3. Good sites/books for exercises.
4. Whatever.

[Fletcher19]

http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Mechanics-Le...1935&sr=8-1

this is a great book if you want to shred, probably the best way to become a fast lead guitarist though it still takes days upon days of practice to become proficient

[LetItBe]

Learn basic chords before you learn anything. Don't worry about music theory or anything like that right now. You need to learn basic chords, then learn advanced chords, power chords, whatever. Then you can start worrying about all the other stuff.

[scotchnrocks]

Find some songs that help you learn timing/rhythm and that are not very complicated. I recommend starting with songs like Knocking on Heaven's Door, Plush, etc.

The easiest and maybe best way to start will be to pick songs from your music collection that are simple and repeat the same chords. Learn how to read tablature (widely available on the internet for any of your favorite songs if they are popular) and practice playing along with the music to get the timing down. Also, learn how to tune the guitar yourself.

[SomethingClever]

If you learn how to play an E bar chord and an A bar chord, you will insta-learn approximately 20,000 songs.

Seriously! Learn all the others too, but a good E and A bar are the foundation of rock guitar.

[Taso]

www.guitarnoise.com

They have some great beginners lessons, as well as a great forum that I've been a member of for the past 4 years. Come and say hello, ask whatever questions you have, some very great players there, as well as great teachers, and a few authors as well.

[IQ89]

Take lessons from a guitar teacher.

[bisonbison]

Take lessons from a guitar teacher.

I have a lesson scheduled for Monday

[The DaveR]

So much for 15/30.

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
A week ago I played Guitar Hero for the first time, a couple rounds before mahjong with the office asians. I was pretty [censored] amazing, beating up on two poor saps who were dumb enough to play on hard while I played easy. Many comments were made about my ability to play Guitar Hero well at the easiest level.

I said to myself: You should go to Fry's and buy this game. But why would I want to be great at Guitar Hero when I could pay more to be terrible at guitar?

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

I had bought a guitar 2 years before and played for about a month before I realized I couldn't do a barre chord to save my life and I quit. But I loved Guitar Hero and played it all the time. My wife got sick of me playing a "stupid game" instead of the $300 (or whatever I paid for it) guitar
sitting in the garage. So she bought me some lessons.

[ QUOTE ]
1. Good first songs to aim at. Please note that my metal meter stops at GNR.
2. Good sites/books for music theory.
3. Good sites/books for exercises.
4. Whatever.

[/ QUOTE ]

My teacher is basically just teaching me random stuff, so I supplement it with some books.

I have books from Uncle Tim. http://www.uncletim.com/. The "first year" book only teaches you the major scales and 6 chords for each scale.

I also bought the pentatonic scales from that site. The pentatonic scales are easier to learn and are probably more common in rock/blues.

According to Uncle Tim, you should divide your practice into 3 equal time segments: 1) scales; 2) chords; 3) songs.

While possibly true, the hard thing about playing songs is that you can't really do that until you become adept at changing chords.

As for lessons, I think they are overrated. But they do have some use. Particularly in watching you play and telling you what you are doing wrong. But I think that the theory I'm learning from the books is better organized than the stuff he is teaching me. I'm stuck in a weekly lesson plan now, but I think I would rather have it every other week. That way I get more time to digest what he is giving me.

Also, don't be afraid to change teachers. The teacher I had from 2 years ago basically went all over the place. He'd show me a song, then have me practice scales, and had no rhyme or reason to what he was doing. My current teacher is giving me exercises that help me practice changing chords and applying scales and actually seems to have a plan.

I also have the Stetina series that someone else recommended. The Lead Primer book is based solely on the A Minor Pentatonic and seems relatively easy (though I haven't really concentrated on following the book. The Rhythm Guitar book is based around the power chord. Unfortunately, I can't effectively change the power chord yet. Both seem to be good books, but I seem to be overwhelmed by all the material I have (which is why I think I'll be changing the lessons to every other week).