Good Way to Learn to Play Guitar

[NoahSD]

(Guitar strings thread reminded me of this.)

I just started taking guitar lessons over the summer. I can now play all open chords, but I can't switch between them quickly. And, I can pick out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star slowly.

I really didn't enjoy taking lessons, so I don't wanna find a new teacher when I go up to school in 10 days. So, what's a good way for someone at my level to learn to play guitar at college?

[NT!]

Keep practicing strumming chords, picking notes in chords, switching chords until you get faster. At this point it's repetition. Next you'll want to start learning some melodies / leads and how to play barre chords. Just play a lot.

Try playing on your own for a month or two, then ask one of the music geeks to show you some stuff that interests you. I think too many lessons is just going to stifle you anyway.

NT

[Wools]

Well, if you can play your open chords, it'd be easy to set up some simple chord progressions to go through and practice; I'm bored so I'll list some at the bottom.

Also, there are thousands of dexterity exercises you can use as warm ups. Some are built on the chromatic scale and others on major/minor scale fragments and sequences. How much music theory do you know? A lot of guitarists never learn theory, which I think is a mistake; everything can start falling into place if you know the theory. If you offer up a little more information on your theory background, it'd be a little easier to help you out. Do you know a Cmaj chord as X shape on Y fret, or do you know it consists of a C,E, and G note, which are the root, third, and fifth scale degrees? Just trying to establish some basics.

Anyway, some basic progressions, which you can also play in first and second inversion if you want the extra challenge. I'll just write the root note of the major chord, so "C-F-C-G-C" implies Cmaj-Fmaj-Cmaj-Gmaj-Cmaj"
D-G-D-A-D
E-A-E-B-E
F-Bbmaj-F-C-F
G-C-G-D-C
A-D-A-E-A
B-E-B-F#maj-B

Those are all based on the circle of fifths and a I-IV-I-V-I progression. That'll make sense if you're familiar with a bit of theory, but it'll be greek if you're not. If not, that's easy to change and is well worth learning as you can start deriving thousands of progressions once your familiar with how the circle works.

Hope none of this sounded too condescending; let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. It's a shame it's a bitch to type out tab stuff...

[NoahSD]

I know nothing about music theory [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

[Wools]

[ QUOTE ]
I know nothing about music theory [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, well, if you ever want to be a great guitarist, that will have to change at some point. You wouldnt sit down at a HE table without knowing the odds, would you?

I'll preface this with the fact that I dont know a lot of theory, but I do know some. I guarantee you the basics are nowhere near as daunting as you might think, and it's simple memorization. All you have to know to construct a major chord is "root, third, fifth" and minor chords are the same thing, except "lower the third half a step(one fret)." I'm not a teacher though, and I dont know if you want me to be.

I always learn better if I understand 'why,' instead of just 'because.' A good place to start would be googling "Major Scales" or "Chord Construction." Learning theory isnt going to build your chops, but building your chops isnt the end all of becoming a strong guitar player; and neither will happen overnight. I suggest a healthy dose of both.

[TakeOutRake]

the easiest way to learn guitar on your own is to just look at tabs and try to mimic songs you know (www.ultimate-guitar.com). a sure fire way to get better is to learn all the dmb from www.dmbtabs.com, they have videos for most of their stuff. also, practice playing entire songs, not just riffs from songs, helps a lot more. First song I ever learned was some song by Matchbox 20, slide by goo goo dolls (you need a capo).

you'll learn the music theory eventually I'm sure, you almost can't help it. You'll probably have G-C-D down within a week...

[mike0292]

i started playing in may and now I can play some decent stuff. I split my time in 3 ways basically:

1. chord progressions: do all the open chords transitioning you can find some popular songs with some good progressiosn. when you get that down try barre chords (they suck) and you can always mess around with some power chords with some popular songs like smells like teen spirit

2. soloing: practice messing around with a basic blues or pentatonic scale. just move up and down it maybe look up some cool licks. it's really hard at first but eventually you'llg et the hang of it. it' ll help your finger dexterity. also look up some easy solo tabs.

3. messing around with riffs/tabs: pick a song you like look up the tab and play the riffs or a solo if you can. you can impress people a little and it's fun.

I'm not good but this is what I do and it works pretty well.

[Big Poppa Smurf]

guitar hero baby!

[DMBFan23]

[ QUOTE ]
the easiest way to learn guitar on your own is to just look at tabs and try to mimic songs you know (www.ultimate-guitar.com). a sure fire way to get better is to learn all the dmb from www.dmbtabs.com, they have videos for most of their stuff. also, practice playing entire songs, not just riffs from songs, helps a lot more. First song I ever learned was some song by Matchbox 20, slide by goo goo dolls (you need a capo).

you'll learn the music theory eventually I'm sure, you almost can't help it. You'll probably have G-C-D down within a week...

[/ QUOTE ]

learn the very basics of music theory
practics scales a LOT.
practice scales some more.
learn chords through learning songs you want to learn

enjoy!

P.S. dmbtabs.com is the BOMB

[neuroman]

[ QUOTE ]
I know nothing about music theory [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

[/ QUOTE ]
Google "guitar theory" and you should find lots of stuff.