Learning to play guitar

[mike0292]

So, I'm trying to learn to play the guitar and could use some advice. Some info:

Bought a Fender Strat (Mexican) and Crate GLX30 amp about a month ago.

Basically, my playing up until now has consisted of me printing out tabs for songs with cool guitar riffs from the internet and messing around with them. I can play most of the really easy stuff, probably the most challenging thing I know how to play is the Sweet Child o Mine intro.

I have looked at some of those online guitar lesson websites. Basically they just teach you how to strum some chords. I can play most of the common chords pretty well except the really weird ones and the barre chords. I'm really slow with chord progressiosn so I need to work on that. My friend gave me his old beginner guitar book but I have kind of put it off because it is all sheet music and boring songs. I used to play piano so I can read it but I don't know all the notes on the frets.

My musical tastes are pretty basic, all the classics like Hendrix, Zeppelin, Sabbath. Van Halen, Aerosmith...basically anything that doesn't suck. I like some metal, but definitely not death metal I can't understand that stuff. Modern stuff I like Tool, Radiohead, um that's about it.

So basically I'm asking where I should go from here. Just keep messing around or seek lessons? Any suggestions with stuff to focus on?

[-zero-]

Learn how to read music. You can't rely on tabs.

[JMP300z]

[ QUOTE ]
Learn how to read music. You can't rely on tabs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ive gotten by for 3 yrs self taught without being able to read music. I rely on tabs. Im also not That great for having played 3 years.

However, learn to read music, I wish I could and keep talking about taking lessons in it.

-JP

[NT!]

Get very good at strumming chords. Open chords. Barre chords. Learn to noodle within chords (adding maj7s and sus4s and 9ths and stuff on open chords in particular is very easy). Get good at making transitions within chords.

You think this is boring now but it's the most basic skill. After that learn to read music and play lead.

NT

[illeagle]

Fancy being a world-famous rockstar with millions of adoring fans bowing at your feet? You want it all. You want to ride around in a big, [censored]-off limousine snorting big, fat lines of cocaine off the surgically-enhanced chests of strippers? Of course you do. Who wouldn't. But there's only one problem. You're a completely unremarkable, bland, self-absorbed average white male fifteen-year-old sack of walrus [censored] who thinks he's 'cool' and 'unique', just like all his other 'cool' and 'unique' friends. Plus, you can't sing for [censored] and you don't really feel like going to the trouble of learning to play an instrument properly, so what do you do? You pick up the guitar.

Forget learning anything about the fundamentals of music - who needs that [censored] when you've got your [censored] fifteen-watt practice amp cranked to eleven. And you know what, [censored] the neighbours too! If they don't appreciate your genius now, they certainly will when you 'make it big', or at least move out of your folks' basement. Besides, all that useless music theory knowledge and the ability to play solid rhythm or come up with a decent riff won't get you laid, right? And if you don't get laid by hordes of vacuous groupies, what's the [censored] point?

Maybe you're struggling at this point. Let's make it a little easier for your simple ass. You're a candyass who barely has the finger strength to fret two notes simultaneously, so by all means, buy the lightest strings and picks you can find. Hell, you can always turn up louder to compensate. Now see that low 'E' string? I'll give you a clue - it's the one closest to your acne-riddled face. Drop that bad boy right on down a step to 'D' and lo and behold! Now you can play those totally bitchin' two-note chug-a-lug power chords with one finger, instead of using two like a [censored] idiot!

What's that? You've learnt the pentatonic scale? Holy [censored], that's all you need to be the next guitar god - hell, it worked for Zakk Wylde. Come to think of it, [censored] Jimi Hendrix. [censored] Eddie Van Halen. [censored] Stevie Ray Vaughn. You're every bit the tortured artist and iconoclast those guys were. So start ripping up those minor pentatonics. By now, you'll be so awesome that you don't even need to play riffs or songs. All you need to do is start wailing away and everybody will start kissing your ass and proclaiming you as the saviour of the electric guitar. At least, they bloody well should, if they have an ounce of taste. they were guitarists, because everyone knows that the guitar is such a bad-ass, rebellious instrument.

After playing every day for just over two weeks, you should be ready to take the next step - forming a band. After all, it's a fact that there are hordes of singers, bass players and drummers just sitting around with their thumbs up their collective asses, crying into their beer and lamenting the fact that there are no guitarists out there. The world needs more guitarists! [censored], you wouldn't believe how many bands have had to use Sitar players to fill out the ranks because they didn't know anyone who plays guitar.

All your friends have reassured you of your 'guitar god' status - they can't both be wrong, can they? So what do you do? You take out an ad, seeing a 'Singer, Bass Player and Drummer'. What's that? You've been waiting for months with absolutely no bites? How can that be? Well, the ugly truth is that singers are megalomaniacs, drummers are just 'guys who hit things with sticks' and bass players have taken the easy way out by playing an instrument with two less strings than yours. But deep down, they all wish they were guitarists.

It's a difficult path you've chosen, but keep plugging away at it. If they don't appreciate your genius now, they will when you start writing songs. Who needs ten riffs when one or two will do? Sure, bands like Megadeth had something like ten riffs a song back in the day, but everybody knows there was no real music before 1997. Everybody knows that Korn literally invented the wheel. If it weren't for Green Day, who would keep the fires of underground Rock N' Roll burning? Don't worry about writing lyrics at this point. That's the [censored] singer's problem - when you find one - and besides, the guitar is the only instrument that matters.

Does this sound like you, or anybody you know? If so, you can help this poor soul out of their predicament. Find a sympathetic individal and avail upon them to brutally butt-[censored] you with the business end of a circular saw until the desire to play guitar is no completely gone. If circular saw butt-[censored] doesn't work, you're one stubborn son-of-a-bitch. If that be the case, find a blunt instrument such as a hammer or crowbar, lay the fingers of your fretting hand on a flat surface and have at them. Hammer away until you can't feel them any more, but don't stop there. Pretend you're clubbing a baby seal. Keep smashing and bludgeoning until your digits are hanging on by the very last shred of flesh. It'll make a hell of a mess, but it's also a totally awesome party trick! If, after the doctors have sewn your fingers back on, you still have the desire to play guitar... CONGRATULATIONS! You've earned your stripes and are now Officially the saviour of Rock N' Roll!

[ski]

I have a degree in music, specifically classical guitar+composition.

It really depends what you want out of guitar. To learn rock basically just practice a lot, but practice SLOWLY, the worst thing that happens to people w/o teachers is they think they are great at guitar but have a really shaky foundation from repetitively practicing the wrong way.

The fastest way to get good at leads is to learn your 7 major modes, google them if you don't know) pentationic scales in all keys and positions (12 keys, 5 positions) just play them up and down, keeping a constant rhythm, then start playing them in 3rds. Ex the scale is GABCDEF#G then play GBACBD etc...

Learn how to play barre chords with roots based on the E and the A strings, Major, Minor, and all 7ths and know all your open position major, and minor chords, and at least the important 7ths.

If you can do all that and have a decent ear for music you should be a good rock guitarist.

If you don't understand anything I just said then at least learn enough music theory to understand it, the rest will be helpful but not required.

Let me now if you have any questions,
-Ski

[JMP300z]

I dont understand half of what you said but I can jam out to some JACK JOHNSON!!....I <3 Tabs.

-JP

[bobhalford]

I've been playing the guitar for over 15 years now and I'd love to teach someone how to learn the "right" way, because I sure didn't.

I don't have much time to write, but I can suggest a few things. First, I would learn the basics of music on a keyboard. Visualizing notes, scales, chords is easier on the piano. The guitar is like a chinese puzzle. It's difficult to learn because the notes are all mixed up together on the fretboard. You literally have to learn all the note names by memorizing them.

In order to learn the guitar better, it would be best to learn how to read music. I was lucky because my mom forced me to take classical piano lessons when I was younger. I already knew a good deal of theory before I learned guitar. But it's not very difficult. If you practice 20 minutes a day doing sight reading, you will make your life easier as a guitar player.

I wouldn't bother much with memorizing chord fingerings. It's so hard to memorize all those positions. What is better is understanding the chord intervals, how they lie on the guitar strings, and then make up your own chords. You can learn the most commonly used rock n roll chords, like barre chords, from a book. The rest you can make up yourself. If you were interested in more complex music, I would recommend the Ted Greene books. I'm currently working through these books and they are amazing, but that's not for the beginning guitarist.

Sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it's not that bad. Studying theory (chords, scales, keys, etc.) and sight reading is important, worth about 1/2 your practice time. The rest should be spent learning songs you want to play by ear. Also you should learn to solo by playing the blues. You can buy backing music, or just play some on the stereo. Practice playing the pentatonic scale over it. Once you start doing this, the rest should take care of itself.

[BassMasterK]

Well man...you've gotten a wide range of advice here. I guess mine is a combo of mostly what has been said. I make my living playing and teaching music. Here is my $.02:

Re: reading music. You mention you already know the notes from some piano. This may be enough for what you want to do. If you want a job as a session musician or a gun for hire, then yes, you should not just know how to read, but to read fluently and be able to site read charts and charts/w licks written out. If your just looking to rock out on guitar, play some songs, maybe start up a rock band in the future then you probably don't need to worry about it right now. I have played in several bands where the guitarist didn't read music and they were phenominal guitarists. Hell, even the Beatles didn't read music.

What you DO need is the ability to communicate on a basic level with other musicians. Know the names of the chords. Really important is the barre chords. Get the basic four down. Maj, Min, Maj7, Min7. Also, you said you don't know the names of the notes on your frets. Learn the names of the frets on AT LEAST your bottom two strings. If you took piano and know the music alphabet, it is really easy. This is very important because when you play barre chords, the name of the chord will depend on which fret your finger is barring across.

Scales: Maj and Min pentatonic, also I like my students to know the blues scale. When they get more advanced I want them to know both the standard Maj and Min scales as well. Soloing can feel shallow if it is only done in the pentatonic, although many great guitar solos have been made from them.

Learn to switch between chords IN TIME. This means you are not jamming on a chord like you are a guitar god and then have to pause for three seconds to find the next chord. Just pretent you are making up songs and move IN TIME between the chords you know. If you find two that are hard to move between...GOOD. Then just go back and forth between the two of them. Strum one. Then as quickly as you can, move your fingers into the position of the next one. Check for accuracy. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Keep going until you can move smoothly between them. Barre chords are very important, but so are the standard chords. If your playing a standard tuned guitar, make sure you are fluent with the ten to twelve chords that are easily played in root position (e maj/min/7, a maj/min/7, d maj/min/7, g maj/7, c maj/7 and probably one or two I am forgetting here...) the rest you can fill in with the barre chords.

Lastly, (and I could go on and on, but I am hitting the major points here) please, for the love of all things great and small, don't try to play stuff faster than you can play it (basically) perfectly. I can't tell you how many times I get someone who comes in for a first lesson and they want to show me what they can do and they start busting out like they are Yngwie Malmsteen and it sounds more like Flingvey Malmsteen with it just being a jumbled mess of misplayed notes and mispicked strings.

My piano professor in college had a great quote I use often. 'If you can't play it right when you play it slowly, why do you think you can play it right when you play it fast?'

Good luck and have fun.