How to play guitar.

[fieryfrog]

so, I picked up my first guitar and need to start learning to play.

Im 35 so its not going to come as easy as if I was younger, but it is time to learn.

The Question I have for you experienced players is..... what is the best site with a tutorial for learning? I picked up some books, but they are rather boring.

What are your thoughts? and its electric not acoustic.

[dolson]

I learned to play only by looking at guitar tabs, and I started with basic stuff like Nirvana and Metallica. Tabs are super easy to read, but you need a sense of timing. I'm not sure if timing is really something that can be learned, so hopefully you have it. :)

[imiron]

And they've even made tabs easier with a programs like Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php), and there are guitar lesson type videos over on youtube as well. It's a llllllot easier to learn guitar now then when I started, thanks to the internet.

[bredrenisedp]

http://www.justinguitar.com/index.php

It's an awesome website with video lessons all for free

[rokov]

These should get you started.

Guitar
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Lessons/
http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/instruction.shtml
http://www.wholenote.com/
http://www.guitar-instruction-free-lessons-online.com/
http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm

Music theory (boring to some, but very useful)
http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm
http://www.musictheory.net/
http://www.8notes.com/theory/

[godmode]

Justinguitar is probably the best way to learn. For guitar tabs just to practice, check out http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

[fieryfrog]

Thx guys...I think it would be cool to my kids if I was able to play, and I have always wanted to learn.

[nobodysleeps]

The best way is to learn songs that you already like. I got lucky and started playing smashing pumpkins songs. They're pretty easy.

But I think the best way really is to just maybe get a boring beginning book...and get through about half of it...then start playing songs that you may like that are easy. Powerchords, baby.

[tamtamg]

I think the best way to learn a guitar is to first learn all the basic chords, and be able to switch between them quickly and naturally, then start learn how to bar chords and the different notes along the frets.

[scoobydiesel]

Ha i have nothing to help you with since someone already said guitar pro. but sweetness on seeing some of these links.

[scootman]

there's a cool site called www.ivideosongs.com

they teach songs ranging from Elvis to the Beatles. only downside is you have to pay 5 to 10 dollars to watch the videos and learn. so i mostly use ultimate-guitar.com

[az0madman]

Oh, thanks for this topic (and links). I wanted to try and learn guitar this summer (I say that EVERY summer), but hopefully this time it sticks. I need to practice getting my hands on the right strings without having to pause and look.

[tokenuser]

I am learning bluegrass banjo at the moment. Picked up a couple of books (with DVD and CDs) ... unfortunately the resources for banjo are far far less than those available online for guitar.

The books out there are boring, and repetitive, but thats how you learn. Stick with it. I have been playing variations on the same damn tune for about a month now ... forward rolls, backward rolls, foggy mountain rolls, blah, blah, blah., and have just moved onto my second tune. But the exercises are teaching you the basics, and how they hang together. As much as I would love to be cranking out Dire Straits on banjo, I am stuck with old southern bluegrass tunes for now. Guitar tabs are easy to follow (most books tach by tabs), so I don't think that will be an issue for you.

I can't point you anywhere online (all resources I have been gathering are banjo), but will offer you the encouragement that you can teach old dogs new tricks - I am "late 30's" and haven't touched a musical instrument since I was about 12 ... and am having a lot of fun learning. I am going to have to sit down for some formal lessons soon though - just to correct bad habits before they can't be broken.

[rokov]

The books out there are boring, and repetitive, but thats how you learn. Stick with it. I have been playing variations on the same damn tune for about a month now ... forward rolls, backward rolls, foggy mountain rolls, blah, blah, blah., and have just moved onto my second tune. But the exercises are teaching you the basics, and how they hang together. As much as I would love to be cranking out Dire Straits on banjo, I am stuck with old southern bluegrass tunes for now. Guitar tabs are easy to follow (most books tach by tabs), so I don't think that will be an issue for you.
Very true. That's something that I don't think a lot of people realize (or just don't want to accept). There is no magic bullet, you can't learn to play overnight. It's going to take at least a few months before you can play anything that sounds even remotely musical and even then you'll have to play the same boring parts over and over again until your hands know it better than your brain does in order to get it smooth. That's the only way you learn. I've been playing for over 20 years and still, when I'm learning a new part, I have to play it countless times before I have it down (even if I wrote it). However, if you love it, it's more than worth all of the time you have to put in. :D

[damnedeyez]

so, I picked up my first guitar and need to start learning to play.

Im 35 so its not going to come as easy as if I was younger, but it is time to learn.

The Question I have for you experienced players is..... what is the best site with a tutorial for learning? I picked up some books, but they are rather boring.

What are your thoughts? and its electric not acoustic.


Learning is going to be boring...since a major part in getting good at guitar is practicing (particularly chords, scales and fingering.)

I don't have any sites to give (plenty were given that seem good), but I think the two major areas to focus on in the beginning are Chords (amazing how many songs can be played using just three of them, G C and D...and maybe the basic power chord form if you're into metal) and Fingering (basically, repetitive finger and pick patters up and down the fretboard to get accustomed to moving in ways that don't feel natural yet.)

[wizmaster]

Learning is going to be boring...since a major part in getting good at guitar is practicing (particularly chords, scales and fingering.)

I don't have any sites to give (plenty were given that seem good), but I think the two major areas to focus on in the beginning are Chords (amazing how many songs can be played using just three of them, G C and D...and maybe the basic power chord form if you're into metal) and Fingering (basically, repetitive finger and pick patters up and down the fretboard to get accustomed to moving in ways that don't feel natural yet.)

I should practice tonight. I'm going to practice Mary had a Little Lamb and when I get that down, I'll go back to chords. I find that building the callous is necessary to practice. Definitely harder then piano.

I'll check out all the links in the thread slowly but surely.

[dolson]

Learning guitar was not boring at all for me. Of course, I knew how to play dozens of songs before I could tell you what chord or note I was actually playing, but that's because I took the easy way and used tabs (as I mentioned). I don't read sheet music, and I never plan to. I found it more enjoyable to learn power chords, bar chords, and slowly learn the open chords after all of that. Why? Because with a power chord, you can play all kinds of stuff. It really depends on if you're trying to learn how to play Green Day or Radiohead... On one hand, power chords can get you by and you can have a blast. On the other hand, well, I was having enough fun with the first hand, so... :)

If you care about skill, precision, etc. then go for reading music. If you want to learn to play by ear, go with tabs, and eventually you won't even need those anymore. That's not to say that you can't have a good ear and read music, just.. Well, I grew up heavy in the music scene, and nobody I knew except one guy could read sheets.

[damnedeyez]

One of the reasons I mentioned the three chords I did was, I think it's important to be able to play music early on...it makes you feel like you're getting somewhere. (also why I mentioned there's a ton of songs.) There are people who don't learn much beyond them and have a good time.

Callouses come with time and use...which is another benefit of the fingering exercises, or just goofing around.


My biggest issue when playing (not that I was any good, but passable for my amusement) was getting my hands to do what I wanted (articulation and speed.) I haven't really done much in awhile, so whenever I get around to pulling a guitar out again, it'll be one of the first and main things I work on.

[MaxTheSilent]

I think it's definitely worth taking a few lessons to learn correct fingering.

If you learn bad habits in this area early on it will handicap you later when you want to play more advanced stuff.

[andyaldrich]

If only we all had Joe Satriani as a best friend! I'm learning to play the solo to 'Starry Night' at the moment and it's going pretty well. The thing with Satriani stuff is that it's all simple stuff, just played amazingly well...and then right towards the end he shows us that he's (amongst) the best by playing better than we can ever hope to :-(

[fieryfrog]

I think it's definitely worth taking a few lessons to learn correct fingering.

If you learn bad habits in this area early on it will handicap you later when you want to play more advanced stuff.


I am leaning this way...

My biggest issue is getting my hands to do what they are not used to doing.

[rokov]

I am leaning this way...

My biggest issue is getting my hands to do what they are not used to doing.

That will come with practice (10 times a day every day as my dad used to say). Just keep at it and don't get discouraged and it'll all fall into place eventually. :D

[irishpunk]

I'm no pro, only been playing for a year and a half, but here's what I have for sites. Use these for when figuring out the fret positions for chords.
http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/

[rokov]

I'm no pro, only been playing for a year and a half, but here's what I have for sites. Use these for when figuring out the fret positions for chords.
http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/

Great sites, especially all-guitar-chords. I'll definitely get some use out of that. Thanks for posting them.:D

[fretsman]

so, I picked up my first guitar and need to start learning to play.

Im 35 so its not going to come as easy as if I was younger, but it is time to learn.

The Question I have for you experienced players is..... what is the best site with a tutorial for learning? I picked up some books, but they are rather boring.

What are your thoughts? and its electric not acoustic.

I am 38 years old and I have been playing guitar since I was a teenager. I did have a few years here and there where for some strange reason I stopped playing for long periods of time. Kinda lost interest I suppose and did not practice for a few years.

Anyway, a few years ago I decided to pick it up again and started practicing on a daily basis again. As you can imagine, I was very rusty and my fingers felt stiff. I had forgotten most of the songs I knew by heart and had lost a lot of my backing tracks and/or practice material.

I started searching around for websites to try and recover or find new material to work with. I found what I consider to be one of, if not the best website for guitar players that are learning. As a matter of fact, it's even a great site for more experienced players like myself who want to pick up a few new technics of refresh old ones with a fresh perspective.

www.jfrocks.com

It's run by a great guitar player named Jeff. He is actually a professional guitar player, creating guitar riffs for commercials and other things. He offers countless CD's you can buy from beginners to experienced. Best thing though is that he has tons and tons of FREE stuff you can download. Video lessons, tabs, MP3's. He even has video lessons together with backing tracks so you can pratice. All for free.

I have purchased a few of his CD's myself and I can tell you they are well worth it. Not very expensive either, acctually kind of cheap for the amount of material he puts into them. He has a way of explaining stuff in plain english as well, making even complicated things easy to pick up.

Check out his site, you wont be disappointed. Also, not sure what type of music your into, but thats not a concern on Jeff's site either. He can play and is into just about every style of music you can think off, and he has lessons on all of them. As for me... well Im a huge Van Halen fan myself. If your into Halen at all, you have to check out Jeff's section dedicated to Van Halen riffs and style of playing...... By the way, so you dont get confused. He does not use the name "Van Halen" on the site, or other artists either. He changes the names a bit to avoid legal problems. Example: For Van Halen stuff, he calls it "Vin Heuton".. lol ... Once you start reading the site , you will understand it though.

Rock On
Fretsman

[irishpunk]

Great sites, especially all-guitar-chords. I'll definitely get some use out of that. Thanks for posting them.:D

You're welcome :D

[heyseuss]

If it's electric, just turn it up, the louder, the easier it is to sound cool.

[jimmydelicious]

I think one of the most important distinctions of learning to play the guitar is that you should not start by learning "songs". Learn music theory fist: How chords work, how scales work, learn the basics of tonal music. The songs will come when you learn these things.

[mr-belvedere]

I would definitely recommend learning scales, chords, etc. Theory is helpful. Tabs are very useful, but they're a bad thing if you become too reliant on them. I play bass so I can't recommend any guitar sites. I go to activebass.com sometimes and i know they have a sister site activeguitar.com. There's probably alot of good lessons on youtube.

[shimei]

I second what everyone has been saying about learning music theory, scales and just really broadening your knowledge and taking in whatever you can. Scales are really great for creating your own riffs because I hear songs with riffs created out of basic scales on a daily basis. This allows you to put your own flare on an existing song or even create your own song. Anyway, I also recommend learning to strum up and down when you're first starting if you're interested into that type of music. It's a pain when you've been playing for years and need to relearn how to strum just to play your favorite song...

[icu]

I think it all depends on what you eventually want to do.

If you plan on getting a little band together and perhaps playing out etc. then certainly learning theory would be the way to go.

If you just want to learn for fun to play for yourself then I don't think it's necessary to dive into theory and scales/chords just yet.

The first obstacle will be physical. Your first task is to build up strength and coordination. Get those BLISTERS ON YOUR FINGERS and get to the point where you can press down the strings and form the basic chord shapes. Get some basic 3-4 chord songs that you can strum out like Yellow Submarine or the like and play it till your fingers bled (bleed).

Then you could get some tab of some of the classic rock riffs you've been aching to produce (no reason to list them here). Play around with it and have fun. If you are struggling to physically produce notes and at the same time trying to wrap your head around theory and scales it's not going to be any fun.

After a while if you want to get into single-note playing I'd suggest getting some basic Blues play-along tracks and some accompanying tab to show you some "blue boxes" and have more fun still!

That's my $.02 - Taking a few IRL lessons would be a great way to get started. Learn some techniques and exorcises. Some great links in this thread. I will have to bookmark some of them ASAP. Thanks.

[rokov]

After a while if you want to get into single-note playing I'd suggest getting some basic Blues play-along tracks and some accompanying tab to show you some "blue boxes" and have more fun still!.

Good point. The blues scale was the first thing I learned that sounded musical and I obsessed over it for years. In fact, it's still what I play most often when I'm just noodling around. It's kind of like plugging into a Marshall stack and turning up the gain in that no matter what you do with it, it sounds cool.

The blues scale (http://www.ocmusic.com/blues.htm)

[forbizzle]

Word of advice, buy a guitar tuner and keep it in tune every time you pick it up. You'll be much better off later.

What I usually start people off with is standard G, C and D chord progressions, since that covers pretty much anything you can sing in a group around a camp fire. Don't start with online tabs, because they're often wrong or incomplete and you'll have a harder time getting an expected result. Find a band you like, and buy a proper book to get yourself going.

To get used to the shapes of the open chords, position your fingers, then gradually release and apply pressure. This should help changing chords feel a little more natural.

Electric is not as rewarding to start off with, so you may find it worth while to pick up a dirt cheap used acoustic. But if you're determined, pick up a distortion pedal and it'll help mask your mistakes.

[auggnation]

so, I picked up my first guitar and need to start learning to play.

Im 35 so its not going to come as easy as if I was younger, but it is time to learn.

The Question I have for you experienced players is..... what is the best site with a tutorial for learning? I picked up some books, but they are rather boring.

What are your thoughts? and its electric not acoustic.

ok, so here's my experience. find a song you know and sounds really easy. Fine a guitar tab that you can read. then learn. (IT WILL TAKE A WHILE).