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Learning Guitar

Started by tuxx Jul 28, 2003 at 12:35 AM 32 replies 900+ views

Original Post

Jul 28, 2003 at 12:35 AM

Hey there. I''ll give an intro. I''m 13 years old, and my main two passions would probably be computers and music. I''ve been playing piano since I was in about first or second grade (I''m going into eighth now). I''d probably classify myself as a beginner. I wish I could tell you some of the stuff I''ve played, but I don''t know whether it was the real thing or a watered-down version. I think because I''ve started off with piano early, I know a good amount about music (compared with my peers), so I can appreciate music a lot more than a lot of them. I love to listen to music, and I spend a good deal of time just listening to different forms of music. My favorite band is Led Zeppelin. I admire them (especially Jimmy Page) for having such an awesome sound, but especially for experimenting in different styles. I love how they integrated ethnic music with hard rock, like in Kashmir. I also love Jimmy Page''s mandolin playing, like in Battle of Evermore and Going to California. It also helps because I''m a Tolkien geek. I also like to listen to various classical people, Les Paul, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Metallica, and a ton of other bands. So after watching Led Zeppelin concerts for the 100th time, I decided that I have to play the guitar. I love all the music you can create with it, from the warm songs with acoustic guitars to the beautiful songs with mandolins to the laid-back electric Les Paul music to the electric thrash metal of Metallica. I have an old cheap junior guitar in my basement that I think I''ll start with. I''ll try to get pretty good with it, so that I can play some good songs with it like "Wish You Were" by Pink Floyd. Then, if I want to and if I have the money, I want to buy an Epiphone Les Paul standard (figures, since I listen to Les Paul, Jimmy Page, and AC/DC). Now I come to the part about actually learning it. I think I''ll read some sort of web intro. to it and see if I like it. After I learn a few chords, I think I might purchase a book on it. I''ve been skimming over "Guitar for Dummies" and I think I might buy it. So, any help with my direction? Do you think I''m going about this the right way? Any recommendations on articles or books? Thanks!

WiseElben

Jul 28, 2003 at 12:40 AM

Good for you!

I'm 13 also, I played the Piano for almost 2 years. I'm learning Fur Elise (Lotus Elise Exgie... wow...

)

I'm learning C++ right now. If you go to the Beginners forums, you should see several topics about my C++ problems (Operator Overloading, const Keyword, ect).

I learned a few chords on the guitar once, but forgot 'em.

Visit my game programming website at www.wiseelben.com

E-mail:wiseelben@wiseelben.com
AIM: WiseElben
ICQ: 299127026

[edited by - WiseElben on July 28, 2003 1:41:23 AM]

RedBitsOfYarn

Jul 28, 2003 at 12:46 AM

Get an electric, annoy your neighbors, and be a baddass...
LIKE ANGUS! OMG ANGUS!!!

or Slash

Anyways, practice everyday by finding tabs of folk and punk songs. When you can play those with ease, learn to play the blues, then rock, then jazz if you''re ready for it.

zer0wolf

298

zer0wolf

Jul 28, 2003 at 12:47 AM

Since you''ve been playing piano for awhile you''ve already got some of the "classical" theory stuff out of the way, so you can start with the fun stuff

What I would recommend doing is hopping onto google and doing a search for tabs of the songs of bands that you like.Immediately starting off with bands like Metallica and Led Zepplin are going to leave you a little discouraged, so I''d personally recommend that you start with simpler stuff like AC/DC and Nirvana. Just type "AC/CD tabs" into google and you should get a gazllion links. Mess around with what you find for a few months to get the feel of the guitar. If after you''ve been playing for a few months and you still like it THEN I would suggest looking into getting new guitar.

Don''t get a type of guitar just because its what your favorite guitarist plays. Just because he/she likes it doesn''t mean that its the best guitar for you. I''m a huge Metallica fan and they play mostly ESPs... but I like the feel of my Fernandes Revolver Pro, which is similiar to the axe that Riggs from Rob Zombie uses. After playing with your guitar go into a local guitar shops and pickup some of the axes they have in their and see what feels good in your hands. Whatever feels the most fun to play and is the closet to your pocket range is what you should shoot for, not that classic Les Paul that Jimmie Paige plays

RedBitsOfYarn

Jul 28, 2003 at 12:56 AM

AND when you FINALLY wanna make your own songs:

Learn the major, minor, and pentatonic scale (all modes)
Learn about intervals, and harmonics. Which create dissonace (Doesnt feel right or suspended), and which create a nice harmony (When two notes sound nice together).
Learn a bunch of techniques:

Hammer on/Pull off
Trill
Tremelo picking
Sweep (If you''re a neoclassical dude)
Bending
Sliding
Tapping (If you''re into metal...)

tuxx

Author

tuxx

Jul 28, 2003 at 3:47 PM

Thanks for your help so far. I read some lessons on how to read tabs at Guitar Lesson World, and then I learned the main riff of AC/DC''s Gone Shootin''. AC/DC sounds horrible on an acoustic - I should''ve known. So I decided that I''d try my hand at some other stuff. I played the first few measures of Stairway to Heaven. Although that''s a lot more difficult, it''s a lot more fun. I like that fingerpicking stuff. I think it''s a bit easier than chords (when you don''t know them). I have to say I was surprised to hear the first few measures of Stairway to Heaven coming out of my crappy junior acoustic.

Well, my first day of learning the guitar was pretty fun! The only casualties here were my fingers, namely my left index finger. I hate when I have to do a 1h3-type thing where I slide my fingers on some of the heavier strings - it''s like playing really rough sandpaper. Ouch!

Thanks so far for your help. Any more suggestions? I''m looking for some beginner-level material that would be good for me to play on an acoustic but sounds at least a little bit decent. Thanks!

zer0wolf

298

zer0wolf

Jul 28, 2003 at 4:40 PM

Nirvana is insanely easy and works well on the acoustic. As far as your fingers go, they''re going to hurt for months... but keep playing and eventually they''ll callous over to the point where you can jam for hours and not hurt in the least bit

tuxx

Author

tuxx

Jul 29, 2003 at 11:41 PM

I read some Guitar for Dummies today at the bookstore so tomorrow I''ll try to tune my guitar. Does anyone think I sould buy a book for correct techniques or something?

blueEbola

104

blueEbola

Jul 30, 2003 at 12:04 AM

Alright, I''ve been playing for 4 years (I''m 16 now) and here are a couple of tips I can offer:

Make sure you learn all of your major and minor chords, then study some music theory. If you know music theory already, then you''ll become proficient on the guitar in a matter of months. If you don''t know theory, I recommend you get a good set of books on the topic. For guitar, you''ll really need to know about these:

Major Scale
The rest of the diatonic scales
The modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian)
Chord Construction
The circle of fifths
12-bar blues

You don''t need to know *everything* about theory, just enough so that you understand music in general.

There are so many guitarists at my school who don''t know theory, and claim to be gods at guitar. When really, they sit around and memorize tabs and play other peoples songs!

There''s nothing wrong with looking up tabs (it''s actually a very good way to learn) but depending on tabs to learn how to play a song isn''t always the way to go. Sitting down and decoding a song on your own is a very good learning experience.

If you can get your hands on one, get an acoustic guitar. If you can play an acoustic cleanly (no buzzing, no muting) then your playing on an electric will sound great.

As for techniques, some searches with google will turn up good tutorials and articles on the subject. RedSweater gave ya a good list of things to look up.

tuxx

Author

tuxx

Jul 30, 2003 at 3:47 PM

Thanks for all your posts. The funny thing about all that theory is that I probably know about half of it (:0). I don't know why, but for some reason my piano teacher has never taught me much theory. I know major/minor scales, 12-bar-blues, and I've played the circle of fifths but I can't remember the exact circle. I guess that's because I'm just starting getting into composing. Once I've been composing for a while, I'll probably know a lot more music theory.

I think I'll play the tabs to some simple songs, learn a lot of chords, and get really good at my acoustic. Yes, I have an acoustic. I've noticed I'm buzzing and muting a little bit (especially when I use my thumb instead of a pick), so I'll have to work on that. I'm pissed off at it though because it's a junior acoustic, and I'm about 5'8". I got it tuned today (although I've got to adjust the second string - it doesn't sound right).

And to zer0wolf: Thanks for the tip about Nirvana. I can play the main riff for Come As You Are and it sounds great on the acoustic. It sounds really cool, but it is only about 14 strokes and insanely easy. I don't know how Nirvana ever got so big...

[edited by - tuxx on July 30, 2003 4:49:23 PM]

Unwritten Axiom

Jul 30, 2003 at 4:33 PM

What age did all of you learn to play guitar? Do you think it's ever too late to take lessons?

[edited by - Unwritten Axiom on July 30, 2003 5:33:36 PM]

blueEbola

104

blueEbola

Jul 30, 2003 at 4:41 PM

quote:
Original post by Unwritten Axiom
What age did all of you learn to play guitar? Do you think it''s ever too late to take lessons?

[edited by - Unwritten Axiom on July 30, 2003 5:33:36 PM]

It''s never too late to take lessons! I myself began learning when I was 12, and was taught by my dad (I''ve never had any professional lessons). But a friend of mine is taking lessons, and he says he''s seen people above age 20 beginning lessons.

Tazel

Jul 30, 2003 at 6:48 PM

I''m kinda against taking lessons. With lessons, alot of teachers just push you in ways you don''t need to be pushed. I''ve been playing for about 3 weeks and I already know all major/minor/9/Diminished/and Augmented chords. I''m also close to completion of my first song. I think you learn alot faster and better without the help of lessons. just get a good book(s) and practice alot.

tcache
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AH! MY BRAIN IS GOING TO SELF-DETONATE! -- Yours Truly (Jan, 2003)

Tazel

Jul 30, 2003 at 6:50 PM

BTW, how many of you people use a capo and/or open tunings? Are these things helpful to know or do they just teach bad habits?

tcache
Contact Me
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AH! MY BRAIN IS GOING TO SELF-DETONATE! -- Yours Truly (Jan, 2003)

risingdragon3

Jul 30, 2003 at 7:10 PM

It''s my experience with any instrument that after a certain point you require a teacher to really get any further using the instrument. That level is usually at the "5 hours a day practice" point though

Theory is very important. Unless you want to be one of those "guitarists" that just look at the tab and memorize it without understandng anything.

Also proper technique is very important. If you screw that up you''ll eventually have to rerelearn everything.

About capos: I have one and I use it if a tab says I should. I really hate retuning my guitar. But usually I learn the song by ear or try to anyway and then after I have "my version" I look online and see how close I am. It''s much more satisfying to learn a song by ear. Of course it also takes a much, much longer time.

zer0wolf

298

zer0wolf

Jul 30, 2003 at 10:11 PM

I''ve been playing guitar off and on now for about five years... actively playing bass for four. I''ve never taken any lessons and don''t really consider that to be all that great of a thing.

While its true that an instructor might push you in a certain direction... I don''t see that being bad at all. If you wanna learn how to play Staind songs and your instructor is teaching you Clapton stuff you''ll learn sooo much more. Its one thing to be only able to play nu-metal (which is insanely easy anyways... I can write anothing nu-metal song every day...), but its another thing entirely to be able to play nu-metal, blues, and neo-classical. It makes you a more diverse and accomplished musician.

As far as capos go, I''ve never used one myself, but thats because I mostly play metal thats rooted in E, Eb, or drop D, C#. Capos are used mostly with acoustic pieces, especially classically inspired ones.

btw... I''m 21. I started kinda playing when I was sixteen and then got my first bass when I was 17... it was all over from there

abd9e4790f

Jul 30, 2003 at 10:27 PM

TUXX SUCKS THE BIG ONE YOU LITTLE 13 YEAR OLD !@#$
Oh I'm sorry, you don't like people attacking you on your posts?

[edited by - DIRECTXMEN on July 30, 2003 11:28:35 PM]

yves032784

Jul 30, 2003 at 11:10 PM

quote:
I''m kinda against taking lessons. With lessons, alot of teachers just push you in ways you don''t need to be pushed. I''ve been playing for about 3 weeks and I already know all major/minor/9/Diminished/and Augmented chords. I''m also close to completion of my first song. I think you learn alot faster and better without the help of lessons. just get a good book(s) and practice alot.

Dude, you obviously have no clue what music/guitar is all about. I play guitar at a proficient level and i can tell you for a fact that chords are just about the easiest thing to learn, I myslef only had 3 lessons and self taught myself, however, i feel that my guitarin'' skills would be even better if i took lessons. Learning one song and a few chords hardly makes you a master. If i could afford lessons, i would definitely take them.

And btw, stay far away from openen tuning, many guitarists consider them to be an outlet for $hit guitarists.

blueEbola

104

blueEbola

Jul 31, 2003 at 2:10 AM

Memorization of augmented, diminished, 9th, 13th, chords etc. isn''t really all that necessary, now that I think about it. If you know basic theory (major scale, chord construction) you can really build any chord you want. Memorizing basic chords (Major/Minor/M7/m7) is a good thing to do though, that way whenever you want to play a simple song you won''t need to piece it together with the major scale.

If you get into jazz, however, do yourself a favor and memorize every single chord there is

walkingcarcass

Jul 31, 2003 at 2:47 AM

download "guiar pro 3" and go to mysongbook.com for tabs, you''ll learn twice as fast with it than without it! If you click on the button that looks like a grid (with "chord" tooltop) it can show you any chord. the tabs can be played at arbitary speeds so you can learn it slow if you''re having trouble.

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