Learning guitar

Awesome! Guitar's a fun instrument. It's a chill way to spend time with friends too.

Ultimate-guitar.com has been sort of like a gamedev.net for guitar for me. Basically, the key to learning any instrument quickly is to have a balance between learning the underlying theory and practicing songs that you like.

Read or watch some beginner guitar lessons. Music is an art form, so rarely are things universally set in stone. You don't have to accept every advice you hear. As for learning songs, find guitar tabs (essentially sheet music) for songs you like and take things slow. If certain symbols/terminology aren't familiar, look them up.

I think that if you have that sort of balance, you will be able to pick up guitar in not long at all. I've only been learning to play for six months on my own and if you care to listen, I've put a few recordings on a purevolume that might give you an idea of what you could expect in that time, assuming you're willing to put in the time.

A quick word of advice.

Learn (and practice) proper technique (for whatever style you're playing, of course) now. Having to retrain oneself after months (or years) of playing is never fun.

As skittleo said, guitar is indeed a fun instrument. I've been playing classical guitar for about 30 months now, and am still having great fun (currently I'm working on my tremelo for Recuerdos de la Alhambra--it's a bit uneven [sounds a bit like galloping]).

Really, the best thing to do is find a good teacher. There's nothing like having someone who knows what they're doing helping you along.

Other than that:
- Get a chord/scale book
- Get a lesson book (I've had good luck with the " Primer" series published by Mel Bay. Look up "Acoustic Guitar Primer" or "Electric Guitar Primer" on Amazon.)
- Visit Guitar Noise (Look for lessons by David Hodge)
- Get a metronome

Quote:

Original post by skittleo You don't have to accept every advice you hear.

Personally, I think this is dangerous advice for a beginner. It encourages them to not listen to advice that seems awkward at first. What feels natural at first can hold you back later. Try to learn the "right" way right off the start and, once you know more about what you're doing, then you should decide to try something else.

Check out Zahlman's sig: As a general rule, if you post in For Beginners and your code contains the word 'char', you have a bug. Good advice for newbies; they really should stay away from char. Does that mean that more advanced programmers should follow that advice? Well, the thing is, most more advanced programmers follow that advice without being told.

Quote:

Original post by Way Walker Quote: Original post by skittleo You don't have to accept every advice you hear. Personally, I think this is dangerous advice for a beginner. It encourages them to not listen to advice that seems awkward at first.

I agree with you, but I was actually trying to get across a different point. The OP will probably come across several different ways to do things at the beginning: holding picks, guitar on left/right leg, ways to play a chord etc, and it's impossible to spend time following every piece of advice. In those cases the OP will have to make some informed decisions about what to accept and ignore.

Or just get a teacher. That works too.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be sure and take them all into consideration. I don't know how much progress is typical in 2 days, but between yesterday and today (second with my guitar), I learned how to play E, C, A, G, and Am chords in addition to the underlying technique associated with playing guitar (ie. posture, picking, tuning, though I don't think I can tune very well yet, hehe). Anyway, thanks again for the advice. Hopefully I'll be able to play me and my fiance's song by the time I go to see her in later April. Btw, skittleo, I listened to one of your files on purevolume, the one called "Me Trying to Improv", and I thought it sounded really good. And not just for only playing six months, I mean like period. Take care all.

-AJ

Best way is to just practice, practice, practice. Try to play each day (make time ) and don't forget basics like trying new chords and scales. Every guitar solo is based on scales. Every song is based on chords. After six months you'll be surprised how far you've come!

I found that playing along to music I liked (Led Zep, Metallica, etc) is the best way for me to learn - it's fun to do as well!

www.wholenote.com "Basics" will allow you to get any scale/chord/arpeggio. There are lots of lessons with sound samples (user submitted lessons also). Mainly just learn scales and how to play all of the modes of that scale.