Anyone can play guitar... [Archive]

Stormx

11-15-2006, 04:23 PM

needless to say a lot of the people who come to e6townhall are musical. Well I want to pick up guitar, at least. I used to play piano, and I dable around with my kazoo and my yet-to-be-built theramin, but I wanna learn guitar.

So I'm gonna ask for an acoustic for christmas. I was wondering how everyone here who plays guitar: how did you learn to play? how long have you been playing for? etc

Oh and in a more general sense what instruments does everyone play? :-)

uncle eggma

11-15-2006, 04:33 PM

the basic chords: g,d,c,e,f,a,b are pretty simple to pick up, any beginner guitar manual would benefit you. it'll teach you some minor chords too. then learn bar chords and then you're ready to start a band!

sellout250

11-15-2006, 07:07 PM

Onkel Eggma summed it up nicely. Glad you're enjoying the kazoo ;). Hendrix taught himself..

And as of now i am playing alto sax, bari sax, guitar, bass, saw, accordion a bit, recorder, ukelele.. should be getting around to teaching myself trumpet soon...

horseface

11-15-2006, 07:38 PM

everyone has a different approach to learning the guitar but what worked for me was taking a basic class at the local community college; it's cheap (at least it was 10 yrs. ago when i took it) and that way you can get started playing on a solid footing w/ regard to technique, reading music, etc. it'll also get you on a solid practice regiment early on because you've gotta be ready to perform for the class and stuff.

i haven't taken a lesson or class since, but i think it's beneficial to get some basic instruction when your first starting instead of just fucking around on your own. you can do that later.

oh, and i bought a thick beatles book w/ chords and music and learned all of that. that had all the chords you'll ever need.

call me hi

11-15-2006, 07:50 PM

i think the best advice for a beginner would be to get a nylon string guitar first. it's so much easier to play, and i think it just sounds better anyway. that and i think crappy playing is much more apparent on a steel string, which could be frustrating for a beginner, not to mention those who have to listen to you.

but yeah, i definitely say that you should just learn chords and fuck around on your own. don't try to play songs that you know or it will most likely be disappointing.

oh, and don't practice with a pick. i think it would be much more beneficial to start learning with just your fingers; it would probably help you to get a better feel for it.

good luck and stick with it no matter how discouraged you get. it definitely pays off in the long run, and makes boredom an impossibility.

paulpaul

11-15-2006, 08:40 PM

yeah my guitar teacher encouraged me a ton to start playing with my fingers and not a pick, and to this day i really dont use picks, on any instrument, and i prefer it that way,
although i might have to get some finger picks so i can play bluegrass banjo right.
a teacher is a good way to start off, but really you can start writing songs and messing around once you have the basic chords down, so its really up to you
i have a really kick ass sheet that has all the basic chords in their respective keys, that really helped me out when i first started playing, heck i still use it. i can try to find a link to something like that for you or maybe scan it onto a computor i donno
good luck tho!
as far as instruments that i play: trumpet, guitar, classical guitar, banjo, accordion, saw, air organ kinda, and uke!

Aqualad

11-15-2006, 11:22 PM

hmm... i started off with the chord C. I didn't learn any other chord until a couple months later. Mostly I experiemented with just plucking different strings and recording them together. A year later I can only claim most of the major chords, most of the minor chords, and a few others, but I've made about 4 albums worth of decent material, plus countless demos. Also people kept showing me how the guitar and piano relate, and that really helped.

untalkative

11-15-2006, 11:53 PM

advice given so far is pretty good.
my dad always played guitar so i was around them early on. i had lessons when i was about 10 for a year. the teacher didnt use a pick so i never have either. i taught myself after that. also had drum lessons before i started with guitar, but i havnt touched a drum kit in about 12 years. also had bass lessons for a year when i was about 12. crap teacher, learnt nothing. went back to guitar.
I never really learnt to read music properly. i can, but very slowly.

Stormx

11-16-2006, 12:29 AM

Wow thanks everyone. I'm mostly self-taught on piano. What sort of guitar should I get then... any advice? I'm really not clued up about makes/models and stuff...

josaphax

11-16-2006, 10:11 AM

i always answer that question with gibson. anything gibson. but thats not really practical. just starting out if you want an electric i would say a fender strat or telecaster simply for how easy they are to play. if youre looking for acoustic then id say go to pond shops and places like that (ebay) for an older guitar. you can sometimes find really good deals on older acoustic guitars. the reason i suggest this is because unless youre going to be spending a lot of money on a newer guitar youll probably be wasting your money because new "cheap" guitars are pretty shitty.

paulpaul

11-16-2006, 10:19 AM

i would recomend starting on an acoustic, as far as what brand... as long as it plays it should be good! you can always upgrade later

Aqualad

11-16-2006, 11:14 AM

my guitar was aout 170, i think. i got it for christmas from my dad and it's new, but surprisingly it sounds really really good. it's johnson brand, if that means anything.

auxiliaryoctopus

11-16-2006, 11:54 AM

I would suggest getting a different instrument. Everyone plays guitars.

But, if your set on a guitar, I'd get an Arts and Lutherie AMI parlor guitar. They sound great, are portable, very playable, Canadian made, all solid wood and can be had for under $200.

Stormx

11-16-2006, 12:53 PM

Hmm... see im just thinking of picking one up from my music store.

Old guitars sound better right?

Thanks for all the advice and stuff...

tomatoesandradiowires

11-16-2006, 03:50 PM

Well. No to the old guitars sound better. there's way too many things affecting the sound of an instrument to make said declaration. I have two identical guitar models (one was my sisters) and one guitar sounds good and the other is heinous. The frets on my guitar weren't filed down enough which produced a really pitched sound. No worries, my sister lost interest in the instrument and I took hers. Oh, And I don't even know if they exist in england, but don't go to guitar center. Everytime I walk in that place they push their worst of everything on me.

"Would you like this gutair?"
"Are those strings made of twine?"
"That's not important, give me your money"

What do you all think of backpacker guitars? I would like one but am completely ignorant to everything about them.

call me hi

11-16-2006, 07:35 PM

Originally posted by auxiliaryoctopus
I would suggest getting a different instrument. Everyone plays guitars.

this is such a friendly thread, i hate to bring it down, but that was pretty annoying advice. i can't understand why he shouldn't play guitar because other people do. everybody has sex, but that doesn't make it any less fun. meh. maybe you were just joking. i won't get all worked up. carry on.

tomatoesandradiowires

11-16-2006, 07:46 PM

Everyone plays guitars because they are nice sounding, relatively inexpensive, diverse instruments essential to many forms of music making. I assure you aux owns a guitar. But, I didn't sense any malice in his post and sort of understand where he's coming from.

call me hi

11-16-2006, 10:32 PM

yeah, i didn't think there was any malice, and i've gathered he's a pretty good musician. the comment just seemed a little "la ti da".

auxiliaryoctopus

11-17-2006, 04:55 AM

Originally posted by call me hi

this is such a friendly thread, i hate to bring it down, but that was pretty annoying advice. i can't understand why he shouldn't play guitar because other people do. everybody has sex, but that doesn't make it any less fun. meh. maybe you were just joking. i won't get all worked up. carry on.

I can see how it might come off that way.

It wasn't meant to me mean-spirited or anything like that though. I play guitar a lot. But, if I could give myself advice when I was thinking about starting the guitar, it would be the same.

I love the sound of guitars, but I also think they've held an unfair monopoly over music for the last 50 years. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from playing anyinstrument, I just hoped to spark some research into other instruments that don't always get a fair shake.

That said, guitar is very versitile, easy to learn and write songs with.

Stormx

11-17-2006, 08:24 AM

Yeah. Well I just had something of a lesson (I can half play '1979', YEAASS!), but it convinced me I wanna learn and shiz =)

Did everyone start out on accoustics?

Aqualad

11-17-2006, 09:01 AM

yup

Xylemicarious

11-17-2006, 02:19 PM

I "learned" on a Mexcan half hollow body Telecaster. Worked fine without the amp. I put learned in quotes because I pretty much gave up. I pretty much just mess around on it nowadays. Hooray for knowing probably only 7 chords or so. (E, Em, D, Dm, A, Am, and C. Oh, and Em7, but that's one's just ridiculously easy.)

Stormx

11-17-2006, 02:21 PM

bah yeah... i'll just get a book, these chords look tricky to remember ;-)

Xylemicarious

11-17-2006, 02:56 PM

Yeah, I found it easier once I knew some actual music theory. If I felt like it I could go and make some chords right now! F#m9, here I come!But some of them are just easier to memorize. But yeah, in reality all of the chords I know are the ones that were easy to remeber, and/or I can figure out by knowing another chord, like all the minors.

JuneSalutesYou

11-17-2006, 07:50 PM

you should learn pianer and be like this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaUov7LJxlA

RaelO

11-18-2006, 12:57 PM

I had a backpacker guitar. The sound is sort of tinny, & getting used to holding it never happens (I traded away my Ovation, too for the same reason!) but if you want something that more or less makes music but is portable, they're amusing, anyway...
my favourite guitar I ever had was a Jagstang. But a skanky roommate of mine sold it behind my back when I was off on one of my numerous roadtrips...

put anything that makes music in front of me and I'm going to figure out how to at least make amusing noise with it, but the two instruments I've owned and actually stuck with were guitar and bowed psaltery.

grimeyno1

11-18-2006, 08:32 PM

i played piano before picking up gutiar, too. only, i'm pretty lousy at piano (though i can get by with most rock/pop songs on the guitar).

the first thing you're going to want to do is learn some songs. the easiest way to start playing is to learn bar chords. they're super easy to play and they're used in 70% of modern rock songs. then you can work into major and minor chords as well. if you can't play by ear, looking for chords to songs online in conjunction with a website like www.chordfind.com can be helpful.

but honestly, the best way to learn how to play the guitar is just to play as many different songs as possible. look at the music you enjoy listening to and decide in your head what sounds playable. with each song you'll likely learn something new, and you can work your way up to harder stuff. you'll be writing your own songs in no time.

grimeyno1

11-18-2006, 08:39 PM

oh, and for the record, i've only been playing guitar for a little less than a year. it's a very metal electric guitar (a schecter omen-6) that i use to play quaint little pop songs with. i think it'd be better to have an acoustic, though, simply because you don't have to plug shit in all the time. it's cool to use effects pedals and distortion and whatnot, but i only do so when i'm recording. i just play it unplugged most of the time.

Aqualad

11-18-2006, 10:40 PM

I learned the opposite way, and didn't learn bar chords, and didn't learn other's songs. To date I only know about 5 songs of other bands'

horseface

11-18-2006, 11:15 PM

barre chords = hand crampers. more open voicings sound cooler. or just partial the chord or use an inversion and that can lead to cool voice leading from chord to chord.

[Edited on 11-19-0606 by horseface]

Stormx

12-09-2006, 01:56 PM

Yo. I think I'm gonna get a Fender CD60. Its only £70 over here, which is pretty good. Its got a whole lotta good reviews too.

hansel

12-09-2006, 03:25 PM

I taught myself... and it took forever. Play with other people as soon as possible. It's the best way to learn.

Stormx

12-09-2006, 04:03 PM

My friend sorta teaches me a little on some friday afternoons.

kallisti

12-09-2006, 05:26 PM

since this topic is here, can anyone tell me how to not suck at barre chords? Because I really really suck at them and it's depressing.

I will now go hang myself with a guitar string.

damonin

12-09-2006, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by kallisti
since this topic is here, can anyone tell me how to not suck at barre chords? Because I really really suck at them and it's depressing.

I will now go hang myself with a guitar string.

you could try using a lighter guage string, you coudla lso lower the bridge so there isnt as much space between the frets and the strings so you dont need to puch down as hard... as long as you dont lower it too much that the strings rattle.. ALSO you shoudl work out your hand and make your fingers stronger... by playing those bar chords anyways, keep it up and you will be able to do it :)

as for thwe topic, i started playing bass about 10 years ago, and than after 4 years of not really playing at all my sisters boyfind at the time decided to give me a gibson SG he had that was broken in exchange that i would fix it for the cost of the gutiar, wich i did, and it was worth it i LOVE that guitar... than after about a year i baught an acoustic gutiar, and ive always had a keyboard laying around... though im not very good at piano, but OH WELL....

kallisti

12-10-2006, 04:11 AM

Originally posted by damonin
Originally posted by kallisti
since this topic is here, can anyone tell me how to not suck at barre chords? Because I really really suck at them and it's depressing.

I will now go hang myself with a guitar string.

you could try using a lighter guage string, you coudla lso lower the bridge so there isnt as much space between the frets and the strings so you dont need to puch down as hard... as long as you dont lower it too much that the strings rattle.. ALSO you shoudl work out your hand and make your fingers stronger... by playing those bar chords anyways, keep it up and you will be able to do it :)

As for the first bits of advice, I have a mind-blowingly shitty guitar. A friend of mine is going to fix it up for me so it sounds less like ear-bleeding death and more like music, and he could probably do something about that, too. My guitar buzzes a lot, and I hear tell that this is because the neck is curved?

Regarding the latter, I have noticed that lately the bar/barre (seriously, which is it? I see it written both ways and it makes me want to type bar(re) all the time just in case.) chords sound a little less like shit than they used to. They sound almost kind of a little bit like actual music, which is encouraging. So I'm improving. I guess I was just wondering if I was doing something wrong, but there's probably no way of knowing that unless you actually see me trying to play.

Sorry if I'm derailing the topic. Just a quick detour.

atrocities

12-10-2006, 08:03 AM

I taught myself fingerpicking when I was 12 or 13 (year 6 i think), i couldn't play chords that well back then. I started playing april 8th the other day, and i'm enjoying getting back into it. I still play a 3/4 size nylon acoustic, i still love it. it cost me $72 AU about 10 years ago, maybe 9.

on the other instruments note, i can play relatively well: violin, cello, piano, trumpet, euphonium, trombone and recorder. the drums a little, but i wouldn't dare to call it anything other than random bashing with a semblance of rhythm

horseface

12-10-2006, 12:48 PM

barre chords (i promise this is how it's spelled) are a bitch when you're first starting out. you're probably doing nothing wrong at all, you just have to keep at it until that moment where it's like "voila" i just landed a barre chord and from this moment on they will be very easy to play until you realize you could have just slapped a capo on the 7th fret to play the intro to "hotel california" instead of using barre chords and had glorious ringing chords like they do on the recording until you realize that it was actually time well spent learning to play barre chords in 7th position w/ tricky fingerings because you improved your technique all the while until you realize you may not actually go through an experience like this at all and i'm an a s s.

seriously though good luck w/ all your guitar playing adventures!!

kallisti

12-10-2006, 01:18 PM

that was...encouraging. I think.

Here's a specific question though: how much pressure should I be applying with my index finger on all six strings? Am I supposed to be holding them all down as hard as I would a single string, or just applying light pressure?

The rest of my trouble with barre chords is a matter of practice. I have to pause to position my damn fingers. I can't switch to and from barre chords fast enough to keep playing. Bleh. Practice practice practice. One day I will be able to play Two-Headed Boy pt 2 in the right key. O Happy Day.

Maybe I should find a piano I can do exercises at to strengthen my fingers. That's the only way I know of to do it, unless anyone else has any suggestions.

ahahah I am so lame. <3

damonin

12-10-2006, 03:39 PM

they have those finger exersize machine things you can buy at a gutiar store. also thosw hand exersize grip things you can get at exersize stores. you should allpy enough pressure evenly across the strings so that they are all pressed down and play properly when you hit each one individually, its hard to go though, especially near the top of the neck.

kallisti

12-10-2006, 03:45 PM

are the finger exercise machines expensive?

[Edited on 12-10-0606 by kallisti]

damonin

12-10-2006, 06:03 PM

i think they are like 20 dollers, ive never had one but i herd it was around that much... it exersizes each seperate finger wich is cool, and there are 3 different strengths or something. so you can buy an easey meium or hard one... i think. chek out your local gutiar shoppe.