Best way to learn to play the guitar

[Electric Amish]

Seems to be a lot of guitar players/musicians on this board.

I've really been getting the itch lately to learn the guitar. Assuming I can get some money for some sort of instrument, I was wondering what the best method for learning is? Is there someplace on the 'net or books I can use, or do should I find a teacher?

As a kid I took some piano lessons. I wasn't too bad, but I didn't have the patience to stick with it. I progressed enough that I played the Star Wars theme and Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther for a couple of my recitals. I assume this will help me learn a little more quickly if I can remember how to read music...

thanks,

amish

 

[Electric Amish]

ttt

 

[OutlawWolf]

I'm in the same boat.
Going to take a guitar course this summer.

 

[Elledan]

After having followed guitar lessons for more than 5 years, I can only say that it's better to learn it from a teacher.

 

[ArkAoss]

i'd like to learn the violin, how does one read music sheets though? I'd really like to learn that.

 

[poop]

It is 50/50 playing yourself and being taught. If you want to play rock or pop guitar, it is pretty easy. Classical and folk is generally much more difficult.

The violin, OTOH, is a different world. I played violin for 8 years (grade school-high school), and it is a bitch. Getting the notes correct is ery difficult, as there are no frets, jsut fingerboard.

Sheet music is simple, though. You just count up a scale that is predesignated. Some notes are longer than others, and that is pretty much it. There are more complex things, but you pick up on those as time goes by.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Amish - I'm learning it right now. (By myself) I don't care much for sheet music, just tabs and chords. People have told me "go find a chord book and memorize it", which is crap. Just play what you want to play and you'll learn chords along the way.

 

[BoberFett]

1. Dress like your favorite rock star
2. Crank stereo up
3. Stand in front of mirror
4. Move hands in guitar like fashion (commonly referred to as "air guitar&quot

After a couple years of this, you'll be a master.

 

[Train]

I'm an Air Guitar God.



She Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

 

[SweetJimmy]

I'm taking a class at the local comm. college right now. It only cost $11 for 18 lessons. You should look into what is being offered locally. Having a teacher is a lot easier than learning yourself. Unless you have a lot of self discipline, you're not going to make yourself practice...and practice makes perfect. Good Luck.

 

[Electric Amish]

Bober- I've been doing that for 20 years.

amish

 

[Missus]

lessons...

 

[Atropos13]

I started playing guitar about a year and a half ago and after a while of just playing tabs I kind of plateaued (sp?). so I finally got a teacher about 2 months ago and I am seeing the benefits of it already. The fact that you can already pretty much read music will be very helpful.

As for web sites to go to for tips and stuff I have found the best place is guitar.com.

 

[freak-o-a-l]

I've been playing guitar for about a year and half and I've found the best way to start off is by just finding tabs for a few songs you really like, that way you will have motivation to sound like them (Tabcrawler.com). Learn those songs and be able to play them almost perfectly. After that Check out .Rifftech.com for some scales. Scales are probally the most important thing to learn and the earlier you start learning scales the better, it will greatly improve your improvisation and solo skills. I found that learning together with someone who is just starting is great too. My friend and I got guitars at the same time and would teach other new songs, techniques, etc. all the time, and still do. Yo'll find it alot more fun this way too, because you'll be striving to learn something new so you can show offj/k
You should also look into lessons if you feel that you will learn better from a teacher. I just personally would rather learn to play on my own or with a friend. Hope this helps and good luck!
BTW, if you're on a tight budget, check out MusicYo.com for some decent and cheap guitars.

 

[Whitedog]

I've been a guitar player for the better part of 25 years... I can give you some advice, some good, some bad...

I've seen a LOT of people decide to play guitar, to only quit after a year or two, and visa-versa...

The difference, is you have to have a Passion to play, or you'll loose interest. I've heard ALL the reasons people started playing from, "I want to play in a band", "I think it's cool" (the worst excuse), "I want to impress Chics" (ok, THIS is the worst excuse, coolness is the second. hehe)...

My passion to play guitar started when I was 10. I started playing then and never quit (mostly).

One thing you HAVE to accept, is some people are just naturally better than others... if you find it hard to learn and get aggrevated because this other person just seems to be learning So much faster, don't get discouraged... You'll learn, in due time.

NEVER GET IN A HURRY to learn the newest/latest riffs, styles... Take your learning one day at a time.. IT WILL come in Time. I've seen a LOT of talent WASTED simply because they didn't want to take the time to learn CORRECTLY how to play.. They just wanted to learn Songs and play in a band.

After I had about 10 years experience, I was stationed over-seas living in the Dorms... I spent 3-4 hours a day practicing scales, technics...etc... I was hounded by a LOT of other players to play in their band...
I stuck to my Guns and kept my goal of Learning the material I set out to learn. I refused to play with them.

After a year, I had polished up on Everything I wanted to learn and got a bunch of other VERY talented guys up... and spent the remainder of my time there on Okinawa playing in a Band.

Those other guys that wanted me to play with them, were not that good, simply because they didn't devote enough time practicing their skills... they just wanted to play songs..

When they came to hear us play, they just stood with their jaws hanging open...

We played Nothing but Heavy Metal... Rush, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Ingwie(?)Malmstien(?), Ozzy, Dream Theater...




As a starter player, I suggest you get some "technic" books written in Tab... Songs will come. But don't base your learning on Songs..

If you don't do anything but practice Songs, you are Hurting yourself Tremendously!

Good Luck!

 

[Dee67]

I'd say to take lessons for a little while. To get a basic idea of a couple chords and terminoligy and such.

Then get a book of chords and scales and practice them.

Then use what your learning. See if you can hear the chords you know in songs you like. Try to figure them out by ear. Check into tablature AFTER you think you have it to see how close you came.

Practice, practice, practice. Don't rush to become fast, become GOOD instead. Speed comes with time and practice. Fiddle with the scales you learn, play them frontwards, backwards, standing on your head (you get the idea) break them up.

After about a year, take some more lessons. and still work things out on your own. The more your practice and experiment, the more versitile you will become.

Learn some music theory - then you can better understand what works in combination with what and why.

Play with other musicians, write your own songs, trade ideas, learn more 'on the sly' from them.. and don't forget to practice

 

[purplehayes]

Start by learning smoke on the water by deep purple. You should be able to move on from there. I think white dog summed it up very well.

PH

 

[Howard]

ArkAoss, it really isn't that hard. I play viola, which is quite similar. PM me if you want to learn some stuff.

 

[Mikael]

Hey everyone,
I was checking my site stats and noticed a link to my site so I came here to see hat the conversation was all about .
The guitar !!!! yeah baby !!!
I developed the rifftech site .
In my humble opinion if you want to learn to play the absolute best way to go about it is to learn your chords . Get your hands on a decent guitar ( something that is clean and easy to play.) if the action ( the height of the strings in relation to the neck ) is too high you will not want to learn .
Try out a lot of guitars before you decide to buy one!!!
Never buy a guitar just because it looks good . It is a tool and you must treat is as one .
The reason I stress learning chords is to strengthen your hands and to familiariize yourself with the mechanics of playing.
I have a chord generator on the main page of the site that gives you practically all the chords so you need to learn them all before moving further.
You will find that after learning these chords everything will fall into place and then you an move on to scales and lead playing.
anyway's I hope that you enjoy the site and learn as much from it as I did in putting it together.
Good luck in life and the pursuit of the ultimate rush.
Mikael
Rifftech Online Guitar Method

 

[johneetrash]

ive been playing guitar since august 2000 and i taught myself... my dad has all the gear because he plays guitar, so i picked up his strat, turned on his fender amp (now it's a jcm2000 half stack ) and started playing... i learned how to read tab, printed it out and spent most of my day playing different parts of different songs... of course i play punk which is really easy (power chords mostly) but there are a few songs that have difficult solos that i play...

http://genrasn.virtualave.net/g_solo.wav

thats how i play now (except that i messed up in the beginning)... i guess i learned pretty fast cuz i love music (cant live w/o it)... usually i dont have patience to learn things, except when it's something i really really want to do (i.e. computers/guitar).

(btw if you want to download that whole song, it's called "Giving Up" by a band from orange county called "Home Grown" (not drugs )

[edit]oh and if you listen to my wav and the song closely, you see i play it a note higher, it's because they play their guitar tuned down half step (Eb)[/edit]

 

[MikeO]

About five or six years ago I just bought guitar & 15W amp and started playing.
After a year I could play from tab's, now I just listen to cd's and play along.

I've never had any lessons, I've never read a single book... I just learnt by myself.
Now I'm also playing bass and drums. Only instrument I've taken lessons was piano.
After those classes my teacher said I should be a professional pianist.. but I gave
up and started playing guitar instead.

Dont know is that best way, but worked for me

 

[tinneric]

Take a class at your local community college it's cheap.

 

[kru]

short of taking formal lessons, you could always do what i did...

i'd walk around campus with my guitar and people would just teach me bits and pieces of popular tunes. it helped, but the only way i learned *whole* songs was by picking up the tablature and teaching myself.