I bought a guitar

[BigRedRage]

Always wanted to learn, finally going to give it a real effort. So far I suck big time but I can go back and forth from e minor to G and back like a boss

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[jw7]

Good luck!

What kind of music do you want to play?

You need to learn the 5 basic chords first. E, A, D, G, C.

Do you have an acoustic or electric?

 

[BigRedRage]

Bought an acoustic fender, figure acoustic is harder to play (string pressing and etc) so better to learn there.

I want to play all music. Classic rock, heavy metal and all inbetween. I just want to play I am trying to start out with easy stuff, then classic rock, then once I feel like I am actually good, I might buy an electric and start jamming heavy metal. baby steps.

Currently I have the tabliture for I walk a lonely road by green day. Not a huge green day fan but their guitars are very basic so figured it was worth a shot to go there first.

 

[puckhead]

Right on, BRR!

I assume you mean 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', and that's a good beginner. I'm pretty sure the same chords are used on 'Good Riddance' too, so you're kind of getting two for one.

I would echo jw7's comment about the chords to learn first. Even though it's tough at first, really concentrate on letting the notes ring out on every string fretted and non-fretted. Buzzing chords are not musical and you don't want to start out with bad habits.

Tune often. Play a game with yourself where you try and tune the pitch by ear, then check how you did with the tuner.

Also, try and keep time. Slow it way down until you get better, but always try and keep in time. You will thank me later if you ever have aspirations of playing with others.

Play a little every day, 10-15 minutes and you'll get better much faster than one 8 hour session a week.

Have fun! It takes time, but you can make great strides if you keep your expectations reasonable and don't expect to be playing out in two months.

 

[Rivercard]

The first song I learned was Cat Scratch Fever. When you get the basic Bar Chord hand positions down you can play a lot of Rock stuff quickly.

Puck's advice is good. I'd add that as you learn and improve, keep in mind the Economy Of Motion. There are different ways to play the same chords and notes, so try to move the hand/finger positions as little as possible as you shift from chord to chord and note to note.

 

[puckhead]

Mine was 'Louie, Louie'. A, D, and E. Those three chords will do about a hundred familiar songs.

 

[jw7]

Bought an acoustic fender, figure acoustic is harder to play (string pressing and etc) so better to learn there.

I want to play all music. Classic rock, heavy metal and all inbetween. I just want to play I am trying to start out with easy stuff, then classic rock, then once I feel like I am actually good, I might buy an electric and start jamming heavy metal. baby steps.

Currently I have the tabliture for I walk a lonely road by green day. Not a huge green day fan but their guitars are very basic so figured it was worth a shot to go there first.

If you want to play classic rock and metal, get an electric now. Scales are much easier to learn. You need to learn how to play minor chords and scales. Guitar magazine says do not attempt to play any of these tablatures until you have mastered the pentatonic scale.

Vince56 does not post here much anymore, but he is a metal guitar virtuoso. I would PM him and ask him for advice.

 

[Rivercard]

Mine was 'Louie, Louie'. A, D, and E. Those three chords will do about a hundred familiar songs.

True. Between that one and "Crimson And Clover" (B, F#, E) you've covered a lot of the basics.

 

[BigRedRage]

Right on, BRR!


I would echo jw7's comment about the chords to learn first. Even though it's tough at first, really concentrate on letting the notes ring out on every string fretted and non-fretted. Buzzing chords are not musical and you don't want to start out with bad habits.

Tune often. Play a game with yourself where you try and tune the pitch by ear, then check how you did with the tuner.

Also, try and keep time. Slow it way down until you get better, but always try and keep in time. You will thank me later if you ever have aspirations of playing with others.

Play a little every day, 10-15 minutes and you'll get better much faster than one 8 hour session a week.

Have fun! It takes time, but you can make great strides if you keep your expectations reasonable and don't expect to be playing out in two months.

the tune often is good advise. I dont fully understand the notes ring out, fretted not fretted, buzzing sounds comment fullt. I do have aspirations of playing with others, that is my main goal. to sit by the campfire and play music with friends.

The first song I learned was Cat Scratch Fever. When you get the basic Bar Chord hand positions down you can play a lot of Rock stuff quickly.

Puck's advice is good. I'd add that as you learn and improve, keep in mind the Economy Of Motion. There are different ways to play the same chords and notes, so try to move the hand/finger positions as little as possible as you shift from chord to chord and note to note.

Good to know on on moving as little of possible.

If you want to play classic rock and metal, get an electric now. Scales are much easier to learn. You need to learn how to play minor chords and scales. Guitar magazine says do not attempt to play any of these tablatures until you have mastered the pentatonic scale.

Vince56 does not post here much anymore, but he is a metal guitar virtuoso. I would PM him and ask him for advice.

I feel acoustic is much harder than electric as the strings are much tougher to push and etc. I figured I am better off learning acoustic prior to electric. Ive seen many people play metal on acoustic

For now im just trying to learn chords, build callus on my fingers and get the basics of guitaring down. Dont want to spend more money until I start to figure it out.


thx for all the advise everyone, soaking it all in.

 

[puckhead]

the tune often is good advise. I dont fully understand the notes ring out, fretted not fretted, buzzing sounds comment fullt.
...

So think about your G chord.

If you're in standard tuning the strings are (low to high) E A D G B e.

For the G you "fret" the third fret of the low E, the second fret of the A, and the third fret of the high e. The D, G, and B strings are not fretted, but played "open". The G chord sounds best when all six strings ring out and the fretted notes are all clear. When one is just starting out, it is easy to accidentally mute the D and the B with your first two fingers or the fretted notes could buzz if not fretted cleanly.

Hopefully that makes it easier to understand what I meant.

 

[BigRedRage]

So think about your G chord.

If you're in standard tuning the strings are (low to high) E A D G B e.

For the G you "fret" the third fret of the low E, the second fret of the A, and the third fret of the high e. The D, G, and B strings are not fretted, but played "open". The G chord sounds best when all six strings ring out and the fretted notes are all clear. When one is just starting out, it is easy to accidentally mute the D and the B with your first two fingers or the fretted notes could buzz if not fretted cleanly.

Hopefully that makes it easier to understand what I meant.

it does as I have been playing the G cord in the walk alone song so I fully understand. I was told to try to make sure I can coming straight down on the strings vs across them because it can mute strings or dampen strings and give me the wrong sound. I am doing my best to do that. I believe that is what you meant as I will catch sometimes I am dampening or muting a string and will adjust my fingers to be higher off of the frets when they come down. I am basically keeping my thumb under the guitar for now instead of near the E to get extra high if that makes sense.

That is one of the reasons I felt it would be better to learn acoustic as it is much harder to push all of the strings down on acoustic vs electric so if I learn on this first, picking up an electric should be pretty easy in comparison and my hand strength/callus should be excellent at that point along with hand stretching ability.

 

[puckhead]

it does as I have been playing the G cord in the walk alone song so I fully understand. I was told to try to make sure I can coming straight down on the strings vs across them because it can mute strings or dampen strings and give me the wrong sound. I am doing my best to do that. I believe that is what you meant as I will catch sometimes I am dampening or muting a string and will adjust my fingers to be higher off of the frets when they come down. I am basically keeping my thumb under the guitar for now instead of near the E to get extra high if that makes sense.

Yes, that's what I was trying to explain. It is tricky, but I assure you, your fingers will start to behave over time as the muscle memory takes hold. This is why practicing a little bit every day is important.

That is one of the reasons I felt it would be better to learn acoustic as it is much harder to push all of the strings down on acoustic vs electric so if I learn on this first, picking up an electric should be pretty easy in comparison and my hand strength/callus should be excellent at that point along with hand stretching ability.

As long as you don't get discouraged because of the difficulty factor, I think your method is sound. Everyone learns at their own pace and what works for one may not work for another. I'm no music teacher so make your own decisions.

 

[BigRedRage]

Yes, that's what I was trying to explain. It is tricky, but I assure you, your fingers will start to behave over time as the muscle memory takes hold. This is why practicing a little bit every day is important.




As long as you don't get discouraged because of the difficulty factor, I think your method is sound. Everyone learns at their own pace and what works for one may not work for another. I'm no music teacher so make your own decisions.

I plan to not get discouraged and keep going. Talent in my eyes is dedication, commitment and perseverance, not something you are born with. (at least a majority of the time)

Thanks again to all for the comments, I am noting all of it and will use all of it.

My first day my fingers hurt after 10 minutes and I stopped, didnt touch it again for a week and was surprised i could do thirty minutes with no pain in fingers. I never thought about 15 minutes a day rather than two one hour sessions a week and will keep that in mind.

also noticed last night it was out of tune already, will start tuning it every time i pick it up from now on.

 

[jw7]

Mine was 'Louie, Louie'. A, D, and E. Those three chords will do about a hundred familiar songs.

I'm embarrassed to say, but I used to listen to Twisted Sister. If you know A, D and E you can play every song they ever made.

 

[BigRedRage]

So i went to play some more last night and found I had a hard time playing certain notes due to sensitivity in my finger tips. Maybe I will have to do every other day or every 3 days until my callus builds up. I kept getting crappy buzzing sounds and etc that puck was talking about. I wonder wtf im doing and then used a different finger and it was good, noticed the previous specific finger felt like it was pushing hard enough and it just wasnt.

 

[BigRedRage]

Thanks to some amazing generosity, I will also have an electric guitar soon. I am thinking on the days my fingers hurt from acoustic, I can play the electric since the strings are easier to push down on.

I am also now considering buying rocksmith to help teach me as well since I will have an electric to plug in to it.

 

[puckhead]

I'm embarrassed to say, but I used to listen to Twisted Sister. If you know A, D and E you can play every song they ever made.

TS was great fun! Remember when they were responsible for nearly every teen tragedy of the day! Now that's embarrassing.

 

[puckhead]

Thanks to some amazing generosity, I will also have an electric guitar soon. I am thinking on the days my fingers hurt from acoustic, I can play the electric since the strings are easier to push down on.

I am also now considering buying rocksmith to help teach me as well since I will have an electric to plug in to it.

RS is probably on a clearance rack somewhere by now. I've never played it but anything that puts the guitar in your hand is a means to better playing. I wouldn't rely on that solely as your instruction, though.

Congrats on the electric, by the way. Do you know what kind it is?

 

[BigRedRage]

RS is probably on a clearance rack somewhere by now. I've never played it but anything that puts the guitar in your hand is a means to better playing. I wouldn't rely on that solely as your instruction, though.

Congrats on the electric, by the way. Do you know what kind it is?

not sole instruction by any means, just something to get me to play more, to build hand strength faster, muscle memory faster, etc.

The guitar is a 87 Kramer Custom

 

[puckhead]

not sole instruction by any means, just something to get me to play more, to build hand strength faster, muscle memory faster, etc.

The guitar is a 87 Kramer Custom

Nice! That thing will scream metal shredder.

 

[Linderbee]

My brother got rocksmith to help him learn to play and he found it to be very helpful, fwiw.

Sent from my SCH-R970C using Tapatalk

 

[BigRedRage]

My brother got rocksmith to help him learn to play and he found it to be very helpful, fwiw.

Sent from my SCH-R970C using Tapatalk

isnt your brother Brian? Or is that someone elses brother

 

[jw7]

Here is a pic of your soon to be first electric:

 

[puckhead]

Here is a pic of your soon to be first electric:

That's pretty damn sweet. Amazing generosity is an understatement!

Those have the "blower" switch don't they? Great invention.

I have always preferred rosewood for my fret-boards too.

Well done, BRR!

 

[puckhead]

My first electric was an eighties explorer copy made in Korea by a company called Antares. The neck was like a giant V, had terrible action, frets were gone, and it weighed a ton even though it wasn't solid wood. Ugh. I still have it.