Thread: who plays guitar?

Not hard at all, just practice alot.

I didn't have anything but some videos of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, I also kept hawkeyes on the tv when I watched guys playing guitar next thin g I knew I was able to mimic some of their moves and get sounds similar to what they made, from there I just experimented.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

poke around here, theres tonnes of tabs, a forum and lessons.

the first thing to do is learn how to tune a guitar. I hope youve played an instrument before.

second, learn the proper holding position

third, learn some basic finger drills, play 012343210 on each string from top to bottom kinda crap, alternate pickin (up,down,up,down etc) get a metronome and pic to a rythm, slow first then speed up

fourth, learn your basic scales and cords, pick out tabs you like and think you can play

fifth, your on your own!

Originally Posted by fufu

Not hard at all, just practice alot.

I thought you played bass!

I played guitar for 3 years before I started bass. I play 90% bass now.

Take lessons....and not from some sap at the local music store......and don't buy a crap guitar because the same sap at the music store says its a strat.
If you must go on-line....check out some of Paul Gilbert's instructional clips (on youtube.com) at least for entertainment/inspiration from a real player.

And for God's sake, don't learn stairway to heaven, freebird, or sweet home alabama!

Originally Posted by MyK

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

poke around here, theres tonnes of tabs, a forum and lessons.

the first thing to do is learn how to tune a guitar. I hope youve played an instrument before.

second, learn the proper holding position

third, learn some basic finger drills, play 012343210 on each string from top to bottom kinda crap, alternate pickin (up,down,up,down etc) get a metronome and pic to a rythm, slow first then speed up

fourth, learn your basic scales and cords, pick out tabs you like and think you can play

fifth, your on your own!

I got a finger drill for you!

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I got a finger drill for you!

I still hope to learn. It's a dust collector right now...

Originally Posted by SuperFlex

I still hope to learn. It's a dust collector right now...

Pick it up, NOW!

I teach. Been doing it for 15 years. I get a lot of self taught students, some have better chops than me. Teaching them how music works opens up a whole new world for them they never thought possible. Understanding the relationship between mellody and harmony on the fretboard is just as important as guitar acrobatics. A good teacher understands the theory behind the music.

Originally Posted by fufu

Originally Posted by fufu

I played guitar for 3 years before I started bass. I play 90% bass now.

Bass is indeed the way to go.

***

Like others have said, i learned guitar and bass just by...playing it. Try playing along with some of your favourite songs, learn a few scales and chords from books.

I learned some basic stuff at the start, and when that took me as far as it could id learn a little bit more, and so on.

Just go with what sounds good. Oh, and learn how to tune first .

Dale is not only a top personal trainer but he is also a fine guitarist

I still play a little. I put the electric down years ago though. I have a little Guild acoustic that I'll play and sing some Sublime to put me to sleep, but that's about it these days.

I taught classical guitar for about 10 years...

If you just want to learn chords and memorize rock songs from tab, you can do that on your own... (just don't ignore the fact you have a pinkie finger - generally you don't want to shift positions too much if you don't have to. And also, very generally, you would use a finger for each fret. So as each note is played on a higher fret, you would use the next finger until you are using your pinkie - don't just slide up that 3rd finger)

If you want a deeper understanding of music, you probably want lessons.

Been playin' for about 16 years, started as a kid. Learnt classical, some flamenco, lots of rock & blues. Sort of stopped playing for a while, when i got into music technology - samplers, sequencers, synths, virtual studios etc...Been trying to learn bits of jazz on and off recently - which is pretty tough.
If you want to learn fast and get good, get lessons. But if you've got natural ability and a musical ear, theres absolutely no reason that you can't teach yourself, and get very good at it with hard graft and plenty of practice.
Love being able to sit back, put on some class tunes and improvise my own solos and write my own stuff - very theraputic.

Originally Posted by goob

Been playin' for about 16 years, started as a kid. Learnt classical, some flamenco, lots of rock & blues. Sort of stopped playing for a while, when i got into music technology - samplers, sequencers, synths, virtual studios etc...Been trying to learn bits of jazz on and off recently - which is pretty tough.
If you want to learn fast and get good, get lessons. But if you've got natural ability and a musical ear, theres absolutely no reason that you can't teach yourself, and get very good at it with hard graft and plenty of practice.
Love being able to sit back, put on some class tunes and improvise my own solos and write my own stuff - very theraputic.

Indeed. Improvising is a must to develop musical talent and understanding. Also, listen to tons and tons of music. People under-estimate the power of listening to good music for yourself to improve.

Awesome, thanks for the advice guys.

Originally Posted by fufu

Pick it up, NOW!

Good idea, I have plenty of time to...