Getting/Learning guitar

JeffH

So, yeah. I want to learn how to play guitar. Any suggestions on a guitar to buy for someone that's never played before? Also, I want to take lessons. What's the best way to find a reputable teacher in my area? Unfortunately none of my friends play so I can't rely on word of mouth. I'm in Marlborough, MA if that matters.

wmelon

I've found that buying a guitar is a very personal experience. So in that vein i'd suggest going to any local music store and just start picking them up until you find one that feels good and doesn't have a neck that's too wide for you to reach your fingers across from behind, or too thin so that you don't have an easy way of pushing one string down by itself.

As for a teacher, I'd just go to some different stores and talk to the guitar teachers. I'm sure you'll find somebody that likes similar music to you and is likable enough to spend a half hour or more a week with.

That said, don't spend a whole lot of money on your first guitar. This way you're not out much while you're figuring out what you like and don't like about it. I bought a new "better" guitar within a year of starting to learn to play.

Spackle

Sounds like you're taking a good approach, the first thing I did was buy some cheap jam pack from zzsounds.com which got me a crappy electric, even worse amp and poor booklets. Lessons, even if just for a month are extremely beneficial as you'll grasp some basics like:

Left hand technique

Right hand technique

simple chords

simple strumming

rhythm

Are you starting out with electric or acoustic? it's pretty well suggested to get an acoustic first (Cheap, doesn't require any other gear, great starting point for developing proper habits) so I'd go that route. I'd goto music stores, if possible avoid chains. They'll be more in tune to their stock and fit you with the proper guitar plus offer suggestions on who to get with for lessons.

JeffH

Spackle wrote: »

Are you starting out with electric or acoustic? it's pretty well suggested to get an acoustic first (Cheap, doesn't require any other gear, great starting point for developing proper habits) so I'd go that route. I'd goto music stores, if possible avoid chains. They'll be more in tune to their stock and fit you with the proper guitar plus offer suggestions on who to get with for lessons.

I was thinking of getting an electric, as it's more geared towards the music I enjoy listening to

Spackle

I didn't start with an acoustic and I kind of wish I had but when I started all I wanted to do was play Megadeth and Metallica. Oddly, I've only learned like 2 songs from those guys.

I recently picked up an acoustic about a month ago and love the thing. I can just pick it up, play some random crap and put it down. Don't have to plug anything, dial in the distortion I want, fiddle with the knobs. Just pick up and play.

I'd definitely goto a store and tell them what you've told H/A.

cooljammer00

also, you know, pushing down is tougher on an acoustic. but they're both good. think about what music you like to play more and will be practicing...I mean, Megadeth just isn't the same on an acoustic...:-D Believe me, I've tried metal on an acoustic.

romanqwerty

If your just starting, definitely go with an acoustic. Mainly because it will make you a much better player quicker. I would recomend going with a steel string acoustic, because a nylon string just isnt the same and only really comes to life when playing classical things.

Paper Plates

I'm also considering learning guitar, and I was wondering if teaching myself is viable? Could I just pickup a book and learn some basics?

stigweard

Absolutely, but you might be teaching yourself bad techniques, and starting out with lessons should help you with your form. Much of playing is muscle memory, so it will be much harder to correct any mistakes later on.

Tube

You can teach yourself, but you have to be very motivated and you're likely to develop bad habits that you'll have to reprogram later on.

soupeh

wmelon wrote: »

That said, don't spend a whole lot of money on your first guitar. This way you're not out much while you're figuring out what you like and don't like about it. I bought a new "better" guitar within a year of starting to learn to play.

Be careful with this.. Sure, it makes sense that you don't want to blow several grand on a professional guitar, but don't go too cheap.

Cheap acoustics can be horrible to play, with huge action (string distance from fretboard), string tension, and often don't intonate well (so they don't play in tune). This can be discouraging when you're just trying to learn and will make the whole process that much harder.

Cheap electrics often suffer the same problems but with the addition of low quality hardware and pickups. Give it a while and the jack sockets/knobs/switches will clag up and give you grief.

I recommend if you buy a cheaper guitar to at least have it serviced and 'set up' by a tech right off the bat, to have things like string action and intonation improved.

Ferrus

For an electric guitar, the amp is also very important. I made the mistake of buying a set with a decent starter-guitar but a really crappy amp. Distortion sounds horrible so I can't play Rock or Metal and thats no fun at all, especially when you're learning by yourself and need the motivation to sit down and play.

Also, I found the books by Troy Stetina (Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. I) to be good for a beginner.

Tube

Get a squier strat and a little starter amp. You can't go wrong.

Spackle

Cardboard Tube wrote: »

Get a squier strat and a little starter amp. You can't go wrong.

I used one for a year, put some nicer strings... DR9s red devils I think. Plus with the little Frontman it worked out pretty well with a dist pedal.

Learning alone is very much possible, there's countless bedroom self taught guitarist with armfuls of talent. But it requires motivations and if you start with a bad habit, you have to un-learn it.

I actually didn't hold the pick correctly for about a year. I would pinch it between the pads of my thumb and forefinger, seemed natural at the time. Guitar teach said if I want to actually be good, I need to learn to pick correctly:
Wrist movement, not forearm
Holding the pick correctly.

I tell yea, that was like 3 weeks of just chromatic excersises to learn the proper way!

The Cheese

Lots of people have horrible technique and are extraordinary guitarists. Marty Friedman still picks like a fucking idiot and yet he's one of the best.

But don't pick like him, because his wrist is totally fucked from it. This is my horrible roundabout way of saying that you should learn proper technique, if not with a teacher, then by looking online.

Ohio

I can attest that learning with an acoustic is harder than an electric so it makes sense that learning an acoustic will make you better when you someday switch to an electric. I'm learning on an acoustic, have been taking lessons for about 4 months now, and my teacher told me the same thing.

Brett Ashley

From experience, I started with an acoustic guitar when I was 14 and for my 17th birthday I got an electric and when I played the electric, my fingers more easily glided down the frets. The neck is also smaller on my electric guitar. I'm glad I learned on an acoustic, built up my finger staminia.

romanqwerty

Event Horizon wrote: »

I'm also considering learning guitar, and I was wondering if teaching myself is viable? Could I just pickup a book and learn some basics?

Absolutely. When i first started having a teacher took all the fun out of guitar. True he wasnt a great teacher though. Im a pretty good guitarist now and i taught myself everything off like youtube videos and song tabs. Whenever i hear a song that sounds good i look up that tab for it and give a crack playing it. That is basically my guitar teaching. True i probably have bad habits and not textbook playing style, but i dont really care. Im not playing guitar professionally, just having fun with one.

Tldr; Do what you find fun, if your motivated to play alot you'll become a better player then if you have textbook style but dont enjoy it.

RainOPain

Ferrus wrote: »

Also, I found the books by Troy Stetina (Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. I) to be good for a beginner.

:^:

I've got volumes one and two of both the rhythm and lead books. If you want to play metal and plan on learning on your own, these are a great way to go (though I do recommend at least a few lessons first).

Rabid_Llama

Cardboard Tube wrote: »

Get a squier strat and a little starter amp. You can't go wrong.

A while back guitar center was selling that combo for 70 bucks. I couldn't beleive it.

I started out with the step up from that combo, a Fender Stratocaster (made in mexico) with the fender starter amp. That will run you about $300-$400. It's ok but now I am wishing I had a better guitar and amp but I don't want to shell out $1500 on something I will really enjoy playing if I am just going to move into a dorm in a couple months and never be able to play it.

An acoustic might actually be your best bet. Initially, I was drawn to the sex appeal of the electric but nowadays I find myself playing my old (and I mean like 30 years old) Ovation acoustic. I think if I were to buy a new guitar now, it would be a really nice acoustic.

Not Sarastro

Event Horizon wrote: »

I'm also considering learning guitar, and I was wondering if teaching myself is viable? Could I just pickup a book and learn some basics?

It's totally viable if you're a musician or experienced musically, probably the easiest instrument (of those I've tried) to pick up & learn within a few months, especially considering it's polyphonic. But I've got well trained fingers from playing the piano, and picked up the basic ideas of techique pretty fast from playing classical stringed instruments. Quite likely that someone without much musical experience would just get awful techique and such as people pointed out, so a teacher would be preferable.

Tube

A GOOD teacher is preferable, a bad teacher is just a waste of money of course. In the end, motivation and hard work is the most important thing. Mistakes can always be corrected.

Mitsuhide

Hey guys. As most of you guitar thread regs know, I have started playing the electric. Yes, I have been clasically trained for about one high school semester, but it did me worlds of good, and I am now extremely comfortable on my Samick 'strat.'

Tomorrow, I am going to a local music store to get myself a small practice amp, and I just wanted to know of there are any partiicular brands that I should be looking out for, at around 80$ CAD.

Thankies! :P

Spackle

I hear great things about Roland Cubes but just might be a touch beyond your price range.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLCUBE15X

I had a Fender Frontman 15G to practice with and I think it was ok. Definitely a practice amp. The dist was awful so I drove it with a stompbox. I dunno I'd consider saving up for a better amp actually. Talk to the dudes in the store, they'll be able to direct you as well.

Mitsuhide

Actually, I have looked at that, but haven't tried one yet.

I have a few friends who frequent our little shop, and they say that the guy has a few small ones, that have a bunch of plastic all around it. Almost indestructible, they say. So, they might have meant the Cube.

I really want a Crank, though!

Kami

If you're wanting to learn metal, and want a good teacher on DVD/book format, look for anything, and I mean absolutely anything, by Andy Aledort.

That man is a God, he's very humble, and he starts with explaining what the guitar is, and how to experience it properly. The great thing, is he doesn't teach you how to play songs for the sake of learning the song, he teaches it because it has technical merit.

After practicing the theories he presents, you won't know how to "play guitar". You'll know how to play MUSIC, and transcribe that knowledge onto guitar.