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How do i start playing a guitar?
bigpanda
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Sorry in advance for yet another guitar thread.
So I know virtually nothing about playing a guitar. Truth is that like everyone else I'm wanting to start playing because of Guitar Hero and Rock Band (at least I'm being honest). I find that the songs I liked playing most tended to be country rock and stuff like ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Johnson, and some rock like Iron Maiden, Guns and Roses, and Aerosmith. I also grew up listening to R&B and Motown so I'd like to try some of that as well as some Jazz and Blues.
So where should I start? Should I hang out at Guitar Center? Try and find a place to get lessons, maybe on someone else's guitar? Should I buy an intro level guitar, if so, given my tastes in music is there a particular model I should consider (Epiphone, Squier, Ibanez, etc.) and what should I expect to have to spend so that I don't end up with something that frustrates me because of shoddy parts?
Thanks in advance,
BP
So I know virtually nothing about playing a guitar. Truth is that like everyone else I'm wanting to start playing because of Guitar Hero and Rock Band (at least I'm being honest). I find that the songs I liked playing most tended to be country rock and stuff like ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Johnson, and some rock like Iron Maiden, Guns and Roses, and Aerosmith. I also grew up listening to R&B and Motown so I'd like to try some of that as well as some Jazz and Blues.
So where should I start? Should I hang out at Guitar Center? Try and find a place to get lessons, maybe on someone else's guitar? Should I buy an intro level guitar, if so, given my tastes in music is there a particular model I should consider (Epiphone, Squier, Ibanez, etc.) and what should I expect to have to spend so that I don't end up with something that frustrates me because of shoddy parts?
Thanks in advance,
BP
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http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Special-II-Electric-Guitar?sku=518334
It was quite an excellent guitar for the price tag, and it sounded pretty good too. That's what got me into guitar about a year and a few months ago. I started out not being able to play the blues scale, but now I'm starting to rock some Led Zeppelin and The Mars Volta. What I'm trying to say is don't give up until you've been playing for at least a month.
If you need any more advice, feel free to ask.
2) Play all the guitars in that price range. Even though you don't know how to play, just get a feel for what you like, and what suits you. (I recommend the Dean Vendetta XM)
3) Find the best amp still within your budget range. (I recommend a Peavey or Line 6 amp)
4) Buy, and go to guitar center (if you took the pawn shop route) and get lessons there if you are not self motivated enough to learn on your own. If you are motivated enough to self teach then....
5) Ultimate-Guitar.com
6) If you take lessons, don't pay more than $30 a week for two to three lessons.
You'll probably want to go out and grab as many tabs for your favorite songs as you can... there's nothing wrong with that, but make sure you're also either plowing through a self-study book or getting lessons. Tabs are fun to play through, and a lot of popular songs are easier than you'd initially think, but make sure you're getting a good foundation in music theory as well.
Also, the Guitar Handbook is a really good (if incredibly dense) reference book with pretty much everything you'd ever need to know (how to change your strings, the makeup of a pentatonic scale, setting up a PA, typical schematics for electric guitars, barre chord positions, how to eliminate fret buzz... it's huge.) If you're having a problem / have a music theory question / want to know what Eddie Van Halen's first guitar was, you'll find it in there.
I've been eyeing my Dad's Spanish Guitar that has to be at least 30 years old and has been sitting around in the basement for decades. I don't play any instruments so I have no idea what kind of condition it's in. I imagine it's probably horribly out of tune, but that can probably be fixed by fiddling with the tightener thingies or getting new strings right? Is there anything else that can 'go bad' on a Guitar that's seen a lot of disuse?
I can go make some cursory observations or take a picture or something if it will help at all in determining if It's a junker or not.
anyway, just throwing out an extra thanks for the advice to everyone.
There's probably not going to be too much wrong with that guitar. My first guitar was a Yamaha I inherited from my father that is roughly 30 or 40 years old now and I still play it on a daily basis. Get a good hard case for it if you don't already have one, and take it to a shop and have them inspect it, restring it, tune it, (have them show you how to do all of this if you don't know how) and check it for any cracks that would affect the noise. Also, look for any frets that need to be replaced, or the nut. (that part before the first fret that lines the strings up towards the tuning pegs)
Congrats on having the old guitar.
The Guitar Center around the... South Center mall? I think that's where it is, is great. I was in Seattle over my winter break for some skiing and on the way back I asked about the differences between the American-made Fenders and Mexican-made Fenders, and the guy had about 15 minutes of speech about the differences, he walked me through the differences, it was very informative. Then I asked their recording/synth guy about a recording mic and he sold me a Perception-200, which I am now entirely in love with because the sound it gets is gorgeous and it's really easy to use.
I love that place, even though I only go there maybe once a year.
This. I started out with tabs and basically just played poor covers of songs until the middle of last year, when I actually took some time to learn the notes on the guitar and some scales and what makes up a chord, and oh man it made playing about 7 billion times easier. I still suck, but I feel like I suck less with a foundation in things that actually make sense to learn.
I got an acoustic guitar and then an electric guitar last year. Before that I had a little experience in piano and then about 4-5 years of saxophone. So I already had general musical theory/ rhythm down. However I had never played a guitar before, and in fact had never even touched one - which is pretty incredible for a 20 year old. So absolutely 0 experience with it.
Anyway I went out and bought a more or less cheap acoustic guitar ($300 AUS) and a really small book that had about 7-8 basic chords. So really I just started learning all those one by one, then playing the songs in the book, then making up my own stuff - basically every day. From there I pretty much just wanted to try a few of my favourite songs (as you do) so I looked online for tabs that just had basic chords.
The more songs I wanted to try the more chords I discovered. I was wary to begin with that I'd play for 2 months and then get bored but it was the exact opposite - I just wanted to learn more. Soon I was reading tabs and fingerpicking a bit, playing freestyle etc. Basically making stuff up as I go along now. It's really the first time I've had fun with a musical instrument and actually wanted to practice.
It takes patience to begin with just to keep repeating the same old annoying chords and trying to adjust your fingers quickly, but it's worth it in the long run and you pick things up quicker after that. Really the most annoying thing is your fingers not moving fast enough, that'll give you the most frustration starting out. But yeh, if you're not being taught this stuff just have patience and keep at it!