Just got a guitar.

Zephonate

My best friend just gave me his old guitar the other night. It's a little dirty, no strings, amp or amp cord, and the little plastic knob on the effects switch was gone. But it was free, and a present from him, so I have made a goal for myself to get it in playable condition and learn my first instrument.

Here's a pic, so as to get an idea of the nature of the beast:


Now, I have a few questions.

1. What is the best way to clean a guitar (i.e. rag and some water, warm soapy water, a soft cloth, or a specific type of cleaning material)?

2. After purchasing a pack of strings yesterday, how do I go about stringing the guitar, seeing as there were no provided instructions in the packaging.

3. Are tabs easily found online, or do I need to invest in some books of tabs?

4. How do I go about learning how to read tabs?

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Picking up an amp from my co-worker tonight. It's a little $50 one he's giving me for free, so I shant turn it down. Gonna have to pick up my own cord though. Also already have a Lightsnake, shoulder strap, a shitload of picks, and I'm picking up a case this Saturday.

Quirk

Pick up some lemon oil and a soft cloth to clean it

To string the guitar, starting with the thickest string, thread it through the bridge (the bottom end, near the pickups etc.) Now pull it through the appropriate hole at the head. Pull it straight and measure slack of about 3 finger-widths. Bend the string near this point then let the string slacken until the bend. At this point you want to turn the machine head so that the string goes around from right to left as you are looking at the guitar and tighten. Repeat 6 times

Tabs can be found damn near anywhere. Try www.ultimate-guitar.com or www.chordie.com

Tabs are also easy to read, you have 6 lines, which represent each string (thickest at the bottom and thinnest at the top). Numbers refer to the frets you should be holding down. But guides should be all over the internet

Boutros

You really should get it professionally set up. Having no strings on it for an extended period of time can do odd things to the neck. If you just put strings on it yourself the action and intonation and general playability are almost certainly going to be awful. Getting it set up might cost 50 bucks, but it could save you a lot of headaches.

Quirk

Boutros makes a very good point, at the very least get someone you know take a look at it. It may be totally fine, but it may have gone weird

Dehumanized

Yeah, I'd recommend paying someone to set it up the first time, and show you what to do yourself. It'll save you a lot of headaches this time, and next time you won't feel uncertain about what you're doing.

Also, I wouldn't recommend using any oils when cleaning the guitar. The neck/fretboard should already be treated, and won't receive them well. Just use a damp old cotton t-shirt or similar cloth. Rub everything down, with the grain of the wood where applicable, then dry it. There are "guitar cleaner" products around, but they're really not worth it.

YardGnome

Guitar Pro can and will be your best friend. You download tabs for it (they are tiny, most are around 50kb) and you can play them back in the program, allowing you to hear the song as it should be played. It's really easy to find tabs for it and I love it.

Sir Carcass

Heh, Rock Band.

That's a pickup selector switch, not an effects switch.

KING LITERATE

If you're looking for instructional DVDs I strongly recommend the Metal Method series. That's what I'm currently using, and the Speed Kills series is good too.

Zephonate

Sir Carcass wrote: »

Heh, Rock Band.

That's a pickup selector switch, not an effects switch.

Haha, my bad. What can I say? Playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band is partly what got me keen on the idea of actually trying to learn. :P

Speaking of which, think I could find replacements for that plastic knob in any old guitar store?

Dehumanized

Yeah, that switch is a pretty common design. One of these would probably work:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/ProLine-5Way-Switch-Knob-3Pack?sku=363059

You might not be able to buy a single knob in a store (and have to buy a 3-pack like that link), but ought to check it out.

Crashtard

I'm going to second having it professionally set up. Not only will it be good to have them check it out if it's been setting stringless, but you'll also be able to actually watch someone else string it. Watching someone else once really helped me out.

Zephonate

Crashtard wrote: »

I'm going to second having it professionally set up. Not only will it be good to have them check it out if it's been setting stringless, but you'll also be able to actually watch someone else string it. Watching someone else once really helped me out.

From what I understand, it hasn't been stringless for very long. And my buddy who gave me the guitar is coming over tomorrow to show me how to string it.

Thanks for the link to the knobs, Dehumanized. I don't mind buying a pack if they're that cheap. Hopefully my local guitar store has them.

Sheep

1> Listen to and play as many styles as you can.

2> Tabs are nice, but most of the ones I find online are wrong in some way or the other.

Jubeh

I agree to have the strings changed by somebody that knows what's up. ^

Sheep wrote: »

2> Tabs are nice, but most of the ones I find online are wrong in some way or the other.

I think it's much safer to use tabs as a general guideline for learning a song as opposed to hard fact.

And to the OP (I know you didn't ask but), I wouldn't be super reliant on tabs when first learning the guitar. When I started, all I did was look at tabs and I didn't even learn how to properly finger a G chord until I had been playing for over a year and felt like a total ass. Then again, I could just be mental.

And learn songs ALL the way through. It'll make you a better guitarist, and it'll help when people start asking you to play songs and you realize you only know the first four bars of "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Dehumanized

I'd recommend picking up a couple beginners books from your music store over going directly to tabs, at least for your first couple months of playing. It'll make sure you pick up some good technique foundation that might not be obvious trying to work through a set of tabs.

Mad Jazz

I'm gonna suggest that you at least try out learning to read music as well as playing off of tabs. As someone who got his classical training on trumpet and taught himself guitar, I miss not being able to read a line of music. If you're just playing every now and again for fun, it won't make too much of a difference (honestly, it hasn't made much of a difference for me), but I can tell you that it's ridiculously difficult to sight read tabs.

Also, don't clean your guitar with water. Never. Water + guitar = bad news bears.

Balgair

-Moisture is bad. When cleaning, don't get stuff wet. Especially metal. Or wood, if applicable.

-Tabs are very, very treacherous. Avoid them at all costs. Learning to read music sucks in the beginning, but it pays off big time in the long run.

-Enjoy your instrument. You made a good choice. Listen to music you want to learn...over...and over. Play along, no matter how shitty you sound.

-Never play or even learn how to play Stairway to Heaven, Smoke on the Water, Smells Like Teen Spirit, or anything written by Greenday. That should do it.

Have fun.

Knob

You don't need to learn to read music. You will never, not once, ever in your life play that guitar while in front of a stand of sheet music. What you want to learn is general music theory, with a focus on how it applies to guitar. You will get ZERO use out of being able to read sheet music, and once you have a decent grasp of theory, you won't even need tabs.

But for the moment, just pick a couple simple songs you like and bang away at them, wail away at the thing randomly, try out all the frets, just get your hands on it. Get comfortable with how it feels, then worry about serious learning.

The Black Hunter

I recomend learning Ode to Joy and the basic chords


Just play a chord, then practice swapping to other chords

Seattle Thread

Get a few exercises from a theory book or the internet and play nothing but those for six months straight. Always, always, always play for accuracy and proper finger placement--speed will come later. If you get frustrated or impatient, don't fudge it. Everyone sounds like shit when they first start, and a good finger technique is more valuable than anything.

Knob

Makershot wrote: »

Get a few exercises from a theory book or the internet and play nothing but those for six months straight

This might be the quickest path to being John Petrucci Clone #557, but the point of the instrument is to enjoy yourself. Six months of the same excersizes and nothing else? Seriously, now.

Tube

Agreed, that'd be boring and pointless. Hell, I wouldn't do that now let alone when I started. The books Creative Guitar 1 and 2 by Guthrie Govan are the two best books on guitar ever written. Otherwise, find some songbooks. Internet tabs are of questionable value.

Rotam

I love it when these threads come about. I always learn something new.

As others have said, you should get your guitar set up by a professional. After that I would recommend getting a metronome of some sort.

Learning guitar is pretty much like learning anything. You have to start small and be patient. My first year at guitar was terrible. Learning is so hard when you are start from nothing. But I persisted with it and I'd say I'm pretty passable at it now.

Sir Carcass

Knob wrote: »

You don't need to learn to read music. You will never, not once, ever in your life play that guitar while in front of a stand of sheet music. What you want to learn is general music theory, with a focus on how it applies to guitar. You will get ZERO use out of being able to read sheet music, and once you have a decent grasp of theory, you won't even need tabs.

Eh, I wouldn't say never, but yeah, unless the OP has plans to become a session guitarist, probably not.

I recommend buying a chord book (I bought a Mel Bay book) and starting there. The one I have has diagrams and pictures for fingering the chords correctly. I would also recommend buying official tab books of some of your favorite albums. These will be, for the most part, accurate and will also include the actual sheet music on top of the tabs. These are good because you'll be playing along with songs you love, and that makes practice fun! For most songs you can get away with playing the chords that are named at the top of the of the staff until you get comfortable enough to learn the actual arpeggios and trembalos.

amateurhour

I started with the Mel Bay guitar chord book to learn the basic chords, and just hammered those out until I could switch between them and play a few songs well.

Then I learned my pentatonic scales and started getting into blues, which is a lot of fun because it's mostly improv, and can sound good really slow or a little faster.

I second guitar pro, and you can get a lot of good tabs from ultimate guitar .com, but turn on your popup blocker first.