Hi, I got an acoustic guitar in October for my bday and I love it.. I was taking lessons for about 5 months but stopped because it was costing alot. So now I am on my own which is so much harder than I thought.. I've been using online lessons and all that stuff, but it's alot different then what my real life lessons were like.. I'm looking to see if someone has advice, perhaps a good website for beginners or just someone I can email when I have questions. All input (constructive) will be appreciated =) Thanks!!
That's the downside of teaching yourself (as I did and am still doing). You get information for free where you can and you sink or swim, no one walks you through it. If you feel you really need the back and forth conversation if something stumps you, your best bet might be to find a discussion forum where people discuss theory and techniques, etc. Maybe a cheap tab book from a music shop. Find people you might already know that play guitar and cross-pollinate your ideas. The sites I use most are Chord House and Blues You Can Use. If there's a specific song I want to find the tablature for, I just Google it.
Well I'm completely self-taught and I'll tell you what helped me: - Ultimate Guitar. Check out 'UG-TV' at the top of the page, some really great videos there. Also, the written 'Lesson' section is good for theory. Their forums are pretty good too, depending on how tolerant you. The majority of hte board seem to be 14-16 year old metalheads, so keep your logic tight and don't believe everything you read, but there are still some quality posts that have really helped me. The Blues/Jazz section, the Acoustic/Classic are really nice. - Youtube. LOTS of instruction videos. Basicly just try and emulate the best you can - www.thenextlevelguitar.com I like this guy too. - Playing with other people. Just by jamming occasionally with my friends REALLY helps me. Good luck. I've been playing a year and a half, and I don't think I'm too bad for self-taught. Think about it this way: The lessons gave you a great starter boost! Now its for you to choose where to go.
I use this site for everything! http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/metronome.php It has practically every scale you could ever want, really convenient ways of displaying them, arpeggios, a great metronome with a bass drum option, chords, chord progressions, you name it. As for tabs, I just use Google, which usually brings me to 911 tabs or ultimate-guitar. I recommend learning a few scales that you really like the sound of, find chords to go with it, and jam a bit. That's almost all I do, but I've noticed if you take the time to learn songs by other people, you get a feel for all kinds of music and playstyles. I play mostly electric, but seeing as you play acoustic, I'd also recommend learning some fingerpicking techniques. Also, use a metronome when you can. I don't use one all the time, but when I start getting sloppy, I turn it on and it helps immensely for speed and precision.
911 tabs is the better site because it searches all of the other major tab sites Also easier to browse the lists than UG, which has a lot of reptitions.
Good to hear bro, teaching yourself is all good! I've been playing about 5 years so if you've got any questions feel free to PM me or anything. And yeah, check out ultimate-guitar.com for tabs and lessons and pretty much everything.
Hey, I've been playing 7 years, 95% self-taught through online sites and old friends that have long past gone through the years. First, I think you need to ask yourself HOW serious into playing guitar do you want to be? Do you want to play other artists' work, or write your own? If the latter, I HIGHLY suggest getting some knowledge in theory later on down the road. It's intimidating at first, so I'd wait until you're much more comfortable with the fretboard. What kind of stuff do you know right now? I'm hoping you know some form of scales? If not, read up on Major and Minor Diatonics, as they are the most important. What chords do you know?