Learning to play guitar?

Take the lessons.

Almost anyone can learn for oneself, and I prefer that path personally, BUT no matter what, everyone should take a few lessons.

They are not going to teach you, right off the bat, to play the kind of music you want to play, which is why many people turn away from lessons. That's why I did. But they also can catch and correct silly minor mistakes that can hinder your playing for years if you never realize you're doing something wrong. Something as simple as holding the pick wrong, for instance. After that, certain people just have a better understanding of music and are more capable of teaching themselves.

But take the lessons, and you'll be on the right path either way. And I gaurentee you, no one on this forum can give you better advice without sitting down and jamming with you, than that.

 

Remember, its gonna be at least 6 months before you will be probably close to playing any music you like. Howevere, if you stick to it, it will be very rewarding in the long run.

 

Take lessons man. Find a teacher who plays a style that you like, and stick with them. You can teach yourself but I wouldn't reccomend it because most "self taught" guitarists end up sucking, with very few exceptions (like stevie ray vaughn). It takes a very uncommon amount of innate skill to just pick up a guitat and learn to play by ear. You're better off actually learning theory and technique.

I know a thousand guitarists who are all righteous about being self taught, but I can school them at guitar. All I can say is that lessons are definitely worth the money.

also, remember this: There is nothing worse than a beginner guitarist. I remember how bad I sucked when i first started playing and i remember how frustrating it was, but i'm glad i stuck with it. You'll sound bad at first, but keep practicing and you'll get better. It takes a couple years to get to the point where you can actually play decent sounding stuff, but it's worth it once you do.

And finally, here's one last piece of advice for every guitarist: Don't show off. You will impress people more if you are modest about your guitar skills.

 

be patient as fuck and don't pussy out on hard things or ull never get better

 

Yeh, i got an electric guitar for xmas last year, played it a couple times but im finding myself musically challenged haha.

I dont wanna take lessons, but i think im gonna start picking it up more and tryin to play it.

 

Hey,

Myself, I never really took lessons from an actual guitar teacher. I got started by my History teacher, who taught me the basic open chords and 2 songs and an awesome blues tune that I still love to play to this day. (5 years later). I'd say that I'm 90% self-taught. Yes, it's true that MANY self-taught guitarists do end up "sucking", because many tend to believe that music theory is bullshit. Myself, on the other hand am absolutely intrigued by theory, and like to think it as the Mathematics of music, which is a combination of Art and Science in my eyes. I'm not saying I'm anywhere near one of the best guitarists, all I know is I LOVE what I'm doing and will never give it up. I believe having such a mindset is what separates me from the latter "self-taught" players, whom just want to get famous, and whatnot. What type of music is it that you are wanting to play? I personally play Rock, Metal, and am attempting to teach myself Jazz, because I think feeling is ALL in music, and will help me accelerate my playing. However, I really think that you SHOULD get lessons. Sure, you can get books and teach yourself, but you really need someone to SHOW you one-on-one certain fingerings for certain things. Such as Bar chords, those were such a bitch for me, because I had to teach myself plus I have small ass fingers. If you need any advice, you can always hit me up. Well, let your musical journey begin! Peace.

-Timmy
"Making music is a virus, fortunately there is no cure."

 

Shit, i had no idea how to read music when i first started playing...i bought mel bay's chord book and looked up tabs online.

 

fuck that. just listen really hard and match up the pitches. i bet if you look up some tabs you can learn an easy song you like today.

white stripes is a pretty good starting place. very basic riffs. the more you play the easier it will be to pick it out.

 

you are so right man. learning the guitar properly is something that just takes time, there is NO one who has picked up the guitar and has instantly been good at it, obviously. the hardest part about learning guitar is the first year or so, but just stick with it dude, the work will definitely pay off. play with musicians who are better than you too, that is always a good thing.

 

I've been playing for three years or so now, without lessons. I'm doing alright now, playing blues, classic rock, bluegrass, jazz and classical, I can keep up with most recordings (haven't played with anyone yet though) but i figure it because I had taken lessons for classical music when I played the cello and piano. Once you know how to read music, how to hold your instrument properly, how to keep time and memorize a ton of different chords and their interactions you probably won't need a teacher anymore. Not that it would hurt to have a longstanding mentor but 90% of any skill is learned through personal determination and trial and error.

 

That is the worst way to go about things, IMO. Its best to go through the rigorous "begginer training" such as chords and those shitty chord songs that sounds cheesy and unimpressive. Trying to learn riffs and stuff right off the bat is a quick fix, but tends to teach you very bad habits, and can potentially hurt you very bad in the long run. There are many things you don't learn from tab.
One other thing I want to recommend: if you want to progress very fast and be a really good guitarist, never use tab. As far as I have seen, this just leads to self-destruction at some point or another. If you stick to lessons and learning songs by ear, you will progress so much faster than almost everybody else. And yes, it sounds horrible right now, but it will really help later on.
I am sorry to say that many of these tips wont give you quick-fix, instant results, but in a couple years, you will be thanking me if you take me advice.

 

The biggest part of it is listening to music and really thinking about what the musicians are doing, their phrasing, chord changes, etc.

It is a confidence booster to look up the tabs to an easy song, but don't get carried away with just learning songs...it may be easy to play but you'll have no idea what any of it means.

Some things you should start with:

Open chords (played at the top of the neck)
Barre chords (moveable chords...trust me, this is what helped my playing the most, learn one chord shape and you can play a ton of different chords just by moving it up and down the neck)
The pentatonic scale (one of the most commonly used scaled in rock/blues)

This website is invaluable http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/

 

If you want to try and play a few simple songs off the bat, I suggest you learn to read tab music (will take literally 5 minutes - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/for_beginners/reading_guitar_tablature_ii.html)

And then go to a few tab sites, search for a few songs you like; and try and play some of the catchy riffs from each song; I reccommend these two tab sites:

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

http://www.mxtabs.net/

You'll have to be persistant if you wish to become good; but if you don't really mind how good you get you can always have a mess about and have a fun time.

 

MXTabs has been shut down

 

Unfortunately, that is WAY harder than it sounds. being able to transcribe a song like that takes years and years of ear training.

I'm gonna have to disagree on this one. I think that learning songs that the student wouldn't even listen to if he or she had a choice tends to drive people away from guitar. They start to associate the instrument with tedious, childish songs and they get sick of it. Hell, I would get sick of playing that shit too. The best thing to do is learn riffs that you like to hear, that way you wont get sick of playing them and practicing will be fun. I'd reccomend starting off with something easy, but you don't have to. However, If you pick something too hard you'll just get frustrated that you can't play it and take shortcuts that hurt your technique down the road. So just choose a simple riff that you would like to be able to play and practice the shit out of it.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't still practice scales and boring ass picking exercises, because they will help your technique more than anything.