I bought a guitar. Now what?

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

I want to learn to actually play this thing.  Not a song or a song opening. Actually play it.  I have one problem. I work nights and have been looking for local instructors willing to work with my schedule, they wont. I don't blame them. Where do I start to learn?

Edited May 15, 2019 by JoseMedinaDeJesus

[Lhorn 4913]

I recommend looking up videos on YouTube and learning things like sweep picking, tapping, pinch harmonics, dive bombs, etc..... you know, the basics. 

Jk. What did you get?

i took lessons for a while but it was really hard to fit into my regular life. I still suck but enjoy trying and learning.  There are some good videos on YouTube showing the basic open chords and simple 3 chord songs you can pick up. 

I started with a simple beginners guitar books from half price or guitar center.  Learn the common simple open cords (like C, G, D, E) and practice switching between them.

Good luck 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Lhorn

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

1 hour ago, Lhorn said:

I recommend looking up videos on YouTube and learning things like sweep picking, tapping, pinch harmonics, dive bombs, etc..... you know, the basics. 

Jk. What did you get?

i took lessons for a while but it was really hard to fit into my regular life. I still suck but enjoy trying and learning.  There are some good videos on YouTube showing the basic open chords and simple 3 chord songs you can pick up. 

I started with a simple beginners guitar books from half price or guitar center.  Learn the common simple open cords (like C, G, D, E) and practice switching between them.

Good luck 

Trust me, I get the joke.  I asked a guy at work and he said to start learning chord charts. But, to learn them while I practice Travis picking.  Its the right for the music I listen to. Then he showed me tabs to a song with Travis picking and a 3 chord progression and said "see, its easy". So I went home and looked up Travis picking. I spent the next week very upset because I couldn't learn to Travis pick in 3 days.

Nothing special at all. A fender T-bucket 400 CE with what they call an iced tea burst finish. I probably could have done better for my 350  (inc tax) had I bought something without electronics on board. But it holds a tune. If I ever learn to play it, I will go pick up something nicer. But it seems to me that it was about the right place for me to start. It came with a capo, a few sets of strings. I ended up thinking that the D'addario custom lights were the easiest to play without any buzzing. Then I went and got a set up on it.  So far I am having fun, but 's pretty fucking hard. Maybe I shouldn't smoke so much grass before I pick it up every night.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by JoseMedinaDeJesus
fix photo

[52-80 19159]

[NBMisha 224]

Nice pick of starting guitar.  Really essential you have something that compels you to play.

My main advice is to take this shit over to the guitar pron thread under Music.  It is all wrong to be here.

[gasman 114]

Rock Prodigy is a good app for learning technique. Fender has an online program too. I haven't used it, but I believe they offer 1 month free with the purchase of a new Fender.

Regarding lessons, maybe look for a school that teaches a lot of kids. They usually have early afternoon time slots for "after school" lessons. You may be able to find a 2:30-3:30 spot. 

Edited May 15, 2019 by gasman

[DougO 5248]

Lots of stuff on the youtubes for free. Or try Truefire and look for beginner vdeos. They have some great instructors, decent pricing.

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

Esteban 

[retread 2951]

+1. Don't pay for lessons unless you just really have to have that teacher. There are a ton of tutorials on youtube.

I don't play as much as I used to, but I think this guy is pretty good for basic => advanced:

https://www.justinguitar.com/site-map-and-lesson-structure

IMO, don't get caught up in chord charts in the beginning. It can be overwhelming.  

What are examples of some songs that you'd like to play?

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

14 minutes ago, retread said:

+1. Don't pay for lessons unless you just really have to have that teacher. There are a ton of tutorials on youtube.

I don't play as much as I used to, but I think this guy is pretty good for basic => advanced:

https://www.justinguitar.com/site-map-and-lesson-structure

IMO, don't get caught up in chord charts in the beginning. It can be overwhelming.  

What are examples of some songs that you'd like to play?

Mostly 50's - late 70's country and rockabilly.  I'm not dead set in any specific songs right now.  But my goal would be to be able to play things like "Don't take it too bad" Townes van Zandt.  I'm not super concerned if I have to learn three blind mice and hot crossed buns to get there.

[Deej 76793]

I recommend you move over to the Guitar Pron thread on the music page. 

And, lessons are good. You can learn stuff from YouTube, but YouTube can't tell you what you're doing wrong, and real input is a tremendous benefit.

[retread 2951]

Don't get frustrated in the first few weeks/months. Everybody has to get over that hump when they start playing.

One thing that I always liked was playing along with my favorite songs, whether that meant playing rhythm guitar along with the song or picking out the melody (singer) or the guitar solo.

There are lots of cool hardware devices that will let you loop music and create other background chord changes that you can play along with. You can find all that in one of the guitar/pedal porn threads.

[Chooky 13307]

[VABuckeye 2472]

18 hours ago, JoseMedinaDeJesus said:

I want to learn to actually play this thing.  Not a song or a song opening. Actually play it.  I have one problem. I work nights and have been looking for local instructors willing to work with my schedule, they wont. I don't blame them. Where do I start to learn?

Move over to the Guitar Pron thread like Deen suggested. 

I bought my first guitar about a month ago so we’re on a level playing field.  There’s so many different things to learn that it can be overwhelming.  JustinGuitar.com isn’t a bad place to begin.  Toughen those fingertips up. 

[Deej 76793]

Yep. The Pron thread is one of the few safe spaces here. 

[Junior Miller 1502]

My advice is to take that piece of shit back and get a bass then get funky. 

Also, starting on acoustic is tough. I'd start on electric and once you're pretty good and built your finger strength and calluses up then get an acoustic. 

[TexasEd 8067]

I found the instructor shaved days/weeks off learning stuff even at only 1 hour a week because he corrected bad habits and showed the easy way to do things based on my ability and instrument.

 

My wife told me I couldn't afford it anymore even though I practiced every day.  Daughter kept her violin lessons and getting her to practice was like getting a tooth pulled.

Edited May 16, 2019 by TexasEd

[Deej 76793]

Yet your wife kept buying new shoes. Amirite?

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

19 minutes ago, Junior Miller said:

My advice is to take that piece of shit back and get a bass then get funky. 

Also, starting on acoustic is tough. I'd start on electric and once you're pretty good and built your finger strength and calluses up then get an acoustic. 

Too late. Bought an acoustic so I'm going to o be playing acoustic.

[Deej 76793]

If you only have one guitar before the year is up, you're doing it wrong. 

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

2 hours ago, Deej said:

If you only have one guitar before the year is up, you're doing it wrong. 

If I can learn to switch from full g to c and back while keeping 4/4 time I will buy another. Until I get that basic concept down, I'm stuck with just a fender acoustic.  But, I have my eyes on a Gretsch. It will be my reward for learning something new.

[NBMisha 224]

Witht that rule, you will have a lot of guitars.   Not a bad thing.  Now, get your ass over to the g-pron thread.

[davidg 4038]

11 hours ago, Junior Miller said:

My advice is to take that piece of shit back and get a bass then get funky. 

OP is black?

 

 

[VABuckeye 2472]

9 hours ago, JoseMedinaDeJesus said:

If I can learn to switch from full g to c and back while keeping 4/4 time I will buy another. Until I get that basic concept down, I'm stuck with just a fender acoustic.  But, I have my eyes on a Gretsch. It will be my reward for learning something new.

Can you switch between A, D and E?  If you're using the Justin Guitar fingering your first finger stays on the 3rd string for the chord transitions.  Once that finger gets the memory the other fingers seemed to learn their placement easier when changing chords.  D to G is just dropping finger 3 down a string and moving fingers 1 and 2 up to the top.   This is a whole month of experience talking so take that information as you will.

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

2 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

Can you switch between A, D and E?  If you're using the Justin Guitar fingering your first finger stays on the 3rd string for the chord transitions.  Once that finger gets the memory the other fingers seemed to learn their placement easier when changing chords.  D to G is just dropping finger 3 down a string and moving fingers 1 and 2 up to the top.   This is a whole month of experience talking so take that information as you will.

I have barely tapped into the fender lessons.  But they are terrible.  It doesn't really talk about changes using pivots or anything. it just shows the chord then says practice changing with me.... blah blah.

But tonight I'm going to look at the Justin Guitar ones.

[VABuckeye 2472]

The Fender lessons seem to be all over the place.  Yeah, it's a demo and then they just expect you to do repetition.  Justin Guitar does the demo and then  tells you what to work on and has practice plans with goals.  He's also very encouraging.  There's a Justin Guitar app for learning the notes on the fretboard.  There's also a good forum with all the lessons and great support and insight from the community.  Plus it's free unless you place and order for a book or choose to donate.

[Moby Ric 2058]

12 hours ago, Deej said:

If you only have one guitar before the year is up, you're doing it wrong. 

Yes it is a disease.  Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, aka GAS.  I have found myself more of a collector than a player these days, bass player not a six string.  I have one, maybe two I play, the others are all for show.  But I can't stop shopping for them.  I almost purchased a bass at the guitar show in Dallas the other weekend but talked myself out of it.  Guy wanted too much anyway.

I have two other friends, one who has played his whole life, who put it down for a bit, but started back up.  He has bought 3 guitars in the last 18 months.  The other who started playing a year ago now has three guitars.  If you get better, you will need better instruments to play on.  Then you need a better amp, etc.  It will never end.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Moby Ric

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

On 5/15/2019 at 6:37 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

Esteban 

Thank you sir, Most helpful.

On 5/16/2019 at 9:51 AM, VABuckeye said:

Justin Guitar 

On 5/15/2019 at 7:02 PM, retread said:

Justin Guitar 

 

This was most helpful. I walked away from 1 hour of his site with more than i had gained in my free month of fender and the subsequent 2 paid months. 

 

One last thing and I will ditch this thread forever. The pron thread is well, full of guitar pron.  Without reading all 107 pages of it, do they discuss technique in there? Yes I am that lazy.

[Lhorn 4913]

No. Not really

[freyguy 4272]

 

[retread 2951]

8 hours ago, JoseMedinaDeJesus said:

One last thing and I will ditch this thread forever. The pron thread is well, full of guitar pron.  Without reading all 107 pages of it, do they discuss technique in there? Yes I am that lazy.

Maybe start a separate thread in Music, and we can all learn a song together. Some of the more experienced guitar players can probably give you a couple of suggestions for songs that you might like to play.

[VABuckeye 2472]

They've been helpful with me in that thread when I've posted about technique and learning.

[Celery Man 20950]

On 5/15/2019 at 6:17 PM, JoseMedinaDeJesus said:

Mostly 50's - late 70's country and rockabilly.  I'm not dead set in any specific songs right now.  But my goal would be to be able to play things like "Don't take it too bad" Townes van Zandt.  I'm not super concerned if I have to learn three blind mice and hot crossed buns to get there.

You should learn the basic chords, and I think you should do that by learning the bones of some songs that use them and playing along.  You mentioned Townes.  He's frustrating because he doesn't care about time signatures and he does that fingerpicking stuff that's hard, but try starting with this.

we're not going to do it exactly like he's doing it here (where he's not exactly sliding down to a D, or some of the little moving parts), because this is about getting comfortable with some shapes and moving around.

Make a D chord, but slide it up the neck so that your ring finger is on the the 8th fret (so, the top four strings are 0787)  That's Chord 1, we'll call it G(D)

Chord 2 is a D.  So you're just sliding down to a regular D without changing the shape of your fingers.

Chord 3 is an A

then back to D

we're also going to be using the regular G chord. I'm using 320033 here

Play along with Townes as he does that first part - you can just strum it at first but then pick the notes like he's doing if you feel confident.

G(D) | D | G(D) | D | D | A | G | D 

that's the verse

Chorus (which starts with "well you're soft as glass") is going to use a regular G chord

G | D | G | A | D | A | G | D

 

and that's basically the two parts of that song.  try and get that.

 

I think we've had "what you're learning to play on guitar" threads in Music, but they've never quite gotten traction.  Guitar Pr0n thread is kinda a catchall, but i'd be into contributing to a more specific thread on learning songs.  The fun thing about guitar is that when you get the basics down, learning new stuff isn't typically that hard (not like tackling a new Debussy piece or something on piano) and it's also the best way to inch forward.

 

ok I'm not 1000% certain that there's not some middle part that I'm missing here, but try picking that out and getting those changes down

and for those playing along - the first D in that intro part (after G(D) ) is actually 0775 on the top four strings.  And on the A you're getting that little melody by pulling off with your index finger and playing 2 on the A string.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Celery Man

[retread 2951]

I would be interested in a learning songs thread too. ^

[NWBuck 8567]

My recommendation... 

[NBMisha 224]

Another yes to the learning songs in Music.  

[Celery Man 20950]

I bumped the Guitar Technique/Theory/Learning Songs thread (Grandioso's) in Music.  I had a resolution to learn a new song every week that I kept to for a bit and then dropped - maybe I'll try and do that there.  But this type of discussion would be fun there as well and I think would reach a broader audience of at least guitar folks

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

On 5/21/2019 at 2:29 PM, Celery Man said:

You should learn the basic chords, and I think you should do that by learning the bones of some songs that use them and playing along.  You mentioned Townes.  He's frustrating because he doesn't care about time signatures and he does that fingerpicking stuff that's hard, but try starting with this.

we're not going to do it exactly like he's doing it here (where he's not exactly sliding down to a D, or some of the little moving parts), because this is about getting comfortable with some shapes and moving around.

Make a D chord, but slide it up the neck so that your ring finger is on the the 8th fret (so, the top four strings are 0787)  That's Chord 1, we'll call it G(D)

Chord 2 is a D.  So you're just sliding down to a regular D without changing the shape of your fingers.

Chord 3 is an A

then back to D

we're also going to be using the regular G chord. I'm using 320033 here

Play along with Townes as he does that first part - you can just strum it at first but then pick the notes like he's doing if you feel confident.

G(D) | D | G(D) | D | D | A | G | D 

that's the verse

Chorus (which starts with "well you're soft as glass") is going to use a regular G chord

G | D | G | A | D | A | G | D

 

and that's basically the two parts of that song.  try and get that.

 

I think we've had "what you're learning to play on guitar" threads in Music, but they've never quite gotten traction.  Guitar Pr0n thread is kinda a catchall, but i'd be into contributing to a more specific thread on learning songs.  The fun thing about guitar is that when you get the basics down, learning new stuff isn't typically that hard (not like tackling a new Debussy piece or something on piano) and it's also the best way to inch forward.

 

ok I'm not 1000% certain that there's not some middle part that I'm missing here, but try picking that out and getting those changes down

and for those playing along - the first D in that intro part (after G(D) ) is actually 0775 on the top four strings.  And on the A you're getting that little melody by pulling off with your index finger and playing 2 on the A string.

Really glad you posted, I used to lurk the guitar thread on the old site and particularly enjoyed your posts about music in general.

 

I'll give that a go. I am happy to hear what you said about Townes as well. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recognize time at all.  Like things somehow sounded great all over the place.  I don't know another way to say that.

 

As far as what I have been doing, practicing changes between e, d, a, e minor, d minor, and full g while down strumming 4/4.  Extremely basic stuff.  When my fretting hand needs a break. I practice keeping 4/4 with my thumb on open strings E|A|E|D. After this becomes automatic, I add in E|A|E|D(G).  I'm now trying to work toward getting this down E|A(B)|E|D(G).   

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 5/15/2019 at 5:11 AM, 52-80 said:

Worked with an 80's slacker that carried an empty guitar case. His go for this situation was, 'It is in the pawn shop and I'm carrying the case to remind myself of what I'm working for.'  Worked for him.

[CleverNickname 1311]

tagging on this thread: what age to start lessons? My daughter seems to enjoy the piano lessons* but son is less enthused but has expressed interest in guitar. What age should I let him peel off and switch to guitar? He'll be in second grade. 

* caveat: no way in hell we can push Age x3 minutes of practice. I can stand firm on things like making every game & practice for a team sport, because its a commitment to the team. But if I made my daughter truly practice for 30 mins each day she'd quit in a heartbeat. I got no leverage, and she knows it! Fortunately they both practice mostly daily, and the instructor seems happy to take our checks. 

[BrickHorn 18235]

[JoseMedinaDeJesus 207]

22 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

He wants him to learn guitar. Not get raped in public.

[retread 2951]

On 5/28/2019 at 6:35 PM, CleverNickname said:

tagging on this thread: what age to start lessons? My daughter seems to enjoy the piano lessons* but son is less enthused but has expressed interest in guitar. What age should I let him peel off and switch to guitar? He'll be in second grade. 

* caveat: no way in hell we can push Age x3 minutes of practice. I can stand firm on things like making every game & practice for a team sport, because its a commitment to the team. But if I made my daughter truly practice for 30 mins each day she'd quit in a heartbeat. I got no leverage, and she knows it! Fortunately they both practice mostly daily, and the instructor seems happy to take our checks. 

Guys who took lessons as a kid can give you better advice than I. I started playing piano largely b/c I liked hearing the songs that my dad and mom played. Mixing in some 'fun' songs along with the required practice songs might interest your son on the piano side.

There is certainly a lot to be said for laying down a good foundation of habits in playing if your son decides to pursue guitar.

One thing that has always inspired me to practice is playing songs that I like. On guitar, that sometimes meant playing along with songs. There are also a lot of hardware options out there to make playing electric more enjoyable. For instance, you can create your own chord-progession loops over which you can solo. 

[NoRagrets 1125]

Learn E minor

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

1 minute ago, NoRagrets said:

Learn E minor

[mulletpelini 5211]

Learn how to play the banjo, chicks love the banjo

 

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

There’s always this option

[Doc Reeves 6434]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:16 AM, JoseMedinaDeJesus said:

Trust me, I get the joke.  I asked a guy at work and he said to start learning chord charts. But, to learn them while I practice Travis picking.  Its the right for the music I listen to. Then he showed me tabs to a song with Travis picking and a 3 chord progression and said "see, its easy". So I went home and looked up Travis picking. I spent the next week very upset because I couldn't learn to Travis pick in 3 days.

Nothing special at all. A fender T-bucket 400 CE with what they call an iced tea burst finish. I probably could have done better for my 350  (inc tax) had I bought something without electronics on board. But it holds a tune. If I ever learn to play it, I will go pick up something nicer. But it seems to me that it was about the right place for me to start. It came with a capo, a few sets of strings. I ended up thinking that the D'addario custom lights were the easiest to play without any buzzing. Then I went and got a set up on it.  So far I am having fun, but 's pretty fucking hard. Maybe I shouldn't smoke so much grass before I pick it up every night.

 

 

 

 

My roommate had that blues explosion poster in our doom for 3 years. 

Very cool and unexpected flash down memory lane

[CooterBrown 18012]

While on a walk today, somebody had put out a Fender Jag Stang for free.

Other than the couple of dents in the body as shown in the pic, it’s intact other than it needing to be rewired. All the missing parts and a wiring diagram were in a bag taped to the guitar.

Is this worth putting in the effort to fix?

[TexasEd 8067]

Fix the wiring not the dents. It's character and adds to the story of Free Guitar

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by TexasEd