The adventures of learning guitar....

[Loony_leo]

So....reccently a friend of mine (who sometimes goes on this site under the user name of Mynamesbetty) got a Fender Stratocaster and shes learning how to play. I went over to her house and she showed me the opening riff of ticket to ride. I told my dad and he's like "Oh you should buy an acoustic and learn how to play." Long story short it turned out my uncle had one that he doesn't use anymore and he loaned it to me.

I picked the guitar up today, and was all gung hoe to get started. So with a little help from the internet I looked up how to tune the guitar. I started tunning and with seconds "twaaang!!!"...the string broke! So I look up how to replace strings, and then I start loosening the others so I can remove the pegs on the bottom...and "twaaaaang!!" another one breaks!!

So my mom and I drive down to Harknett music store and buy two packages of strings, and some picks, and I come home and try and learn how to restring it.

It took me almost all evening (with breaks in between), but I got it all strung up, and my dad helped me to tune it. I even had a bit of time to get started on some basic chords. (E major and E 7th I believe..)

Its exciting to be starting on guitar. I've tried flute and piano in the past, but didn't have much luck. In fact usually the only musical thing I can do is sing (I was in choirs all throughout grade school, and have done amatuer stuff with family friends)... but then again almost everyone can sing, and my voice isn't too strong. So it gives me a real sense of acomplishment to have gotten this far on my first day! :teeth1:

"I've got a feeling" it's a "long and winding road" ahead!

[El Gos Coix]

"I've got a feeling" it's a "long and winding road" ahead!

:teeth1: It is! But a rewarding one, too! And don't worry, I think everyone has broken a lot of strings at the beginning. Take care not to strain the strings too suddenly or to tune them higher than they should be. Do it little by little and in all the strings at the same time (if you have to put them all, don't tune one all the way if the others are not supporting part of the tension).

Learning the basic open chords won't take too much time, and with them you can play rhythm guitar to many songs (perhaps transposing them at the beginning). You say you can sing... That's good! 'Cause not everybody can (I cannot!) But being able to sing, in a short time you'll be able to sing a few acoustic songs while strumming at the guitar.

Keep at that pace! :thumbu2:

[FPSHOT]

I've tried flute and piano in the past,

Can't wait to hear the piano story :smile1:

But... I believe just start to play is most rewarding. If you take the C, D and E, G, A chords to start with, you can play a lot of songs.

[Loony_leo]

:teeth1: It is! But a rewarding one, too! And don't worry, I think everyone has broken a lot of strings at the beginning. Take care not to strain the strings too suddenly or to tune them higher than they should be. Do it little by little and in all the strings at the same time (if you have to put them all, don't tune one all the way if the others are not supporting part of the tension).

Learning the basic open chords won't take too much time, and with them you can play rhythm guitar to many songs (perhaps transposing them at the beginning). You say you can sing... That's good! 'Cause not everybody can (I cannot!) But being able to sing, in a short time you'll be able to sing a few acoustic songs while strumming at the guitar.

Keep at that pace! :thumbu2:

Thanks for the tips!! :teeth1:

Haha...well I'm not the greatest singer, but I can carry a tune! And I'm sure you can sing! Everyone can, the trick is, don't worry about how you sound!

Can't wait to hear the piano story :smile1:

But... I believe just start to play is most rewarding. If you take the C, D and E, G, A chords to start with, you can play a lot of songs.

:smile1: There really isn't much to the piano story....I just got really confused as the chords started getting harder. (hope that won't happen with the guitar!) Plus I can't read base clef...so that probably wouldn't have helped much!!

Thank you for the chord suggestions! I sort of know E...needs a bit more fine tuning though :smile1:

[FPSHOT]

:smile1: There really isn't much to the piano story....

I was just thinking of your guitar string issue and compared that to a piano :smile1:

Abour chords.. if you look for chord tabs online, what is useful is those where you simply have the finger positions

like this

http://www.guitaralliance.com/images/openchords.gif

[FPSHOT]

Oh the copyright expired in 2006 LOL so that's ok

[beatles fan]

FPSHOT, that will help me aswell for some chords! cheers!

tani, bad luck with strings breaking! least u got fresh ones now! I got new ones for my birthday and don't dare put them on myself yet so still have the orginal ones from when my dad had it! they must have been replaced over the years but he has had it since he was a boy!

Some easy songs to learn to start with are blackbird for a start, the finger picking bit was a bit tricky but the playing is simple!

Another one i started learning 2 days back was words of Love! very easy, its a simple A to D to E! thats all you need, so thats a good one to learn!
we can work it out isnt too bad either!

With some practice calico skies flows quite well too! :D

good luck friend!

[beatles fan]

o, and if you like Bob Dylan then Mr Tambourine man is a simple tune really, G to A to D to G to A and other little bits! not hard! you'll have to show us your playing soon! ;)

o here comes the sun is nice aswell!

does anyone know "F" chord, i still don't know it! :P cheers

[FPSHOT]

http://www.maui.net/~ukulele/images/gchart.jpg

http://www.maui.net/~ukulele/images/gchart.jpg

[beatles fan]

I'm Blind and can't see if very well! lol

[El Gos Coix]

I'm not blind, and I can hardly see it, too! :teeth1:

F is played 133211 (the first number corresponds to the sixth -thicker- string, and so on). It's played by putting the index finger flat all across the fretboard on the first fret, and then the other three fingers on theb 3rd string (2nd fret), 4th string (3rd fret) and 5th string (3rd fret). In the chart FPSHOT has copied the chord has only the first four strings, instead of all six. It's good, too, although I prefer to fret (does that exist as a verb with this meaning?) the six trings and strum only four, if that's what I want it to sound.

If you look close at that F chord, you'll see it's exactly the same as an E chord, but one semitone (fret) higher. Only, you must use other fingers so your index finger is left free to put it over the six strings (what's the name for that in English?) If you put the index finger on the first fret, as I've told you, you'll get an F chord; if you put it on the second fret, then it'll be an F# chord, if on the third fret, a G chord, and so on. So, as you can see, learning just one fingering will allow you to play all major chords. Of course, there are more ways to play these chords (for example, if you wanted to play a C chord after an F chord, most likely you'd play the "normal" open C chord x32010, instead of jumping up all the way to put your index finger across the eighth fret). But it's rather enocuraging to know that one shape makes all the chords!

[El Gos Coix]

OK, this would have been easier :blush4::

http://www.guitaralliance.com/images/chords/barre_chords/e_barre_chord_example-F_barre.gif

[FPSHOT]

Ok.. here is a better chart

http://www.chordie.com/chords.php

then just grab a songbook online for instance with Beatles songs and you will come a long way...and probably after a bit just don't need the paperwork anymore.

I can't read music scores so I learned it this way and you will see that with about 6 of the chords you can play your way through most of the pop music songs

[El Gos Coix]

This last chart is great. If you click on each chord, you can see its variations. Thanks!

[beatles fan]

thanks for this, It will all come in handy, i understand the F chord now but its a Bar chord and i can't do bar chords! lol, i find it very hard to put my finger across all of them on the any frete which doesn't help!

[Loony_leo]

Thanks FPShot, El Gos Coix, and Matt!!


I started trying to learn barre chords, but they are mighty tricky... I think I'll set them aside for a little bit, till I'm confident with other chords lol.

Is it more important to learn chords first or tabalature?

[El Gos Coix]

Oh, "barre" chords! I knew there had to be a word for that!

Yes, they're a bit tricky at the beginning; it seems you'll never manage to make all the strings sound... But it happens in the end! Be careful to place your index finger close to the fret (that is, the metallic bar), and it'll be easier. Also, you can keep your finger slightly tilted towards the external part of the hand (instead of putting it completely flat on the strings), but take care not to exaggerate it so you don't put extra tension. And, of course, take care the other fingers don't dampen the sound of the strings you're playing with your index finger.

As to learning chords or tablature first... Well, you can do both more or less at the same time. I think that almost everybody starts with chords, but you don't need to wait too much to start with tablature, too, if you feel like it. The good thing about chords is that the same ones can be used for many songs, while in principle -at least at the beginning- you learn the tablature to one song. With chords, you won't need much time before you can strum some rhythm and sing songs. In my case, I learnt only a few chords before starting to play songs. What I did is choose a song, see which chords I could play and which not, and learn those I could not play (so they turned into chords I could play for subsequent songs). And so on. I think it's more rewarding than tablature, because you can see the results in a shorter time. But don't say "no" to anything!

[FPSHOT]

I think it's more rewarding than tablature

absolutely... I never learned reading music but can play many chords just from seeing the one this way as on my last link, however especially with the Beatles and their funny chords, often based on jazz chords.. it's hard to follow but just takes some listening and time.

Another nice one is here

http://chordfind.com/

As for doing more chords at the same time.. I'd say it's like with sports, you gotta train your left hand mainly, so to for instance A - D - G is good hand gymnastic I think.

[El Gos Coix]

so to for instance A - D - G is good hand gymnastic I think.

FPSHOT is right, those are good ones to start with, changing from one to another in different sequences till your fingers get used to the positions and can go quickly from one to another. And once you've got them, you can try your hand at "Twist and Shout" :teeth1:.

[FPSHOT]

And once you've got them, you can try your hand at "Twist and Shout" :teeth1:.

that's way to slow.. :smile1: for good practice try La Bamba ( not the dancing but the chords)

[Asha]

that's way to slow.. :smile1: for good practice try La Bamba ( not the dancing but the chords)

Haha! Good one FPSHOT! :laugh5:

[El Gos Coix]

that's way to slow.. :smile1: for good practice try La Bamba ( not the dancing but the chords)

Yes, that's even better practice. But I though Loony_leo's case might be like mine: I started to learn to play the guitar because I wanted to play Beatle songs. Now, fortunately, my scope has broadened! :teeth1: :teeth1: :teeth1:

Anyway, anybody who manages to sing, play and dance La Bamba all at the same time must be a good singer, player and dancer. Maybe you should consider the idea. It's like those Renaissance men who could do a bit of everything...

[beatles fan]

haha funny you should say that, i downloaded the song "la bamba" the other day!

I find C chord the hardest, to put your fingers on in time!

[Loony_leo]

Thanks again for all the tips you guys! You've all been wonderful :teeth1:

My family has been calling me guitar girl these days cuz I can't put it down lol!!

Another hard thing is, maintaining a strumming pattern while singing!!! I can get the strum down, but once I start singing over even humming, its gone!

But at least I can now play the intro of From Me To You, till it gets to F7

El Gos Coix, thanks so much for the barre tip, I never thought of putting my finger close to the fret!!

[El Gos Coix]

I find C chord the hardest, to put your fingers on in time!

It's not much harder than G, I'd say... What I find tricky about C chord is to use it to play barre chords. The same thing I said is made with E chord to make an F chord and so on, but with C chord. I cannot do it with as much elegance as I'd like, to say the least! But then, I'm not a good guitar player.


My family has been calling me guitar girl these days cuz I can't put it down lol!!

That's good. I've heard many people say that having a guitar in one's hands for as long as possible, no matter what for, is the best way to learn to play it!


But at least I can now play the intro of From Me To You, till it gets to F7

And the intro of "Hope of Deliverance", too (although right now I cannot remember whether that's the right key).


El Gos Coix, thanks so much for the barre tip, I never thought of putting my finger close to the fret!!

It's a pleasure! Take care to put your fingers close to the fret always, not only when playing barre chords. In this way you'll get a clearer sound, since what makes a note ring is the contact between the string and the fret, not your finger.

[FPSHOT]

I find C chord the hardest, to put your fingers on in time!

I think it is just a matter of practice and letting your fingers get used to it, so what you can do is also when you are just not playing guitar, bend them with the C chord position and change with A and D for instance.

[Loony_leo]

It's not much harder than G, I'd say... What I find tricky about C chord is to use it to play barre chords. The same thing I said is made with E chord to make an F chord and so on, but with C chord. I cannot do it with as much elegance as I'd like, to say the least! But then, I'm not a good guitar player.




That's good. I've heard many people say that having a guitar in one's hands for as long as possible, no matter what for, is the best way to learn to play it!




And the intro of "Hope of Deliverance", too (although right now I cannot remember whether that's the right key).




It's a pleasure! Take care to put your fingers close to the fret always, not only when playing barre chords. In this way you'll get a clearer sound, since what makes a note ring is the contact between the string and the fret, not your finger.


Thanks again!!! I just tried barring the way you told me, and the string that before was getting a very dull and muted sound I can finally get a sound out of it! And the other strings are on the whole, MUCH clearer so thanks again!

[jtal909]

haha funny you should say that, i downloaded the song "la bamba" the other day!

I find C chord the hardest, to put your fingers on in time!


Proper positioning is helpful.
for example, if you learn to play a G chord with:
4th finger (pinky) on 3rd fret of 1st string
next finger on 3rd fret of 6th string
and next (middle finger) on 2nd fret of 5th string.\,
you will be in position to go to a C

most people learn to play a G with the 1st 3 fingers instead of the last 3 because it takes a while to use 4 fingers usually.

[El Gos Coix]

I first learnt to play G as jtal909 says, with the first three fingers, and that's the fingering I use most of the times (some other times I use all four fingers, since a play a D in the second string instead of a B, putting my ring finger on the third fret). Most of the times I use the alternative fingering jtal909 has suggested, with the last three fingers, is when I'm going to play Gaug after the G chord (that is, playing a D# with my index finger on the fourth string). Try that for the intro of "Take Good Care of My Baby" ("and though it really hurts me so").

[Loony_leo]

So over the past two weeks I was up north with the family at a cottage in Muskoka, and I brought "Winston" (the guitar I'm borrowing to learn how to play on), and I've made some good progress!!

Before I left I bought book one of the Hal Leonard Guitar Method, and man is it ever helpful!! Its given me a good deal of structure and guideance...which I find helps me when I learn, because I learn a little slower sometimes. And I've learned a good deal of notes, mastered a couple chords, I can play love me tender, ode to joy, and a bunch of other random melodies in the book. I've also picked Rocky Raccoon out by ear. Well, I did it on the piano first to see if it had notes that I know yet on guitar, and it does :smile1:

I'm off for my daily practice session now though!

[Lynner]

Reading this topic has made me want to go and pick up the guitar again. School starts next week, so maybe I finally will have a bit of time to myself.

[62hofner]

Its exciting to be starting on guitar. I've tried flute and piano in the past, but didn't have much luck. In fact usually the only musical thing I can do is sing (I was in choirs all throughout grade school, and have done amatuer stuff with family friends)... but then again almost everyone can sing, and my voice isn't too strong. So it gives me a real sense of acomplishment to have gotten this far on my first day! :teeth1:

"I've got a feeling" it's a "long and winding road" ahead!

There is NO instrument that can compare to the guitar when it comes to satisfaction of playing on ALL levels. Some who play other instruments might argue against this claim. But, coming from someone who plays guitar, drums and a little piano - and as has dabbled in some brass instruments in the past - there is nothing like cradling that guitar against your body and making it howl! It becomes a part of you like no other instrument can.

Good luck with "I've Got a Feeling" so soon in your guitar playing experience! It's not an easy one to play - correctly, that is. I'd stick to the more "strummy" Beatles songs for the time being. Give songs like "Eight Days A Week" and "You're Gonna Lose Tha Girl" your attention first. Same goes for "The Long And Winding Road". There's no real major guitar in that song to learn. It's a piano song.

I'm referring to playing Beatles songs as they were recorded, mind you. If the song has got chords, then it can be played on guitar. I just think it's worth it to approach learning the guitar by learning guitar-driven songs.

Have fun!:wave1:

[jtal909]

I first learnt to play G as jtal909 says, with the first three fingers, and that's the fingering I use most of the times (some other times I use all four fingers, since a play a D in the second string instead of a B, putting my ring finger on the third fret). Most of the times I use the alternative fingering jtal909 has suggested, with the last three fingers, is when I'm going to play Gaug after the G chord (that is, playing a D# with my index finger on the fourth string). Try that for the intro of "Take Good Care of My Baby" ("and though it really hurts me so").

For all you learning, you should learn both positions.
Using the last 3 fingers puts you in position to play other open chords more easily, and like Cos Coix says, gives you the option of using the 1st finger to hit other notes. I use that most of the time and it becomes 2nd nature after a while.
The only time I play a G chord with the 1st 3 fingers is when I want to use the 4th finger to run a riff like the Grateful Dead song Friend of the Devil, for example.

Looney L good to hear you're making progress.
It's rewarding isn't it?

[mari]

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away, but then I had the crazy idea that it would be fun to pick up the guitar again...
Played a little years ago (but I only knew like....four chords), and even then I could never really get the hang of it. Maybe I was a bit more motivated this time around though, because I just learned Across The Universe in, like, 10 minutes. Hah, and I just had to tell someone :p


:-)

[beatles fan]

cool well done with that! keep practicing, if you can learn a song in ten minutes, then think of the possibilities!

yeah tani, learn things like words of love/i've just seen a face with easy chords and go from there, i always find no reply to be a good one, although it has a coulple of bar chords, they r easy! :)

[mari]

think of the possibilities!

Yeh, pretty soon my auntie will be telling me that "playing the guitar is all right, but it won't earn you a living"...:eyebrows:

[Loony_leo]

There is NO instrument that can compare to the guitar when it comes to satisfaction of playing on ALL levels. Some who play other instruments might argue against this claim. But, coming from someone who plays guitar, drums and a little piano - and as has dabbled in some brass instruments in the past - there is nothing like cradling that guitar against your body and making it howl! It becomes a part of you like no other instrument can.

Good luck with "I've Got a Feeling" so soon in your guitar playing experience! It's not an easy one to play - correctly, that is. I'd stick to the more "strummy" Beatles songs for the time being. Give songs like "Eight Days A Week" and "You're Gonna Lose Tha Girl" your attention first. Same goes for "The Long And Winding Road". There's no real major guitar in that song to learn. It's a piano song.

I'm referring to playing Beatles songs as they were recorded, mind you. If the song has got chords, then it can be played on guitar. I just think it's worth it to approach learning the guitar by learning guitar-driven songs.

Have fun!:wave1:

Oh no, I wasn't trying I've got a feeling... I was just being corny and using those titles in a sentence... like I think its gonna be a long and winding road to learn how to play. lol!

I wouldn't DREAM of trying I've got a feeling at this stage in the game... I'd probably end up in tears/ or too shell shocked to play ever again!

[Loony_leo]

Looney L good to hear you're making progress.
It's rewarding isn't it?

It certainly is, its slow going though, but it IS rewarding!

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away, but then I had the crazy idea that it would be fun to pick up the guitar again...
Played a little years ago (but I only knew like....four chords), and even then I could never really get the hang of it. Maybe I was a bit more motivated this time around though, because I just learned Across The Universe in, like, 10 minutes. Hah, and I just had to tell someone :p

:-)

Congrats!!! Keep at it :teeth1:

The other day I was listening to I will and thought to myself, "Hmm this doesn't sound to hard" I looked up the chords, and it didn't seem to tricky on the one version...

But after I printed it off and sat down to play it, I noticed one tiny little thing "Bm"..I looked up the chart...and to my horror it was a barre chord. I still haven't mastered those...and I've heard it can take months to build up the strength in your hands to get the strings ringing properly...ah well at least I can sort of do the chorus (my strumming pattern is waay off though!)

[mari]

Oh, I suck at the barre chords, plus my hands are really small, which doesn't exactly make things easier....oh well, getting better, getting better all the time (can't get no worse)..


Hey Ringo, I know more chords than you do!
(Don't mean to disrespect...I'm just teasing...it's a thing we do, Rich and I...:cool1: )

[Loony_leo]

Hehe Mari!

Well the other day my friend and I were out and about downtown and we went into a music store. I tested out (and drooled over) a knock off of an Epiphone Casino like the ones John and George had in the Rain video.

I also bought two new beginners books. The Hal Leonard Easy Melodies book one, and Hal Leonard Easy Rythmns book two. I already had the Hal Leonard guitar method book one, but these books are nice things on the side because the songs are more fun to play than the crummy melodies and rythmns in the other book. The melodies book has Imagine, Let It Be, All My Loving, Walk the Line, Nowhere Man, and Elton John's version of Can you feel the love tonight, among other songs, and is pretty easy. The rhythmn book is more on the challenging side, but is still pretty helpful. Its got bye bye love, love me do, twist and shout, Iris, and others. So it was a pretty successful shopping trip I must say!