a question for guitarists

calx

calx

New Metal Member
Oct 26, 2002
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new jersey
calx.deviantart.com
i noticed alot of people here play guitar and was wondering how you learned to play. i took lessons for 6 months and got totally bored with it because i hate learning theory and reading music. so did you guys teach yourself or take lessons? which do you think is better (teaching yourself or lessons)? and if your taught yourself then how did you do it (what books, internet, and any other sources). I really want to know how to play but for some reason it is extremely hard for me to learn. :(

thanks.
 
I started 1 year and 9 months ago. I've NEVER had a lesson, just taught myself. I can't comment on which is better, therefore.

Just see how you go. If you make progress teaching yourself, don't take lessons. If you're getting nowhere, seek help.
 
Self-taught.

If you want to excel, I'd suggest resuming those lessons and learn to apply that theory.

In the long run, it'll take you MUCH farther.

Not knowing theory is like being in a wheelchair. Trust me. And it's easier to learn theory, rather than trying to correct mistakes further down the road.

Just my .02c
 
Self taught, been playing for about 2 years. Never played an instrument before, that helps so much if you have.

If I could give you one tip which you probably wont do, it's to try to not use tabs at all and try to work out a lot of stuff by ear. Having a good ear is paramount to becoming a good musician, especially with improvisation. But it's tough if you've never played anything before. I'd go with lessons if I could afford it.

When I first started out, I took the lessons over at http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm
 
how do you expect to be able to play music if you don't know basic theory (scales, construction of chords, modes, etc.) and being able to read music is a very good thing to be able to do, but i suppose it isn't the most important thing in the world. it sounds to me like you just want to be a guitarist without having to do any of the work.
 
I have been playing guitar for about 7 years now. I started out with a tab book for Kill ‘em All. That gave me the groundwork. Over time, I learned a thing or two about theory and scales and so on, but that was my desire. No matter what the medium for learning is, there has to be the desire. For me, the drive was to play fast, and I acquired that ability by playing the ‘tallica songs along with the cd. Then I decided that I wanted to learn a thing or two about theory and scales. But the key is that I WANTED to. If you don’t WANT to learn something, you wont. One thing that helped me out a lot was the “Guitar Grimiour “ (not sure if I spelled that right). It is a book of just about every guitar scale known to man. I just mess around with the scales until shit that I like comes out.
Each person learns in different ways. I would say that it is good to know theory and all that, but it’s not necessary. There are several guitarists that are self taught, that don’t know a thing about theory, they just go with what sounds good. But, remember one thing, practice, be it working on scales or playing tabs or what have you, makes you better.
:cool:
 
Originally posted by calx
because i hate learning theory and reading music.
Click to expand...
No offense, but you won't get very far with that type of attitude. I started playing bass 11 years ago, self-taught the whole way. I had played clarinet for 3 years before then and learned to read music through school lessons. Whether you choose to take lessons or buy a book or just wing it, it's up to you, but I can give you one sound piece of advice: IGNORE TAB, IT WILL ONLY HURT YOUR MUSICAL ABILITY IN THE LONG RUN. Learn to read music, tab sucks.
 
Originally posted by bleedingskeptic
it sounds to me like you just want to be a guitarist without having to do any of the work.
Click to expand...

you are exactly right!! there are reasons for this however. i have a few problems that i'd reather not discuss which lower my motivations way below the norm. So it's alot harder for me stick with one thing. like you said, i want to be an expert at the guitar without practicing. i know it's not possible so it is hard for me to stick with it. it's complicated. i know what you're going to say, if you can't stick with it then you must NOT want to do it. Not true, i really really want to you can't imagine how much i want to learn. But it is so difficult for me. :(

ok...that was very depressing, and i sound like a pussy.
 
Practice, practice, practice. To be good takes a lot of work, and yes it will not come easy, but it sure is worth it. Good luck to you!
 
i just got a guitar for christmas. im teaching myself.


i would get lessons but its exdpensive. plus i only really wanna play some of my fav songs not become a freak.


ive just been learning chords and scales from the internet atm.
 
I took lessons the first 9 years,and I've played by myself for 2 more. Lessons are good for the basics.... so you know that you get finger-positioning right and so... and you also get bombarded with useful songs. What I liked about my teacher was that he was very open to whatever I wanted to learn... so big loads of metallica (I used to love them... before.... *cough*) and some opeth (in the end).

But, seriously, these 2 last years have really improved my playing so damn much... I've played a lot more since I stopped taking lessons, heh
 
Well the one rule is if you want to be good, you need to have the motivation to practice and you need to practice alot but also enjoy it. I've taken lessons for the past year and a half and I've also taught myself aside from that.. but the lessons are infinately valuable.. my teacher is very open so I can take any song I want and he'll help me through it and also analyse the modes etc. etc. that make up the song/solo whatever.

So if you don't have the motivation, quit now, don't bother trying to play guitar becuase you'll get nowhere. But if I was you I'd take up lessons again and talk to the teacher so I'd start learning something relevant to what music I want to know and start teaching myself aswell.

It's one of those things where, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.
 
I've been playing for almost two years and I am self taught for the most part. What helped me was that I had a friend who had been playing for 4 years and he helped me with technical things like palm muting and speed but no theory. Theory is just too confusing for me. Every time I read anything on it it just confuses me and I dont see how it could help me to write music every time I try to use the little bit of theory I know when writing songs I can never come up with anything good. Thats why I dont like theory Id like to learn it but it just doesnt make sense
 
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