a question for guitarists

[Eirik]

I've been playing for a year and 10 months or so...

my knowledge of theory is basically one position of the c scale and a few chord names

 

[Id]

I say take lessons, because you can learn from a teacher, AND by yourself. This is what I do, I learn sight reading and theory from my lessons and metal by myself.

 

[TravisW]

I started learning guitar 14 years ago. I took a grand total of 6 lessons in that time. The sooner you start writing your own music and incorporating what you may have learned from a teacher, the better. I had few lessons, so it was a lot if work to get to a good level of proficiency. Once I got there, though, my skills were coveted. Seriously, the only thing better than learning to create your own music is the ability to learn the music of others very quickly, which is something that I turned into a very saleable skill.

 

[calx]

i have now decided to take guitar lessons. i start today and my teacher hasn't heard of opeth so i get to introduce him. yay!

 

[Protected Witness]

Originally posted by ControlledChaos
anyone who doesn't learn theory, scale, and arpeggios etc is a serverely handicapped musician. And by the way who cares if hetfield is good? There are plenty better than him and most know theory as a basis.

a musician without those forms found in theory will always be second rate and will always be a garage player. nothing more, he will never be great. good musicians are a dime a dozen but great ones are few and far betwee, and they know theory.

Hmmmm....I'm pretty sure Mr. Akerfeldt has said that he knows no theory, so I can't agree with this statement.

 

[raccyd]

I played piano for about 7 years then started on guitar without lessons. have had 3 guitar lessons to start me off and then the rest i have learnt through playing songs off tabs from the internet and working stuff out on my own as well as buying and learning from guitar magazines. whatever you choose to do though practice is the key to it all. good luck.

 

[calx]

he is teaching me theory and such and i actually seem to understand it this time. it's seems pretty easy so far, but i only had a 45 minute lessons plus 2 or 3 hours of practice after that. we will see what happens. maybe i'll actually get pretty good at it . only time will tell i guess. lots and lots of time.

 

[phon1c]

Originally posted by Mr. Niel
Hmmmm....I'm pretty sure Mr. Akerfeldt has said that he knows no theory, so I can't agree with this statement.

He does know some theory, but I believe doesn't base songs on certains keys etc.

 

[Protected Witness]

Really? I read an interview somewhere that he just does everything by ear, you know...just keep the stuff that sounds good to you. In fact, it was a guitar world from 2001...it had slipknot on the cover.......Okay, I went and found it:

Guitar World: Do you have any formal training? You seem to have a pretty highly developed sense of composition.

Mike: No, I've never studied harmony; I've just relied on my ear. If you listen to our first album, Orchid, you'll hear that riffs in our songs were less connected, but through the years I've learned how to integrate all of our ideas in a much more coherent fashion. When you write songs that last longer than 10 minutes, it becomes important.


There you go.

 

[Darkness Falls]

Over three years ...... completly self thought.

 

[Protected Witness]

Originally posted by Mr. Niel
Really? I read an interview somewhere that he just does everything by ear, you know...just keep the stuff that sounds good to you. In fact, it was a guitar world from 2001...it had slipknot on the cover.......Okay, I went and found it:

Guitar World: Do you have any formal training? You seem to have a pretty highly developed sense of composition.

Mike: No, I've never studied harmony; I've just relied on my ear. If you listen to our first album, Orchid, you'll hear that riffs in our songs were less connected, but through the years I've learned how to integrate all of our ideas in a much more coherent fashion. When you write songs that last longer than 10 minutes, it becomes important.


There you go.