Any advice for a beginner guitarist?

[ham]

I've just really picked up playing guitar a little while ago, I've been playing for about 3 or 4 months...
so far i'm pretty damn crap, but i just want some advice/feedback(?) from you guys (especially those that've now been playing for like 10 years)... i'm not having any lessons or anything, I'm basically trying to teach myself all I can from books, the internet and from friends.

So far all I'm capable of (with some sloppiness occasionally, I admit) is miscellaneous metallica riffs (black album era mostly), and some simple 3 chord'ers from nirvana and pearl jam.

Do you think professional lessons are an efficient learning means? or just a waste of dosh? what advice would you give any beginner?

I practice as often as i can, at least until i feel disheartened by my sloppiness... usually anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours a day, and on weekends if i'm not busy i'll go hardcore for like 6 hours or something.

The most complicated thing i can play is the nothing else matters (Metallica) introduction =]

If anyone tells me that I should be able to crank out opeth riffs by now, i'm gonna slap ya

I know this ought to be off topic, and i'm sorry, but im too tired to really care, so bitch all you can while its worth it

 

[Till Fjalls]

Well, I'll offer my bit of advice:

Good luck! Haha....Seriously, I am self taught as well, and I would personally recommend going that route yourself. Then again, I can't say that having a teacher is bad, because I wouldn't know. But the reason I think teaching yourself is good is because you get to develop your own style. Since you aren't sticking to a specific regimen (since there is no teacher) you can pick and chose what you want to learn. Therefore, you learn what is important to you as a music lover/guitarist. I've found that the things on albums I like, I've learned, and after seven years, they've all culminated into one, big, weird playing style.

I think (I may be wrong though!) that if you get a teacher, they'll show you the RIGHT way to hold a guitar, how to read music, and tell you what notes go together, etc....

Well, this will happen pretty fast, and it won't be long before you're doing what all other schooled guitars do. So, to me it seems you might get into a generic guitart playing style that may be hard to break out of.

But with being self taught, it seems to take longer to improve and learn diffferent musical terms, and the relationship between chords, scales, harmonies, and progressions. But I know from experience that if you are a serious practicer and do your reading, you'll learn these things on your own, and when they hit you, it's like some magical revelation. And that to me must make a more significant impact on you than some teacher sitting there and force-feeding it into you....But then again, the things I discovered weren't from books either. I discovered them, and later went to books to confirm if I was on the right track with my ideas.

As for a practice regimen, I think I used to play like 3 or 4 hours a day for the first year. After that, I can't remember, but it got no higher I don't think. All I ever did was get tab books and learn as many songs as possible (at the time, mostly guns and roses. But the nirvana stuff you8 may be learning is a good starter too.)

If you want to get into solos, I recommend GNR, Use your Illusions I album. It'll take you a while to get all the bends and vibratos down, but in general, you can get the main jist of a lot of the solos easily after playing for a few months I think.

Very important I think: learn all thse chords. A Am C D Dm E Em F G and be able to switch between them confidently, without missing strings.

Also, pratice closing your eyes, putting your fret finger one string, and with your eyes still closed, hit that string. I know in the beginning that was really tough. You must know your guitar and it's string spacing well, or you'll always be looking at your picking hand. However, that's okay in the beginning I guess.

More imortant, and as hard as it may be, relax. Don't keep your muscles all tight, youshould pick and strum relaxed.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know, and I hope some of this helps! remember, it's just my opinion, and may not necessarily be the best way.

 

[Till Fjalls]

Oh yeah, I never learned Nothing else matters for a LONG time after. My finger picking skills took a long time to develop, and are still basically limited to 3-finger picking.

And judging from the sound of it, I think you are able to play SOME Opeth riffs, but by no means all....A good start would be thepart in The Night and the Silent Water that goes "Am I like them? those who mourn and turn away, those who would..."

Pretty easy stuff:

------------------------------
------------------------------
-------0--------------0------
----5----5~-------5----5~--
-3-----------------------------
-----------------0-------------

There are a number of other easy ones too, so don't get discouraged, it all takes a nice while!

 

[Opth_001]

I have to agree with Till Fjalls. And it's good that your practicing as much as you are. I know when I first started I didn't play anywhere near that long. Usually a half hour at the most. Now when I really get into playing I can play all day expecally when I'm writing music.

You definaly need to lear the chords you can do that off the internet or find a "guitar begginers" book or something and it will teach you where the differnt notes and some different chords, I'm doing that now whish I had when I started.

As far as the why your guitar sounds you'll get better I think I was the worst player ever to start playing guitar. I think I was the only person that know what I was playing ohh well now people acutally know what song I'm playing.

Keep up the good work, and if you love guitar keep playing it worth the effort.

 

[Shakermaker]

i've been playing for 6 years now and i'm somewhat disillusioned... i'm capable to play some quite complex blues solos and stuff, but i'd love to compose something by myself... and it seems i'm not creative enough

 

[Sadistik]

TAKE LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS! I TELL EVERY GUITARIST THIS! LESSONS! LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS! Then you can take what you've learned and work into a style you like and evolve your own sound

 

[Shakermaker]

Originally posted by Sadistik
TAKE LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS! I TELL EVERY GUITARIST THIS! LESSONS! LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS! Then you can take what you've learned and work into a style you like and evolve your own sound

i had lessons from the beginning on (a good friend who plays approximately 20 instruments teaches me...) and i guess you progress way faster than you do when you just learn everything by yourself. and yeah, the fundamentals are VERY important... when you get occupied to play "wrong" it'll be hard to change that.

 

[yourdeadgroom]

Get lessons, even if it's just a few. Just so someone can check your technique and so on, show you some good ways to play chords etc..... If they try to teach you Mary Had a Little Lamb and you really don't want to do it, then stop (I think that's what Chuck Schuldiner did, could be wrong, but it was someone famous and really good). For soloing and stuff, most of that has to be done on your own anyway (coming up with an aresenal of small licks and stuff), a teacher can't give it to you, but they can put you in the right direction.
Oh, and if you think that reading music may be a cool thing to do, start now! Don't think "I'll learn how to play, then tackle music", because you'll end up frustrated- you will only be able to read easy stuff, but play harder stuff, so get bored quickly (I speak from the perspective of a guitar teacher here- I've seen it soooo many times with my students).

Oh, #1 piece of advice- RELAX!!!!!!!!! Figure out how much pressure you need to put on the string to get the note without it buzzing, and stick with that, don't press harder! No-one ever told me that (and I had lessons), so after 8 years my wrist started to get problems (and you try un-learning 8 years worth of technique!). I tell everyone this now, so they don't have it happen

 

[JesusChristPose]

As a beginner guitarist, I decided to seek advice from every noteworthy source possible in order to get the most out of my playing...the majority of the advice was like this:

(This is what I have been told...and what I am doing)

1. Learn the basic chords (G, C, F, D, E, Am, etc, etc) - play each one correctly - learn to smoothly switch between them, first slowly then faster.

2. Strumming - What good is it to learn chords without learning to strum properly. Work on the strumming technique while learning your chords.

3. Practice various songs utilizing one and two above, besides just practicing your strumming and chords - this will keep your interest up. In fact, I have already learned how to play some simple, but enjoyable songs for me (chordwise that is) - such as -Wish You Were Here, Knockin on Heaven's Door - basic, but learning the basics first will build the foundation.

4. Do not move on to more difficult strumming and chords until you can cleanly and quickly play the basics. This is a tough one for me because I am dying to get out there and learn more, yet I am sticking with this advice and won't move on until I can pick up my guitar and without any or very little mistakes play the basics.

5. Practice your scales. Vary your picking technique, while practicing them.

6. Learn the fretboard - know what notes you are playing.

7. Slowly learn how to read music.

For you long time players....do you agree? The above was what I received by the majority of guitar instructors while searching the internet seeking advice.

 

[requiem]

All yes, but I remember when I was little and learning the guitar my dad told me to not worry so much about the strumming, as that would come later.

And sure enough, once I could change chords smoothly I could also strum properly. It wasn't from thinking about it, it just happened..

 

[AlexiFollower]

Originally posted by ham


The most complicated thing i can play is the nothing else matters (Metallica) introduction =]

hahaha, thats what i was able to play within your time of playing


but as for my playing, my first 6 months sucked so much, i couldnt play shit. but now i can play mostly all of CoB riffs(no solos yet, ggrrr!!!). I recently started to try and play some Opeth stuff(i can the first 2 or 3 minutes of Nectar). I just keep trying to play anything that sounds good and looks semi-easy but still hard to play

 

[nevershine]

I'm a self taught guitarist.
Played about 9 years.
You should start from the basics.
Metallica (older) is very good for getting your touch together.
No use trying to learn solos for the first couple of years.
There's time for everything.
Don't try to play something way out of your league.
It'll come to you in time.
Take lessons for faster learning...
I didn't. No one to teach me.

 

[ham]

thanks everyone for your advice, (as mixed as they are ;P)
i do intend to get some lessons later on, when i can afford it.

I know a few chords... A, C, G, D, E, Em, Am, Dm, F - few bar chords, but i usually can't get them to ring smoothly

And changing chords is a damn nightmare, unless the fingering is relatively similar - eg: Em - Am *horay!*
but picking a simple 3 chorder and sticking at it for hours on end is often fruitful, and i can play Off He Goes by Pearl Jam relatively smoothly as a result

At the moment I'm learning some Tool songs, mainly because they're relatively simple - working on Lateralus at the moment.
I've been told by heaps of people that that's a bad idea because of how simple and unconventional Adam Jones' guitaring is... but it's fun nonetheless. Sounds awesome too. Tool rock

 

[Misanthrope]

I have and advice: Read all this and completly ignore it until you actually start using it. Im also a self taught guitar player and the key to becoming better avoiding most frustration is not trying to do more things that you can handle. This is the problem a lot of people have with bad guitar instruction, is just a lot to handle. I just started playing tallica song from the ultimate easy song ( from whom... ) to the more challenging ones ( master of puppets ) learning in the way the techniques 1 by 1. I mean if a song required palm muting i studied a lot of guitar players and their advice on palm muting to get it going. Same goes with tapping, tremolo picking, and so on. The only thing it can never hurt to learn in a fast pace is music theory. If you are interested in music theory with something as little as knowing how to put a chord you can verify anything, so is not really challenging technically it can only be challenging mentally and that is not as frustrating.