Learning guitar?
- Thread starter breathingmetal
- Start date
Guitar pro is better than Powertab in every single way IMO. And with GP5 you can import powertabs anyway...the bad thing is it fucks up the bass, but if you're trying to learn the guitar parts, it doesn't matter anyway.
Necropeth
Member
heres what i did....took lessons for a while learnt basic shit, then self taught for 4 years ...
first i played nothing but opeth for a longggg time and now iv been playing necrophagist
first i played nothing but opeth for a longggg time and now iv been playing necrophagist
affinityband
Member
powertabs notation is ALOT clearer than guitar pro. Anyone who is used to sibelius will probably benefit from Powertab more. plus you dont get the shit guitar sounds on powertab just standard midi. The only plus to gp is that more people use it these days.
+ drums and other instruments
+ far more user friendly when it comes to bmp and so on
+ GP has the option to have only one guitar or whatever instrument solo/muted
+ You can turn the metronome off
+ If nothing is played at that moment (like an intro or something), GP still shows the amount of bars played, on PT it just looks like one
+ easier to change tunings (I don't even know how to do it on PT)
chrisdoig24k
Boom King
So, I'm too lazy to quote it, but earlier in the thread, a guy suggested starting on classical first, and then everyone chimed in that, yes, you should start on acoustic. As if they are the same thing. Which, not to be too pedantic, they are not. Classical is an entirely different beast, from the strings to the neck to the manner in which it is played. Don't start on classical unless you want to play classical!
Honestly, play the instrument you want to play! You're just starting out, so get the thing that puts you most closely in touch whith that which you love. It's like saying, "You want to play hockey? Okay, the first thing you need to do is take figure skating lessons." Will they help you out? Sure. Is it like playing hockey? Not really. Developing fundamentals is important, but make sure you do it by doing what gets you excited. Otherwise, you're far more likely to get frustrated and quit.
No one has mentioned it, but here's a really important piece of advice: no matter what kind of guitar you get, new, used, acoustic, electric....get it properly set up! A well set up guitar will be easier to play and will sound better. A shitty well set up guitar will without question be easier to play than a poorly set up top of the line guitar. And you should have your guitar set up on a fairly regular basis (particularly if you live in a climate where there are significant seasonal changes). Trust me, you'll thank me. (This coming from a guy who just built his first guitar and has aspriartions of building and fixing more...) Where I live, a set up only costs $50. Totally worth every penny.
Get some lessons to start with. There's no replacing a teacher who can actually watch what you're doing and correct bad habits before they become ingrained. While a bad habit won't seem to matter in the beginning, later on, you may find yourself having to spend a lot of time to break it before ascending to the next level of playing. That can be very frustrating. No video will be able to do that. Videos and such can be great later on, but at the start, find a teacher.
Use a metronome. Or a drum machine. And, for god's sake, start SLOW. Slower than you think you need to. Concentrate on the fundamentals, and make sure they're all in line before speeding up.
Tabs are great. They're so much easier to get now than when I started. Learning to read music isn't a bad idea, but it's fucking hard for guitarists (hence the joke: How do you make a guitarist player softer? Put sheet music in front of him. How do you make him stop playing? Put notes on it.). It can't hurt. Later on, theory may help you undertsand why one chord or note or melody works better than another, but don't let it rule you. I agree with the previous music school poster on that point (I have my BA in music, too, incidentally). Theory is more like a description of why music works than a prescription for it. Just my 2 cents.
Lastly, find some people to jam with! Hopefully someone just a bit better than you who can push you. Nothing will have you practicing more than wanting to impress someone other than yourself. As a former middle school and high school teacher, I was always trying to find ways for my students to have an audience (and I wasn't teaching music, btw). Having an audience forces you to work harder. Besides, jamming is the fun part.
Good luck!
Honestly, play the instrument you want to play! You're just starting out, so get the thing that puts you most closely in touch whith that which you love. It's like saying, "You want to play hockey? Okay, the first thing you need to do is take figure skating lessons." Will they help you out? Sure. Is it like playing hockey? Not really. Developing fundamentals is important, but make sure you do it by doing what gets you excited. Otherwise, you're far more likely to get frustrated and quit.
No one has mentioned it, but here's a really important piece of advice: no matter what kind of guitar you get, new, used, acoustic, electric....get it properly set up! A well set up guitar will be easier to play and will sound better. A shitty well set up guitar will without question be easier to play than a poorly set up top of the line guitar. And you should have your guitar set up on a fairly regular basis (particularly if you live in a climate where there are significant seasonal changes). Trust me, you'll thank me. (This coming from a guy who just built his first guitar and has aspriartions of building and fixing more...) Where I live, a set up only costs $50. Totally worth every penny.
Get some lessons to start with. There's no replacing a teacher who can actually watch what you're doing and correct bad habits before they become ingrained. While a bad habit won't seem to matter in the beginning, later on, you may find yourself having to spend a lot of time to break it before ascending to the next level of playing. That can be very frustrating. No video will be able to do that. Videos and such can be great later on, but at the start, find a teacher.
Use a metronome. Or a drum machine. And, for god's sake, start SLOW. Slower than you think you need to. Concentrate on the fundamentals, and make sure they're all in line before speeding up.
Tabs are great. They're so much easier to get now than when I started. Learning to read music isn't a bad idea, but it's fucking hard for guitarists (hence the joke: How do you make a guitarist player softer? Put sheet music in front of him. How do you make him stop playing? Put notes on it.). It can't hurt. Later on, theory may help you undertsand why one chord or note or melody works better than another, but don't let it rule you. I agree with the previous music school poster on that point (I have my BA in music, too, incidentally). Theory is more like a description of why music works than a prescription for it. Just my 2 cents.
Lastly, find some people to jam with! Hopefully someone just a bit better than you who can push you. Nothing will have you practicing more than wanting to impress someone other than yourself. As a former middle school and high school teacher, I was always trying to find ways for my students to have an audience (and I wasn't teaching music, btw). Having an audience forces you to work harder. Besides, jamming is the fun part.
Good luck!
Kudzu
Hi Tech / Low Life
Great post Mr. Poe.
About choosing a classical guitar...there is a reason why that isn't a bad idea at all. If you buy an electric guitar first, it will be great fun learning to do power chords and noisy solos, but when you reach certain level where you want to start using more complex chords and arrangements, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder.
Starting off with a classical guitar makes you learn the "difficult" part of the guitar more naturally. It's harder to make it sound properly, so you'll really learn how to press the strings with the right pressure. The strings are much more apart, wich will help to stretch your hands, so the moment you pick up an electric, you're gonna be as fast as lightning, and you'll have all the weird chords you have learned with the classical. It's a good move in the long run, it's not so rewarding but you'll really skip a learning block when you decide to play anything that aren't power chords.
The other important issue is motivation. If you are really only into metal and it just won't be fun playing classical, buy an electric. If you really want to learn guitar properly nevermind the style, if you don't start off with a classical, you'll eventually buy it. It's so much of a challenge...
A small (but very important I think) advice for the people learning guitar, especially metal: It's better slow and properly, than fast and wrong. Don't be tempted to reach infernal speeds, it will make you useless, play slow if necessary, but do it properly.
Agreed about learning slow first. I absolutely HATE seeing metalcore guitar newbs trying to play fast Avenged Sevenfold type riffs, only to sound very messy.
Thanks, Kudzu. I hear what you're saying. I'll preface my response with this: I studied classical after learning how to play on an electric, so I have that bias. So I respect what you are saying. However...
Yes, perhaps classical can help with your left hand. I don't really find mine to be all that hard to finger, though. Maybe it's that I have a good, well set up guitar. My acoustics are much harder to play in terms of finger strength required and accuracy of finger placement. I'd put the classical fairly close to my Les Paul, actually.
I have always found that after playing my classical, it's harder to go back to my acoustics or electrics! My fingers feel so cramped! And it's weird to go from a dead flat fretboard to a radiused fretboard. Furthermore, going from nylon strings to steel is harder than the other way around, imo.
If you are going to play classical, I think you really should play it the correct way. This means: left foot elevated on a stool, guitar resting between your legs, right arm draped, fingers near perpendicular to strings, strings plucked with fingernails. None of that is relevant to playing acoustic or electric. And if you aren't going to play it the proper way, then I just don't get it. Are you going to play it with a pick?!
Which brings me to the next point: guitar playing is not all about the left hand. If you focus on classical, you will be working your fingerpicking skills (even if you don't use your nails...though it's harder and doesn't sound as good when you don't use your nails), and your plectrum skills will suffer. (Also, I find the transition from fingerpicking on the classical to the acoustic strange...the strings are too close! I don't have the same kind of room.) Good flat picking takes just as much practice as left hand technique, and it's really easy to develop bad picking habits that will be very hard to break. I still, after many years, am struggling to break my bad habits. The result is that I'm slower than I'd like to be.
I do highly suggest classical, btw. It's a beautiful instrument worthy of study. I love mine. If you go that path, again: get a teacher. And check out Frederick Noad's book "Solo Guitar I". It will take you from non-player to player pretty quickly. For me, nail maintenance has always been very hard. I wish my nails were stronger and grew faster!
Something to keep in mind that I have seen time and time again is that the first stage of learning guitar (being able to make your fingers press the strings down to get notes to sound) can be a challenge, and sort of painful (with all the callous building going on), but you end up being rewarded by very shortly being able to play a lot of chords (and thus songs). To get to the next level, of being fairly competent, isn't all that hard. You'll probably get there without trying hard, since once you get chords and stuff down, it'll probably be hard to stop playing (if you're like the guitarists I've known). To get to the next level is pretty challenging. Because it means that you have to devote some of that time that you spend playing stuff that sounds cool and jamming to working on modes, arpeggios, chromatic exercises, and whatnot. It's immediate gratification versus delayed gratification. It can be hard to not just stagnate by doing the same stuff, which can be fun, over and over.
Learning guitar is full of plateaus...and I guess what I'm saying is that if you put a bit of time in at the beginning, the guitar will probably not end up collecting dust in the closet. To be competent is pretty easy. And maybe that will be enough. If it isn't, I'm sure your guitar will be up for the challenge.
Kudzu
Hi Tech / Low Life
I just think that starting with classical gives you the right bases to start going complicated with electric when needed. There's tons of metal guitarists out there that just can't play a C#m7. They don't know what it is! They have spent 3 years playing riffs and uncomprehensible solos and they just can't go on because of the drag it represents to start learning the notes.
Classical guitar gives you an advantage. You have to learn to be delicate, it develops your ear for harmony and you truly get to know the fretboard amongst other things. In a relatively short period of time, you can get more musical knowledge out of classical than out of electric.
Apart from all the other issues (nylon strings to metal strings, distance between strings etc), trying a classical guitar for some months isn't at all a bad idea.
Anyway, we could go on for days with this
Classical guitar gives you an advantage. You have to learn to be delicate, it develops your ear for harmony and you truly get to know the fretboard amongst other things. In a relatively short period of time, you can get more musical knowledge out of classical than out of electric.
Apart from all the other issues (nylon strings to metal strings, distance between strings etc), trying a classical guitar for some months isn't at all a bad idea.
Anyway, we could go on for days with this
Carta's
Carta's > Sex
^ I don't think it really helps: I've been playing classic guitar for seven years before switching to electric, and, yeah, fingerpicked parts are just so natural to me that I really can't see why others say they're difficult, but I have problems with really fast alternate picking and sweeps (I've been playing electric for six months)
Anyway, we could go on for days with this
We definitely could! I won't do that though. I think we've both made enough good points forthe OP to make a wise decision.
