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Hello everyone, I recently got my hands on an electric guitar. I've had it repaired (snares, tuning etc) so now I have my very own bogey stratocaster (or something like that dunno)
Here's the thing : I know alot of people on TL.net are self-educated guitarists (or trying to learn it on themselves) and I would like to know where/how to start playing electric and make progress.
Right now I have this DVD which basically teaches me the basic chords (A,D, E powerchords, triads, such things). But I would like to know how I should continue. All I'm doing now basically is just practicing 12 basic chords and it seems so... dull :p
So, feel free to pitch in, explain your thoughts, how did you get started etc...
Thanks in advance from a noobguitarist 
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Just try and play the songs you like and keep practicing. Look on youtube on lessons of how to strum etc. etc. and just keep practicing.
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Depends on what you want to play.
But really just pick a song you like (probably one that doesn't sound too crazy heh) and learn it!
What sort of music are you in to?
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don't get frustrated and just keep practicing regularly...even if its only 15 minutes a day. Learn to read tablature (it's as easy as counting) and you can find almost any song online...it's important to keep trying to learn new things so you don't get bored.
The most important thing to remember is there is no secret or magic way to become good at an instrument, it takes lots of time, practice, and dedication. The first couple months are the hardest because you suck and you won't notice the small improvements that you will make...stick with it and remember to practice a little bit everyday. When you are "practicing" for your 15 minutes a day make sure you aren't doodling and just playing something easy and comfortable. You learn by forcing yourself to play things that are difficult.
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On November 15 2009 03:07 Zortch wrote:
Depends on what you want to play.
But really just pick a song you like (probably one that doesn't sound too crazy heh) and learn it!
What sort of music are you in to?
Queens of the stone age, iron maiden, acdc, led zeppelin, dire straits, soil, rise against, rage against the machine, pearl jam, them crooked vultures(saw this group in a thread a while ago) can't think of any more but it's all along these groups. So you, rock, punk and metal is my kind of music I guess :p
So I should just start practising a song? I mean I know about tabs and such but like, how do you really play the guitar? Say I want to improvise or something... or do a solo :p
Are you a self-educated guitarist? Because I'm curious as to how these people have learned it on their own.
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Try looking at justinguitar.com - he has a TON of really helpful videos.
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you can't learn to run until you learn to walk first...improvising riffs or soloes is something that only experienced musicians do well. I am self taught and I mainly used the internet at first...learning songs through tabs. I then learned some theory through books. I locked myself in my room and practiced about 6-8 hours a day for an entire year.
yes, I would just start learning songs you enjoy
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On November 15 2009 03:10 omg.deus wrote:
don't get frustrated and just keep practicing regularly...even if its only 15 minutes a day. Learn to read tablature (it's as easy as counting) and you can find almost any song online...it's important to keep trying to learn new things so you don't get bored.
The most important thing to remember is there is no secret or magic way to become good at an instrument, it takes lots of time, practice, and dedication. The first couple months are the hardest because you suck and you won't notice the small improvements that you will make...stick with it and remember to practice a little bit everyday. When you are "practicing" for your 15 minutes a day make sure you aren't doodling and just playing something easy and comfortable. You learn by forcing yourself to play things that are difficult.
I'm hearing that alot, and I really am trying to push the limit
to the second above poster I'll check it out thank you !
and to the above : Wow 6-8 hours a day for an entire year ?! True dedication. I'm feeling more and more motivated :p I'll just start to learn a song then ^^
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My Dad taught me to play chords and such.
I learned from there.
I learned originally in like grade 6 or something? I really started playing after grade 8 though.
I'm 21 now and I'm not like amazing or anything.
I never played with the goal of really getting better, I just played because I wanted to and so naturally got better as I played more.
I played just chords and sang for a long time.
Then I added in little things like bass runs between chords or things like that and eventually learned solos and stuff like that.
So if you're not in any rush to improve this works well and its never a chore really.
Pearl Jam has a lot of easy songs that are awesome. They use mostly very simple chords.
If you want to get away from chords a bit, look up the intro to People are Strange by The Doors (if you like it) and learn it. Its not very hard but it sounds awesome :D.
Basically, if you want to get good fast then the thing to do is probably study all sorts of stuff like do finger picking studies or w/e and try to learn stuff that is really challenging.
If you just want to play for fun and get better while doing it then play songs that you like and enjoy playing.
I remember in grade 10 I decided that I really wanted to learn Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan (crazy blues turn) so I just started learning it bit by bit by bit. Took about a year of just playing it when I wanted to but I could play it pretty well at that point. Its still not perfect but pretty reasonable.
Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin is an absolute blast to play! But its kinda tricky.
Elderly woman behind...etc by Pearl Jam is a classic that is nice and easy, just chords.
Betterman, also is a good one that sounds great just chorded but also has a sick arrangement by PJ that you can learn.
Thumbing my way by PJ (its on riot act btw) is also a really good song and very simple, but with a few things you can add in as you get more comfortable.
Maybe some of this helps?
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On November 15 2009 03:23 DwmC_Foefen wrote:Show nested quote +On November 15 2009 03:10 omg.deus wrote:
don't get frustrated and just keep practicing regularly...even if its only 15 minutes a day. Learn to read tablature (it's as easy as counting) and you can find almost any song online...it's important to keep trying to learn new things so you don't get bored.
The most important thing to remember is there is no secret or magic way to become good at an instrument, it takes lots of time, practice, and dedication. The first couple months are the hardest because you suck and you won't notice the small improvements that you will make...stick with it and remember to practice a little bit everyday. When you are "practicing" for your 15 minutes a day make sure you aren't doodling and just playing something easy and comfortable. You learn by forcing yourself to play things that are difficult. I'm hearing that alot, and I really am trying to push the limit to the second above poster I'll check it out thank you ! and to the above : Wow 6-8 hours a day for an entire year ?! True dedication. I'm feeling more and more motivated :p I'll just start to learn a song then ^^
hehe yeah, I mean you don't have to play nearly as much as I did...since a lot of that time was spent doodling and not practicing...but at the end of that year I could play yngwie malmsteen and other shred solos and play difficult classical guitar pieces...you will get out of it what you put into it.
motivation is also really important. This doesn't work for everybody...but before I would practice I would either listen to or watch videos of my favorite guitarists. Like when I watch pro starcraft vids...watching professionals really inspires and motivates me to want to learn.
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EDIT
While learning major and minor chords, I also made up ones that sounded good to me and made short little songs with them. Used that to help my strumming and to learn new strumming patterns without getting tired of the well-known chords.
To learn individual notes I listened to a song and through trial and error, picked out the notes that were similar. This helped me a bit with relative pitch, though now it's a lot easier to pick out the right note without so much trial and error.
Used scales with picking to increase my picking accuracy and speed, as well as left-hand finger movement speed.
One of the things that helped me the most was that my roommates all had guitars and so we would improvise random songs and include lyrics (mostly the lyrics consisted of us shit-talking each other). After a while the music got a bit better, lyrics not so much (=.
EDIT2: Was going to post music theory, but you weren't asking for that so I'll save it for another day.
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+ Show Spoiler +On November 15 2009 03:28 Zortch wrote:
My Dad taught me to play chords and such.
I learned from there.
I learned originally in like grade 6 or something? I really started playing after grade 8 though.
I'm 21 now and I'm not like amazing or anything.
I never played with the goal of really getting better, I just played because I wanted to and so naturally got better as I played more.
I played just chords and sang for a long time.
Then I added in little things like bass runs between chords or things like that and eventually learned solos and stuff like that.
So if you're not in any rush to improve this works well and its never a chore really.
Pearl Jam has a lot of easy songs that are awesome. They use mostly very simple chords.
If you want to get away from chords a bit, look up the intro to People are Strange by The Doors (if you like it) and learn it. Its not very hard but it sounds awesome :D.
Basically, if you want to get good fast then the thing to do is probably study all sorts of stuff like do finger picking studies or w/e and try to learn stuff that is really challenging.
If you just want to play for fun and get better while doing it then play songs that you like and enjoy playing.
I remember in grade 10 I decided that I really wanted to learn Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan (crazy blues turn) so I just started learning it bit by bit by bit. Took about a year of just playing it when I wanted to but I could play it pretty well at that point. Its still not perfect but pretty reasonable.
Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin is an absolute blast to play! But its kinda tricky.
Elderly woman behind...etc by Pearl Jam is a classic that is nice and easy, just chords.
Betterman, also is a good one that sounds great just chorded but also has a sick arrangement by PJ that you can learn.
Thumbing my way by PJ (its on riot act btw) is also a really good song and very simple, but with a few things you can add in as you get more comfortable.
Maybe some of this helps?
Yes this helps thanks
Ah the doors, forgot them. They have a few songs I like.
And yea it's not like I have a deadline or something to play guitar, just want to have fun and be able to play a few songs I like and such.
Btw another question, whats a good price of an amplifier? Taking into account I'm a beginning guitarist and don't want to spend thousands of euros on one :p A friend of mine said 50€, another said 200€ :s :p
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a little theory helps...but I find bombarding yourself with too much theory and not enough actual playing songs you enjoy early on is a fast way to get bored...and when you get bored you will stop playing.
edit: the best sound for your money in my opinion is to buy a cheap amp (under 100 u.s. dollars) and a decent effects pedal. I have this multi effects pedal for like 100 bucks and you can get some real rich sounds with that pedal and a crappy 50 dollar amp.
oh and another thing...trust your ear over tabs...tabs are NOTORIOUS for being wrong and if it sounds funky and you are hitting the right notes....the tab is probably wrong....I would just search for the same tab on another website.
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im at ur services
but im no professional guitarist tho
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omg thanks everyone I'm already member of ultimate-guitar, that site rocks :p
@ omg.deus : hmm, that pedalthing - idea is something I'll have to look into but it's good you mentioned it ^
Right now I'm going out to town but I'll check back tonight/tomorrow.
keep it coming
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thank god for youtube 
learn to read tabs asap if you can
most of the stuff on ultimate guitar are on tabs
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I am just starting to learn too, focusing on A E D chords and changing between them so far. I am starting with an acoustic guitar though
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If you want to be a SERIOUSLY good guitar player start learning Jazz theory. Take lessons if you can from a good jazz guitarist in your area. Jazz guitarists have an understanding of their instruments far greater than 99% of other guitarists. Even if you hate jazz its still a good idea to learn about it just to see how everything works together, how to improvise, how to create chords on the fly, how progressions work, etc etc.
If you just wanna fuck around, get some good tabs (the tabs in the back of guitar world kick ass, get them if you can,) and learn some songs you like. You'll eventually get better.
In any case, learn chords, scales, scale shapes. Memorize every note on your guitar (all the way up to the 22(4th)nd fret). Playing scales and pseudo-chromatic exercises are a great way to build up hand strength and familiarity as well.
By far the most important thing is to drill in good technique NOW while you don't have any bad habits. Learn to pick using just your wrist, learn proper pick-hand positioning, get used to classical - style left hand position. If you don't you'll have FUCKED up wrists, and reach an artificial skill cap down the road that requires re-learning everything you ever knew about the instrument to break.
Happy Playing!
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rage against the machine has some awesome easy songs to play
about buying an amp, unless you know what you want to play you should get something either cheap or kinda costly but versatile - in the latter case, Line6 has good low watt models with tons of effects and fun stuff to play w/ :>
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Whatever you do, practice SLOW AND CLEAN at first, and ALWAYS to a metronome or the song. Never play by yourself without backing tracks/audio/clicktracks unless its a solo guitar piece, even then you should play to a metronome.. Timing is #1 importance in music, and even though you may think you have good timing, you wont unless you play to a metronome.
Again, Slow and make sure every note rings out clean and clear. Take the song at half the speed (use speed-altering programs like Pacemaker plugin on Winamp, etc) and make sure you can play it 100% at that speed, then slowly bring it up 5% at a time until its full speed.
Sure, its boring and annoying but if you do this, you can learn ANY song in a matter of weeks/months. I am a professional guitarist (college diploma in Music Arts) and altho I jump around to different instruments more than I should to get "really" good, I know that if I wanted to, I could learn the hardest, fastest songs in weeks with this simple method, regardless of how hard/fast it is, just by the simple rules of playing slow and clean and increasing speed, always to a metronome. I really think ANYONE can learn any song if they know how to practice, the hard part of music is writing your own songs/improvising.
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If you really think about it, Learning guitar/music at a TOP/Professional level is as difficult or even moreso than being a Progamer in Starcraft, the only difference is that anyone can do it and the different talent levels dont matter as much (as music isnt a competition).. But the dedication required to be an absolute top end musician is the same, most of my classmates practice consistently 5 hours a day, and the goal of my college program was that we can be placed in ANY music situation, be it classical, jazz, funk, metal, pop, world music or anything, and be able to keep up with anyone and play anything. Of course, that is more if you want to become a well-rounded musician, most of the bands you listed are an average level of skill, but can't do many other genres. (Much like if you learned just TvZ but ignored TvT or TvP, its still terran but totally different playstyle)
Anyways, You have to decide for yourself if you just want to learn afew songs for fun and to play infront of your friends, or if you want to join a rock band that does only that kind of music, or if you want to become a "musician" able to be put in any situation and dive into the world of "theory" (its not as scary as it sounds, if you can grasp Starcraft at least a B- level, you can probably learn the important parts of theory within months if you try). Obviously the first two choices are attainable, but being a true musician is a never-ending journey and you can NEVER learn everything, it really becomes your life. Even the greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Steve Vai, whoever the top of their era is will tell you they have so much more to learn.
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I think the thing that would work best is to not worry about all that advice that you can receive as a beginner, and focus more on what you like. Certainly there are things you may not pick up on your own, but focus on having fun more than anything. The nice thing about beginning guitar is that you can have iffy technique and still sound fine.
As far as amps go, just get a 10-watt that has a distortion option or something, there's no reason to spend more than $50.
As people have said, practice with clean settings, and practice with a metronome. There are free metronome programs online, but I would recommend investing in the BOSS Tuner/Metronome. It's like $20 and enormously useful. Going along with that, don't practice with an out of tune guitar: it will slow down your ability to listen properly.
Skyze is right on the money with practicing, vis a vis if you really want to improve. As a classical guitarist, I hear a metronome more than I hear my own voice. The student has two primary objectives: to learn the rhythm and to learn the pitches.
Best of luck, and have fun! It's a wonderfully long journey.
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I think a metronome is the most important thing ever.. Esp for drummers, they should friggin sleep with a metronome on.
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EPT
