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Old 04-30-2017, 11:10 AM
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TBman TBman is offline
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Default When I learned to play guitar....

This is aimed at the 0-12 month beginner. Maybe other experienced players can add their story of how they learned. This is from a chord strumming point of view, not finger style or flat picking.

My friends and I were about 9-10 when the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show. Of course we all had to learn how to play the guitar! My parents surprised me with a Sears Silvertone and off I went. Took some lessons, which were helpful somewhat. What mattered most was when the three of us got together with our guitars and tried to play songs from a book. We couldn't do the full G chord, for instance, so we just played 000003, lol. Same thing with F and C, just one or two strings, but it didn't matter. We knew the songs and sang and played. The beat of the song forced us to keep up with our chord changes. And so it went open chords for a few years. As we got older we were able to make the full open chord fingerings and in my early teens barre chords were learned and mastered with a do or die attitude. So here's a short list of things that might help you:

1. Start with easy versions of songs you know. Sing or hum the song and try to keep up with the chord changes. As you get more accurate, the speed comes on its own.

2. Practice chord changes that are in the songs you know, but do not sing along. Try to do the chord changes slowly, but with no buzzing when the chord is strummed. Strum the chords sort of vigorously. You want to highlight buzzing so you can apply the correct pressure/build calluses.

3. Do a repeat of #2 above, but as a separate exercise. Close your eyes and try to switch chords and nail the chord on the first grab. If there are chords that give you a problem hitting on the first grab, put your fretting hand on your lap then reach up to grab the chord, repeat. Do this with or without your eyes open at first, then as you get better close your eyes. This gives your brain a little more time to plan ahead, but trains the muscle memory.

The above will give you a sort of routine to get those chord changes down and build calluses. The whole idea is to enjoy yourself while you improve. Its not a contest, or a destination, but a journey. Just remember that accuracy is more important than speed. Speed comes with time. Practicing or playing too fast, just teaches you to make mistakes faster.

Once you get the chords going well, then you should start doing a scale-like exercise for independent finger dexterity, the simplest one being fretting the 1st string at the 1st fret, 1st finger, then the 2nd fret, second finger, third fret etc, then back down again, repeating for each string. The idea is to play each note cleanly and move up your speed as you go along, but speed alone is not the goal. The beauty of this "worm" scale is that you don't need a book and learning the names of the notes at this point is just extra gravy if you want to look it up.

Don't try to do too much at once. Your goal should be to be able to change the open chords cleanly and enjoy playing the guitar. Once you get to this point, in person lessons, either formal or just playing with a more experienced friend is recommended. If none are available try some easy online courses designed around learning songs that you know or like.
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Old 04-30-2017, 05:26 PM
Pitar Pitar is offline
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Good memory refresher and start-up advice.

I started about 8 years later than you. I could not convince my motor skills to use a Fender guitar pick, which were available in thin, medium and heavy weights, so I bought a Mel Bay book on finger picking Merle Travis style. The guitar was a Yamaha FG230 12-string.

I immediately went to work learning how to finger pick (as opposed to finger style) that guitar. That's all I did for a couple years and dedicated myself through countless hours of sitting next to a turn table playing songs on LPs repeatedly until my ears found the music on the fretboard. Every song I liked I rendered a finger picked version of even if it was just strummed. If it was performed on another instrument I transposed it to guitar and made it work for me.

One important message in that is ear training. You will always read that message in my tales of learning. Developing the ear cannot be over-emphasized. If you develop the sight-reading skills of a master but have a deaf ear for your instrument, you will be unable to listen to something and later pick up your guitar and play it without a score.

Keeping the ear out front is the most important aspect of musicianship, and remember to close your eyes when shopping for a guitar.
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Old 04-30-2017, 05:32 PM
Pitar Pitar is offline
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Good memory refresher and start-up advice.

Mine would be to keep your ear out front, as the most important aspect of musicianship, and remember to close your eyes when shopping for a guitar.
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Old 04-30-2017, 09:39 PM
colchar colchar is offline
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Originally Posted by Pitar View Post
I immediately went to work learning how to finger pick (as opposed to finger style) that guitar.

What is the difference between finger picking and finger style? I often get them confused.

And what would you call what this guy is doing in about the first minute of this video:






I sometimes play like he does, (similar to what Jeff Beck does...but both of them engage in far too much wanking on the whammy bar) but never know what to call it.

Tragically, the player featured here drowned this past summer while on vacation.
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Old 04-30-2017, 09:55 PM
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fazool fazool is offline
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The most important and profound advice I got (which I share at every opportunity) was from one of my two guitar mentors.

When asking about figuring out a song, I wanted to know UDUDUUDDUD but he was exasperated and said "you guys need to stop trying to figure out the strum pattern and just feelthe music"

I embraced this approach and it has made all the difference for me.
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Old 04-30-2017, 10:33 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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When I came to the guitar I was much older than most back in those days, the 1980s. I was around 28 when I started. I took lessons from a guy at my local music store who was very good but he had his limits. Then I began to buy Homespun videos from Happy Traum. This helped me learn much quicker, from 12 bar blues to rock strumming and some muting techniques. I played professionally for about 10 years and then gave it up when we moved to Nashville. Didn't pick it up again till last year around April. I hate the fact that I wasted all those years not playing.
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Old 05-01-2017, 12:23 AM
colchar colchar is offline
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Originally Posted by fazool View Post
The most important and profound advice I got (which I ahre at every opportunity) was from one of my two guitar mentors.

When asking about figuring out a song, I wanted to know UDUDUUDDUD but he was exasperated and said "you guys need to stop trying to figure out the strum pattern and just feelthe music"

I'm glad I read that. I have trouble picking out strum patterns, and have no idea what to do with a tune I am not familiar with, but I am going to remember what I read in your post - thanks for posting it.
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Old 05-01-2017, 11:50 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Originally Posted by fazool View Post
The most important and profound advice I got (which I share at every opportunity) was from one of my two guitar mentors.

When asking about figuring out a song, I wanted to know UDUDUUDDUD but he was exasperated and said "you guys need to stop trying to figure out the strum pattern and just feel the music"

I embraced this approach and it has made all the difference for me.
Right! The only problem with that advice - "just feel the music" - is the beginner is entitled to ask, "yes, but how do I do that?" IOW, some technical grounding is essential before you can impart feel.

What matters - what is behind the teachers comment - is the beat, the basic pulse. You need to be able to strum the "1-2-3-4" in regular downstrokes first. And then be able to hit upstrokes in between without disturbing the downs. Many of my beginners have trouble with this. If you star thinking about those upstrokes, it all falls apart.
It ought to be obvious that the pick/hand moves up between each downstroke (duh!); it just misses the strings if you only play downstrokes. So all you need to do is allow the pick to hit the strings (sometimes) as it comes back up.
So you can start by just playing D-D-D-D- to begin with (in time) - moving the hand evenly down and up, but only hitting the downstroke. Then try DUDUDUDU (hitting the strings with every pass, up and down). Now - keep your hand moving the same way, but just miss the strings now and then! Hey - instant strum pattern!

To add to TBman's excellent advice:

I agree with the simplified chords point. In the beginning, you can use the top 4 strings only for every shape (as long as you can reliably miss strings 5 and 6 when strumming). 0-0-0-0-0-3 may not be a proper G chord, but x-x-0-0-0-3 is! Likewise x-x-2-0-1-0 is a complete C chord, x-x-0-2-3-2 is a complete D, x-x-2-1-0-0 is a complete E; etc.

The really important thing is to be able to keep the beat. When changing chords, take your fingers off the previous chord early enough to get the next chord on the beat where it belongs. Slow down until you can do this in time. Often you can just keep strumming open strings while your hand is moving to the new shape. But you may just need to stop strumming the first chord to give yourself time to move. Even pros will often strum open strings on the last half beat of a bar (final upstroke), while their fingers move to the new chord.
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:04 AM
1neeto 1neeto is offline
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Great thread and very relevant for me because just about 3 weeks ago I started to teach a friend. Now mind you, I'm just an intermediate player, but I think I can teach the basics and go from there. I must say it is very satisfying to see my "student" come every Tuesday and see the improvement.

So here's my "curriculum". Sorry this might get long from here but I'll appreciate any feedback. Remember this is a person with zero experience with guitar or any musical instrument. He's in his mid 20's. The guitar is using is one of my strays that's set up with very low action and light strings. Super easy to play so I thought it's perfect for learning.

Week one:
After showing him the very basics (how to hold a pick for example) I decided to start with single note picking and started to teach him an open E scale which is perfect for not only develop single note picking but it is also a great finger stretching exercise. Here's the scale for those who are wondering:
E 0 2 4
A 0 2 4
D 1 2

I will eventually teach the rest of the scale to the high e, but for now 3 strings will do.

Next was 3 chords. E, Em, and Am. He was really excited about that. And gave him a homework to practice that scale, how to tune the guitar, and those 3 chords.

Week 2:
Open E scale but this time I introduced him to alternate picking and going down after the E note on the D string. This threw him off a little, but I did notice some improvement in his accuracy. He's been practicing! He also showed he's been practicing his chords. But showed a bit of frustration because they're not always clean. Told him to stick to it, showed him some thumb placement techniques so that it makes his chords cleaner and also showed him how to arpeggiate that way he can pin point which strings he's been muting. He doesn't know this is also training him single note picking on all the strings.

New chord: C
I figured he has his hands full with E and Am, so the natural transition from Am is C. He thought it was impossible to get his fingers get that far without muting strings. He promised to practice.

Week 3:
Alternate picking while transitioning to other strings during the open E scale exercise. That was fun.
New chords G, D. Told him the many options to do an open G shape, I personally use my ring, middle, and pinky on the high e, because it makes it easier for me to have that free index finger to transition to other chords. This seemed a bit impossible for him, so I taught him to use the idea, middle and ring finger on the high e. The D was tougher for him but he promised to practice. All this time I've been teaching him only down strums and emphasizing how some chords you can't strum all strings.

Also turned on the distortion on the amp and taught him power chord shapes. I can tell he loved that.

So far he's got E, Em, Am, C, G, and D. I told him if he learn those chords, he can play a bunch of popular songs so he's motivated.

Here's tomorrow's agenda:
1. Will show the rest of that open E scale to the high e string and then back down.
2. Strumming patterns, will introduce him to the metronome and do down strums on time. Will encourage to keep that arm going up down regardless if he misses a strum or not, to concentrate on that metronome click.
3. Chord transitions. Will start with switching from Em to E on time. Since all it takes is adding that index finger on the G string. If he gets that down, I'll have him transition from Em to Am and C. I'm pretty sure transitioning to G and D is out of the question, but who knows he might surprise me!

This has been super satisfying, it brings me back to when I first picked up a guitar. Can't wait to see him grow and me along with him.
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:20 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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I was a drummer. I had my first "lessons" from the guitarists in the band in the back of a van on the way to gigs.

It was the '60s, and there was no internet, very few source books - OK three was Play In A Day - by Bert Weedon - but I knew nothing of such things.

I learnt to play E,A and B7. That was it for some years.

Late 'sixties, I started looking/listening to more folkie music. I learnt C,F & G and G, C, and D.

I met up with two guys who knew how to play and they taught me a lot - A stood at the back and strummed but we got gigs. I learnt about minor chords.

I learnt to listen to a record over and over again and find out what chords were being played ....it worked sometimes.

In the early '70s I discovered "bluegrass" and discovered that I had pretty much all the chords I needed, but I had to stop strumming, and start flat-picking (the boom chick)

Over the years I tried lessons with various guitar teachers. One summed it up by saying - "I cannot teach you - but you will learn".

He was right.
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Old 05-02-2017, 08:35 AM
EllaMom EllaMom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1neeto View Post
Great thread and very relevant for me because just about 3 weeks ago I started to teach a friend. Now mind you, I'm just an intermediate player, but I think I can teach the basics and go from there. I must say it is very satisfying to see my "student" come every Tuesday and see the improvement.

So here's my "curriculum". Sorry this might get long from here but I'll appreciate any feedback. Remember this is a person with zero experience with guitar or any musical instrument. He's in his mid 20's. The guitar is using is one of my strays that's set up with very low action and light strings. Super easy to play so I thought it's perfect for learning.

Week one:
After showing him the very basics (how to hold a pick for example) I decided to start with single note picking and started to teach him an open E scale which is perfect for not only develop single note picking but it is also a great finger stretching exercise. Here's the scale for those who are wondering:
E 0 2 4
A 0 2 4
D 1 2

I will eventually teach the rest of the scale to the high e, but for now 3 strings will do.

Next was 3 chords. E, Em, and Am. He was really excited about that. And gave him a homework to practice that scale, how to tune the guitar, and those 3 chords.

Week 2:
Open E scale but this time I introduced him to alternate picking and going down after the E note on the D string. This threw him off a little, but I did notice some improvement in his accuracy. He's been practicing! He also showed he's been practicing his chords. But showed a bit of frustration because they're not always clean. Told him to stick to it, showed him some thumb placement techniques so that it makes his chords cleaner and also showed him how to arpeggiate that way he can pin point which strings he's been muting. He doesn't know this is also training him single note picking on all the strings.

New chord: C
I figured he has his hands full with E and Am, so the natural transition from Am is C. He thought it was impossible to get his fingers get that far without muting strings. He promised to practice.

Week 3:
Alternate picking while transitioning to other strings during the open E scale exercise. That was fun.
New chords G, D. Told him the many options to do an open G shape, I personally use my ring, middle, and pinky on the high e, because it makes it easier for me to have that free index finger to transition to other chords. This seemed a bit impossible for him, so I taught him to use the idea, middle and ring finger on the high e. The D was tougher for him but he promised to practice. All this time I've been teaching him only down strums and emphasizing how some chords you can't strum all strings.

Also turned on the distortion on the amp and taught him power chord shapes. I can tell he loved that.

So far he's got E, Em, Am, C, G, and D. I told him if he learn those chords, he can play a bunch of popular songs so he's motivated.

Here's tomorrow's agenda:
1. Will show the rest of that open E scale to the high e string and then back down.
2. Strumming patterns, will introduce him to the metronome and do down strums on time. Will encourage to keep that arm going up down regardless if he misses a strum or not, to concentrate on that metronome click.
3. Chord transitions. Will start with switching from Em to E on time. Since all it takes is adding that index finger on the G string. If he gets that down, I'll have him transition from Em to Am and C. I'm pretty sure transitioning to G and D is out of the question, but who knows he might surprise me!

This has been super satisfying, it brings me back to when I first picked up a guitar. Can't wait to see him grow and me along with him.
I like your approach, in that it is very organized and each lesson builds on the previous ones. Good job!
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Old 05-02-2017, 09:00 AM
6L6 6L6 is offline
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I started in 1963 with a Mel Bay chord book and sheet music I could memorize at the local music store. Never realized that Bob Dylan really never played an uncapoed Eb in his life... LOL!

Best advice I ever got:

"Never put your guitar in its case unless you're taking it somewhere. And NEVER walk by it without picking it up and playing it, if even for just a minute. It's all about muscle memory." I still follow this advice to this very day.
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Old 05-02-2017, 11:17 AM
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KDepew KDepew is offline
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TBman, I love the advice that accuracy is the most important thing. That speed will come with practice. Gonna totally steal the "playing too fast just helps you make mistakes faster" comment if you don't mind!
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:06 PM
1neeto 1neeto is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EllaMom View Post
I like your approach, in that it is very organized and each lesson builds on the previous ones. Good job!


Thank you! He couldn't make it today so I'm a bit bummed about that. I told him to keep practicing so it should be great next week Tuesday.
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Old 05-02-2017, 01:18 PM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
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Originally Posted by Looburst View Post
I played professionally for about 10 years and then gave it up when we moved to Nashville.
That's the most unusual thing I've seen posted here on the AGF.
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