Advice to people learning guitar - from someone learning guitar

[Stonehauler]

I know that this forum is comprised mostly of veteran players who have been playing for years, but this post is to those who are still learning at a basic and fundamental level. If you want to skip the wall of text, the bits of advice are in Bold.

I've been playing music since I was 5 and while I took a long (20 year+) break between high school and the recent years, some of the basics kept with me, but other aspects of the guitar continued to elude me...and some still do.
1) Guitar playing and music in general is a journey. Sometimes we have to take detours, other times we may hit dead ends or giant stop signs given to us by life, but we can come back to that journey later in life. So take a break if you need to, but just don't give up because it's hard today...

When I first tried to play, I could not...and while it was not something I knew at the time, it was partly due to a bad setup.
2) When you buy a guitar, get a good setup and a low even action on it. This will reduce (but not completely eliminate) the finger pain we get when first starting our journey - However, the only way we get the callouses we need is to play every day. Even if it's only 10-15 minutes a day at first, play every day

When I started back up, my teacher mistook a few (poorly played) songs as evidence that I was further along in my journey than I was. While I have switched teachers and have progressed, I think some of my issues were because I missed learning some of the guitar fundamentals and my teachers assumed I knew them
3) no matter how experienced you are, be humble enough to ask your teachers to review and devote at least some of your time to the fundamentals every practice. Scales, chords and chord changes, strum patterns, reading sheet music, following dynamics, and sight reading new songs.

That said, today I did something that I have never been able to do before...transition automatically to an F barre chord. I've been getting pretty good with my open chords (still learning new chords every week or two, but most non-B open chords I can play without looking), but up until today, I always had to look down at my fretboard and actively think about what fingers I had to move, and to where.

I have an organ/low brass/percussion background, so while it's always been easy for me to look at a keyboard and say..that's an F#, I've never been able to look at the fretboard and just say, this is a G#, so my teacher wants me to practice finding roots for my chords. I had just finished running through a random song and decided to just see what the full chording sounded like. As I was reading the progressions, I found myself just automatically switching to the F-barre...almost two years of playing and practicing (as I can) it finally happened

4)No matter how frustrated you may be at your lack of progression, so long as you keep at it, you will progress. It's not a race, and while some of us will see musicians running ahead of us on the learning curve, trust me, there are also those that are slower than you are, but all of us will outpace those that don't keep at it.

5) take the time to learn the right way, not the easy way. I've probably spent 5x more time breaking the bad habits that I learned then I would have spend learning it the right way the first time. Yeah, it may mean that song is painfully slow getting that strum pattern down right, but once you get it, you got it. If you learn it wrong, I guarantee that removing what you learned and getting it right is a lot longer a process. Teachers can help, but you need to understand how you learn and ensure that you are doing what you need to do to go from lesson to practice between lessons and keep doing it the right way. This may actually mean taking notes...

6) Have fun. Practice songs you like and will play/know. If you like 60's folk, playing a bunch of grunge metal probably won't inspire you. That said, once you have gotten comfortable where you are, don't be afraid to expand that comfort zone a bit and explore new areas.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Stonehauler

I know that this forum is comprised mostly of veteran players who have been playing for years, but this post is to those who are still learning at a basic and fundamental level. If you want to skip the wall of text, the bits of advice are in Bold.

I've been playing music since I was 5 and while I took a long b(20 year+) break between high school and the recent years, some of the basics kept with me, but other aspects of the guitar continued to elude me...and some still do.
1) Guitar playing and music in general is a journey. Sometimes we have to take detours, other times we may hit dead ends or giant stop signs given to us by life, but we can come back to that journey later in life. So take a break if you need to, but just don't give up because it's hard today...

When I first tried to play, I could not...and while it was not something I knew at the time, it was partly due to a bad setup.
2) When you buy a guitar, get a good setup and a low even action on it. This will reduce (but not completely eliminate) the finger pain we get when first starting our journey - However, the only way we get the callouses we need is to play every day. Even if it's only 10-15 minutes a day at first, play every day

When I started back up, my teacher mistook a few (poorly played) songs as evidence that I was further along in my journey than I was. While I have switched teachers and have progressed, I think some of my issues were because I missed learning some of the guitar fundamentals and my teachers assumed I knew them
3) no matter how experienced you are, be humble enough to ask your teachers to review and devote at least some of your time to the fundamentals every practice. Scales, chords and chord changes, strum patterns, reading sheet music, following dynamics, and sight reading new songs.

That said, today I did something that I have never been able to do before...transition automatically to an F barre chord. I've been getting pretty good with my open chords (still learning new chords every week or two, but most non-B open chords I can play without looking), but up until today, I always had to look down at my fretboard and actively think about what fingers I had to move, and to where.

I have an organ/low brass/percussion background, so while it's always been easy for me to look at a keyboard and say..that's an F#, I've never been able to look at the fretboard and just say, this is a G#, so my teacher wants me to practice finding roots for my chords. I had just finished running through a random song and decided to just see what the full chording sounded like. As I was reading the progressions, I found myself just automatically switching to the F-barre...almost two years of playing and practicing (as I can) it finally happened

4)No matter how frustrated you may be at your lack of progression, so long as you keep at it, you will progress. It's not a race, and while some of us will see musicians running ahead of us on the learning curve, trust me, there are also those that are slower than you are, but all of us will outpace those that don't keep at it.

5) take the time to learn the right way, not the easy way. I've probably spent 5x more time breaking the bad habits that I learned then I would have spend learning it the right way the first time. Yeah, it may mean that song is painfully slow getting that strum pattern down right, but once you get it, you got it. If you learn it wrong, I guarantee that removing what you learned and getting it right is a lot longer a process. Teachers can help, but you need to understand how you learn and ensure that you are doing what you need to do to go from lesson to practice between lessons and keep doing it the right way. This may actually mean taking notes...

6) Have fun. Practice songs you like and will play/know. If you like 60's folk, playing a bunch of grunge metal probably won't inspire you. That said, once you have gotten comfortable where you are, don't be afraid to expand that comfort zone a bit and explore new areas.

Pure bunk! If you weren't born with it, forget it. "Some gots it, some don't." Everybody has some uncle who picked up the guitar for the first time and the music just rolled out of him effortlessly.

JUST KIDDING!!! Some excellent advice here, and the OP could easily qualify to be a "sticky" post so people can easily find and review it in the future since it is applicable to all of us, not just beginners. Always worth a reminder on our journey.

Tony

[JonPR]

As one of those veterans myself, I agree with all of that - with one exception:

"the only way we get the callouses we need..."

What will develop naturally and gradually on the fret hand is slightly thicker and less sensitive skin. Some people seem to exaggerate the notion of a "callous" as a lump of dead skin, completely insensitive to touch, that eventually peels off. (In some quarters, there seems to be a kind of macho pride in having fingertips like that - talking about hardening and drying the skin even more with alcohol or whatever - delighting in tales of peeling chunks off.)

But that's exactly what you don't want on your fingertips. A hard pad might be OK, but obviously you don't want something that might peel off at any time, leaving more sensitive skin beneath. Because then you just start the whole process all over again.

As a beginner, I remember playing so hard (or for so long) that I developed blisters. I then had to stop until they healed, of course. The dead skin peeled, and the more sensitive skin beneath made it more painful to play. So I was forced to practice much less. But gradually, over maybe one or two years (I really don't remember), I stopped getting the blisters - partly because i was more sensible about practising, partly because my fingertip skin was getting a little tougher.

But I never developed anything I would call a callous, and still haven't. The skin on my fret hand fingertips looks hardly any different to my right. It's definitely a little thicker and a little less sensitive.

It may be that that is all you mean by "callouses" anyway (I think what I have would be defined in a medical sense as callouses, but of a very mild nature - nothing like what's on the heels of my feet, for example); but I just thought this needed saying, to counter some of the macho idiocy out there.

The other piece of advice I'd give is:

Practice until either (a) it starts to hurt, or (b) it gets boring. Then stop.

Even if you don't damage yourself after (a), you learn nothing of any use if you carry on beyond either of those points.
But also, if you find either of those things is happening after 10 minutes - you're doing something wrong. It might be your guitar is badly set-up, it might be your position is wrong, it might be you're practising the wrong things.
The point is, you should want to play 24 hours a day, if that was humanly possible. Naturally, other things get in the way of that, but running out of interesting things to play should not be one of them

[reeve21]

Hi Stone,

I cherry picked a few of your tips that have worked for me. Good post!

Even if it's only 10-15 minutes a day at first, play every day.

No matter how frustrated you may be at your lack of progression, so long as you keep at it, you will progress.

Have fun. Practice songs you like and will play/know.... That said, once you have gotten comfortable where you are, don't be afraid to expand that comfort zone a bit and explore new areas.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Hi Stone,

I cherry picked a few of your tips that have worked for me. Good post!

Even if it's only 10-15 minutes a day at first, play every day.

No matter how frustrated you may be at your lack of progression, so long as you keep at it, you will progress.

Have fun. Practice songs you like and will play/know.... That said, once you have gotten comfortable where you are, don't be afraid to expand that comfort zone a bit and explore new areas.

They're probably my top picks too.

[Robin, Wales]

Playing guitar is a physical act with auditory feedback. You need to train your physical skills and you need to train your auditory discrimination. And, fundamental, both elements are skills, not talents. Motivation and opportunity will take you a long way.

[phydaux]

"The skin on my fret hand fingertips looks hardly any different to my right."


I have to look VERY CLOSELY to notice any difference between my left hand fingertips and my right hand fingertips. And my left hand fingertips feel no different than my right hand fingertips when I run them over the back of my arm, not lumpier or rougher or courser.

[tbirdman]

Buy the book Laws of Brainjo. The book is full of great advice for beginner or other those are on the journey. I think all teachers should make beginners read this book. The OP did have a lot of great advice. I only have been playing for 2 years.

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by tbirdman

Buy the book Laws of Brainjo. The book is full of great advice for beginner or other those are on the journey. I think all teachers should make beginners read this book. The OP did have a lot of great advice. I only have been playing for 2 years.

Agree. I am reading this book and find it full of valuable advice. I am three years in and needed to hear his practical observations as well as the cognitive ones. Highly recommended.
David

[Rick_In_Tampa]

My very first guitar and amp arrived Friday evening. Tonight I plugged the guitar into the amp and went on You Tube to try and follow some of the lesson vids that are out there. I sat there for about an hour trying to play 2 notes and it just wasn't happening. Fitting three fingers on the same fret to play a note just wasn't working. My fingertips finally got too sore to keep trying, so I stopped.

So I can see that this is going to be a long journey with an uncertain destination. I start lessons this week and I'm hopeful the teacher can do what You Tube can't.

I say all this to acknowledge that the advice you shared sounds spot on to me. It's going to take time. A lot of time, to get good (or at least proficient) at playing. I can also see where it can be discouraging, and I'm going to have to power through those times and just keep on practicing.

Thanks for sharing your tips!

[Italuke]

Yup, what Jon said.

I've been playing for 40 years. I have zero callouses.

[Golffishny]

I used to have hard thick callouses, mostly due to poor setup and a death grip with my left hand. I have transitioned to good setup and practicing fretting as light as I can get a clear tone. My fingertips now feel like a soft leather and I get little to no finger pain. It takes some effort but is worth it. Works for me.

[Jamolay]

Originally Posted by Rick_In_Tampa

My very first guitar and amp arrived Friday evening. Tonight I plugged the guitar into the amp and went on You Tube to try and follow some of the lesson vids that are out there. I sat there for about an hour trying to play 2 notes and it just wasn't happening. Fitting three fingers on the same fret to play a note just wasn't working. My fingertips finally got too sore to keep trying, so I stopped.

So I can see that this is going to be a long journey with an uncertain destination. I start lessons this week and I'm hopeful the teacher can do what You Tube can't.

I say all this to acknowledge that the advice you shared sounds spot on to me. It's going to take time. A lot of time, to get good (or at least proficient) at playing. I can also see where it can be discouraging, and I'm going to have to power through those times and just keep on practicing.

Thanks for sharing your tips!

Look up “JustinGuitar”.

Excellent teacher, great, well organized course online and you can do it for free through intermediate levels (donations and add on purchases available but not required). It has an attached online “community” which is very supportive and kind.

It will augment in person lessons well.

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by Jamolay

Look up “JustinGuitar”.

Excellent teacher, great, well organized course online and you can do it for free through intermediate levels (donations and add on purchases available but not required). It has an attached online “community” which is very supportive and kind.

It will augment in person lessons well.

This is the way.

[Don W]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Hi Stone,

I cherry picked a few of your tips that have worked for me. Good post!

Even if it's only 10-15 minutes a day at first, play every day.

No matter how frustrated you may be at your lack of progression, so long as you keep at it, you will progress.

Have fun. Practice songs you like and will play/know.... That said, once you have gotten comfortable where you are, don't be afraid to expand that comfort zone a bit and explore new areas.

Yes...me too.