New guitar...Now what?

[Sport]

Well, I am about to take delivery of a 1993
mint Taylor 510...purchased on this forum.
Incidently, I discovered this excellent forum about four days ago.
You guys do know how it's done.....Congratulations.

I haven't played a guitar in more than thirty-five
years. Back then, I had a rock band and played lead
guitar on an early sixties Fender Custom Telecaster.
That was then...Odd as it may sound, I never really learned
chords. Mostly I played single notes ala Duane Eddy, The Surfaris,
Ventures, etc. I only know basic chords and am a beginner with finger style.
So, here I am; almost ashamed to call myself a guitar player; but with a really nice instrument on its way. What do I do?

I would really like to dedicate myself to learn guitar. Problem is,
I do not know where to start.....Lessons? How do I choose an
instructor? Style? I have no idea. I just want to enjoy playing.

Can you help? How did you begin?

Thanks.

[SteveS]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on a very nice guitar.
What kind of music do you want to play? Fingerstyle, lead, blues, CW, jazz? Decide that and then ask around for a good teacher that knows how to teach what you want to play. You'll learn faster if you take lessons.

[meridian]

Hey Sport! Welcome to the Forum and congrats on your new Taylor.

There are good software products out there that can help. I like Guitar Method from eMedia.

Maybe decide what you'd like to play now and go to your local music emprium and pick up some song books.

There arer these great things called TABs which, rather than standard music notation, show frets and strings.

Here's a link to one for "Blackbird" which I'm really enjoying learning:

http://www.guitartabs.cc/fetchurl.ph.../blackbird.tab

I also came back to the imstrument after being a rock'n'roller -- but I played rhythm guitar, just a strummer. These days I enjoy learning fingerstyle and don't do much strumming anymore.

I am about ready to find a teacher, too, to advance my playing to the next level.

Have fun!

[kcollins]

Welcome and congratulations on your guitar.

Mel Bay has a pretty good library of how-to books for all styles and levels. I've used several myself and recommend them. Mark Hanson's books on fingerstyle seem to be pretty highly rated by members here on the Forum.

Taking lessons will definitely accelerate your learning curve, but you need to pick a teacher carefully to ensure you learn what you want to learn and not just what he wants to teach.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. This Forum is one of the best resources for music information I've found - take advantage of it.

[matt]

well...to me it depends on how bad you want it...i wanted to play guitar so bad that i bought books and learned chords and scales myself while one of my friends took lessons....in two months i had learned every major, minor and seventh chord in every position on the neck and the pentatonic scale...the only thing my friend knew was a few assorted chords...

so i guess i found the best teacher for me...me

but i also practiced at least two hours each day (sometimes more, but never less)...and i still practice everyday....

its all in how bad you want it...

[cal]

if you have some simple chords down, get some tabs and jam along with a radio or cd.

[DeadHead]

Originally posted by matt
its all in how bad you want it...

Well said Matt !! I agree totally !

Regards,
DeadHead

[Imapickn]

Originally posted by Sport
Well, I am about to take delivery of a 1993
mint Taylor 510...purchased on this forum.Thanks.

Practise, Practise, Practise.... But seriously, keep us posted as to your progress.... Regards

[carolina410]

Sport-

Congrats on the purchase!

If you decide to take lessons, do not be afraid to switch tutors if you don't feel comfortable with whoever is teaching you. When I bought my first guitar (a Hondo II), I signed on for lessons and ended up with "Mr. Metal" as my teacher. Sure he was a decent guitarist, but he couldn't understand why I wanted to play "cowboy chords" and learn Neil Young songs instead of shredding like Eddie Van Halen. I guess the point is to be sure that you and your teacher see eye to eye.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Danzo]

Good suggestions.

If you want to learn a few songs really well, check out the Warner Bros Songxpress series. Each has 4 songs usually. Styles like soft rock, classic rock, surf tunes, blues etc. I see them in vhs format for $10 now ... dvd's are usually $15-20. I never would have bought one but someone gave me this one with 'Suite:Judy Blues Eyes' that is so cool, it blew me away. The only part it didn't show was the Stills lead licks in the jam part ... but I just pretend I'm Ravi Shankar and go for it. I was suprised how great this series is for someone fairly new. Very accurate, good songs and easy to follow.

Homespun has wonderful instruction also. A ton of it! Usually a specific style but if that's where you're at they're worth it.

You have to figure what genre you wish to play mainly and go for it. There's about 500 times more great resources out there than when I first started. Learning tablature is simple and is another way to go as long as the tabs are accurate.

Once you're in tune with a cd, play along with the songs you like and know. Make it your goal to blend right in with the band ... pretty cool when it happens.

The ideal scene is if you have a decent picking buddy who already knows what you wanna know. Buy him a six pack once a week and watch closely.

You got the right guitar! Have fun.

[Midnight Shadow]

Welcome to the group and congrats on the guitar.

I came back to guitar much like you. I found some of the videos at Homespun Tapes to help. I bought my step daughter a set of 3 videos from them and they are very basic and she liked them. Homespun also has a bunch of blues tapes and fingerstyle tapes that are pretty neat including one that is something like "Easy fingerstying something" which has some blues in it like Freight Train and Railroad Bill.

Guitar Method from eMedia gets good ratings. I don't have the beginning one but I do have the second one and while I have not worked my way through the whole thing it seems goods.

Hope this helps.
Midnight Shadow