Help for a new guy...

[grousesalmon]

I got a guitar for Christmas and plan on taking lessons. However, lessons are all booked at the present time. What is the best way to learn on my own?

The agreement is that if I show an interest and use that guitar I got as a gift (a Garrison) I will get a Taylor next Christmas. All my family members play Taylors.

I have been working on basic chords, A, E, G, C, Bm. My problem is that I am 30 years old and have never been an instrument player, but I have wanted to learn the guitar for several years now. I have a hard time changing from one chord to the next.

Any help would be great.

[anothersmith]

Lessons are generally the best way to go, but if you can't arrange for lessons, there are books (accompanied by CDs, usually) that can teach you how to play. Some are geared toward people who can read music; others assume you don't know how. Some are geared toward fingerpicking; some toward blues; some toward rock, etc.

If you have a good music store nearby, you might ask them for advice on a good beginner's book. I used Mel Bay's book in the beginning, because I wanted to learn how to read music, but you might prefer something else.

Also, if everyone in your family plays, why don't you hit them up for informal lessons? At the very least they could teach you the chords to some songs and you could play along with them. It's a lot more fun learning that way.

Welcome to the forum!

[meridian]

Welcome to the Forum!

Anothersmith hit all the right notes in her reply! eMedia makes some CD-ROM guitar instructions that I like, but hey, you are in a family of players -- ask them for sure!

BTW, changing chords seems to be just about impossible when you are starting out, but believe me, with a bit of practice (and I DON'T mean boring practice, just play) you will get faster and faster and faster until you won't believe it yourself!

Garrison has a very interesting guitar building technique (so I've read), but I've never come across one.

Enjoy your new guitar!

[waterdogmtb]

One book (w/ CD) that I would recommend for just starting out (& having little musical backgound and being 30+ yrs)is Guitar for Dummies. I t has some exercises for working through basic chord progressions.

[yardism]

Originally posted by grousesalmon
The agreement is that if I show an interest and use that guitar I got as a gift (a Garrison) I will get a Taylor next Christmas. All my family members play Taylors.

What better gift, than to grow closer as a family? I agree that you should ask family members to spend some time with you, just playing. Its not only a great way to learn basic chords, etc, but also to learn to improvise.

As far as books go, just get a basic chord book. I too started out with a Mel Bay book, but i never learned to read music.

Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

[Midnight Shadow]

I think a combination of help from your family, the eMedia software and some good old fashion practice and in a year you will be playing the Taylor.
I called and talked with the people at eMedia and was impressed with the response. I ended up with it and it has been helpful.
Enjoy the ride,
Midnight Shadow

[bradley dr20]

I have been playing for two years and never taken a lesson. Here's what I did:

First, I got a chord book and asked my guitar-playing friends some chords that I should know. Then I worked on learning those chords, while at the same time worked on my strumming rhythm.
Then I asked for more chords, ones that might not be necessary for basic guitar, but I would need to know eventually. I also continued to work on the first chords, especially changing between them. I used to spend five full minutes a day just changing between two chords I was having trouble with.
When I felt comfortable with that and had a pretty basic grasp of guitar, I watched my friends play and played with them. This is when I learned hammer-ons and pull-offs, and all that extra stuff that isn't necessary but sounds nice.

It all depends on what you want to play. I wanted to be able to lead worship at my church, so I went the chord route, and it worked really well. If you want to play fingerstyle, this won't help you as much. Above all, make sure that you're still enjoying it all the time. It WILL get frustrating, but after 2-3 months it's SO worth it.

bradley

PS - Some good chords (IMHO) to learn are A, Am, Asus, Bm, C, C2 ,C#m, D, Dsus, E, Em, F, F#m, G)

[jam]

What everyone else has already said.

Here's my two cents: When people ask me how to get started, the first thing I do is ask them to come up with 3 or 4 songs that they would like to be able to play. No one I know of really wants to play Polly Wolly Doodle or Mary Had a Little Lamb. You need a target goal that will actually motivate you to play. But don't start out shooting for Dave Matthews or Michael Hedges either (did I just use both of those names in the same sentence? ). Save those for Week 2.

Anyway, find something you want to play. Ask the other guitar-playing members in your family to help you figure out the chords (internet is a good place to look) and teach you some basic strums.

HAVE FUN! Don't take it too seriously. It's going to feel clumsy at first. Chords will aggravate the stew out of you. Remember, for the first 30 years of your life, your fingers have never had to make an F chord. Be patient. Oh, and HAVE FUN!

Disclaimer: This method assumes a few things:
1. Lessons aren't an option right now.
2. You're looking at playing for enjoyment.
3. Realize that teaching yourself might mean that you develop some nasty habits that may have to be untaught later. (a good book may help prevent this.)

--jam

[Les Regala]

I think jam forgot to mention one thing: HAVE FUN!

[bigsbee]

"Practice makes better"

Painful but true

constant repetitions makes the chord sound finer

It's just too true.

You can't say:"Well I didt 12 times. It might be that 1200 times is what you need to make it happen. play on

[kylec_te51]

i definetly agree with jam. those books bore me beyond belief. check out a tab site, like www.olga.net, or www.guitarnotes.com, or www.guitartabs.cc. if your into DMB i can hook you up with some very accurate Dave tabs. learning some songs that are familiar to you is a very good route to go. for my first years all i did was learn on the internet, then i matured and now i am taking lessons and studying music in college. if you like 70's bands, check out Tom Petty's stuff. A lot of his songs use basic chords, but they're still fun to play, especially if oyu are just starting out. good luck with it

if you want some help, my email is [email protected]

[Ace43]

The best advice I would give is that it is going to get frustrating at times. When it does, take a break, smash your guitar to pieces, then go by a new one, come back and start where you left off. You will be the last one to see your progress because it is so gradual and you are there for all of it. But the progress will come and your work will be rewarded. It won't always FEEL that way but that is what separates the successful from those who stop trying. Good luck!

[Simplyhere]

Devote yourself to play bluegrass...you'll only need to know G, C and D and your learning curve will skyrocket.

[The Dude]

Practice, practice, practice. In the beginning, it's such an unusual thing for your hands to be doing. You simply need to do it over and over and over and over and over. And then some more. Go for accuracy first and then speed.

At the same time, try to have fun and play songs that are realistic. As you look through music tabs you'll start to recognize which chords are used frequently. So, after you get a few chords down, you can learn songs in these keys and get some confidence. Don't feel bad, Elvis never went past this stage

After you have some confidence, try introducing new songs with a new chord to practice. But the main thing is to practice, because that's the only way enyone gets any better.

If you have access to internet news groups, alt.guitar.beginner has some very helpful and encouraging people.