Learning Guitar

I recently decided to start playing the guitar, as of now I am using a borrowed one and have gotten down just about nothing. Im working on playing some scales but other than that I'm pretty lost but hopeful!

Does anyone have any helpful tips, tricks, or links about learning basic notes, cords, and songs?

Thank You!

 

Gibson SG and a big fuckin' amp..... :2thumbsup:

 

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=barre+chords..&s_it=spelling&v_t=firefox-search

 

do you know how to read tabs?
you can look up guitar tabs online for pretty much any song you want.
you can also do the same with basic chords.

but learning guitar dosnt happen over night, so be patient, stick with it.

 

If you want to learn it, a good place to start is learning the notes in standard tuning. So when you tune a guitar in standard tuning its from the lowest (closest string to you) 6th string E, 5th string A, 4th string D, 3rd string G, 2nd string B, 1st string E.

So if you play the string closest to you (6th) without using your fretting hand you are playing an E note, if you are playing the 5th string without fretting you are playing an A note, so on and so forth. From there you should take one string and then go up the string by fretting notes and learn about half steps and whole steps.

As far as chords go, initially just referring to a basic chord chart will be helpful because most likely some of them will be difficult to play til your technique and muscles adjust. But Learning that whole step/half step stuff for the notes is important because later on it'll help you understand how chords are formed and common chord progressions as well.

 

Fake it... Have fun with it... Enjoy it!

 

Start of by imagining you're an amazing jazz player and just let go and play whatever comes into you head.Bend and slide the notes like crazy.Play with expression and don't give a damn.Bang the thing.....!Then the best thing to do is just try to learn to tune up nicely so that whatever you play...However simple at first...will sound nice and sweet.You can find standard tuning guides on youtube.There's also a lot of instructional videos on youtube that are quite easy to follow.

 

My friend knew nothing about guitar until I tought him the Pentatonic Scale. Few years later he's better than me, he can play crazy classical and metal licks. Its a good place to start, The Blues. :coolgleamA:

 

Thanks all for the comments! I worked a little bit with a pentatonic scale. Ive gotten down reading tabs but for the most part i dont know any of the chords from memory besides like G and C but i can read a chord chart now. So far it seems like im just going to have to practice, and practice, and practice even if it just means holding one chord and strumming.

 

I like high tempo fast strumming and fast chord changes, I found it best to just pick two chords were you don't have to move your fingers two much and just go back and forth, Then add another and another until you have at least six,

After you have your chords just strum away mix it up and find what style you like,

As for covers just start of slow and build up the tempo until it sounds the same,

To be honest I don't know what I'm doing but so long as it sounds great and has rhythm that's all I care about,

You can copy other people or other people can copy you, What would you prefer in the long run?

 

Thats great advice :2thumbsup: Any recommendations on the first chords?

 

Best thing to do is get all of the basic chords down, and sounding good, then work on chord changes. You'd be surprised how many song's you can play with just like, G-D-C chord changes, which makes learning a lot more fun, cause you can pretty quickly start to play full songs, which always feels good.

Next step I'd say would be learning the basic scales, and stuff like that!

It's always better to do things like chord changes slow and correctly to start with, than trying to rush through and pick up sloppy techniques.

Remember to have fun as well! Guitar can be really frustrating at times, especially when you're just starting out, if it starts to bug you out, try something different, or take a break.

Have fun!

 

G - D is one of the easiest chord changes.

With chord changes, it's best to try and only move the fingers that need to be moved. As in, a G and a D chord share a common note (The D note - Third fret B string), so when you're changing from G to D, keep that finger where it is, and move your others. This sort of technique can really help get smooth chord changes

 

First, learn the "E" chord, using your bird finger on the "G" string first fret, ring finger on the "A" string second fret, pinky finger on the "D" string second fret.
Then slide everything up one fret and bar all strings on the first fret with your index finger, that's an "F" chord, two frets up is the "G" chord, two more frets up is the "A" chord, two more frets up is the "B" chord, one more fret up is the "C" chord, two more frets up is the "D" chord. Lifting up the bird finger makes the chord a minor. Lifting up the pinky makes it a 7th. Lifting the bird and pinky makes it a minor 7th. The frets between F&G, G&A, A&B, and C&D are flats and sharps. There's only a half step between E&F, and B&C. Those are the basic rock & roll power chords. Practice those two hours a day, everyday for a month and you'll be able to play most rock and roll.

 

if you want to find tabs, songsterr.com is the best!

 

Im working on my G to C transition and i feel like it takes me so long to change chords. Any recommendations on the most efficient (but also comfortable) finger positioning? So far for my G chord ive been doing middle finger on 6th string, index on 5th, and ring finger on 1st and then for my C chord ring finger on 5th, middle on 4th and index on second.

Any tips or advice would be helpful! Thanks again to everyone who's commented.

 

Some tips:

Play every day even if just for fifteen minutes.
Get 'Chord Progressions for Guitar' by Tom Kolb and just go through it.
The joy of guitar is the sound you can get, learn to make sounds, not just play scales and chords. Get chord books from your favorite artists.
Prohibit yourself from acquiring a studious mentality. You 'play' guitar, you don't study it. Take it slow.
Take it slow.
Don't prohibit yourself from going off on tangents. Go off on tangents.
Try different guitars, different amps, different ways of miking, amping, tweaking, and find what you like. Look through book/library book sales for tabulature.
Play, play, play.
Don't give up.
It takes time.
Take time.
Study the greats.

This is a good tip and served me - when a song comes to mind look up it's tab and play what you can.

 

learning guitar is a huge question/ answer. one thing that helps alot is if you figure out what you want to sound like. then you can work towards it in small steps. As far as starting off, learn the 'basic' chords (A, Amin, B, C, D, E, Emin, F, G), and learn the pentatonic scale. Learning that scale will open INCREDIBLE doors for you, especially if you learn it all the way up the neck. and while you're learning the scale all the way up the neck, it's a good time to learn all the notes on the fret board, or at least the ones in whatever key you decide to learn (i recommend E minor and/or A minor).

I consider that 'the basics.' from there, it's and endless world of possibilities, but the fundamentals make exploration MUCH easier.

Good luck, and whenever you get discouraged, find a new song and learn it.

 

It's easier to play the G chord like the C chord, with your bird and ring fingers. Lots easier to change chords. That way you can also turn a G chord into a G7 by putting your index finger on the first string first fret. When playing the G chord, use your pinky on the first string third fret. To play an F chord, just use drop your bird and index fingers down to the third and fourth strings and use you index on the first and second strings first fret. So the G, C & F chords are all played the same, just dropping down your bird and index fingers one string. Still, the best way to learn all the chords is to learn the E chord like I suggested in post #14.

 

I'm trying to give up the guitar.Any help and suggestions much appreciated.