Guitar players?

[KIMMER]

So who's into playing guitar? I've had a guitar for 15 years and still can't play..lol. What do you recommend for teaching yourself to play, dvd's, tab books? I always learn a few cords then get board because I just want to go straight to playing songs I like, so needless to say, I still don't know how to play. I swear I have A.D.D. when it comes to learning guitar. I use to have a decent Ibanez guitar, but got rid of it due to not having time to learn. Picked up a cheap yamaha on clearance for $50 with an amp that was normally $299 just to try to learn again. I still don't have much time to mess with it, but i'm looking for the quickest way to learn that will keep me interested.

 

[TheKurgan]

I've got a Gibson Les Paul Special and an acoustic Takamine, but I'm in the same boat with you about playing lol. I'll put it down for a year or two then start playing again just long enough to remember half of what I learned before lol.

 

[Cone Sweeper]

This is gonna sound horrible but, You tube is actually a great teacher lol. Tons of lessons on there with teaching and what not... and if you have a smart phone, plenty of apps that can help as well.

 

[RedMosesSC]

Youtube definately helps for inspiration and to visually absorb what other players are doing, Books and DVD's are great if you have the discipline and drive but if you want to get better fast there are two thing you should do. 1st, get a teacher, one that you have seen play or plays in a style that you would like to learn, with one on one sessions a good teacher will be able to spot exactly where you need to practice most and will be able to show you excercises that would be the best use of your time. 2nd, find guys to play music with, preferably ones that are better than you, even if you guys sound like crap and dont plan on playing gigs, playing in time and with others makes you better fast. Jammin out by yourself is kool and you start to sound good but once youer in a setting with a drummer and other instruments you start to learn what works and what does not. AND ofcoarse, you MUST play at least an hour a day if you want to move ahead. How fast you get better all depends on how much time you put into it.

A few of my guitars, theres 2 more that dint make it in this shot.

 

[Liftedbronco]

i have an acoustic and an electric. taught myself by pringing out tabs online. thats how you get the hang of how the chords work. keep doing that, learn some songs.

youtube also is great because you can see other peoples "tricks" and maybe learn an easier way to do something.

 

[Charlie Sheen]

http://s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9784

 

[RedMosesSC]

Somebody's got a Washburn fetish...

 

[Charlie Sheen]

Somebody's got a Washburn fetish...

Not entirely...

 

[Bingo]

Can you play all those at once?

 

[Charlie Sheen]

Sure. What would you like to hear?

 

[Bingo]

Free Bird?

 

[Charlie Sheen]

Get THEE FUCK OUT!!!

 

[RedMosesSC]

Toatlly hijacking Kimmer's thread, hahah.

Roper: that hollow burst Ricky is fantastic, a used to work at a studio that had one and i played it all the time, string spacing is a little tight for my Bass player sausage fingers but man what a sound, even unplugged!

 

[TheKurgan]

Free Bird?

It would take all those guitars to play Freebird. Skynard had like 7 guitar players.

 

[Charlie Sheen]

So who's into playing guitar? I've had a guitar for 15 years and still can't play..lol. What do you recommend for teaching yourself to play, dvd's, tab books? I always learn a few cords then get board because I just want to go straight to playing songs I like, so needless to say, I still don't know how to play. I swear I have A.D.D. when it comes to learning guitar. I use to have a decent Ibanez guitar, but got rid of it due to not having time to learn. Picked up a cheap yamaha on clearance for $50 with an amp that was normally $299 just to try to learn again. I still don't have much time to mess with it, but i'm looking for the quickest way to learn that will keep me interested.

Are you familiar with tabs?

 

[DraggnRoush]

KIMMER - best advice I got when I wanted to learn guitar was "Smoke a joint, grab your guitar and practice until you're not stoned anymore"...

 

[19COBRA93]

I'm interested in this as well, as I also have an acoustic and electric and can't play either one.

 

[BlackSunshine]

I guess it all depends on what your ultimate goal is. Teaching yourself is a noteworthy goal and definetly something to be proud of, but it is not the easiest or most effecient way to go about it. I have been playing for probably 16-18 years now and never had any formal training (although that definetly shows ). If I could have gone back and did things over again, I would have gone the more formal route of lessons.

Tabs are probably the easiest way to start off and keep yourself interested as your goal is to play music that actually interests you and that should give you motivation. This unfortunetly also sets you up for alot of bad habits since tabs fail to teach you technique which is probably most important. If all you want is to noodle around by yourself, tabs and videos work well. Personally I think theory is where the real goal should be. Playing guitar and actually understanding music are not one and the same and if I could do it again I would go the lesson and theory route. Get a good teacher and learn chord and scale theory, you will thank yourself later when you actually understand how to play rather than just noodling,

This is an older video of me noodling and it still pains me to watch it cause its sloppy and I still stink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9y_GSnrn-I


(if anyone can fix the embed on it I would appreciate it, the aint workin for me )

 

[Charlie Sheen]

...I think theory is where the real goal should be. Playing guitar and actually understanding music are not one and the same...

Agreed. Unfortunately the theory and mathematical part of it scares a lot of potential players away.

 

[RedMosesSC]

This unfortunetly also sets you up for alot of bad habits since tabs fail to teach you technique which is probably most important. If all you want is to noodle around by yourself, tabs and videos work well.

A lot of players such as myself start self taught or limited lessons, we keep at it and spend time learning how to PLAY the guitar but not analyzing what we are playing and why. FFW 10 years or however long it takes to get serious, you find yourself wishing you had spent time on the rudiments, reading music and learning theory. A good teacher will be able to identify your bad habits and help you correct them but its as hard as quiting anything else youv grown accustom to relying on.

Since most of us already play, starting at square one is a big challange but what i do recomend for players who are already in it is to learn some scales, all of the modes (8) and how to build chrods (what a flat 7 means, sharp 9, major, minor, domimant ect...) this will help you communicate with other musicians and understand why chords sound happy sad or funky.