Tips for learning guitar

Daniel Moore

Daniel Moore

Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
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I've been trying to learn guitar on my own and I'm not quite sure what the best way to go about it is. I started off with tablature and learned one Slash guitar solo very well, but as fun as that is I don't think it will be much help. So should I keep playing tabs or learn the sheet music way and learn all of the chords and scales, or let that come later?
 
You should start off by learning the scales and chords. I've been playing bass for 15 years and I learned by using this method. I was very anxious to play anything I heard and I was learning the wrong way by just playing by ear and by tab. I also hand poor placement which made it very hard to play well. By learning your chords and scales you also learn placement which is key to clean crisp sound. I started playing 3-finger bass but soon stepped up to 4-finger and slap quickly after learning the correct way to play. Learn correctly now and it will pay off down the road. My pay off came when I was able to purchase a 5-string Pedula fretless bass about 12 years ago. I knew I had the skills to play it because I learned my chords, scales, and placement.
 
It depends on your style. Learning to read music will definately help in the long run, but is not necessary. If you're into solos, just keep doing tabs, and/or learn to read music. I like to sing and play, so I learned chords, then some scales and theory to beable to figure out bar chords and stuff.


If you are playing rock, tabs IMHO are the way to go since many people are doing tabs now days. If you get your tabs down, the transition to learning sheet music is supposed to be easier (Personally, I don't know how to read music :D )
 
Needle,

If you want to learn do it the right way. Don't do it half-assed. Tab is fine if you're a newb but if you seriously want to persue it you should learn to read music and learn your scales and chords. Like I said, I've been playing for 15 years. I would not be half as good as I am if I didn't learn correctly.

underaged,

Reading music is very necessary if he plans on making a career out of music. He would not be able to land any sort of gig if he doesn't. I played in numerous bands over the years and I auditioned for some local bands back in the day. One question that always popped up after I played my heart out..."Can you read music?"
 
First you need to know your Triad ( basic chords - not bar chords ) and be able to change chords fluently without buzzing the strings. Download some easy 3 chord songs to practice with. By the time you can change from chord to chord quickly ( A,Amin C, D ,E,E7 ,F ,G etc), you will find that your strumming hand has improved as well. Forget scales for the moment, just get your chord changes and strumming happening. You are smart bloke so this should only take you about 3 months if you give it half an hour per day.
I have been playing for about 5 years now and love it- took it up a little too late in life, but better late than never.
 
There's the old joke:
How do you make a guitar player stop playing... put music in front of him.
:p

Seriously though, knowing how to read really opens up your options.

Learning as many songs with different chords is the best way to get better fast. Get a big chord chart and play as often as you can, your hands will get stronger etc. Once you learn chords and how to make your hand switch easily, other stuff (scales and solos etc.) will become infinitely easier. (Work on scales too).
Even in you read tab, you will need chords for anything that isn't tabbed out (half the time the tab just describes a chord sequence or scale anyway).

A basic guitar book and a little music theory will do wonders when you are first starting out. If you can take a class, it's probably worth it. Once you get better at reading music and you understand some theory (why do I use this scale or chord progression), you will understand what you hear much faster, allowing you to pick up things by ear or tablature easier.

I played trumpet for years and added Bass (and later guitar) in HS, and I was a serious band-geek in college as well, so I speak from experience. I learned bass (I learned double bass plucking for jazz.. that will toughen you up!) and guitar _after_ I learned how to read music, and tab was easy to pick up anytime in there when needed.

Edit: On scales, learn them first away from the nut (not using open strings). Then you can 'see' the scale as you go across. Then if you want the same scale in another key, you simply slide up or down the appropriate number of frets and the same pattern emerges. _then_ you can side the scale down so it uses some open strings.. it will make more sense this way then learning them on open strings first.

Practicing chords on the open strings and the scales a bit lower down made much more sense for me when I was learning, but YMMV :p
 
You don't really need to read music to play the guitar. A lot of professional players don't. BUT it all depends on where you are going with this. If you just want to start a band just playing covers then you don't need to learn to read music. If you want to be a supremo sessionist you really do need to learn it.

If you can just buy one of those beginner books. It really has a lot of info in them that you thought you already knew. Finger placement etc. will teach you how to play everything very clean. A lot of beginners tend to have bad habits that are harder to change later on. Get it right the first time round.

If you can afford it get a music teacher that'll teach you the basics. Once you've done the basics it's quite easy learning on your own. You can't beat practising 8 hours a day and banging a song dead on.
 
Take up "air guitar !"


You too. . . .can be a professional. . . .in a matter of seconds. :p :D ;)
 
It's the age-old argument. I started out doing "folkie" stuff, strumming chords and throwing in an occasional "bass run". Gradually working from tab and finally breaking down to learn some chord theory, scales, and all that.
Many very successful players haven't a ounce of theory, of course, and some well-known guitarists tailor their reply to the audience.
Glen Campbell, at his peak, was on the Tonight show. When asked if he read music, he came up with the corny old line, "not enough to hurt my playing".

But interviewed in Guitar Player, he said that he practiced reading from clarinet books and such.

(BTW-Guitar Player is a fine rag, and full of useful items each month)

The problem most beginners have with all that theory and memorizing of scales and intervals and modes and all that is that it tends to be intensly BORING.
Running scales is great for dexterity and even ear training, but after a while...

I'd reccomend a mixed approach. Designate a percentage of your practice time to the exercises and theory, and learn tunes at the same time.

Oh, if you plan to sing, even a couple of lessons from a voice teacher will pay huge benifits, lest you find your tonsils on the floor during your first gig.... :D

Good luck! And yes, those fingertips will callous.
 
Start with the scales and chords. Learn the boring, fundamental stuff and the rest will fall into place. Some day you'll look back and see that the hard work paid off.

My story: My mom forced me to take Spanish classical guitar lessons once a week for five years when I was in grade school. I resented the hell out of having to practice 30 minutes every night, but I had to have each week's lesson mastered before the next time I saw my teacher.

I stopped the lessons (and practice) when we moved away and I went to high school. A few years after high school I bought a guitar on a lark and realized that I could play just about anything I wanted to. That was 21 years ago, I've been playing ever since.
 
I started out learning the basic chords and a few scales from a teacher. Once I had those down I sat down with the first Fabulous Thunderbirds album and explored the pentatonic scale until I had something going. A good background in the blues is the key to getting in to playing rock. Then I built on it by reading all the tab I could get my hands on and reading Guitar Player and Guitar World every month. Play with other people as much as you can. It also helps to have a good guitar like a US Strat or a Les Paul to keep you motivated.
 
Needle:
I've been playing for 16 years now, and K.V. is right..If you learn boring things like scales and basic music theory, you will be a much better player for it. That said, the guitar handbook is a book that you must have. It covers the basics of every aspect of guitar playing, hardware, etc. I will respectfully disagree with torz, and really push you to an acoustic. You will learn proper technique for picking and fingering, because acoustics don't lie. You can cover a lot of mistakes with a distortion pedal and volume-I know from personal experience. Most people that play guitar can't read music, and it may never hurt them. I made a bunch of money as a rhythm guitarist, and I can't read guitar music, but I can learn and play ridiculous changes quickly, even on the fly. I suggest that you play with other people, those much better than you-you will learn more playing with someone for an hour than you will learn practicing by yourself 18 hours a day, Yngwie Malmsteen notwithstanding.
 
Acoustic or electric or acoustic with electronics. In any case, don't buy the cheapest (I made that mistake) and don't get the best either. Get someone in the know to help you pick it out and _especially_ to set it up. If it's an electric, you especially want to set up the bridge (both height and string length) properly. A good guitar that is tuned perfectly just makes everything so much nicer. Even if you already have the guitar, having it set up properly can make a world of difference.

Spend equal time playing the fun stuff and drilling the boring stuff. Chords are much more fun to learn if playing songs. Hanging around and playing with better players is a great way to learn too.

P.S. If you do have an electric, practice with it clean when learning chords and songs...you can always crank up the harmonics later.
 
Dijos said:
Needle:
I will respectfully disagree with torz, and really push you to an acoustic. You will learn proper technique for picking and fingering, because acoustics don't lie. You can cover a lot of mistakes with a distortion pedal and volume-I know from personal experience.
Click to expand...
You have a good point, but my concern is that the extra effort (and tenderized fingertips) required by an acoustic could turn off a new player. The good thing about a strat is that when played through a clean amp it sounds beautiful but still doesn't let you get away with much. He can get the Boss Metal Zone later :) . Plus a gorgeous strat is so sexy you'll want to practice all the time.

Heck, this thread is gonna make me get mine out of the case after a too-long hiatus.
 
You don't need to start with an acoustic to learn the guitar. If in the end you want to play electric. Start with an electric. These require different techniques and if you're into rock it's boring playing with an acoustic anyway.

I agree though that distortion masks a lot of mistakes. Which is why when you are learning a solo try to play it cleanly without the distortion.

In the end you also need to enjoy playing the guitar. Personally i hate acoustics although i did start with one. Your fingers will hurt and you don't have the versatility of the electric guitar.

I like electrics also because i like the gadgets that i can use. Personally i like digitech effects. Their new pedal line up sounds awesome. The only boss pedal i'd use is the metal zone although some other pedals are able to replicate the sound quite faithfully. If you like a nice grungy distortion which can also go quite heavy get the digitech grunge.

Also, don't get a strat if you're into heavy metal. Again, they're just boring looking. Get something METAL like a bc rich or a flying v or a dean ml.

Anyway, back to your question. Learn to play what you like plus learn the basics. If you just learn scales without learning real songs you will get bored and guitar playing won't be enjoyable. Sometimes you just need to rock out.
:)
 
It's all been said but I'll throw in to reinforce. Learn the basics, chords and scales. Play with other people. Play with people who play other kinds of music than you. I learned more that way than I would have believed. Get the Les Paul, you will never regret it. It is a classic and can do many styles equally well, with style to spare.
 
I've been playing guitar for almost 30 years, but never learned how to read music. A little bit of theory never hurts, though, and knowing your scales and chords is essential. The most important part? Ya gotta play. Play, play, play. Listen to as much music as you can, too. It may seem impossible now, but sooner or later you'll get to the point where you don't have to think about where your hands are going. Basically the music will simply flow from your unconscious directly to, and through, the instrument. At that point, the more music you've listened to, the greater will be the range of the stuff you play.
 
"Start with an electric. These require different techniques and if you're into rock it's boring playing with an acoustic anyway. "

Ever listen to Led Zepplin III?
 
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