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Geek Culture / Anyone knows of a good method for learning to play the guitar?

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Dextro
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 05:04
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Ok, so I recently purchased a guitar, and I'm pretty anxious to start playing it.
I do have musical background playing piano/keyboards, and was wondering what would be the best way to learn to play the guitar.
Share your thoughts.
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 05:14
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Well, if you play the piano you can sort of visualize the neck of the guitar as 6 small pianos I suppose.

You can look online for tablature of your favorite songs, however that's getting harder and harder to do for free.

I have no signature...
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Phaelax
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 05:50
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google: "guitar tab <song name>"

That usually brings good results for me.

Depending how long you've been playing piano, that could really help you out. You've already got a good ear so pick a song that sounds real easy and start pounding away at the frets trying to match the note.


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Shadow heart
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 06:24
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buy tabledit. P.s. books are good, but never seemed to help me, i'm too lazy. Find someone who can really teach you.
tabletdits good when you ready to make, play and edit songs. form yourslef or other people.

to the ones thats trapped inside of you, this is it!!
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Dextro
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 06:47 Edited at: 2nd May 2007 07:18
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That's one of the things I don't don't understand, tablatures lol.
Can anyone explain how to interpret them? I used scores when working with keyboards.
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Zombie 20
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 07:21 Edited at: 2nd May 2007 07:22
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tab is read out like this. at least how i learned





Okay, so those are your guitar strings. The numbers represent the fret you'll be pressing and the string it is on. So the first note you'll play will be on the third string on the third fret. So just count your frets.

Sorry if its not very descripitive, i'm learining too .

on your highest string play this for a metal sound. Note: Pick down for one note and up for the next, this is called alternative picking. If you're into metal .



good luck, have fun, and i hope that explained a few things.

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Krilik
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 08:09
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Check out this guys YouTube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JustinSandercoe

I play the guitar (awfully) and this guy has taught me a lot.

Memorizing the diagrams on this page is also helpful to finding your way around the guitar neck:

http://guitarsecrets.com/all_notes.htm
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Hobgoblin Lord
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 08:33
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Take lessons from a good instructor and practice alot. Tab is good if you just want to hack on some songs, but learning that way leads to bad habits that become ever harder to break. Make sure the instructor can read music and knows music theory. It is a longer road, but in a few years you will be glad you put the time in and be a much better guitar player.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=73324&b=8
My RPG WIP, check it out
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Dextro
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 08:49
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Thanks a lot for the help, those sites are really informative.
My only question now, how should I place the fingers? Which finger corresponds to what string?
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Dextro
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 17:59
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I have to say I agree with Hobgoblin, it's the same with the piano, if you don't follow certain guidelines, it does lead you to bad habits that are pretty difficult to overcome in the future, when you want to play more complicated stuff.
I think I'll start to use tabs once I have a solid technique.
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IanG
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 19:36 Edited at: 2nd May 2007 19:37
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Quote: "how should I place the fingers? Which finger corresponds to what string?"

as close to the fret as possible with out touching the fret - if you push the string down away from the fret it will buzz, if you press it on the fret it will have a slight muting effect

as far to what fingers, then what ever you feel comfortable with, if your doing power chords then use your first and third finger, or your first, third and fourth, if your doing open chords then what ever feels comfortable



i've found that the best way to learn is by playing songs - ive been playing for just over a year now and ive never had lessons, and ive just learnt the basic chords - A B C D E F and G in their major open positions, and then how to make barre chords with 5th and 6th string roots

ie



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Hobgoblin Lord
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 19:46
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Quote: "i've found that the best way to learn is by playing songs"


Have to disagree with that, it may be the most satisfying way to learn, but finger exercises, scales, and learning to play by sight and in time are a better method IMHO.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=73324&b=8
My RPG WIP, check it out
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Phaelax
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 21:06
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Quote: " if you push the string down away from the fret it will buzz"


only if you have your action set too low. I do like mine pretty low actually, but my strings wont buzz no matter where i place my fingers.


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Crit
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 21:16
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If you're looking for quick results, power chords and the pentatonic scale are the way to go
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Zotoaster
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 21:53
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Haha, power chords have a pretty bad reputation, bt pentatonic scales are good. Good thing about scales on a guitar is that you can learn one pattern and use it anywhere.

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Benjamin
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 22:01 Edited at: 2nd May 2007 22:04
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Quote: "Haha, power chords have a pretty bad reputation, bt pentatonic scales are good."

If he wants to play actual songs then chances are he'll need to learn power chords. While it won't necessarily certify him as having amazing skills, it's still something that needs to be learned, and for a beginner it's a good thing to learn. Playing scales over and over will increase your technical ability but it sounds like crap, and I'm assuming he wants to play music, not crap. Thus, I would suggest that he practices both power chords and scales initially.

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Crit
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 22:02
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Oh, also another tidbit of advice: On piano you are always pushing the key down to play a note. On guitar you can strum or pluck a string with the pick going either down or up. Generally speaking, alternate going down and up each beat.
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Zotoaster
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 22:24
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When strumming chords, it's generally better to keep moving your arm at the same speed and only hitting the strings when you need to, rather than only moving your arm everytime you have to strum. It keeps you on time.

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Benjamin
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 22:26
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Quote: "When strumming chords, it's generally better to keep moving your arm at the same speed and only hitting the strings when you need to, rather than only moving your arm everytime you have to strum."

That's a good tip, it'll also slowly build up strength.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 23:10
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Not to mention that you'll be able to play faster if you have good alternate picking skills.


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LD52
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Posted: 2nd May 2007 23:56
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I started not long ago and well im learning by book. It is slow but i can't afford a teacher for now , well im slowly learning when i have time i learned so far the strings E F G , B C D . I heard that one way to learn is take a song that u really like get the tabs and notes for it and learn all the different notes in the song first then learn the song by putting the notes together. MAke it an easy song though and i think i might do this method myself soon.
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IanG
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Posted: 3rd May 2007 00:41
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Quote: "Have to disagree with that, it may be the most satisfying way to learn, but finger exercises, scales, and learning to play by sight and in time are a better method IMHO."

i tend to find finger exercises are brilliant for improving left hand ability and so are scales, but i tend to find that if i sit down and play scales for a while i dont find myself learning it properly, i tend to find my brain just doin it cus its in my memory at that time; where as if i play a song which includes them i will be able to learn them better

its probably just me, but i tended to prefer to learn songs first because it gives you more coordination than if you just sit there and play scales imo

Quote: "only if you have your action set too low. I do like mine pretty low actually, but my strings wont buzz no matter where i place my fingers."

ive played many guitars set up in shops and by other ppl, and if you place your fingers on the back of the frets, mainly 1-5 you will get a tiny bit of buzz, and if you dont get any you probably play very lightly

Quote: "I heard that one way to learn is take a song that u really like get the tabs and notes for it and learn all the different notes in the song first then learn the song by putting the notes together"

thats odd, ive never heard of people learning songs like that, ive heard of people learning the notes on the strings but i've never really bothered because i can figure them out given a minute or two, i probably learned in a bad way, but i dont mind because i play pretty well, but everyone is different in how they learn


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Zotoaster
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Posted: 3rd May 2007 00:45
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Whatever you do, promise one thing. When you are more experienced, you can show off all your skills and stuff on the guitar, but dont go prancing around judging everything like some people do. For example, I saw this guy dissing some song on the internet because "the tempo ranged between 116-118 bpm". That's just arrogance.

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Peter H
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Posted: 3rd May 2007 00:51 Edited at: 3rd May 2007 00:53
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Quote: "For example, I saw this guy dissing some song on the internet because "the tempo ranged between 116-118 bpm". That's just arrogance."

agreed lol. 2 bmp range is almost nothing, and i can almost garuntee that he couldn't tell exactly what the bmp was without a machine (only guy i know who can hear a beat and get the exact bmp by ear 75% of the time is my drum teacher)

regardless of ear bmp abilities, arrogant musicians tick me off.

for one thing i can't stand autographs, if i ever get famous and people want my autograph i will say no. it just seems so egotistical/conceited to sign an autograph.

One man, one lawnmower, plenty of angry groundhogs.
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