Learning to play guitar?

[Shauk]

so... I've been on a nasty nasty sick and dirty rock fling lately. Listening to overdoses of Queens of the Stone age with smidge of Static X among other things. I kinda feel like I'm starting waaay too late as far as taking interest in it and even later to think about turning it into a potential profit hobby (sorta like my DJ'ing was/is)

buuut, is it worth the startup of paying for a guitar and such to learn it? I think its def something I'd stick to if I grabbed one as I'm never one to back down easily from something I've put a financial investment in to.

I've never learned to read sheet music, I don't know the difference between notes or anything, basically, take your average 6th grader, and thats about my grasp of music. (yes I took band class, but I think all of my teachers were horrible because I never learned how to play a single instrument through it all, not enough personal attention I guess)

Now, if you were the kinda person to dispense advice.... where would one such as myself start?

[Martian]

It really doesn't have to be that big of an investment. You don't have to know how to read music; I won't deny that it helps, but then I know a lot of great guitarists who are self taught and can't read a note. You can grab a decent student guitar for under $200. Start with an acoustic, learn fingering and chords, then start digging up tabulature and use that to learn how to play. Or, if you're dead set on electric get yourself a cheap electric and a 10 watt practice amp (again, shouldn't be much more than $200) and go from there. I still play my first electric guitar, a Silvertone Rockitt and I quite enjoy it.

You could also invest in a few lessons if you think the leg up would benefit you. There's a definite gain to be had from a good teacher, although it's sort of a personal decision as to whether it'd be worth the cost. I decided that I had enough musical aptitude that I didn't really need anything like that, but then I've been a musician since before my age hit double digits.

The vast majority of people who learn to play guitar never make a dime off it, but if you're into music and think you'd enjoy being able to make it instead of just listening, then what is there to stop you? I would advise against learning to play solely to be successful and get famous/rich, but if you're doing it for yourself than I say go for it.

[Shauk]

yeah.. see my problem with DJ'ing is that it is so self starter oriented or based on who you know. I've known kids with dick all for talent who got slots over people who had real showmanship and technical know-how just because they were "in" with who they knew.

in either case, it was all about you as an individual and very rarely about your skills.

scaling back to just the personal enjoyment aspect of it, as I have, has just put me back to the point of where I started, in it for the enjoyment, but its lonely.

I'm kind of a social person, I love lots of different kinds of music, and one thing I see for a guitar when I look at it is, It fits into a group, You'll probably never see a "band" of DJ's. Theres just no systematic way to co-ordinate multiple people doing that, at most you'll see some tag team DJ's like.. oh.. Gabriel and Dresden come to mind.

er, anways, yeah, rambling..


point is, If I know how to play a guitar, and I enjoy it, it wont just stop there. I could very well get good at it, maybe make a few friends to play with (maybe even a band of sorts) and it doesn't even have to be about making money. it's a more popular instrument, i'd be more likely to find people to network with on that front that I am with my current hobbies.

I don't think many of the bands who are making money right now started trying to play because of that. Thats just a natural progression based on acceptance of skill.

thats how it starts, and honestly, I dunno, I'm twisted enough that i'd probably try to find a weird way to mix my DJ'ing tricks into playing guitar. (its been done by others to some extent)

Its all really contingient on if i'm any good or not after a few years at it.

I got so many other things on my plate at the moment that its pretty much impossible to forsee actually getting the money to pick up a guitar, buuut....

I guess we'll see what happens in the next few months.

i've just been very much about "going with the flow" and listening to every whim that I have had lately, theres just been one thats been nagging me to learn to play the guitar for some reason.

[jth]

I can tell you from experience that you can certainly learn to play from any age and any experience level with music. I used to teak 70 students a week guitar lessons ranging from 6 year olds wanting to learn Marry Had a Little Lamb to adults who have money to spend and always wanted to learn, to other professional guitarists wanting lessons in what I specialize in.

So what I would recommend is that you grab a guitar, buy or borrow to start. Don't trust Music Store sales people, bring a friend with you who plays. Find someone who is willing to teach you and get rolling. You don't have to know jack about music theory to play guitar, many of the all time greatest guitarists didn't know anything but heard everything (Hendrix for example was not musically litterate for the most part, but you only have to listen to 1 track to know his genious).

[Pogue Mahone]

I'd actually recommend finding a store that you can rent a guitar from. It's about $25 a month, and depending on the store, if you wind up liking it, you can buy it from there, they'll put your first two months' rent toward it.

Also, look into a music school in your area.

[iamtheavalanche]

if your interested in playing the guitar, then try it and see how its like through a friend or family memeber.

ive been playing guitar for about a year (not knowing notes), im currently in a band, and in that short amount of time, i learned that i can enjoy it while taking some stress off and make some new friends through the guitar. and its not really required to even have someone teach you really since theres the internet nowadays that teach along with youtube. i mean, if i could do it then its possible for you.

but if its the $ thats the problem, i guess getting an acoustic would be a good start and save up for a better guitar.

[Bashmeol]

I get all my guitar tabs from PowerTabs.net. You use them in conjunction with Power Tab. Its a really nice program, you can print out the sheets, make your own music and of course listen to them.

I got my guitar about 2 years ago and have been slowly teaching myself just from simple songs. Very simple tunes such as begging riff of the James Bond theme and video game music were some of the first things I started to play.

[lakeOFfire]

I suggest you buy some used old crappy guitar with metal strings, and start to learn really beasic choprds, and play crappy songs. If you still want to know more, and you can hold the F barre at least in the 5th position, than you should by a better guitar then, and learn scales and other stuff.
This is how I did. But the best is not to listen to anybody at first. And if you really don't know how to move on, ask someone.
Good luck!

[guthmund]

There's a lot of good advice here, but here's a couple of points I thought I should mention.

First, I'd have to disagree on the old crappy guitar advice. Not that you should spend a thousand dollars right out of the gate, but a decent pawnshop or music store purchase should do you good.

I had a crappy ass acoustic I got from a friend who wanted me to play and I absolutely hated the thing. Didn't want to play, wasn't interested in learning, it was a fucking disaster. However, in a pawnshop with the same friend, I picked up another acoustic and played a couple of runs and it was night and day. I played all the time, I picked up books, played with others, it was (and still is) pretty fantastic.

Which kind of brings me to my second and third points. Two, be sure and physically get your hands on the piece and play a bit before you buy. It's a make or break thing for me. I have to get a feel for it and ordering cold off the internet (or whatever). I'm going to bastardize a quote from Bernie Mac in Transformers and say the player don't choose the guitar, the guitar choose the player.

Thirdly, play with others. It's nice to learn on your own and, for the most part, I do, but it's nice to have people to play with as well as it has opened up whole new avenues for my playing. I can read and work my way through stuff until my fingers hurt terribly and my eyes are crossing and still not 'get it' the way I do when I watch someone else do it.

I don't know how much experience you have, but just keep plugging ahead. The theory and such will work itself out in the wash, right now, the important thing is to keep playing.

[spectre]

Most important thing is not to try to play songs at full speed from the start. It's a disaster and will be extremely frustrating. It'll also take longer to actually learn the song that way. Especially if it's a fast song, play it slower than it's supposed to be played until you can play it without even thinking about it. Then, keep speeding it up until you can play it exactly as it sounds on the CD.

And if you go the Tab route, which I did, don't use just one tab. People make too many mistakes. I tend to grab a few different versions, then sit down with each part and the ones that sound closest I copy and paste into a text file until I have what sounds closest to the actual song. Sometimes, you may need to figure parts out on your own as well.

[Martian]

Originally Posted by guthmund

TFirst, I'd have to disagree on the old crappy guitar advice. Not that you should spend a thousand dollars right out of the gate, but a decent pawnshop or music store purchase should do you good.

I had a crappy ass acoustic I got from a friend who wanted me to play and I absolutely hated the thing. Didn't want to play, wasn't interested in learning, it was a fucking disaster. However, in a pawnshop with the same friend, I picked up another acoustic and played a couple of runs and it was night and day. I played all the time, I picked up books, played with others, it was (and still is) pretty fantastic.

Which kind of brings me to my second and third points. Two, be sure and physically get your hands on the piece and play a bit before you buy. It's a make or break thing for me. I have to get a feel for it and ordering cold off the internet (or whatever). I'm going to bastardize a quote from Bernie Mac in Transformers and say the player don't choose the guitar, the guitar choose the player.

There's a world of difference between a crappy guitar and a cheap guitar. Again, I'd use my Silvertone as an example. It's an SG knock-off and while it may not be up to the same quality as a genuine Gibson, it's a blast to jam on. It's got a good, fast neck and tight action and it only cost me about $150 said and done. Similarly, I have a Jay Turser acoustic (Canadian only make) that would make a great starter guitar and that one only cost me about $120. The guitar I jammed on before I got those two was a Nova that cost $200 and was absolutely terrible to play. I still have it (it was my first guitar, after all) but I never play it anymore, because I have nicer instruments available to me.

I agree that it's important to try out a guitar before you buy it, but I'd argue that with a novice who's looking to teach him/herself, they won't really know what to look for. Unless you know how to play already it doesn't really matter what type of guitar you're holding, even if one will be easier to learn on than another.

EDIT for an afterthought - I meant to say this in my post, but I would recommend going to an actual music store rather than a pawn shop, for the reasons above. The folks who own and/or work in these places almost universally play guitar and they should be able to direct you to a good starter guitar. I think that until you learn what you like in a guitar and can pick a good instrument for yourself, that expert knowledge is important to have. Some dude in a pawnshop may not know the fretboard from his own ass.

[jimk]

just do it. get one and get goin'.

i didn't pick up a guitar until i was 35, and now i know i'll be playing until i die. if you love music (especially rock or folk), and it sounds like you do, you will catch on.

i don't read any standard notation music, and have been in 2 bands. you don't need it to get going. i'm just starting to bump into places where it would be useful.

looking back at the bands you mentioned, you're probably going to lean toward electric. all well & good, but learning to play acoustic first is cheaper (no amp) and it gets your fingers stronger faster. spend 300-500 on a good starter guitar, pull some old neil young & who songs off the tab sites, and in a month or 2, if you keep playing until your fingers hurt, it'll start sounding good.