Entertainment & Music Help - learning to play guitar

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by robbie_p, 16th Feb, 2017.

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  1. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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    Hi All,

    I am very keen to start leaning to play the guitar, but don’t have a musical bone in my body and havnt got a clue where to start!

    A family member had an old acoustic guitar lying around (96cm), 6 steal strings and all I and able to do with it is look at it. Lol. See attached.

    Any suggestions of how I can go about getting started? Perhaps for recommended online tutorials / lessons for the ULTIMATE BEGINNER?

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Cheers,
    Robbie
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    My daughter is learning with a tutor and loving it - although she is musical and already plays the saxophone.

    I'd suggest a tutor once a week to get you pointed in the right direction, and you can practice (with help from the internet) in between. I would suggest you go down to your local music store and ask for a tuner ... a device you clip to your guitar and it helps you tune it. Perhaps take the guitar in and ask if the strings are okay.
     
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  3. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    Head over to Justin Guitar | Hundreds of free guitar lessons start at the "Beginners Course" and work through the lessons in order.

    He's awesome, structured starts at absolute beginner level and all FREE

    I've tried to learn on and off for about 10 years and go no where. Had lessons, tried to teach myself and never got further than the few same basic chords each time.

    A lot of courses and teachers teach you by picking your favorite songs, learning them and moving onto the next, building up your repertoire. That doesn't work for me, I need structure when I learn something, I need to start at the start so to speak and build up based on why you do something, not just parrot fashion copy.

    The last time I tried to pick it up again I founf Justin's site and it was a revelation. Start at the start, follow it slowly and you'll come along in leaps and bounds.

    The one-minute-changes were a revelation! (You'll know what they are when you get to them).

    I'm by no means a muso but I can now play enough to entertain myself and have a sing along and I can pick out songs off the radio and think, "oh, I reckon that's G C D etc and grab the guitar and copy it).

    There's also a good forum attached to the site.

    Be careful though, it's VERY addictive. I've gone from one guitar and 2 or 3 badly, awkwardly played chords to now having almost 20 guitars hung all around the house, (I got hooked on searching out 1970's Japanese acoustics, generally copies of the Martins and Gibsons of the era).

    Most of all, take it slow and enjoy it.

    EDITED to add - Just download a Tuner app to your phone. I use "Clear Tune".
     
  4. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    Just looked at your photo's, that a classical guitar, (or Spanish guitar), which should have at least 3 nylon strings.

    If you are serious about learning I'd suggest hunting out a steel strung Western guitar, unless you particularly want to learn finger picking or classical style guitar?

    Classical guitars have a much wider neck, you may find it more difficult to get your hand around the neck to make the chord shapes as a beginner as the neck is significantly wider on a Classical guitar than a steel string western.
     
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  5. twobobsworth

    twobobsworth Well-Known Member

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    My son has been playing for 5 years and I love sitting in on his lessons. We purchased a few online apps to encourage him more but to be honest none of them were worth the money or really any better than the youtubers.

    Have a look at Free Online Guitar Lessons | Andy Guitar you'll be strumming cords to popular songs in no time.

    Go and buy a clip on tuner if you haven't got one already.

    Spend the money on at least one term of lessons, sure the teacher will probably be half your age but they'll set you on the right path to playing properly.
     
  6. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    13yr old daughter does them thru the school - was pretty impressed when she chose to learn Nirvana over some modern pop thing.

    We're currently building and she wants the four doors of her wardrobe with full height black and white guitar stick on murals ... cheaper than buying the guitars themselves ...
     
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  7. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for all the advice guys!

    I fully agree in doing a more structured course (opposed to random youtube clips). I was looking at JamPlay and GuitarTricks, which are paid subscriptions, which are about $20 per month, but ill take a look at Justin Guitar(thanks!).

    I'm going to do down to my local music store and try find a guitar more suited to me, but hoping to try find something for under $200 which can get me started :)
     
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  8. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    Start off by playing "smoke on the water" and work up from there.

    "Dun dun dun.......dun dun dundun"

    Sometimes I wish I never used my old Gibson for fire wood lol.
     
  9. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    I tried Jamplay for a bit and gave it up pretty quickly. There's nowhere near as much content as on Justin's free course and, although its structured on Jamplay too, Justin's is a lot more rounded and well taught in my opinion.

    I love how Justin's video's are basically fully transcribed in the lesson web page. You can watch the video a couple of times, print off the web page lesson sheet and work though it easily away from the screen. At the end of each lesson add the relevant part to your practice sheet. Once you get to key points all you need to do is look at your practice plan each night until you've got it down, then start the next lesson.

    Works great.
     
  10. xanh

    xanh Active Member

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    Good luck and don't give up. Practise is everything (and enjoyment too, because you need to 'want to' practise).
    Remember, talented people are just normal people that just applied themselves really well and kept on going.
     
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  11. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    I assume that you are talking about learning to play the guitar, not leaning. So I've updated the thread title.
     
  12. Gav

    Gav Well-Known Member

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  13. Dylan33

    Dylan33 Well-Known Member

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    This is what I did and it helped me heaps in the beginning. Cut a sheet of A4 paper into 4 and draw out the finger positions for each chord. Draw out the first 3 frets and the 6 strings and dots for where your fingers are going to go. Start with E,A,D,G,C. place the papers in a row in front of you when you play.
    Now go to echords.com pick a simple song with a few easy chords and have a go.
     
  14. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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  15. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    @robbie_p Yamaha make good entry level acoustics. I'd probably go for that one. One thing to look out for is to get it to a local shop and make sure the set up is correct. The neck can be adjusted so that the strings are the right distance from the fret board. Too close and they'll buzz, too far and it will be a pig to learn to play on. Not sure all guitars are adjustable so that's something to check. The term you need to look for is "adjustable neck" or "adjustable truss rod".
     
  16. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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    Well i took my guitar (pictured above) to a friend who has been playing for over 25 years and he tuned the guitar for me and suggested i actually use it.

    I have been going to through Justins beginner course and its been extremely helpful. Ive started practicing the D chord... my fingers feels SOOOO uncoordinated! Hopefully ill be able to get it right with a little bit of practice everyday.

    With the D chord.. i was getting very frustrated that my fingers kept muting the e string.. but figured out i was holding the neck wrong and that my palm shouldnt be supporting the neck, which gave me more space to get my fingers "over and around" the strings.. opposed to touching them
     
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  17. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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    Decided to go for the Yamaha FG800 :)
     
  18. Johnny Cashflow

    Johnny Cashflow Well-Known Member

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    If I were you I would learn a couple songs on your old guitar and then try both of these new ones out too see what ones feel/sound like to play. Yamaha is always decent though. Once you have been playing long enough you can upgrade to a nicer guitar. After playing on and off for 15 years I finally bought a $3,000 acoustic guitar I wish I had bought it sooner.

    Don't buy a guitar tuner just use the free App Guitar Tuna

    Also almost every song you want to learn is on a tutorial on YouTube
     
  19. robbie_p

    robbie_p Well-Known Member

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    Hi guys!

    Well i have been using JustinGuitar for about a month and learning from his site has been excellent!

    I'm not far off from playing my first song :)

    Cheers,
    Robbie
     
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  20. twobobsworth

    twobobsworth Well-Known Member

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    Awesome, look forward to the YouTube upload.
     

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