so i bought an electric guitar yesterday! guitar players...how did you learn?

[Dappa D]

Ive been going back and forth of late deciding what to have for xmas now that i wasnt getting the lowers for the late curvy (RIP)

was toying with the idea of a console, most likely xbox, but 2 things my mrs rightly pointed out, any spare time i get i spend in the studio, and my phone contract is up in 2 months so if i still want a console then i can get one with the new phone (makes sense)

so yesterday she gave me her credit card and said fill ya boots (and who said romance and surprises were dead!)

went down to my fav music shop, and walked out with a beginners set thing, a squier se special strat with 10w amp, stand, case and tuner etc.

plugged it in when i got home to make sure it works before it gets wrapped and instant rock god i was not, but very enjoyable and really looking forward to learning.

so to the guys and girls on here that play, how did you learn? did you have lessons or self taught with books and vids?

this is the one i bought http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/info_00060002.html

i know its not the best in the world but im only starting out!

[fizzwheel]

Just get some of the beginners books or find guitar tabalture for a song you like and then just follow it along. Thats what I did.

[missyburd]

On a sort of relevant note, acoustic tabs are a bit different to electric I believe, so would Dappa D have to make sure he picks one to be played electrically or does it not matter in the beginning? I've never played electric so not entirely sure how much difference there would be...

[fizzwheel]

I learnt on an acoustic, I dont think the notation for pulls off's / hammer on's / slides are any different though.

[Mr Speirs]

Electric Tab and Acoustic Tab are the same Miss YC. They just tell you what fret to put your finger on. Electric and Acoustic have the same fret layouts.

Dappa D. Find yourself a song you would like to figure out. I choose alot of Oasis tracks as they were fairly simple. I then went to a site that gave you the guitar tab to the songs.

Like this one for example: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

Once you learn to play the chords you can link them all up and play Rythym Guitar with the tracks.
This is how I learnt (actually I started on the bass) and it served me well.

But the main thing for me was finding a song I really wanted to play along to. Otherwise you are just learning and it gets a bit boring after a while. But once you learn to play along to something you'll find yourself with the song on repeat :)

[missyburd]

Ah ok ta Fizz.

DD learning a song you'll want to take the trouble to learn fully is good...for some reason the first one I learnt was Brahm's lullaby on all the strings, odd choice but I suppose I'll have at least something to send my kids to sleep later on :lol:

Scales are a good way of getting to grips with the strings plucking-wise and just play chords constantly at first. If you pick a song with at least 3 or 4 chords in so you're playing them a lot, you'll soon get the hang of it. Most importantly, have fun! :-D

[Mr Speirs]

Oh and don't worry about the Dmaj7's and the like for now. Just learn D and when summat like Dm7 comes up...just play D

Oh heres the chord D:

e]---2---
b]---3---
G]---2---
D]---0---
A]---x---
E]---x---

[thedonal]

Just get playing it! Sounds like your musical already- so you'll pick it up fairly quickly.

I played keyboards before picking a guitar up. So I started just learning from music books (I could read music easily then- not just tab!) and playing by ear. I had lessons at school for a few months, but after that just taught myself. Sometimes, it's the best way to learn, though it can be quicker with tuition/someone to bounce ideas and learning off.

Tab books are good. There's loads of beginners books about...

There are some good tuition DVDs about- try the lick library site- http://www.licklibrary.com/?source=google&gclid=CKGwwY_JwpcCFUwb3godU0cUSA

There are 'how to play guitar' tutorials, also how to play music by specific bands. Quite helpful (even if you've already got the tab).

[Dappa D]

nice one thanks all much appreciated:-)

[MiniMatt]

http://www.vocalist.org.uk/downloads/chords.zip

I wrote that :D Ages ago when I was learning to mess around with Delphi. Gives you a chunk of chords to be getting on with.

You can form chords in several ways, and on a leccy guitar you may often make one shape and slide that shape up and down the neck to make the different chords wheras on an accoustic you're perhaps more likely to learn the classic shapes which are shown in that program.

Top leccy riffs to get you started and are dead easy.
Smoke on the water.
Teen spirit.

You can do both of those with one shape (basically an E) slid up and down the neck with your index finger barring.

[MiniMatt]

Oh, goes without saying but check it's in tune :D Music shop should be able to flog you a tuner for less than a tenner which will do the job, failing that you can tune all the strings off one string (ideally set that string from a piano but even if you can't so long as all the strings are in tune in relation to eachother it'll sound ok). There are better guides out there than I can scribble at work but basically each string should sound the same as the next lowest string when it's at the fifth fret, apart from the G string (third highest) which is set at the fourth fret.

And yes. There are many G string jokes.

[hob]

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060

Good logical book, should guide you in the correct direction :)

[Dappa D]

http://www.vocalist.org.uk/downloads/chords.zip

I wrote that :D Ages ago when I was learning to mess around with Delphi. Gives you a chunk of chords to be getting on with.

You can form chords in several ways, and on a leccy guitar you may often make one shape and slide that shape up and down the neck to make the different chords wheras on an accoustic you're perhaps more likely to learn the classic shapes which are shown in that program.

Top leccy riffs to get you started and are dead easy.
Smoke on the water.
Teen spirit.

You can do both of those with one shape (basically an E) slid up and down the neck with your index finger barring.

excellent thanks matt, very useful little thingymebob there :D

[Dappa D]

theres a tuner that come as part of the package.

i asked the guy in the shop if it came tuned and he sort of half laughed in disbelief and half snarled at me and said "no man, it comes with a tuner, god you want me to play it for you too"...what a laugh he was!!!

[missyburd]

I found this site really helpful, and also there's an mp3 of the E string to tune the rest of the guitar from which I'm always using lol.
http://guitar.about.com/od/beginners/ss/how_tune_guitar.htm

[startrek.steve]

Painfully!
It hurts yer fingers a lot at first!

[Dappa D]

I found this site really helpful, and also there's an mp3 of the E string to tune the rest of the guitar from which I'm always using lol.
http://guitar.about.com/od/beginners/ss/how_tune_guitar.htm

good site.v helpfull. thanks myc

[Wideboy]

tabs are a good easy/lazy way to learn or compose tunes

powertab editor is a good free program that lets you look at the tabs and if you don't know what the music sound like you can click play and it will play the tab for you

i have guitar pro which is better than powertab editor but you have to pay for it and i personaly prefer Powertab editor

there used to be a good site for powertabs but they just got sued or something for copywrite crap and are in the process of getting up and running again

[zsv650]

i started when i was about 12 and still playing now 21 started by playing along to cd's ozzy and the like lot's of 80's hard rock metal stuff.

[Woz]

"no man, it comes with a tuner, god you want me to play it for you too"...what a laugh he was!!!


This is the reason I hate buying guitars... why are music shop staff such ar$es? (no offence to anyone here that may do this for a living).

Best way to start? Whack the gain up to 11 and make a load of noise using power chords :smt023

[zsv650]

or play some linkin park you only need one finger build your career from there.

[Wideboy]

This is the reason I hate buying guitars... why are music shop staff such ar$es? (no offence to anyone here that may do this for a living).

Best way to start? Whack the gain up to 11 and make a load of noise using power chords :smt023


mate you beat me to it :p, i was gone put a thread up about this on sat after a trip to the music shop.

talk to you like your a dumb a$$ then proceed to bore you with crap about bands you've never herd of let along care about :p

[Sudoxe]

This is the reason I hate buying guitars... why are music shop staff such ar$es? (no offence to anyone here that may do this for a living).

Because its great to go to Denmark street, pickup a 3k+ guitar, and ask to have a go. They look at you like are you crazy. You pick it up look at it. You then turn the amp up and roll off the volume.

Proceed to randomly strum open chords and playing riffs just off key (so you know what its going to sound like, not randomly) to get a feel for how it plays.

When they wonder over to confiscate it from you, just open up the volume a little close your eyes an go from the 1 note to the 1 note an octave higher on the next string, hold some vibrato on it and launch into a nice blues on that ES-335. They will soon leave you alone...

Strats and tubescreamers are good fun too, do a similar thing and then just launch into some SRV and wait for them to wonder off shaking their head as you launch into Price and Joy or Texas Flood...

I only do this when im looking to buy guitars though, i wouldn't waste their time otherwise! Unless they have something really sexy i haven't played before (L4, custom shop, ES-175, ES-335, etc). I guess they get ****ed off with timewasters just wondering in, playing and not buying anything.

It's good fun though. I want a Gibson L5, but that's not going to happen...

Dan

[rob13]

Question for those playing electric:

Ive now got an acoustic and its always just rhythm and singing along with what I play. Im not really interested in playing gigs, just stuff at home.
I had a Zoom 3030 pedal board the last time I had an Electric and it was ok for effects but not as good as standalone pedals.

If playing solely in the house, would it better to get some kind of effect software to plug the guitar into the computer, or perhaps a rack, or just getting standalone pedals such as Boss, Danelectro etc? I would probably play through headphones so doubt i'd bother with a practice amp to start with again. Had a Watson 15amp before which was ok but just a cheap tranny amp

[dizzyblonde]

I learnt to play guitar by listening to my G n R albums...I owe a lot to that guy Slash. Never had the patience for tab, I used to be able to read proper music, but have forgotten in my old age.

I have naturally picked up the ability of finger picking because of driving everyone mad with attempting solos, but it gives you a sense of the melodies played. The chords have come on later, and I do scales pretty often to keep the fingers trim. I don't play as much as I should, but if I did I reckon i wouldn't be half bad:p. I only play on my own, I get embarrassed with audiences but have had some really good jammin sessions in the past with mates that have given me tips along the way.

I learnt the hard way though, I can do solos on an acoustic as quick as on an electric. Its much harder on an acoustic as you have to stretch your fingers a lot further and the action is a lot slower. When I got an electric they were a doddle:cool: I still can't get the little finger to work right, but if Eric clapton can get away with playing with three fingers...so can I;)

[dizzyblonde]

Question for those playing electric:

Ive now got an acoustic and its always just rhythm and singing along with what I play. Im not really interested in playing gigs, just stuff at home.
I had a pedal board the last time I had an Electric and it was ok for effects but not as good as standalone pedals.

If playing solely in the house, would it better to get some kind of effect software to plug the guitar into the computer, or perhaps a rack, or just getting standalone pedals such as Boss, Danelectro etc? I would probably play through headphones so doubt i'd bother with a practice amp to start with again. Had a Watson 15amp before which was ok but just a cheap tranny amp

if it helps when I got my electric years ago I also got a zoom 707 II, there weere that many effects on it, I forgot what I started out doing, but it was fun doing it along the way!

[murf]

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/AA-000-LessonIndex.php
i'm just learning too, saw this guy on youtube, well worth a lookie

[northwind]

Just do what I did- drop the low E string to D, and play single finger powerchords forever. You too can be in Limp Bizkit!

Hmm. Some day I should actually learn to play :mrgreen:

[thedonal]

Question for those playing electric:

Ive now got an acoustic and its always just rhythm and singing along with what I play. Im not really interested in playing gigs, just stuff at home.
I had a Zoom 3030 pedal board the last time I had an Electric and it was ok for effects but not as good as standalone pedals.

If playing solely in the house, would it better to get some kind of effect software to plug the guitar into the computer, or perhaps a rack, or just getting standalone pedals such as Boss, Danelectro etc? I would probably play through headphones so doubt i'd bother with a practice amp to start with again. Had a Watson 15amp before which was ok but just a cheap tranny amp

I'm a tube fan- I have amp modelling software that is good, but it just doesn't sound the same- the overdrive doesn't respond the same way to soft picking/turning the volume down on the guitar. There's nothing like the sound of real tubes singing through a 10 or 12" speaker and the harmonic interaction with the guitar is so much better.

Both Amplitube and Guitar Rig are good software alternatives to amps with a wide range of amp emulations and effects. Guitar Rig is capable of some fairly wild sounds. You need a good soundcard and fast computer so that latency doesn't spoil the experience (even on a 2.8Ghz P4, there is a slight delay in hearing what you're playing).

Line 6 do a guitar amp modelling package with a USB box to plug the guitar into, or you can plug a POD in via USB too (not sure what performance is like).

[dizzyblonde]

Just do what I did- drop the low E string to D, and play single finger powerchords forever. You too can be in Limp Bizkit!

Hmm. Some day I should actually learn to play :mrgreen:

ahh you know the secret of doom metal;)

[Dappa D]

thanks all

last night my mrs let me have the guitar early so i was just messing around for a while, my fingers hurt already! guess they gotta toughen up.

but i tried to tune it, started on the e string with the tuner, by the time id done them all, went back to e and it was all out again, and the bit at the bottom that holds the strings (the end where u pluck, sorry dont know technical terms yet!) seems to have pulled out of the body of the guitar a bit from where the strings are tight if that makes sense?, sure im doing it wrong,

but there is a tutorial dvd that shows how to do it all properly so, as always, im "working" from home tomorrow so a full days sorting it!

[MiniMatt]

Leccy tuners can get confused on the two E strings (least my does but it's cheap and nasty) and sometimes end up tuning the high pitched E an octave too low as if it were the other E string.

More likely, particularly if the strings were very slack (which is likely on a new guitar) is that the strings simply stretched. New strings stretch a fair bit as well; they'll settle down over time but for first few days you'll probably need to top them up a little bit. Abuse of the tremolo arm (whammy bar) can throw strings out of tune a bit too. Oh, needless to say, you'll snap one sooner or later, and this is most likely to occur during tuning so go slow and steady :D If you've still got string packets lying around take a note of the gauge of strings in use so you can get a replacement of the same type (though typically I tend to replace all at the same time).

Oh, and the plucky end is called the bridge :D

[Dappa D]

Leccy tuners can get confused on the two E strings (least my does but it's cheap and nasty) and sometimes end up tuning the high pitched E an octave too low as if it were the other E string.

More likely, particularly if the strings were very slack (which is likely on a new guitar) is that the strings simply stretched. New strings stretch a fair bit as well; they'll settle down over time but for first few days you'll probably need to top them up a little bit. Abuse of the tremolo arm (whammy bar) can throw strings out of tune a bit too. Oh, needless to say, you'll snap one sooner or later, and this is most likely to occur during tuning so go slow and steady :D If you've still got string packets lying around take a note of the gauge of strings in use so you can get a replacement of the same type (though typically I tend to replace all at the same time).

Oh, and the plucky end is called the bridge :D

cool! thanks matt, yes the bridge seems to have come out of the body a bit, but then i didnt take not of it before i started tuning, the tuner i have im sure is a cheap and nast one but tomorrow i can listen to a tuned e on the net and set it that way..happy days!