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

Oh, goes without saying but check it's in tune 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.

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logi.../dp/0962477060

Good logical book, should guide you in the correct direction

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

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

I wrote that 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

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!!!

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...une_guitar.htm

Painfully!
It hurts yer fingers a lot at first!

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

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...une_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

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.

Originally Posted by Dappa D

"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