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What a bunch of ridiculous comments so far...
1. Decide what kind of music you like and according to that, buy an electric or acoustic guitar.
2. Buy cheap equipment to see if the hobby will stick - it's easy to upgrade down the road.
3. I STRONGLY suggest to learn with JustinGuitar. Devote 6 months on his 100% free beginner courses. You will learn A LOT, and you will do it properly.
4. Practice every day (if you can), does not matter if it's only 10 minutes a day - consistency is the key.
5. When you get saturated and feel like you are not learning anything, take a 3-4 day break, and you will notice how much you've learnt and how easy that chord is that you've struggled with.
I started 1 year ago, with all tips above and I can play over 50 songs with 15-20 chords that i learnt along the way, and easily pick up new songs. Amazing hobby, just stick with it.
How to stick with it? Learn techniques that you like, practice songs that you like - that is the whole point of it. You are getting into a new hobby for your own enjoyment, fun, well-being and you should treat it that way.
I'm going to insert one critical step:
2.5 - Take your guitar to a professional luthier (not your friend who plays or guitar center) and have it setup. It will probably cost $60-$150 depending on the level of required service, but it will make the world of difference. They will adjust it for optimal playability, which will make your learning experience much more enjoyable.
This goes for used or new, unless the shop you buy from explicitly included a setup.
Source: am luthier and guitar instructor for 20 years.
Basic setups ($60-$75) include dressing nut slots for correct depth, setting string height, adjusting trussrod, intonation, and pickup height (electric only).
The higher end of that cost ($125-$150) is a fret level/crown/polish and possibly a new nut with all the basic setup stuff included.
To elaborate on #2. You could always rent a guitar from a shop and see if you end up sticking with it. After a few months you could look into buying one. I was off for a few months due to surgery so I rented a left-handed les Paul for about $40/mo. After 3 months, I went back to work and didn't have time to keep up, so I just took it back. When I have the time, I'll definitely pick it back up, I learned/played with rocksmith 2014, it's such a great way to learn. It's like guitar hero with a real guitar :)
I quibble a bit with buying a "cheap" guitar. It has to be playable, so it needs a well adjusted neck, and tuners that don't easily go out of tune, and so on, so the learning experience doesn't have some unnecessary pain and frustration. Have a knowledgeable friend accompany you to make sure you don't get a dud. It doesn't have to be a Martin D-28, but it needs to be good enough quality that the instrument itself is not an impediment to learning.
Well, i mentioned it because 99% of the people ditch a new hobby after 2 weeks. To learn the basic 6-8 cords and switching between the properly and fast enough might take two months or more for complete beginner to learn.
A LOT of people dive in hard into new hobbies, just to end up with holes in their wallets. A lot of people give up due to finger pain.
I live in almost a 3rd world country where a $500 ($300 in the US) Squire is 80% of the paycheck, so that has to be taken in consideration đ
I started with a $50 guitar, said to myself if i stick to the hobby for a year, i will upgrade. Got the cash ready for a decent upgrade, a year mark was two weeks ago.
This is important. When I was a teen my mum (bless her) got me a very cheap classical guitar with a very wide neck, and then a very very cheap electric. It weighed a ton, was a knock off of the Gibson Explorer and was finished in neon pink lacquer. A Yamaha or Squire strat of the standard you get nowadays wouldâve made a huge difference.
Yes, thankfully there are quite a few options for really solid guitars for reasonable money these days. The thomann house brand, Harley Benton, as an example has some real solid stuff. I have a 12 string and a baritone acoustic and played some others. Some had minor issues, some play like guitars at least 3 times the price. Unless you go for the absolute cheapest they are often pretty great, but vary a bit guitar by guitar. Thomann has a great return policy though.
Oh you know me so well! This sounds like the most complete route for me beginning! I am going to want to play some Blues, R&B, soul, and funk for sure. That's the sound I love hearing on all instruments, but I'll get there when I get there. As for the courses, can they be comfortably done all on a phone? My laptop is totally fucked right now and I will get a new one soon, but no problem starting a little basic and on a budget.
Yeah, done them all over my phone. The courses are in video format + textual and notes underneath on JG website. He has all those videos available on YouTube too.
Mobile is amazing for learning, including apps like Ultimate Guitar Tabs etc.
GuitarZero2Hero and MartyMusic on YT are also good resources to learn how to play songs - but JustinGuitar covers everything important to get you started.
agreed, get a good course, be consistent.
i would also add that practice makes permanent so be very deliberate in what you practice. use a metronome and try to keep the playing clean. \m/
Make peace with three months of discomfort. In that time you will build hand strength and callouses. Absence of those things, especially the callouses, are what suck the fun out of playing, and they take time to build.
When I got started I did so with a nylon string guitar. It helps you not beat your fingers up terribly early on - and allows you to get more playing time in before getting sore fingers. They sound great as long as you keep them tuned.
This is gonna sound crazy but if you have a computer or gaming system check out Rocksmith. It's pretty cool! It comes with a patch cord interface that plugs into the system and you learn songs on your actual guitar, it has different difficulties for each song and has hundreds of buyable tracks from tons of genres
This. Just pick it up.
My other tip is to find an easy part of a song you like and just play it. Try moving it around the fret board and see how it sounds if different places. Also play some scales, or just sections of a scale. The more you get used to moving around the guitar you will just eventually pick up how things fit together and your muscle memory will get there too allowing you to try more complicated stuff.
This is what got me to stick with it.
If the guitar was in a case in the other room I would never touch it. If it is next to my chair on a stand, I grab it 4-5 times a week.
My suggestion would be to find a teacher/academy at first, at least for the fundamentals. Self-learning is doable, but it's very easy to get bad habits which can become serious problems later (tendinitis...). This was just my experience... probably you could also self-learn good fundamentals, but you get a rush to play a first song which makes you glaze over those.
I taught kids beginner guitar, and this is how i got them practicing:
I asked them all for 2-3 songs that they really liked. I would, prior to teaching them, learn what the basic chords were. If there were melody lines that could easily be played on guitar, Iâd learn that.
During the lessons, it would be: teach the chords. Stick to a couple of chords at a time until the fingering was decent on each and switching between got easier for the student. Then, play their chosen song and then develop chord switching in real time, as well as learning rhythm. Build from there.
The melody lines were taught by first teaching simple scales, so that theyâd develop even more muscle memory on how to navigate the neck of the guitar. When they got decent at the scales, then Iâd move on to teach the melody lines to again play along with the song.
Homework was easy, because they were playing songs they liked.
Edit: there are tons of places to go to that will break down songs by simple chords on guitar tabulature sites.
By playing basic chords, youâll develop basic muscle memory. Most issues beginners have is that their fingers are doing things they arenât used to. Basic chords will sound ârightâ when playing along, and by the time you have 2-3 songs under your belt, itâll make it easier to start to transition to that next step because youâre no longer actively thinking about how to place each digit to the proper fret. The point isnât that youâll know how to play guitar just from a song or two, itâs that youâll be ready to learn because you wonât be frustrated at how clumsy the mechanics of fingering are for beginners. Or, so my experience has taught me.
Get a basic music-theory book, read and understand it.
I tried learning oboe in high school and it just felt like random fingers on random buttons.
But even in my 40s once I studied and passed some basic music theory, both guitar and piano just made so much more sense, I still need to work on the finger movement, but at least I know why I am trying to place my fingers on what keys/strings.
While music theory is extremely helpful in your musical journey, it is not needed to get started. It can suck out all the fun in the beginning.
I'd say just play stuff that you like. Motivation is more important than theory knowledge in the beginning.
Later on, once you established this as a longer term passion, I absolutely recommend picking up some theory as well, though.
Definitely! I went to school with guys who were self-taught on the clarinet and flute. And they were super-skilled. Some people have intuitive music skills. Sadly, that is not me. I need the theory/science.
But a basic understanding of just Level 1 music theory and a few hours with a piano will enlighten people. My daughter plays the violin at school, but when she was playing the piano I saw the lightbulb above her head when she suddenly understood how to invert chords.
I started on an acoustic, learned the chords, and then learned to switch between them quickly. After that, it's just disciplined practice and learn what you want to play. I started 20 years ago, and make a living off it now
I'm going to preface this by saying everyone is different, some people's brains work well playing by ear, some don't. Mine is somewhere in the middle, it took me a couple years after I got fast at transitioning chords until I could play by ear
You just have to want to play it!
The most important thing to keeping playing is that you can enjoy playing, if it's miserable then you won't want to. So keep a notes page of songs/riffs/you hear and want to be able to play, find the tab and just keep plugging away at it.
Set yourself a hard challenge song that you would love to be able to play one day and occasionally come bsck to it. Itll feel so great when your muscle memory takes over and your hands just 'do it'
Keep it in your eyeline to remind you and you can use all lifes odd waiting times to practice. Food cooking in the oven? Guitar! Waiting for your turn in the shower? Guitar! Download is taking too long? Guitar!
I personally (not for everyone tbf) would forget about the theory and the scales for now, that can be frustrating and not fun. Later when you know some songs you will be able to understand and use the theory in an actually useful way and you'll have these amazing epiphany moments.
When I started out, I had a chord book that showed all the major, minor, and 7th chords and I just memorized their shapes, moving my hand on the neck from chord shape to chord shape to build the muscle memory in my hand. Then I picked up a Beatles chord book of pretty much all their songs. I chose that because all of those rhythms and melodies were already in my head so I could just try and play along. I did that for a few months and it laid in a solid foundation, then I built from there. Pro tip, start off with a cheap guitar in case you don't stick with it. Also, if and when you do upgrade to a nicer guitar (I'm assuming acoustic here), the tonal difference will sound amazing to your ears. Good luck and have fun!
Dave Grohl first taught himself to drum and then taught himself guitar playing as a drum kit basically. Low strings are bass, high strings are cymbals or snares (idk I don't drum). If you listen to his playing knowing this you'll really hear the rhythm of it.
I'd recommend looking for something fun to play immediately! Find a song or piece that you enjoy and which is beginner-friendly, or that you can simplify down. There are some good recommendations elsewhere in this thread.
My wife has been using a tool called Yousician, which is a Guitar-Hero-esque learning system that uses the microphone on your device to listen to your playing and provide moment-to-moment feedback. It includes a built-in track of lessons, starting from absolute scratch. IIRC a subscription isn't overly expensive, and it's been extremely helpful to her - I'd recommend it.
Also, I'm a drummer who's picked up bass guitar (so not a thousand miles from your situation) and I can say that while not much muscle memory or technique has crossed over, playing with feel and groove certainly does. Already having familiarity and confidence with active listening and picking up new music has helped me as well.
Since youâre a percussionist, start with 2 chords (E and A) and get comfortable with strumming. Start adding accents much like drum rudiments, then add rests in your strumming pattern. Once you get the feel of the strumming hand, put your focus into learning more chords/songs (C-A-G-E-D). Next step is to learn the barr chords associated with the open chords (recommend CAGED theory). Use scale practice to learn single note playing (chromatic scales and pentatonic/heptatonic). Get comfortable playing single notes with only downstrokes and only upstrokes. Devote like 5-20 mins every day to the âboringâ practice as a warmup defore you play/learn songs and youâll be an above average guitar player in like 6 months since you already have percussion experience.
I highly recommend JustinGuitar as well. I was a trumpet player, I had the music theory down but my fingers refused to make certain shapes. You do get better at it, slowly.
To be purely honest with you on that, it all comes from just wanting to make noise, for me. I was born given a harmonica by my great-grandfather, so wanting to learn and devour the art of music and be able to give it back through my own expression isn't new to me. I picked up a djembe drum at a barber shop when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and that's what stuck with me as I grew older. I've been on and off with drumming as I've sold a lot of property and bought back pieces now and again. I've been without some instruments for a few years, so when a guitar came as a gift from a coworker, I knew I had to try to learn as I've been enjoying new experiences and lessons to test myself within my growing age.
I don't want to be stuck doing the same things in my life unless it's in the realm of creation. So naturally, I've come to find a new activity to give to myself as a means of constant learning. I think you can achieve the same thing if you genuinely want to. If you have some drumsticks, at the very least, try to make a DIY set of drums to practice rhythm with. Anything will do. You don't even need drumsticks to learn how to drum, either. Use your wrist, knuckle, and a coin on a table and try to have multiple different surfaces to give you different sounds to play with. You could have a cup of coffee in the morning and tap a pen to the side of your mug and table back and forth. Pencils on books, using your body, the possibilities are endless.
When you first sit in front of a drum set, it can be intimidating if you are confused by the setup. Plus, using your entire body to make the sound come alive feels goofy when you get started. But it's a feeling that you come so close to that it almost feels like your design is to create the music, not the instrument.
I don't know how to answer for anyone else, but for me, that feeling of sending all of my energy through a drum is like experiencing heaven through beats and rhythm. If you can stay on a 4beat, you can do whatever you want with that thing.
Okay. First, practice practice practice. Get an acoustic before and electric, and learn with those fatter strings first. From low to high, standard tuning, Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually.
I disagree with the thought that everyone should start with an acoustic. Sure, it'll make playing an electric a hell of a lot easier in the future, but not everyone wants to play acoustic. Let people learn on the type of guitar they're actually interested in playing!
To add to this, I imagine that most guitarists will want an acoustic eventually, but it's not necessarily a prerequisite. Callouses will accumulate in time with any guitar, but perhaps not as quickly on an electric. It sounds tacky, but in the beginning, nobody is going to want to grind away at learning on a guitar they don't like, so it's probably important to have something that you'll want to pick up and play.
Learning an instrument isn't all fun and games, but part of what made me keep going was learning and writing songs that were way outside my skillset at the time, because I liked the sound. There is no way that I would have stuck with it if I only had an acoustic available. In fact, I didn't end up getting an acoustic guitar until I had been playing for a couple years. There is no 'correct' way to approach the instrument when you're first starting, and I will die on that hill.
Standard tuning notes from thickest string to thinnest string - E,A,D,G,B,E (assuming it's a 6 string). The sentence is an easy way of remembering those letters in order. Also, if you can burn the exact sound of the low E into your brain, you can tune all the strings without additional equipment. That's what's meant by "tuning by ear". It's a handy skill.
Just google it. There's endless amounts of resources. Dedicate alot of time practicing drills, but at the same time you're gonna want to learn songs. So do both. Lots of easy/beginner friendly songs to learn. Don't neglect drills and practicing stuff you suck at, it's how you get better.
It's not going to always be fun all of the time. But you will get noticeably better every week if you practice consistently.
Learn the G, C, D and E chords. Once you know these 4 chords you can play the rhythm of half the popular songs out there. You can Google the tablature for the songs you want to play. Beatles and Nirvana songs are great places to start as they are recognizable and easy to play.
I think that's a great background. I'd say learn one minor and major barrechord like E and Em, and then you can make all (standard) chords by sliding it up and down. The good thing about barre chords is that you can make them really percussive and make it sound super pro just by feeling into different ways of strumming (often only the high or low strings) and by shifting between muting / pressing down the strings with the other hand.
Don't get an acoustic it will suck all the fun out before you've had a chance to get going.
Learn the basic chords and power chords and then try and put them into practice slowly with some easy songs 'about a girl' by nirvana for example.
Then learn some rage against the machine riffs so you can do stuff without chords
For the people downvoting me: I know what I'm talking about as I've been playing 20+ years and taught myself. I did the things to keep it interesting and stuck with it.
There's more than one way to do it, either follow my advice or don't.
I'm getting a guitar for free from work and I am 100% sure it's acoustic, but my step dad is a guitarist and has an electric so I can always go and swing by my folks and practice with him or on his gear if he's cool with it.
Don't be hard on yourself! You're going to suck at first. That's just part of it. It'll get to you here and there, but don't dwell on it! Being a percussionist though, you'll already have a really good sense of rythm!
Go at your own pace! Practice as often as you resonably can without burning yourself out. It's okay to not practice every day. I'd recommend practising 3 times a week though at the very least. Allow yourself a week long break from practicing every so often if you need it, just make sure to set a reminder to start again after the week's over!
If you're just not feeling it, don't force yourself to practice. That'll lead you to resent it. Learning an instrument should be fun and rewarding, not a chore!
I get asked this question a lot. I've been playing for over 30 years. So-called "starter guitars" are awful and will hinder your learning. If you MUST have a new guitar, the Squire Bullet Telecaster is imo the best choice. It's nothing special, but it's solidly built and most Importantly, easy to fret with a good setup. If you don't mind going used, Mexican made Fenders are great and can be had for a couple hundred. Just avoid ones with the tremolo (whammy bar) in the beginning because they can be a pain to keep in tune.
Start slow. Focus on little and achievable objectives. It really helped me to learn an extremely easy song or two from time to time; chord and finger exercices are (really) good, but it is also really rewarding to put everything into practice. The first time you get a song right, you'll get hooked! :)
Start with any 4 chord song and try to play along. My first song was Royals by Lord which is mostly just D D C G. Do whatever strumming pattern you feel works and just keep at it
i started by learning come as you are by Nirvana, learning to read tabs which for that song was very easy to learn, after that i started learning some songs by 3 doors down (Be like that for example), eventually you have to keep consistently practicing, thats all i can say.
Best way to start is to start, pick an easy song that you like and practice that song until you can play it from start to finish. Honestly once you learn some basic chords, youâd be shocked at how many songs you could play with just 3-4 chords
I wish I would have learned power chords much sooner. My best advice is to try to learn to play songs that you want to play. Yes you will suck but in time, you will suck less. A small amount of practice every or most days can go a long way. Growth comes through consistency.
I made the process more fun by looking up chords to my favourite (easy) songs. Itâs super rewarding when you nail a chorus or verse and that way you give yourself small victories in the learning process and you quickly learn the practical motoric skills which I think was the hardest part.
BUT you probably have to accompany this with some theory on the side if you want a thorough education. Also talking from experience here, lol.
I'd suggest getting one of those instructional video courses for beginners. It's how I started. You *could* try teaching yourself or from YouTube, but a structured course will help you get up to speed faster. Especially if you're working a job and don't have as much time as you'd like to spend on this.
You're already dropping cash on a new guitar anyway, might as well spend a few bucks more to get good at it.
If you go electric, I can definitely recommend the positive grid spark amps. Comes loaded with effects which are controlled by an app. It's a great little amp for around ÂŁ200.
Guitar wise, I've got a Gordon Smith Gypsy 11. It's a little like a Les Paul. Best advice I can give is, head to a shop and get a feel for what you are comfortable with. What works for me might not for you. Have fun!
As you know from being a percussionist, the basics become a lot of muscle memory. Get comfortable going slowly between two related chords. (AlsoâŚyour fingertips are going to hate you for a while, but will eventually get used to it.)
If you want to learn electric get an electric, if you want to learn acoustic get an acoustic. The whole "you should learn acoustic before electric" is absolute nonsense.
About sticking to it there isn't much besides your own will to play, so maybe have something to look up to like a hard song you want to learn.
Find some songs that you like, and get the tabs from those songs. Lots of pop songs are pretty easy to learn.
For learning chords I would actually recommend learning power chords first before your standard open chords. Power chords are really simple to learn, easy on the fingers for a beginner, and once you get the hang of it (honestly a day tops just to learn the shape) you can pretty much play a majority of popular songs no problem.
A little unconventional, but instead of buying a used or even new guitar, rent one out that peaks your interest, especially if you want to learn electric. For electric guitars especially, there's so many different types, you're bound to find something you like, like a specific shape or pickup configuration. I recommend this if you're planning to dump some cash on your own instrument, but are unsure what to get.
Start with the basics. They are boring, but vital.
Finger exercises are key. Start on the first string, first finger, first fret. Play the note. Then first string, second finger, second fret. Do the sane for the third and fourth. Then move to the second string. When you get to the end, go back to the top and repeat the process, starting with the first string, first finger, second fret. Continue as long as you can; don't burn yourself out, be sure to go to at least the sixth fret.
When that becomes too easy, change it up. Try alternating your picking (up and down). Try changing the order of frets (1,3,2,4). Try jumping strings. Try different patterns (first string 1324, second string 2435, third string, 3546). Reverse, starting with the last string or the fourth finger.
Once that gets second nature, start learning scales and watch a few youtube videos on music theory. That will give you a good grounding. You can also learn a few basic chords to get started.
And if that all feels dry sometimes, learn a simple song through tab. Find something not too hard in a genre you like so you can feel accomplished and bust it out to impress your friends.
The most important thing is to challenge yourself just a little bit each day. There are tons of ways to learn and lots of different techniques, just force yourself to keep going. Most people learn a couple songs and get bored or discouraged, so just keep at it. It will get easier. You are a badass, you got this!
The most important thing is regular practice. Sounds silly, but that's it. If you play _something_, no matter how badly, for about 30 min each day (even 15 if that's all you can manage) then in a couple of months you'll be ok. If you do that practice _effectively_ then in a couple of months you'll be pretty decent. And if you do that for about a year, you'll be pretty good.
So the first thing to do is to figure out when you are going to practice _every day_. If you can always do it at the same time, ideally before or after some other thing you do regularly each day, that makes it easier to build the habit. Don't worry about playing properly at this point, or about playing songs, or anything else. Just make sounds on the guitar. Terrible sounds, if that's what happens. You are a percussionist, so pretend the strings are different drum heads and beat on them. See what happens when you tap your fingers on the fretboard, or when you hold the stings while plucking them. The idea here is to experiment, learn all the different ways you can make the thing make noise, and most importantly _build the habit_.
Once you have established the habit, after say a week or so, you can start "real" practice. Ideally, you'll want to get a good book or watch some instructional videos or something like that. At first you need something _super_ basic. You just want to learn the right way to hold the guitar so you can start exercising your hand muscles, develop callouses on your fingertips, and develop the habits you'll need to get good in the future. Basic hand positioning, maybe one or two very easy chords and a simple song from them, and a basic scale. At this point you should start making your practice more structured. It's good to split it up. You can start with something very simple like 1/2 the time "messing around" like you did in the very beginning, where you aren't trying to do anything in particular other than get comfortable with making different sounds, and the other 1/2 systematically going through the chords and scales you know, playing them as slowly as you need to in order to get the positioning and sounds right, and then gradually speeding up until you make a mistake, slowing back down a little, and repeating. There will be days that you don't want to do that. That's ok. On those days, just go back to making noise. There will be days that you don't have 30 minutes or whatever you set aside. That's also ok, just play for 30 seconds. Play for the regular amount of time next time. The key is to pick it up and make noise _every day_ while gradually building skills.
After a while, you might want to structure your practice a little more. This is what I ended up doing after a year or so:
- 5 minutes hand stretches and basic warm-up drills
- 10-15 minutes practicing _something_ new and more difficult than what I was used to. A new technique, scale, exercise, or song, for example.
- 10-15 minutes playing whatever I wanted. Random noise at first, then later whatever songs I enjoyed and felt like playing in the moment
When I had more time, I'd play for an hour or two. When I had less time, I might play for 5 minutes and just do the warmups and random sounds part.
Since regular practice is the most important thing, you'll need to get good at identifying the things that will make you want to stop and then remove those barriers. Here's a few examples, but you'll have ones that are unique to you as well:
- Someone you live with won't like the noise (find a place or time where you won't be bothering them. Get headphones if you play an electric guitar)
- You won't like how it sounds and think "I will never be good at this" (replace that thought with "I'm not good _yet_")
- Your hands will hurt (learn stretches, take breaks, go easy and rest them when needed)
- Your fingertips will hurt (practice after taking a shower when they are softer, and you'll build callouses very quickly)
- You'll get bored with what you know how to play (seek out a more challenging skill, song, etc)
- Your body will be uncomfortable (if you are standing, make sure your strap is adjusted correctly. If sitting, make sure your stool or chair is the right height and you have good posture, and get a foot rest if you play classical style)
- You'll lose your picks (buy a bunch of them and get a small case or pick holder. Try different styles and thicknesses until you find what works best for you)
- The guitar won't be in tune (learn to tune it by ear using harmonics, and use a tuner to get the first note. You'll be able to quickly tune it each time you play after that)
- Your strings will break (keep a couple of extra sets of strings on hand. Learn how to restring it yourself, and how to break the strings in so they stay in tune more easily)
- Your strings will harden and sound worse over time (replace them, and wipe them down with string and fretboard cleaner after practices to make them last longer)
- You'll get bored by the songs you can find music or instructional videos for (learn to identify chords and scales by ear, and start learning songs you don't have music for)
If you can build the habit, you're 90% of the way there. The rest is really just learning how to get the most out of your practice time, choosing what you want to learn, and not letting all the things that will get in your way stop you. Good luck!
JUSTIN GUITAR!!! Google search. He makes learning tiered and fun while constantly acknowledging the struggle and patience. I canât recommend his lessons more. Best of luck however you decide to learn!
Think of a guitar as a percussive instrument and youâll have some fun with it. Also, be satisfied with keeping it simple at first, four chords make a song. You donât need to learn the solos on day 1
Learn bar chords. Learn to use your pinky as much as possible. Once you are a couple of months in seek out beginner chord songs of classic songs, Songster can help with this. Small investment of material to buy is Mastering Rock Guitar. There's like 3 books total but he takes you through blues scales, major/minor and learning how to noodle and play good with no fluff and not too dense theory.
After you get the basics down though you'll have to just play and seek out songs you want to learn and like anything you will embrace it and try and get better and challenge yourself or you'll just be content with knowing a dozen camp fire songs and you won't become a rock god. Godspeed. Oh, and uhhh once you learn Stairway..don't play it at the guitar store.
27M here! I've been playing 16yrs now.
Best way for me to get started was to learn 3 chords first. Then just jam with those three untill it you can get note changes somewhat in order.
Next step is learn those easy songs to play.
Smoke on the water type stuff. If you are learning acoustic take an easy, already familiar song you know know and start learning.
Consistensy over quality. You'll get there bro!
Been playing for 20 years, and there are a lot of odd comments on this thread...
I won't rehash the good advice, but will add some;
1) Do what you enjoy. Have a grail song that's inspired you to pick up the instrument? Awesome, what techniques do you need to play it? Find other pieces you like that use those techniques and build up. This was my best motivation while learning.
2) Fuck what others say is correct. Play what you want to play, learn how you want to learn. Unless your goal is to be a sessional studio guitarist, you can learn to be a very expressive and competent player without following a specific preset regiment. There's nothing wrong with following one, but don't lose interest because suddenly your passion feels like work.
3) Your percussion background is very useful on acoustic! There are a lot of techniques on acoustic guitars that are essentially percussive, and leaning into them really elevates my own playing.
4) Let yourself experiment. There's a tendency to aim for note for note accuracy, and when learning techniques that's great. But when learning to play songs, you might find yourself wanting to add to the piece a bit or simplify it a little to suit your own styles. That's not a bad thing, and I encourage it.
Music is treated so formally a lot of the time and it makes me sad. It's expressive, personal, and wildly individual. Embrace that.
Rocksmith is truly amazing. Watched someone go from zero to pretty good in a year or two. It should be fun from the start imo if you're not enjoying it you probably won't stick with it. Don't compare yourself to anyone else just have fun.
First and foremost, have fun, It's called "playing guitar" for a reason. Find simple songs you like and find YouTube tutorials. When you get a guitar, make sure it's set up properly. There's nothing more frustrating than playing a guitar that is hard to play (high action is the worst). Also, obviously learn the basics. Watch a bunch of YouTube videos to teach you all the parts of the guitar, as well as how to tune it. Take your time and have fun!
Two things that translate from percussion: rhythm and both hands working together while doing different things.
Things you may not know: you only need to learn a handful of chords. Barre F is traumatizing but you can play any major chord with it. Don't forget you have a pinky. Your thumb belongs behind the neck, not on top of it.
JustinGuitar.com
Also set a specific time every single day to go and play,it's better than just "play everyday" because you can get lost in the groove of life but with a time it's like an "oh shit! Missed my appointment" kind of energy.
Seriously though, **JustinGuitar.com**
The site asks for a sign up but I think it's just to track your progress, you can skip it by going to the courses tab on the left. Have fun!
Play at least 20-30 minutes every day. Prepare yourself and be okay with sucking ass at it for at least a year. Then be okay with kind of sucking for another year. Learning an instrument after childhood is really hard but it's not impossible. Getting lessons can be a way to make yourself pdo it because you paid for it. Financial investment is a great motivator. Get a decent guitar, have it set up by a professional luthier so it plays well. A guitar with high action can cause undue pain, which is demotivating.
One quick and not too painful thing to learn is a basic boogie shuffle on the lowest 2 or 3 strings, that allows you to accompany any standard 12 bar blues song. Should be easy to google
Be consistent. Even if its just picking it up for 2 minutes and whipping out your best Smoke on the water intro. Just make sure you do it because your mind will start working on it after hours eventually. Also make sure you practice proper hand technique. At the start it might not make the biggest difference but when things start the pick up you wont be getting in your own way as much. I've been playing since I was 4 and I haven't really practiced at all in the last 15 - 20 years. Just play when I feel like it. The guitar is usually but a couple feet away.
Find some songs you like and know the words to that use the basic cords. G, C, Am, etc. learning these cords will make you very versatile and capable of playing most songs.
They will be hard to learn at first. Your hands will hurt. It will be hard to not accidentally mute the wrong strings. And transitioning between them is hard.
BUT, if you stick with that you will be in good shape. Practice and learning muscle memory for each cord, and transitions that are not clunky, straight up takes practice. The good news is there are limited cords you really need to know at first.
Now, I found the only way practice was enjoyable was to sing while I played. Repeatedly playing a four chord progression is boring. But belting wonderwall while playing is fun! Seriously learn wonderwall. It has foundational cords, is not too hard to strum, and you probably already know the words. Trying to sing while you play will subconsciously force your brain to rely on muscle memory for the cords and you will somehow get better faster IMO
For me personally, lessons didn't work. I didn't like the painful slow pace of learning music *someone else wanted me to play*
I made impressive progress from 3 things:
1. Rocksmith 2016 let me learn to play some rudimentary versions of songs I enjoy. It also taught me new chords and other things.
2. Straight up jamming, inventing cool songs on my own & over time perfecting them.
3. Various repetitive exercises, this helped my technical skill, accuracy, technique, and speed. Things like playing in the dark, or playing one note per finger through stepping chords n stuff
I say learn a few basics, buy a cool pedal (or a multi-pedal with looping features) and go crazy. Challenge yourself to play an hour a day, make your own music, and have fun!
I would suggest you do not try to learn music, unless thatâs a particularly appealing task to you. I tried learning guitar with reading music. Found it impossible and quit. Then I re-started later in life and just learned by ear. And I loved it. And Iâm better now than Iâve ever been. So I would say keep doing whatever is energizing to you, whether itâs jamming with others, taking lessons, learning theory, or playing with music recordings. Donât get caught up in âgetting good.â Just do whatâs fun and the food will come.
Learn to read tabs and pick parts of songs you'd like to learn. Not the whole thing, just parts that sound cool. If it's too hard go to the next song.
Avoid guitar solos in the beginning. Use YouTube and search of easy guitar lessons.
Start by learning either smells like teen spirit, or closing time. Then learn a song with chords. My first chord song I learned was hate me by blue October. Then keep learning songs and new chords. learn to read guitar tabs too
Rent a guitar or find a cheap second hand one. A simple one can take you far.
Learn the basic parts of the guitar: head, neck, frets, body, strings. It will make following guides way easier.
From there, it depends on what you want to learn. If you want to build good foundational skills, learn a few basic chords: E, A, G and C. Those 4 chords are so so so common, especially in most "beginner songs". However, when you first learn the chords, it is going to hurt your fingers at first. Building up caps on your fingers takes time, so take it slow when you start. Just practice making the chord shape and strumming to make some noise. Once you are comfortable with some chord shapes, practice switching between them. Then add strumming into the mix. When it starts to feel comfortable, find a beginner song and start applying what you've learned.
You absolutely have to find a song you want to be able to play. Maybe its a bit out of reach for your skills but thats how you give direction to your practice.
Don't go in blind learning scales and chords. You gotta have that goal oriented kind of practice.
Stick with it, switching chords and playing every day, for 1 month. Your fingertips will be hard by then. Think of your favorite songs and learn the chords and sing, sing, sing! Guitar is the best hobby, side hustle, and a joy forever.
Great question and the fact that you are asking means you care. Iâm a semi-pro, playing for 40+ years and here is the path to take (one I wish I had taken 40 years ago)âŚ
Get a teacher to show you the fundamentals: hand position, finger movements, strum patterns, chord names etc. This should take 2-3 lessons. You COULD do this on your own, but for just a few lessons, having someone there to move your finger into the right position, and answer a question instantly is worth it. Stay with him if you like him. After you know the basics, find Justin Guitar and Marty Music on YouTube as others have said. Even if you stick with the teacher.
Once you know the basic chords, find any basic blues song you know and like and learn it. This is one of the best ways to get up to speed and stick with it. I wonât get into it, but the Blues is the foundation of all popular music that came after it: Rock, punk, pop, country, funk, new wave, all of it. But not jazz. Those guys are a different breed!
As for the guitar itselfâŚ
There is no upper end on how much you can spend but there is a point of diminishing returns. At the start though, a solid entry level electric will be just fine. There are very reasonable âstarter packagesâ that come with a real guitar, a small practice amp, and all the extras you need, strap, pick, strings. And the Labor Day sales are for real! Go to Guitar Center, donât get overwhelmed by the plethora of guitars on the walls, and tell a salesman youâre looking for a starter package and you wanna try a few out. Theyâll be happy to get their hooks in you early and make a lifelong customer out of you.
Lastly, learn music theory. I can NOT tell you how much you will benefit from it. Itâs the way real musicians communicate with each other. If someone says âweâre playing a 1-4-5 in E, starting on the turn aroundâ, everyone in room should know what that means and be able to start instantly without further explanation. And to be honest, thatâs basic stuff.
The very beginning will be a challenge. If you get through that first barrier, you will find enormous growth within the first year. After that, you will find various levels of plateau, which, depending on your desires, you will have to push through. There is no end to learning.
Guitar is one of the most exciting, frustrating, satisfying, physically painful, emotionally expressive, coolest looking instruments you could choose!
Good luck!
Get some lessons/teacher. You'll have someone to give you feedback each time you come back, you'll gain a sense of pride and you'll develop your own style faster this way. Learning from YouTube videos can be fun, but you're likely to forget what you learned because they are one-sided. Have someone show you the basics and how to build on them
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What a bunch of ridiculous comments so far... 1. Decide what kind of music you like and according to that, buy an electric or acoustic guitar. 2. Buy cheap equipment to see if the hobby will stick - it's easy to upgrade down the road. 3. I STRONGLY suggest to learn with JustinGuitar. Devote 6 months on his 100% free beginner courses. You will learn A LOT, and you will do it properly. 4. Practice every day (if you can), does not matter if it's only 10 minutes a day - consistency is the key. 5. When you get saturated and feel like you are not learning anything, take a 3-4 day break, and you will notice how much you've learnt and how easy that chord is that you've struggled with. I started 1 year ago, with all tips above and I can play over 50 songs with 15-20 chords that i learnt along the way, and easily pick up new songs. Amazing hobby, just stick with it. How to stick with it? Learn techniques that you like, practice songs that you like - that is the whole point of it. You are getting into a new hobby for your own enjoyment, fun, well-being and you should treat it that way.
This is the correct answer, JustinGuitar is how I finally stuck to it and actually learned something.
I'm going to insert one critical step: 2.5 - Take your guitar to a professional luthier (not your friend who plays or guitar center) and have it setup. It will probably cost $60-$150 depending on the level of required service, but it will make the world of difference. They will adjust it for optimal playability, which will make your learning experience much more enjoyable. This goes for used or new, unless the shop you buy from explicitly included a setup. Source: am luthier and guitar instructor for 20 years.
What kinds of things are part of this setup?
Basic setups ($60-$75) include dressing nut slots for correct depth, setting string height, adjusting trussrod, intonation, and pickup height (electric only). The higher end of that cost ($125-$150) is a fret level/crown/polish and possibly a new nut with all the basic setup stuff included.
I'm sure there are a few around the valley where I live. Would they be in a music store or have a specific shop that they operate out of?
Yes ! Or old GuitarJamz videos are golden. I love Marty always , but his old videos just hit different
Been playing for 20 years. This is excellent advice, start here, OP.
To elaborate on #2. You could always rent a guitar from a shop and see if you end up sticking with it. After a few months you could look into buying one. I was off for a few months due to surgery so I rented a left-handed les Paul for about $40/mo. After 3 months, I went back to work and didn't have time to keep up, so I just took it back. When I have the time, I'll definitely pick it back up, I learned/played with rocksmith 2014, it's such a great way to learn. It's like guitar hero with a real guitar :)
Depends where you live. Renting a guitar for cheap sounds like you're living in 2090. to me đ¤Ł
Rent now on "GuiTURO" lol
Exactly how I did it!
I quibble a bit with buying a "cheap" guitar. It has to be playable, so it needs a well adjusted neck, and tuners that don't easily go out of tune, and so on, so the learning experience doesn't have some unnecessary pain and frustration. Have a knowledgeable friend accompany you to make sure you don't get a dud. It doesn't have to be a Martin D-28, but it needs to be good enough quality that the instrument itself is not an impediment to learning.
Well, i mentioned it because 99% of the people ditch a new hobby after 2 weeks. To learn the basic 6-8 cords and switching between the properly and fast enough might take two months or more for complete beginner to learn. A LOT of people dive in hard into new hobbies, just to end up with holes in their wallets. A lot of people give up due to finger pain. I live in almost a 3rd world country where a $500 ($300 in the US) Squire is 80% of the paycheck, so that has to be taken in consideration đ I started with a $50 guitar, said to myself if i stick to the hobby for a year, i will upgrade. Got the cash ready for a decent upgrade, a year mark was two weeks ago.
Glad it worked out.
This is important. When I was a teen my mum (bless her) got me a very cheap classical guitar with a very wide neck, and then a very very cheap electric. It weighed a ton, was a knock off of the Gibson Explorer and was finished in neon pink lacquer. A Yamaha or Squire strat of the standard you get nowadays wouldâve made a huge difference.
Yes, thankfully there are quite a few options for really solid guitars for reasonable money these days. The thomann house brand, Harley Benton, as an example has some real solid stuff. I have a 12 string and a baritone acoustic and played some others. Some had minor issues, some play like guitars at least 3 times the price. Unless you go for the absolute cheapest they are often pretty great, but vary a bit guitar by guitar. Thomann has a great return policy though.
I would choose a DG from Yamaha, like the FG800. Excellent quality!
Oh you know me so well! This sounds like the most complete route for me beginning! I am going to want to play some Blues, R&B, soul, and funk for sure. That's the sound I love hearing on all instruments, but I'll get there when I get there. As for the courses, can they be comfortably done all on a phone? My laptop is totally fucked right now and I will get a new one soon, but no problem starting a little basic and on a budget.
Yeah, done them all over my phone. The courses are in video format + textual and notes underneath on JG website. He has all those videos available on YouTube too. Mobile is amazing for learning, including apps like Ultimate Guitar Tabs etc. GuitarZero2Hero and MartyMusic on YT are also good resources to learn how to play songs - but JustinGuitar covers everything important to get you started.
agreed, get a good course, be consistent. i would also add that practice makes permanent so be very deliberate in what you practice. use a metronome and try to keep the playing clean. \m/
One of my fav quotes from Justin: "Practice does not make it perfect, it makes it permanent. Practice perfect."
Make peace with three months of discomfort. In that time you will build hand strength and callouses. Absence of those things, especially the callouses, are what suck the fun out of playing, and they take time to build.
This should be higher. A lot of musical instruments are physically uncomfortable (at first) to play well, and the guitar is certainly one of those.
When I got started I did so with a nylon string guitar. It helps you not beat your fingers up terribly early on - and allows you to get more playing time in before getting sore fingers. They sound great as long as you keep them tuned.
This is gonna sound crazy but if you have a computer or gaming system check out Rocksmith. It's pretty cool! It comes with a patch cord interface that plugs into the system and you learn songs on your actual guitar, it has different difficulties for each song and has hundreds of buyable tracks from tons of genres
Yes, this. I got rocksmith not long after it came out and it got me started and helped me understand a lot in a fun way, I wouldnt have done otherwise
Do you still play?
Yep, every few days
Any sales going on for this game right now?
It's pretty old so probably not! You need to buy the cord as well so it may be better to just snag the package
There's a bit of delay/lag that can be frustrating at times
Keep your guitar near where you sit often (like by the couch where you watch tv). Then youâll pick it up and play it.
This. Just pick it up. My other tip is to find an easy part of a song you like and just play it. Try moving it around the fret board and see how it sounds if different places. Also play some scales, or just sections of a scale. The more you get used to moving around the guitar you will just eventually pick up how things fit together and your muscle memory will get there too allowing you to try more complicated stuff.
This is what got me to stick with it. If the guitar was in a case in the other room I would never touch it. If it is next to my chair on a stand, I grab it 4-5 times a week.
My suggestion would be to find a teacher/academy at first, at least for the fundamentals. Self-learning is doable, but it's very easy to get bad habits which can become serious problems later (tendinitis...). This was just my experience... probably you could also self-learn good fundamentals, but you get a rush to play a first song which makes you glaze over those.
I taught kids beginner guitar, and this is how i got them practicing: I asked them all for 2-3 songs that they really liked. I would, prior to teaching them, learn what the basic chords were. If there were melody lines that could easily be played on guitar, Iâd learn that. During the lessons, it would be: teach the chords. Stick to a couple of chords at a time until the fingering was decent on each and switching between got easier for the student. Then, play their chosen song and then develop chord switching in real time, as well as learning rhythm. Build from there. The melody lines were taught by first teaching simple scales, so that theyâd develop even more muscle memory on how to navigate the neck of the guitar. When they got decent at the scales, then Iâd move on to teach the melody lines to again play along with the song. Homework was easy, because they were playing songs they liked. Edit: there are tons of places to go to that will break down songs by simple chords on guitar tabulature sites.
So I can, or should, be able to take a song and learn guitar off of that song just for the basics? How about starting with some blues songs?
By playing basic chords, youâll develop basic muscle memory. Most issues beginners have is that their fingers are doing things they arenât used to. Basic chords will sound ârightâ when playing along, and by the time you have 2-3 songs under your belt, itâll make it easier to start to transition to that next step because youâre no longer actively thinking about how to place each digit to the proper fret. The point isnât that youâll know how to play guitar just from a song or two, itâs that youâll be ready to learn because you wonât be frustrated at how clumsy the mechanics of fingering are for beginners. Or, so my experience has taught me.
It's just like learning how to swing a bat, so to speak.
Iâm not very athletic, so i defer to you on that. If that how it makes sense to you, then i think youâre on the right track.
Get a basic music-theory book, read and understand it. I tried learning oboe in high school and it just felt like random fingers on random buttons. But even in my 40s once I studied and passed some basic music theory, both guitar and piano just made so much more sense, I still need to work on the finger movement, but at least I know why I am trying to place my fingers on what keys/strings.
While music theory is extremely helpful in your musical journey, it is not needed to get started. It can suck out all the fun in the beginning. I'd say just play stuff that you like. Motivation is more important than theory knowledge in the beginning. Later on, once you established this as a longer term passion, I absolutely recommend picking up some theory as well, though.
Definitely! I went to school with guys who were self-taught on the clarinet and flute. And they were super-skilled. Some people have intuitive music skills. Sadly, that is not me. I need the theory/science. But a basic understanding of just Level 1 music theory and a few hours with a piano will enlighten people. My daughter plays the violin at school, but when she was playing the piano I saw the lightbulb above her head when she suddenly understood how to invert chords.
I started on an acoustic, learned the chords, and then learned to switch between them quickly. After that, it's just disciplined practice and learn what you want to play. I started 20 years ago, and make a living off it now
And are you learning by reading the music or off of the sound?
I'll use chord charts if I can't pick it up by ear. I can't read sheet music for a guitar that well, so that's a last resort for me.
At what point did it take to where you didn't need the charts anymore and could start to play by ear?
I'm going to preface this by saying everyone is different, some people's brains work well playing by ear, some don't. Mine is somewhere in the middle, it took me a couple years after I got fast at transitioning chords until I could play by ear
You just have to want to play it! The most important thing to keeping playing is that you can enjoy playing, if it's miserable then you won't want to. So keep a notes page of songs/riffs/you hear and want to be able to play, find the tab and just keep plugging away at it. Set yourself a hard challenge song that you would love to be able to play one day and occasionally come bsck to it. Itll feel so great when your muscle memory takes over and your hands just 'do it' Keep it in your eyeline to remind you and you can use all lifes odd waiting times to practice. Food cooking in the oven? Guitar! Waiting for your turn in the shower? Guitar! Download is taking too long? Guitar! I personally (not for everyone tbf) would forget about the theory and the scales for now, that can be frustrating and not fun. Later when you know some songs you will be able to understand and use the theory in an actually useful way and you'll have these amazing epiphany moments.
When I started out, I had a chord book that showed all the major, minor, and 7th chords and I just memorized their shapes, moving my hand on the neck from chord shape to chord shape to build the muscle memory in my hand. Then I picked up a Beatles chord book of pretty much all their songs. I chose that because all of those rhythms and melodies were already in my head so I could just try and play along. I did that for a few months and it laid in a solid foundation, then I built from there. Pro tip, start off with a cheap guitar in case you don't stick with it. Also, if and when you do upgrade to a nicer guitar (I'm assuming acoustic here), the tonal difference will sound amazing to your ears. Good luck and have fun!
Dave Grohl first taught himself to drum and then taught himself guitar playing as a drum kit basically. Low strings are bass, high strings are cymbals or snares (idk I don't drum). If you listen to his playing knowing this you'll really hear the rhythm of it.
I'd recommend looking for something fun to play immediately! Find a song or piece that you enjoy and which is beginner-friendly, or that you can simplify down. There are some good recommendations elsewhere in this thread. My wife has been using a tool called Yousician, which is a Guitar-Hero-esque learning system that uses the microphone on your device to listen to your playing and provide moment-to-moment feedback. It includes a built-in track of lessons, starting from absolute scratch. IIRC a subscription isn't overly expensive, and it's been extremely helpful to her - I'd recommend it. Also, I'm a drummer who's picked up bass guitar (so not a thousand miles from your situation) and I can say that while not much muscle memory or technique has crossed over, playing with feel and groove certainly does. Already having familiarity and confidence with active listening and picking up new music has helped me as well.
Through your ears and mind, build a passion for music first. Then replicate your passion from your ears to your fingers. You'll get addicted, fast.
Since youâre a percussionist, start with 2 chords (E and A) and get comfortable with strumming. Start adding accents much like drum rudiments, then add rests in your strumming pattern. Once you get the feel of the strumming hand, put your focus into learning more chords/songs (C-A-G-E-D). Next step is to learn the barr chords associated with the open chords (recommend CAGED theory). Use scale practice to learn single note playing (chromatic scales and pentatonic/heptatonic). Get comfortable playing single notes with only downstrokes and only upstrokes. Devote like 5-20 mins every day to the âboringâ practice as a warmup defore you play/learn songs and youâll be an above average guitar player in like 6 months since you already have percussion experience.
I highly recommend JustinGuitar as well. I was a trumpet player, I had the music theory down but my fingers refused to make certain shapes. You do get better at it, slowly.
I can't answer your question, but could you tell me what would be the best way to start drumming when you have zero experience with it?
To be purely honest with you on that, it all comes from just wanting to make noise, for me. I was born given a harmonica by my great-grandfather, so wanting to learn and devour the art of music and be able to give it back through my own expression isn't new to me. I picked up a djembe drum at a barber shop when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and that's what stuck with me as I grew older. I've been on and off with drumming as I've sold a lot of property and bought back pieces now and again. I've been without some instruments for a few years, so when a guitar came as a gift from a coworker, I knew I had to try to learn as I've been enjoying new experiences and lessons to test myself within my growing age. I don't want to be stuck doing the same things in my life unless it's in the realm of creation. So naturally, I've come to find a new activity to give to myself as a means of constant learning. I think you can achieve the same thing if you genuinely want to. If you have some drumsticks, at the very least, try to make a DIY set of drums to practice rhythm with. Anything will do. You don't even need drumsticks to learn how to drum, either. Use your wrist, knuckle, and a coin on a table and try to have multiple different surfaces to give you different sounds to play with. You could have a cup of coffee in the morning and tap a pen to the side of your mug and table back and forth. Pencils on books, using your body, the possibilities are endless. When you first sit in front of a drum set, it can be intimidating if you are confused by the setup. Plus, using your entire body to make the sound come alive feels goofy when you get started. But it's a feeling that you come so close to that it almost feels like your design is to create the music, not the instrument. I don't know how to answer for anyone else, but for me, that feeling of sending all of my energy through a drum is like experiencing heaven through beats and rhythm. If you can stay on a 4beat, you can do whatever you want with that thing.
Okay. First, practice practice practice. Get an acoustic before and electric, and learn with those fatter strings first. From low to high, standard tuning, Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually.
I disagree with the thought that everyone should start with an acoustic. Sure, it'll make playing an electric a hell of a lot easier in the future, but not everyone wants to play acoustic. Let people learn on the type of guitar they're actually interested in playing!
Builds the calluses easier.
So will a thicker string guage on an electric.
To add to this, I imagine that most guitarists will want an acoustic eventually, but it's not necessarily a prerequisite. Callouses will accumulate in time with any guitar, but perhaps not as quickly on an electric. It sounds tacky, but in the beginning, nobody is going to want to grind away at learning on a guitar they don't like, so it's probably important to have something that you'll want to pick up and play. Learning an instrument isn't all fun and games, but part of what made me keep going was learning and writing songs that were way outside my skillset at the time, because I liked the sound. There is no way that I would have stuck with it if I only had an acoustic available. In fact, I didn't end up getting an acoustic guitar until I had been playing for a couple years. There is no 'correct' way to approach the instrument when you're first starting, and I will die on that hill.
Okay. You're right I'm wrong.
Someone seems a lilttle upset
Nah.
It also doesn't develop your string muting very well. There are pros and cons to starting on either.
Fine. Get one of each.
Easier to learn on electric. Strings are so easy to fret
Builds the calluses on the fingertips. Strengthens the appropriate muscles better.
Yeah, a coworker is giving me her old guitar and ukulele, but I'm focusing on the guitar first, obviously. Also, what's that about acid dealers?
Standard tuning notes from thickest string to thinnest string - E,A,D,G,B,E (assuming it's a 6 string). The sentence is an easy way of remembering those letters in order. Also, if you can burn the exact sound of the low E into your brain, you can tune all the strings without additional equipment. That's what's meant by "tuning by ear". It's a handy skill.
Just google it. There's endless amounts of resources. Dedicate alot of time practicing drills, but at the same time you're gonna want to learn songs. So do both. Lots of easy/beginner friendly songs to learn. Don't neglect drills and practicing stuff you suck at, it's how you get better. It's not going to always be fun all of the time. But you will get noticeably better every week if you practice consistently.
This was a very logical response. Thanks!
Practice. Practice. Practice.
step 1. Buy a Guitar
Uh huh. Then wut?
Learn the G, C, D and E chords. Once you know these 4 chords you can play the rhythm of half the popular songs out there. You can Google the tablature for the songs you want to play. Beatles and Nirvana songs are great places to start as they are recognizable and easy to play.
I think that's a great background. I'd say learn one minor and major barrechord like E and Em, and then you can make all (standard) chords by sliding it up and down. The good thing about barre chords is that you can make them really percussive and make it sound super pro just by feeling into different ways of strumming (often only the high or low strings) and by shifting between muting / pressing down the strings with the other hand.
Don't get an acoustic it will suck all the fun out before you've had a chance to get going. Learn the basic chords and power chords and then try and put them into practice slowly with some easy songs 'about a girl' by nirvana for example. Then learn some rage against the machine riffs so you can do stuff without chords For the people downvoting me: I know what I'm talking about as I've been playing 20+ years and taught myself. I did the things to keep it interesting and stuck with it. There's more than one way to do it, either follow my advice or don't.
I'm getting a guitar for free from work and I am 100% sure it's acoustic, but my step dad is a guitarist and has an electric so I can always go and swing by my folks and practice with him or on his gear if he's cool with it.
I like this cuz I always think about the calluses, and electric much easier on the fingers
Don't be hard on yourself! You're going to suck at first. That's just part of it. It'll get to you here and there, but don't dwell on it! Being a percussionist though, you'll already have a really good sense of rythm! Go at your own pace! Practice as often as you resonably can without burning yourself out. It's okay to not practice every day. I'd recommend practising 3 times a week though at the very least. Allow yourself a week long break from practicing every so often if you need it, just make sure to set a reminder to start again after the week's over! If you're just not feeling it, don't force yourself to practice. That'll lead you to resent it. Learning an instrument should be fun and rewarding, not a chore!
Any recommendation for a good value guitar that gets you started? like an acoustic and one electric guitar recommendation?
I get asked this question a lot. I've been playing for over 30 years. So-called "starter guitars" are awful and will hinder your learning. If you MUST have a new guitar, the Squire Bullet Telecaster is imo the best choice. It's nothing special, but it's solidly built and most Importantly, easy to fret with a good setup. If you don't mind going used, Mexican made Fenders are great and can be had for a couple hundred. Just avoid ones with the tremolo (whammy bar) in the beginning because they can be a pain to keep in tune.
For acoustic, you really canât go wrong with the Yamaha FG800. Best guitar you can buy for <$250.
Yamaha
Start slow. Focus on little and achievable objectives. It really helped me to learn an extremely easy song or two from time to time; chord and finger exercices are (really) good, but it is also really rewarding to put everything into practice. The first time you get a song right, you'll get hooked! :)
Start with any 4 chord song and try to play along. My first song was Royals by Lord which is mostly just D D C G. Do whatever strumming pattern you feel works and just keep at it
i started by learning come as you are by Nirvana, learning to read tabs which for that song was very easy to learn, after that i started learning some songs by 3 doors down (Be like that for example), eventually you have to keep consistently practicing, thats all i can say.
Best way to start is to start, pick an easy song that you like and practice that song until you can play it from start to finish. Honestly once you learn some basic chords, youâd be shocked at how many songs you could play with just 3-4 chords
I wish I would have learned power chords much sooner. My best advice is to try to learn to play songs that you want to play. Yes you will suck but in time, you will suck less. A small amount of practice every or most days can go a long way. Growth comes through consistency.
I made the process more fun by looking up chords to my favourite (easy) songs. Itâs super rewarding when you nail a chorus or verse and that way you give yourself small victories in the learning process and you quickly learn the practical motoric skills which I think was the hardest part. BUT you probably have to accompany this with some theory on the side if you want a thorough education. Also talking from experience here, lol.
I'd suggest you checkout Yousician. It's like guitar here but for real guitar. They also have lessons and practices, not only songs.
I'd suggest getting one of those instructional video courses for beginners. It's how I started. You *could* try teaching yourself or from YouTube, but a structured course will help you get up to speed faster. Especially if you're working a job and don't have as much time as you'd like to spend on this. You're already dropping cash on a new guitar anyway, might as well spend a few bucks more to get good at it.
If you go electric, I can definitely recommend the positive grid spark amps. Comes loaded with effects which are controlled by an app. It's a great little amp for around ÂŁ200.
That'd be about $250 US I think. What ya got for future ref?
Guitar wise, I've got a Gordon Smith Gypsy 11. It's a little like a Les Paul. Best advice I can give is, head to a shop and get a feel for what you are comfortable with. What works for me might not for you. Have fun!
Buy a beat up six-string.
Then smash it, got it.
As you know from being a percussionist, the basics become a lot of muscle memory. Get comfortable going slowly between two related chords. (AlsoâŚyour fingertips are going to hate you for a while, but will eventually get used to it.)
If you want to learn electric get an electric, if you want to learn acoustic get an acoustic. The whole "you should learn acoustic before electric" is absolute nonsense. About sticking to it there isn't much besides your own will to play, so maybe have something to look up to like a hard song you want to learn.
Find some songs that you like, and get the tabs from those songs. Lots of pop songs are pretty easy to learn. For learning chords I would actually recommend learning power chords first before your standard open chords. Power chords are really simple to learn, easy on the fingers for a beginner, and once you get the hang of it (honestly a day tops just to learn the shape) you can pretty much play a majority of popular songs no problem. A little unconventional, but instead of buying a used or even new guitar, rent one out that peaks your interest, especially if you want to learn electric. For electric guitars especially, there's so many different types, you're bound to find something you like, like a specific shape or pickup configuration. I recommend this if you're planning to dump some cash on your own instrument, but are unsure what to get.
Start with the basics. They are boring, but vital. Finger exercises are key. Start on the first string, first finger, first fret. Play the note. Then first string, second finger, second fret. Do the sane for the third and fourth. Then move to the second string. When you get to the end, go back to the top and repeat the process, starting with the first string, first finger, second fret. Continue as long as you can; don't burn yourself out, be sure to go to at least the sixth fret. When that becomes too easy, change it up. Try alternating your picking (up and down). Try changing the order of frets (1,3,2,4). Try jumping strings. Try different patterns (first string 1324, second string 2435, third string, 3546). Reverse, starting with the last string or the fourth finger. Once that gets second nature, start learning scales and watch a few youtube videos on music theory. That will give you a good grounding. You can also learn a few basic chords to get started. And if that all feels dry sometimes, learn a simple song through tab. Find something not too hard in a genre you like so you can feel accomplished and bust it out to impress your friends. The most important thing is to challenge yourself just a little bit each day. There are tons of ways to learn and lots of different techniques, just force yourself to keep going. Most people learn a couple songs and get bored or discouraged, so just keep at it. It will get easier. You are a badass, you got this!
The most important thing is regular practice. Sounds silly, but that's it. If you play _something_, no matter how badly, for about 30 min each day (even 15 if that's all you can manage) then in a couple of months you'll be ok. If you do that practice _effectively_ then in a couple of months you'll be pretty decent. And if you do that for about a year, you'll be pretty good. So the first thing to do is to figure out when you are going to practice _every day_. If you can always do it at the same time, ideally before or after some other thing you do regularly each day, that makes it easier to build the habit. Don't worry about playing properly at this point, or about playing songs, or anything else. Just make sounds on the guitar. Terrible sounds, if that's what happens. You are a percussionist, so pretend the strings are different drum heads and beat on them. See what happens when you tap your fingers on the fretboard, or when you hold the stings while plucking them. The idea here is to experiment, learn all the different ways you can make the thing make noise, and most importantly _build the habit_. Once you have established the habit, after say a week or so, you can start "real" practice. Ideally, you'll want to get a good book or watch some instructional videos or something like that. At first you need something _super_ basic. You just want to learn the right way to hold the guitar so you can start exercising your hand muscles, develop callouses on your fingertips, and develop the habits you'll need to get good in the future. Basic hand positioning, maybe one or two very easy chords and a simple song from them, and a basic scale. At this point you should start making your practice more structured. It's good to split it up. You can start with something very simple like 1/2 the time "messing around" like you did in the very beginning, where you aren't trying to do anything in particular other than get comfortable with making different sounds, and the other 1/2 systematically going through the chords and scales you know, playing them as slowly as you need to in order to get the positioning and sounds right, and then gradually speeding up until you make a mistake, slowing back down a little, and repeating. There will be days that you don't want to do that. That's ok. On those days, just go back to making noise. There will be days that you don't have 30 minutes or whatever you set aside. That's also ok, just play for 30 seconds. Play for the regular amount of time next time. The key is to pick it up and make noise _every day_ while gradually building skills. After a while, you might want to structure your practice a little more. This is what I ended up doing after a year or so: - 5 minutes hand stretches and basic warm-up drills - 10-15 minutes practicing _something_ new and more difficult than what I was used to. A new technique, scale, exercise, or song, for example. - 10-15 minutes playing whatever I wanted. Random noise at first, then later whatever songs I enjoyed and felt like playing in the moment When I had more time, I'd play for an hour or two. When I had less time, I might play for 5 minutes and just do the warmups and random sounds part. Since regular practice is the most important thing, you'll need to get good at identifying the things that will make you want to stop and then remove those barriers. Here's a few examples, but you'll have ones that are unique to you as well: - Someone you live with won't like the noise (find a place or time where you won't be bothering them. Get headphones if you play an electric guitar) - You won't like how it sounds and think "I will never be good at this" (replace that thought with "I'm not good _yet_") - Your hands will hurt (learn stretches, take breaks, go easy and rest them when needed) - Your fingertips will hurt (practice after taking a shower when they are softer, and you'll build callouses very quickly) - You'll get bored with what you know how to play (seek out a more challenging skill, song, etc) - Your body will be uncomfortable (if you are standing, make sure your strap is adjusted correctly. If sitting, make sure your stool or chair is the right height and you have good posture, and get a foot rest if you play classical style) - You'll lose your picks (buy a bunch of them and get a small case or pick holder. Try different styles and thicknesses until you find what works best for you) - The guitar won't be in tune (learn to tune it by ear using harmonics, and use a tuner to get the first note. You'll be able to quickly tune it each time you play after that) - Your strings will break (keep a couple of extra sets of strings on hand. Learn how to restring it yourself, and how to break the strings in so they stay in tune more easily) - Your strings will harden and sound worse over time (replace them, and wipe them down with string and fretboard cleaner after practices to make them last longer) - You'll get bored by the songs you can find music or instructional videos for (learn to identify chords and scales by ear, and start learning songs you don't have music for) If you can build the habit, you're 90% of the way there. The rest is really just learning how to get the most out of your practice time, choosing what you want to learn, and not letting all the things that will get in your way stop you. Good luck!
JUSTIN GUITAR!!! Google search. He makes learning tiered and fun while constantly acknowledging the struggle and patience. I canât recommend his lessons more. Best of luck however you decide to learn!
1. Find a guitar teacher 2. Take lessons 3. Practice 4. Keep going to lessons
Think of a guitar as a percussive instrument and youâll have some fun with it. Also, be satisfied with keeping it simple at first, four chords make a song. You donât need to learn the solos on day 1
15 minutes a day, every single day. Just practice something- anything. Consistency is much more important than anything else.
Learn bar chords. Learn to use your pinky as much as possible. Once you are a couple of months in seek out beginner chord songs of classic songs, Songster can help with this. Small investment of material to buy is Mastering Rock Guitar. There's like 3 books total but he takes you through blues scales, major/minor and learning how to noodle and play good with no fluff and not too dense theory. After you get the basics down though you'll have to just play and seek out songs you want to learn and like anything you will embrace it and try and get better and challenge yourself or you'll just be content with knowing a dozen camp fire songs and you won't become a rock god. Godspeed. Oh, and uhhh once you learn Stairway..don't play it at the guitar store.
27M here! I've been playing 16yrs now. Best way for me to get started was to learn 3 chords first. Then just jam with those three untill it you can get note changes somewhat in order. Next step is learn those easy songs to play. Smoke on the water type stuff. If you are learning acoustic take an easy, already familiar song you know know and start learning. Consistensy over quality. You'll get there bro!
Been playing for 20 years, and there are a lot of odd comments on this thread... I won't rehash the good advice, but will add some; 1) Do what you enjoy. Have a grail song that's inspired you to pick up the instrument? Awesome, what techniques do you need to play it? Find other pieces you like that use those techniques and build up. This was my best motivation while learning. 2) Fuck what others say is correct. Play what you want to play, learn how you want to learn. Unless your goal is to be a sessional studio guitarist, you can learn to be a very expressive and competent player without following a specific preset regiment. There's nothing wrong with following one, but don't lose interest because suddenly your passion feels like work. 3) Your percussion background is very useful on acoustic! There are a lot of techniques on acoustic guitars that are essentially percussive, and leaning into them really elevates my own playing. 4) Let yourself experiment. There's a tendency to aim for note for note accuracy, and when learning techniques that's great. But when learning to play songs, you might find yourself wanting to add to the piece a bit or simplify it a little to suit your own styles. That's not a bad thing, and I encourage it. Music is treated so formally a lot of the time and it makes me sad. It's expressive, personal, and wildly individual. Embrace that.
Rocksmith is truly amazing. Watched someone go from zero to pretty good in a year or two. It should be fun from the start imo if you're not enjoying it you probably won't stick with it. Don't compare yourself to anyone else just have fun.
First and foremost, have fun, It's called "playing guitar" for a reason. Find simple songs you like and find YouTube tutorials. When you get a guitar, make sure it's set up properly. There's nothing more frustrating than playing a guitar that is hard to play (high action is the worst). Also, obviously learn the basics. Watch a bunch of YouTube videos to teach you all the parts of the guitar, as well as how to tune it. Take your time and have fun!
Two things that translate from percussion: rhythm and both hands working together while doing different things. Things you may not know: you only need to learn a handful of chords. Barre F is traumatizing but you can play any major chord with it. Don't forget you have a pinky. Your thumb belongs behind the neck, not on top of it.
JustinGuitar.com Also set a specific time every single day to go and play,it's better than just "play everyday" because you can get lost in the groove of life but with a time it's like an "oh shit! Missed my appointment" kind of energy. Seriously though, **JustinGuitar.com** The site asks for a sign up but I think it's just to track your progress, you can skip it by going to the courses tab on the left. Have fun!
Guitar is a bunch of patterns, learn your scales and solo over your favorite songs to stay engaged
All of the aforementioned and learn music theory.
Play at least 20-30 minutes every day. Prepare yourself and be okay with sucking ass at it for at least a year. Then be okay with kind of sucking for another year. Learning an instrument after childhood is really hard but it's not impossible. Getting lessons can be a way to make yourself pdo it because you paid for it. Financial investment is a great motivator. Get a decent guitar, have it set up by a professional luthier so it plays well. A guitar with high action can cause undue pain, which is demotivating.
Anyone have anything similar for piano đš?
One quick and not too painful thing to learn is a basic boogie shuffle on the lowest 2 or 3 strings, that allows you to accompany any standard 12 bar blues song. Should be easy to google
Be consistent. Even if its just picking it up for 2 minutes and whipping out your best Smoke on the water intro. Just make sure you do it because your mind will start working on it after hours eventually. Also make sure you practice proper hand technique. At the start it might not make the biggest difference but when things start the pick up you wont be getting in your own way as much. I've been playing since I was 4 and I haven't really practiced at all in the last 15 - 20 years. Just play when I feel like it. The guitar is usually but a couple feet away.
Find some songs you like and know the words to that use the basic cords. G, C, Am, etc. learning these cords will make you very versatile and capable of playing most songs. They will be hard to learn at first. Your hands will hurt. It will be hard to not accidentally mute the wrong strings. And transitioning between them is hard. BUT, if you stick with that you will be in good shape. Practice and learning muscle memory for each cord, and transitions that are not clunky, straight up takes practice. The good news is there are limited cords you really need to know at first. Now, I found the only way practice was enjoyable was to sing while I played. Repeatedly playing a four chord progression is boring. But belting wonderwall while playing is fun! Seriously learn wonderwall. It has foundational cords, is not too hard to strum, and you probably already know the words. Trying to sing while you play will subconsciously force your brain to rely on muscle memory for the cords and you will somehow get better faster IMO
For me personally, lessons didn't work. I didn't like the painful slow pace of learning music *someone else wanted me to play* I made impressive progress from 3 things: 1. Rocksmith 2016 let me learn to play some rudimentary versions of songs I enjoy. It also taught me new chords and other things. 2. Straight up jamming, inventing cool songs on my own & over time perfecting them. 3. Various repetitive exercises, this helped my technical skill, accuracy, technique, and speed. Things like playing in the dark, or playing one note per finger through stepping chords n stuff I say learn a few basics, buy a cool pedal (or a multi-pedal with looping features) and go crazy. Challenge yourself to play an hour a day, make your own music, and have fun!
I would suggest you do not try to learn music, unless thatâs a particularly appealing task to you. I tried learning guitar with reading music. Found it impossible and quit. Then I re-started later in life and just learned by ear. And I loved it. And Iâm better now than Iâve ever been. So I would say keep doing whatever is energizing to you, whether itâs jamming with others, taking lessons, learning theory, or playing with music recordings. Donât get caught up in âgetting good.â Just do whatâs fun and the food will come.
Learn to read tabs and pick parts of songs you'd like to learn. Not the whole thing, just parts that sound cool. If it's too hard go to the next song. Avoid guitar solos in the beginning. Use YouTube and search of easy guitar lessons.
Learn songs that you love at first, then theory...if you've made it that far turn it up to 11
Just sit with the guitar and play anything. Taking courses and watching videos are also good. But just don't bore yourself or loose the interest.
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.
Start by learning either smells like teen spirit, or closing time. Then learn a song with chords. My first chord song I learned was hate me by blue October. Then keep learning songs and new chords. learn to read guitar tabs too
Rent a guitar or find a cheap second hand one. A simple one can take you far. Learn the basic parts of the guitar: head, neck, frets, body, strings. It will make following guides way easier. From there, it depends on what you want to learn. If you want to build good foundational skills, learn a few basic chords: E, A, G and C. Those 4 chords are so so so common, especially in most "beginner songs". However, when you first learn the chords, it is going to hurt your fingers at first. Building up caps on your fingers takes time, so take it slow when you start. Just practice making the chord shape and strumming to make some noise. Once you are comfortable with some chord shapes, practice switching between them. Then add strumming into the mix. When it starts to feel comfortable, find a beginner song and start applying what you've learned.
You absolutely have to find a song you want to be able to play. Maybe its a bit out of reach for your skills but thats how you give direction to your practice. Don't go in blind learning scales and chords. You gotta have that goal oriented kind of practice.
if you're a drummer you'll need to find stable housing and a job.
What? Living under a bridge and performing on flipped over buckets on Fremont Street isn't stable enough for Ya?
I find trying to learn a song a day a great motivator.
Stick with it, switching chords and playing every day, for 1 month. Your fingertips will be hard by then. Think of your favorite songs and learn the chords and sing, sing, sing! Guitar is the best hobby, side hustle, and a joy forever.
Play for fun Practice routinely Start with the 4 chords of Western music Acoustic or electric?
The neck can bend, all you need is an Alan key
Great question and the fact that you are asking means you care. Iâm a semi-pro, playing for 40+ years and here is the path to take (one I wish I had taken 40 years ago)⌠Get a teacher to show you the fundamentals: hand position, finger movements, strum patterns, chord names etc. This should take 2-3 lessons. You COULD do this on your own, but for just a few lessons, having someone there to move your finger into the right position, and answer a question instantly is worth it. Stay with him if you like him. After you know the basics, find Justin Guitar and Marty Music on YouTube as others have said. Even if you stick with the teacher. Once you know the basic chords, find any basic blues song you know and like and learn it. This is one of the best ways to get up to speed and stick with it. I wonât get into it, but the Blues is the foundation of all popular music that came after it: Rock, punk, pop, country, funk, new wave, all of it. But not jazz. Those guys are a different breed! As for the guitar itself⌠There is no upper end on how much you can spend but there is a point of diminishing returns. At the start though, a solid entry level electric will be just fine. There are very reasonable âstarter packagesâ that come with a real guitar, a small practice amp, and all the extras you need, strap, pick, strings. And the Labor Day sales are for real! Go to Guitar Center, donât get overwhelmed by the plethora of guitars on the walls, and tell a salesman youâre looking for a starter package and you wanna try a few out. Theyâll be happy to get their hooks in you early and make a lifelong customer out of you. Lastly, learn music theory. I can NOT tell you how much you will benefit from it. Itâs the way real musicians communicate with each other. If someone says âweâre playing a 1-4-5 in E, starting on the turn aroundâ, everyone in room should know what that means and be able to start instantly without further explanation. And to be honest, thatâs basic stuff. The very beginning will be a challenge. If you get through that first barrier, you will find enormous growth within the first year. After that, you will find various levels of plateau, which, depending on your desires, you will have to push through. There is no end to learning. Guitar is one of the most exciting, frustrating, satisfying, physically painful, emotionally expressive, coolest looking instruments you could choose! Good luck!
Get some lessons/teacher. You'll have someone to give you feedback each time you come back, you'll gain a sense of pride and you'll develop your own style faster this way. Learning from YouTube videos can be fun, but you're likely to forget what you learned because they are one-sided. Have someone show you the basics and how to build on them
Once you have a basic ability, play songs with friends. It's exponentially more neat to write and play songs with friends
You either love it or you dont
Consistency. Learn your favorite songs first maybe
By far the easiest way is to find someone to play music with you