I have a new found respect for guitar players

[X man Da Legend]

Hi I typically do r&b and hip hop music on my keyboard but decided I wanted to add guitar to my list as well. (I also played drums in high school) And I have realised that I may be in a bit over my head lol. Ive only been playin with it for a few days and tried my first chords on it last night (Open chords I think they are called) and I must say I dont see how anyone could get all of this down well a lot of guitar is just pure memorization which is amazing to me. Is this typical to have a good amount of frusteration in the beginning? I also hear high fretted guitars are hard to play could that be another reason for my frusteration because from what i hear this has a very high fret. I am playing a classical guitar.

[orson198305]

you don't really memorise the chords in your head, but remember then from songs and arrangment you played earlier. playing a simple song will help you to learn chords not memorising from a book. you'll end up getting it no probs

[dwarf]

Oh the sweetness

I have nothing aggainst you or alot of rappers just there are the ignorent ones who...well you know they're dicks.

It's very typical to get pissed of in the beginning just keep at it and you will eventually succeed.

Right after giving you some rep I'm off to bed.

[X man Da Legend]

thanx for the words of encourgement. 1 more question I am having issues with tuning. I get it really close but then on my tuner it says I am either a lil sharp or a lil flat as the chords resonates is that usual or is it partly because of my new strings or am I doing something wrong because for the life of me I cannot get it to stay right on pitch until the ringing starts if that makes sense or is it my tuner? I have a Korg CA- 30

[Violent5]

Tuning a guitar also takes practice. I suggest you also learn to tune without a tuner. A tuner is a fantastic tool but total dependence on one would suck.

I'm not familiar with your tuner model but yeah the needle tends to fluctuate a bit on some strings. Just be sure to pluck each string cleanly one at a time and watch the meter. Make small adjustments as you watch the meter. Its also a good idea to end the adjustment tightening the peg rather than loosing if you know what I mean. It seems like the string stays tuned better that way. Once you've tuned all the strings go back and check them again until they all read good. Changing the tension of one string effects the others. New strings take a little stretching/playing until the settle in and stay in tune.


Violent5

[ermghoti]

Originally Posted by X man Da Legend

thanx for the words of encourgement. 1 more question I am having issues with tuning. I get it really close but then on my tuner it says I am either a lil sharp or a lil flat as the chords resonates is that usual or is it partly because of my new strings or am I doing something wrong because for the life of me I cannot get it to stay right on pitch until the ringing starts if that makes sense or is it my tuner? I have a Korg CA- 30

Guitar strings are very malleable, even under tension. When you pick the string, you stretch it a little, and it will run a little sharp until it settles down (a couple seconds). You can either tune to the pitch at the attack (the first note the tuner flashes at you) or after it settles down, which I much prefer. If you are playing to other instruments, you will have to adjust a bit so everthing is in tune with everything else.

It does suck starting guitar, it uses a bunch of muscles for things they are not used to, notes appear in multiple places, compromises are made in tuning and in fretting chords, and fingertips and high tension, fine diameter steel wires don't get along. After a couple weeks to a couple months, the basics start to feel natural, and you have an exponential explosion of progress for a year or so, then you plateau again. Stick with it.

[X man Da Legend]

Originally Posted by orson198305

you don't really memorise the chords in your head, but remember then from songs and arrangment you played earlier. playing a simple song will help you to learn chords not memorising from a book. you'll end up getting it no probs

what do u mean u learn it by playing songs dont u have to know the chords before u play the song?

[Dani Pace]

When you are first starting there is a lot of memorizing to do, learn the notes and chord structures. After a bit of practice you will begin to see patterns developing. As you practice more you will notice a number of similarities between chords and spacing in scales. Don't expect this to occur imediately. It takes a lot of patience and practice. Often you will be able to understand how to do something long before your fingers will be able to do it. Finger exercises are good but the only way to develope the dexterity to really play is to practice with the guitar in your hands. Expect sore fingers, this will get better as you practice more and build strength and a few callouses. Don't worry about being fast, learn to be precise, speed will come with more practice.
In case you haven't noticed, the word PRACTICE keeps showing up. Practice is the thing which seperates the "wanna bes" from the players.
Start slow and simple. Unless you are a total klutz you can learn to play, it just takes patience and a lot of PRACTICE. If it was fast and easy then everyone would play guitar.

Just start out with a few basic major open chords. Like, G, D, and C. Then learn a few songs that use those chords (knocking on heaven's door, for example).

Then learn a few more chords, like E, B, and A, and practice songs with those chords (Live - Lightning Crashes), etc.

After you've learned most of the major chords, you can learn some minor chords, and that will allow you to play a lot more songs.

Just practice changing from chord to chord until it feels natural and you don't have to pause between each chord change.

[breeeeza]

stick with it and practise and practise even though you will start giving up and be like "i sound like shit!" it suddenly clicks and you can play a sequence of chords easily. Then before you know it you can play something like house of the rising sun (not hard i know but good for begginer)
I practise when im on the loo. Find an easy tab off the internet aswell and try and learn that.
Good luck

[X man Da Legend]

Originally Posted by Violent5

Tuning a guitar also takes practice. I suggest you also learn to tune without a tuner. A tuner is a fantastic tool but total dependence on one would suck.

I'm not familiar with your tuner model but yeah the needle tends to fluctuate a bit on some strings. Just be sure to pluck each string cleanly one at a time and watch the meter. Make small adjustments as you watch the meter. Its also a good idea to end the adjustment tightening the peg rather than loosing if you know what I mean. It seems like the string stays tuned better that way. Once you've tuned all the strings go back and check them again until they all read good. Changing the tension of one string effects the others. New strings take a little stretching/playing until the settle in and stay in tune.


Violent5

i intend to do just that I have a decent ear and I do play keyboards as well I just want to be for sure and id rather not tune with my keyboard because thats just as much as a dependence. I can tell when I string is off but Im not where I can tell if its too sharp or too flat yet because I am not used to tuning

[tdukex]

The secret to learning to play guitar (and I am only disclosing this because I am a generous degererate) is to find a Dominatrix who also plays/teaches guitar.

Let your imaginitations go.

[ermghoti]

Originally Posted by tdukex

The secret to learning to play guitar (and I am only disclosing this because I am a generous degererate) is to find a Dominatrix who also plays/teaches guitar.

Let your imaginitations go.

I bet developing the callouses is a bitch.

[soundchaser59]

Not sure what you already know about tuning, but......one trick is I just use the tuner (or the piano) to tune the low E, then tune the rest of the strings to the low E, then check the low E again with the tuner when I get done tuning. I've noticed what you said, when I tune each string to the tuner, it's never really "perfect" according to the tuner.....so I tune the guitar to itself you might say, after getting the low E right. If the guitar sounds in tune with itself, and the low E matches all the rest of the instruments, then the guitar will sound in tune with the song.

If you play and sustain a low E on the piano, and play the low E string while the piano is sustaining, you can hear if they are in tune because the pitch will oscillate a little bit if it's off. Deliberately detune the E string - but do it slowly - and you will hear the speed of the oscillations increase as it gets more out of tune. When you bring the string back into tune with the piano note, the oscillation speed will become slower and slower until it stops oscillating completely. That is the point where the guitar string is in tune with the piano. Also works for tuning it to another guitar, play one low E string and tune yours to it while listening for this oscillation.

Also works for tuning the guitar to itself.

Works with perfect 4ths and perfect 5ths. I dont do 5th fret tuning like most guitarists. I play the low E and the second fret on the A string (two notes) this makes a perfect 5th (E and B). If you slowly detune the A string, you can hear the same oscillation in the sound of the perfect 5th. The speed of the oscillation will increase as the B (A string) becomes more and more out of tune. When you tune the string back to where it was, the speed of the oscillation will decrease, and it will stop completely when the E and the B form a perfect 5th. Then the interval is in tune. Repeat for the A string + E (2nd fret of the D string) pair.

For the G string I simply play the D string and the G string open, as a perfect 4th. Tune the G string until the oscillation stops.

For the B string I use another perfect 4th, by playing the A (2nd fret G string) and the D (3rd fret B string). Detune and retune the B string until the oscillation of the perfect 4th stops.

Same thing for the high E, play the B string and the E string open and detune/retune the E string until the perfect 4th oscillation stops.

Then play a bar chord or something to check the guitar. You may have to play a few minutes then repeat this process once or twice. The strings will change tension as you tune the first time, and they will warm up as you play which also means they will go flat as they warm up. It may take a few minutes and a couple of tunings to get it "stabilized"......

[soundchaser59]

And one other thing.....

The worst mistake most new guitarists make is neglecting the pinkie. Do NOT ever ignore your pinkie finger. There are a lot of "3 finger" guitarists out there, especially many of the self taught guys in classic rock. But you will notice that the best guitarists are the ones who use and rely on all 4 fingers.......

[DogFood]

At first learning guitar can suck, really suck. When I'm learning new stuff I try to get a recording of the music and get the music or tabs. Then I put one note in front of the next, there is usually some cussing, beer drinking, then more cussing. It can be very frustrating with guitars because the chords and notes overlap and get muddled. I'd prefer to learn music on bass or vocals. But, noooooo, I just had to pick the guitar. It does get easier and you have an advantage, you play another instrument already. I like classical guitars because the strings are positioned wider/farther apart. This helps you play more clearly. Kind of like bigger targets. Twelve string guitars can be a freakin mess. Good luck.

[X man Da Legend]

Originally Posted by DogFood

At first learning guitar can suck, really suck. When I'm learning new stuff I try to get a recording of the music and get the music or tabs. Then I put one note in front of the next, there is usually some cussing, beer drinking, then more cussing. It can be very frustrating with guitars because the chords and notes overlap and get muddled. I'd prefer to learn music on bass or vocals. But, noooooo, I just had to pick the guitar. It does get easier and you have an advantage, you play another instrument already. I like classical guitars because the strings are positioned wider/farther apart. This helps you play more clearly. Kind of like bigger targets. Twelve string guitars can be a freakin mess. Good luck.

and all of this time i thought id be able to buy a guitar and get my rkelly on (minus the 12 year old girls lol)

[orson198305]

Although it is a must to learn basic chords etc don't dampen any experimenting you feel you want to do. I was told by my dad when i was 7 "you have to learn all these chords before you play a song" (which was a full chord dictionary). I couldn't play most of them so i gave up. I took the guitar up again when i was 10 and with a certain amount of rebeliousness, threw the chord book aside & started making up my own chords. It gave me a more graphical look of the guitar fretboard & i started seeing patterns in what i would play. I think this helped a lot for songwriting for sure.

Don't turn playing the guitar into a chore, but it is hard work & practice is essential.

[orson198305]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

And one other thing.....

The worst mistake most new guitarists make is neglecting the pinkie. Do NOT ever ignore your pinkie finger. There are a lot of "3 finger" guitarists out there, especially many of the self taught guys in classic rock. But you will notice that the best guitarists are the ones who use and rely on all 4 fingers.......

Thanks soundchaser i still do that!!

I try & incorporate the pinky but it tends just to act as a counterbalance for the rest of my fingers. When i finger pick i use only my thumb, index & middle finger

[ggunn]

You have to be bad before you can be good. Be prepared to be bad for quite a while, but the only way around it is through it. Be bad a lot, and often; that way you get it over with quicker.

[Anfontan]

Tuning a classical guitar is a pain because the strings will stretch for a long time if it is a new guitar or has new strings. An electronic tuner is the best way to learn to tune and is best for a band situation since you are isolated from outside noises.....drummers, crowd noise, etc.
And the comment of being bad before you can get good is right on the money too, you gotta play a lot of bad notes to figure which ones are the Right Ones!

[X man Da Legend]

Originally Posted by Anfontan

Tuning a classical guitar is a pain because the strings will stretch for a long time if it is a new guitar or has new strings. An electronic tuner is the best way to learn to tune and is best for a band situation since you are isolated from outside noises.....drummers, crowd noise, etc.
And the comment of being bad before you can get good is right on the money too, you gotta play a lot of bad notes to figure which ones are the Right Ones!

i just broke my first string this sucks i tried the method of only tuning up and never down and it broke on me

[ermghoti]

Originally Posted by X man Da Legend

i just broke my first string this sucks i tried the method of only tuning up and never down and it broke on me

You do know that if tune too high, you can tune down again and start over, right?

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by X man Da Legend

i just broke my first string this sucks i tried the method of only tuning up and never down and it broke on me

If you broke a string while tuning, you went past the pitch.

[hiwatt357]

Originally Posted by X man Da Legend

i just broke my first string this sucks i tried the method of only tuning up and never down and it broke on me

Strings break, man...that's just the way it goes. Just don't give up.

I would agree that starting on a classical guitar is probably one of the more difficult ways to go about it, but hey...you're giving it a shot, and that says a lot.

Plus, learning to play just gives you that much more knowledge of things to add to your tracks. Even if you don't play them, it will give you a great idea of what to look for in samples or even session musicians.

I totally applaud you for even giving it a go.

Rock on.