Starting out learning acoustic guitar

Landlord

Landlord

Banned
Any guitar players on this board? I've had a guitar for about a year and a half but have only recently legitimately started playing it. I don't know much, just a handful of chords that I struggle to progress through seamlessly, but I am good with musical theory, how notes work and don't work, etc.

Anyone have any songs, youtube videos, or instructional websites that would be good and easy for a beginner? I JUST learned how to play my first song last night :)


 
My Daughter is 13, she has been playing for 3 years now. It takes time and patience. She now plays the clarinet, alto sax and electric guitar and my son (10) plays baritone and some drums. Our place is rock'n almost every night now that the off season is here for racing.

Good luck!

 
My oldest son started playing about 4 years ago. Taught himself how using Tabs. He's actually really good (I may be a bit biased) now. Guitar and drums are something I wished I would have learned to play

 
dont be shy about picking up an electric if u feel like u get stuck. I believe an acoustic is the best route for developing the strength and more importantly tone, but the lightness of feel and general fun of an electric helped me more quickly pick up scales and patterns that i could then take back to my acoustic and then challenge myself to make the same sound, speed and muscle memory come out on it.

 
mmmtodd said:
dont be shy about picking up an electric if u feel like u get stuck. I believe an acoustic is the best route for developing the strength and more importantly tone, but the lightness of feel and general fun of an electric helped me more quickly pick up scales and patterns that i could then take back to my acoustic and then challenge myself to make the same sound, speed and muscle memory come out on it.
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I would love too, but don't have the funds for it :(

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
mmmtodd said:
dont be shy about picking up an electric if u feel like u get stuck. I believe an acoustic is the best route for developing the strength and more importantly tone, but the lightness of feel and general fun of an electric helped me more quickly pick up scales and patterns that i could then take back to my acoustic and then challenge myself to make the same sound, speed and muscle memory come out on it.
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I would love too, but don't have the funds for it :(
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surely you know someone with one. And jammin with another player, even if you both only know a couple chords that match, is what makes guitar playin so great to begin with. Well, after being able to impress chicks of course. I guess the main point of my post is you have to find ways to keep it engaging and challenging. Dont get tunnel vision, because there are a million different ways to learn. I agree with finding a sytem or program to follow for the regimentation, perspective and knowledge, but dont make it your bible. I learned from my uncle, but we still do the same parts of some songs completely different.

 
to be honest, looking back i wish i would have learned and memorized the placement and where to find every single note on the entire neck from the beginning. But i also know if i would have taken that approach i would not still be playing. Not a chance.

 
mmmtodd said:
to be honest, looking back i wish i would have learned and memorized the placement and where to find every single note on the entire neck from the beginning. But i also know if i would have taken that approach i would not still be playing. Not a chance.
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So you think it would be easier to learn on an electric? It's not like I have A.D.D. or anything, but I would probably get discouraged if I didn't pick up the acoustic right away.

 
GSG5545 said:
mmmtodd said:
to be honest, looking back i wish i would have learned and memorized the placement and where to find every single note on the entire neck from the beginning. But i also know if i would have taken that approach i would not still be playing. Not a chance.
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So you think it would be easier to learn on an electric? It's not like I have A.D.D. or anything, but I would probably get discouraged if I didn't pick up the acoustic right away.
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depends on what you want to play. Learning power chords on an electric can be fun, stress free and let you rip off a lot of songs very quickly. I played this way off and on for years, and it was all I wanted. This can be a catch-22 though. You'll never have the hand strength (which is comically overlooked IMHO-speed, stamina, muscle memory and funny enough calluses are key) or tone shaping to play the leads (which is what youre gonna want to do if you really want to make guitar your thing) that you would if you practiced practiced practiced on an acoustic, learning chords and scales, repeating them, etc. Dont get me wrong tho-you can have a ton of fun on an acoustic and never need anything else. An electric is, well, electric tho. Its rock and roll.

general rule is that learning something on an acoustic and taking it to an electric is cake, but not vice versa.

Like anything worthwhile, its about how bad you want it, how far you want to take it, and frankly just figuring out if its really your thing. Im trying to come up with a simple way to put it relating to beginning, and this is all I got: the electric is the bf driver in a weekend warriors bag at the range. The acoustic is his short game on the course.

 
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GSG5545 said:
AR Husker Fan said:
Probably the best self-teaching course I've ever seen is Metal Method.
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AR, I noticed this isn't the first time you've mentioned that website when someone asks about guitar. Did you actually use it or know someone who used it?
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Both. I found it to be better than the usual canned lessons - kind of a case of it showing things to keep you interested and not merely progressing from learning the notes to the cords to structure, etc. They put in things that keep your desire to practice up. I actually tried it when some members of a Boston (the band) discussion board I once ran recommended it - and these guys were damn good axe men. Of course, they also had one thing I lack, which is talent, but it still worked for me to make me at least competent.

 
I have been playing the guitar since I was 12 (21 now) and love it. I have an Alvarez acoustic and a Gibson SG.

What really helped me learn guitar was the fact that I had started playing the violin in fourth grade, so I had already experienced music, keys, scales, etc.

I'm still in Lincoln for finals, but when I get back to Omaha for break I'll take a look around my house and find the name of the book I first used to teach myself when I was 14. From the ages of 12-14 I pretty much just read tabs and played popular songs. It wasn't until 14 that I actually started to learn chords, scales, etc.

Honestly, and this is just my personal opinion of course, nothing really compares to traditional lessons. I had a fantastic teacher who worked at Russo's guitar shop in Omaha, NE, and then I also took lessons from a great guitar player at my church. I learned a lot more from those two guys than I ever did from any book.

 
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I'm definitely going to try looking into some formal lessons. There's a few places here in town that might be able to help.

I've been playing quite a bit lately, a few hours a day most days. I have so much more respect for guitar players than any time previous, 3/4 of the time I can not envision how my fingers will possibly be able to move quickly and precisely enough to change between chords or tabs as fast as is needed for a certain song. Amazing.

 
I started to learn when I was about 17, then the guy that was teaching me moved and I stopped my lessons. I was just starting to build the calluses up on my left hand too. That was one of the more painful things through the whole process. Just holding the strings down right and getting your hand in the correct form was half the battle. I just recently wanted to start learning again, but I'm 30. Don't know if it's worth it now.

 
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