How easy is it to learn how to play the guitar?

[Evelisse]

Any musicians out there, I've been looking to learn an instrument, and was thinking about the guitar. Whats a good accoustic guitar to learn on at a fair price? Are lessons the best way or can it be done with instructional dvds?

[Nirvana]

My brother tried to teach me to play guitar...I failed miserably. :oldrazz:

[Ring Deacon]

It all depends on you and how fast you learn. There really isn't a set time frame. I would have hands on leasons if I were you, something about learning from a DVD just doesn't sound right to me. Haveing someone teach you hands on will be better in the end because you will need feed back and will have questions that will need answered.

As for what guitar to buy. Well it is all in how mych you want to spend. You could get one for about $24 or you could spend $1000's on one. I say buy a Gibson or a Fender if you want quality. But if you want to just try one out, one of the guitars by First Act from WalMart will do the job. I am just not sure about their sound though. Look on ebay for a used guitar or go to your local guitar store and ask questions from a salesman. they should also be able to give leasons.

or go here http://www.guitarcenter.com/

[JayCaz]

I learned to play the Piano rather competently by ear, apart from a few little tips by my old music teachers I was completely self taught. The guitar seems like much more of an intricate instrument to me, I'd love to learn it.

There's also the social aspect of it, it's not like you can whip a piano out at a drunken party & all have a sing-song.

[JayCaz]

Unless you're Elton John

[donk70]

You can find a student Fender acoustic for around $200 used, or you can never go wrong with Alvarez, IMO. I think they start around $200 new.

Get yourself a chord book, a tuner, and a metronome. Make yourself a promise that you'll learn 5 new chords a week. As far as lessons, I agree face time is better than pushing play on a DVD player. Plus, it helps you network and meet other musicians. You'd be surprised how much fun learning guitar can be when you play with other guitarists and/or musicians. Plus they'll show you little tricks that DVD lessons don't.

[Evelisse]

Thanks for the info guys, I've learned to play the violin and trumpet while growing up, I'm looking for a new hobby to take up my time. Am I right its best to learn accoustic guitar before electric?

[KenshinAtrain]

eve i am looking into taking up the violin any advice you can provide on that

[Evelisse]

I caught on to the violin pretty quickly, i had a good teacher, though I eventually lost my joy for it, was kinda forced on me by my parents growing up, which lead to me rebelling and going trumpet for a while :p I still play from time to time when the mood strikes.

[Motown Marvel]

it your determined to do it, then you can do it. i tried learning and failed, just didnt have the time. but its just something you have to be determined to learn to get it. i would suggest learning to play on acoustic first. the action on acoustic guitars requires more work than electric guitars. so if you get proficient on acoustic, your speed on electric will come with great ease. but i know many really phenominal guitarists. of the two best i know, it took one of them 2 years of determination to really get it down. it took the other 2 months. so....

[KenshinAtrain]

I caught on to the violin pretty quickly, i had a good teacher, though I eventually lost my joy for it, was kinda forced on me by my parents growing up, which lead to me rebelling and going trumpet for a while :p I still play from time to time when the mood strikes.
i assume its better to get and instructor correct

[Evelisse]

i assume its better to get and instructor correct

I would recommend it, like some had suggested to me for the guitar, with the violin I think that immediate feedback you get from an instructor is important.

[Motown Marvel]

my other recommendation would be to please please please not play s**t music.

[KenshinAtrain]

my other recommendation would be to please please please not play s**t music.
isnt that left to the "ear" of the beholder??

[Lucy in the sky]

Thanks for the info guys, I've learned to play the violin and trumpet while growing up, I'm looking for a new hobby to take up my time. Am I right its best to learn accoustic guitar before electric?

Acoustic is better to learn with I'm told. I try to play acoustic, but am not that good.

[black_dust]

I learnt to play with a electric first, least then you can rock along to some tunes with out sounding like a country and western hillbilly

[Motown Marvel]

isnt that left to the "ear" of the beholder??

much music is subjective. some (most of which can be found on the modern day "alt. rock" pop station) is just so bad theres nothing objective about it. its just bad offensive to the musical institution. but then again, maybe im a d!ck when it comes to music.

[KenshinAtrain]

much music is subjective. some (most of which can be found on the modern day "alt. rock" pop station) is just so bad theres nothing objective about it. its just bad offensive to the musical institution.
while that may be true its still not right to tell people dont play bad music cause what they play may not be bad to them. not tryinig to insight an argument tho just voiceing an opinion.

[Motown Marvel]

while that may be true its still not right to tell people dont play bad music cause what they play may not be bad to them. not tryinig to insight an argument tho just voiceing an opinion.

im well aware my opinion on this may not be the most rational....but i love music too much be okay with the existence of s#!t "music". ha. :oldrazz:

[KenshinAtrain]

im well aware my opinion on this may not be the most rational....but i love music too much be okay with the existence of s#!t "music". ha. :oldrazz:
if anyone shares that sentiment with you its me...i too believe there is a lot of just off and weird music out there and i sometimes wonder how it gets aloud, but the people speak and if they like it well it just continues. i majored in music in school and sometimes i loose faith in music in general but what can ya do

[Motown Marvel]

if anyone shares that sentiment with you its me...i too believe there is a lot of just off and weird music out there and i sometimes wonder how it gets aloud, but the people speak and if they like it well it just continues. i majored in music in school and sometimes i loose faith in music in general but what can ya do

i get that, and i dont actually expect my radical opinion to be taken entirely seriously.

though, i think peoples "genuine appreciation" for this s#!t music can be argued. mainly because most people rely on radio for their music. and with the homogonization of the airwaves, they're not really being given an appropriate variety of music to make an honest opinion to even know what they truly like. i mean, when you're given the choices of A, B, or C how can you make an educated opinion or REALLY know what you want when you dont even know D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, etc even exists? but whatevs....im just being a music d!ck.

and as for what you can do about it....encourage someone not to play s#!t music when you hear they're picking up the guitar. :P

[Lunar_Wolf]

I played guitar 2 years ago. I was alright at it. You really need to dedicate a lot of time to it, which I didn't. I tried to pick it up the other day and I can play nothing.:csad:

[[A]]

[QUOTE=Evelisse;15846668]How easy is it to learn how to play the guitar?/QUOTE]
I believe it's quite easy. I learnt by myself......but I studied piano before, so I was into music and I'm a bit enthusiast about music and instruments so.. that might've help :oldrazz:

anyway, if anyone's too dumb to learn guitar, they should go for the bassguitar

:woot:

[luke1234]

I taught myself the general chords and everything in about 3 months, now im 6 months in and im doing pretty good, it does require a lot of time and you should definitely look into music theory it helps

[The Denialist]

Acoustic is better to learn with I'm told. I try to play acoustic, but am not that good.
Acoustic, I find, is much better to learn with than electric guitar. Builds up finger strength far more efficiently.

[gap5ewl]

Basic chords are easy to learn but it gets more complicated after that. Also it takes some practice to get your fingers in the right positions.

[JTHM777]

Acoustic, I find, is much better to learn with than electric guitar. Builds up finger strength far more efficiently.

Definitely. I learned on an acoustic where the strings were really high off the fretboard. Once I got my electric i was way better. Playing songs on an acoustic is really fun anyway.

[UA-Archangel]

My brother tried to teach me to play guitar...I failed miserably. :oldrazz:

Maybe you should hire this 12 year old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8

[Cunning Stunts]

I'm a bassist, but I did pick up an electric guitar to fool around with. It was only $100. Nothing too extraordinary, but not bad for a cheap ass guitar either. With that said, I suck at guitar. I think I'm more cut out for bass anyway.

Learning to play any instrument depends on a few things, the same with everyone:

1. Your natural ability

2. Your dedication and willingness to learn and practice

3. Your readiness to study

You don't need any natural ability to play instruments at all (but, by any means, I'm not saying it doesn't help). Practice, practice, practice, and never give up on songs you want to learn or techniques you want to master. Keep practicing them, and you'll become as good as you want to be.

[JTHM777]

I'm a bassist, but I did pick up an electric guitar to fool around with. It was only $100. Nothing too extraordinary, but not bad for a cheap ass guitar either. With that said, I suck at guitar. I think I'm more cut out for bass anyway.

Learning to play any instrument depends on a few things, the same with everyone:

1. Your natural ability

2. Your dedication and willingness to learn and practice

3. Your readiness to study

You don't need any natural ability to play instruments at all (but, by any means, I'm not saying it doesn't help). Practice, practice, practice, and never give up on songs you want to learn or techniques you want to master. Keep practicing them, and you'll become as good as you want to be.

Exactly. Excellent points. Picking songs that you love helps your determination ass well. If you learn songs that you love it just makes you wanna get better.

[Cunning Stunts]

Exactly. Excellent points. Picking songs that you love helps your determination ass well. If you learn songs that you love it just makes you wanna get better.

Bingo. And never be afraid to try "hard" songs.

When I first picked up my bass, I began playing Metallica, from the Cliff Burton era. Without realizing it, I started out playing some of the hardest and most complicated bass lines to grace rock record.

Now, I look at basslines from songs like "Animal I Have Become" and "Last Resort" and laugh, because I'm done learning it in no more than five minutes.

Don't ever let complicated songs get in your way. With that said, the way I began training isn't necessarily the best way for many people. Cliff Burton's basslines require massive amounts of speed and dexterity in both hands to pull off, so I was at such a loss when I first started trying to learn a lot of the songs.

The same can be said for a lot of the best guitar songs. Think Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen.

[JTHM777]

Bingo. And never be afraid to try "hard" songs.

When I first picked up my bass, I began playing Metallica, from the Cliff Burton era. Without realizing it, I started out playing some of the hardest and most complicated bass lines to grace rock record.

Now, I look at basslines from songs like "Animal I Have Become" and "Last Resort" and laugh, because I'm done learning it in no more than five minutes.

Don't ever let complicated songs get in your way. With that said, the way I began training isn't necessarily the best way for many people. Cliff Burton's basslines require massive amounts of speed and dexterity in both hands to pull off, so I was at such a loss when I first started trying to learn a lot of the songs.

The same can be said for a lot of the best guitar songs. Think Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen.

Definitely. When I learned the master of puppets riff it really helped. Especially since I was downpickin the whole thing like they do.It really helped my picking abilities. Once you learn at least one seemingly hard song others become way easier.

[Evelisse]

All very good advice, went guitar shopping yesterday afternoon not to far from the house saw some nice guitars to pick from, probably will get it this weekend.

[Corey]

Any musicians out there, I've been looking to learn an instrument, and was thinking about the guitar. Whats a good accoustic guitar to learn on at a fair price?

The way I've always looked at it, is that it really doesn't matter how difficult it is for a person to play guitar, (or any other instrument for that matter) what ultimately matters is your love for music, and for the instrument. I mean, if you're absolutely enthralled with playing guitar, you're particular learning curve won't even be an issue. The drive is what matters.

If you're going for your first acoustic guitar, I'd suggest an Alvarez or Epiphone. The best way to go, however, is to just try a million different acoustics out. See what sounds good to you, regardless of name-brand.

If you can, try to get one with a "solid top"--as opposed to plywood or some other composite wood.

Hold the guitar. Does it feel comfortable? Is the neck too round for your liking? Too flat? How does the fretboard feel when you slide your chord hand along it?

Check the action on the guitar. (How far the strings are set away from the fretboard; high action, low action)

Action is a preference, and diferent people prefer differentiating types of action. When you're starting out though, I'd suggest an action that isn't ungainly high or incredibly low. One way to check this out is to just press a simple chord shape, and decide if it takes a little too long for you to press the chord shape down to the fretboard. Concordingly, see if it is way too sensitive, the strings hitting the fretboard when you don't mean them to.

**You also want to definately check for "buzzing".**

Pick each string, going from open, (0 fret, without fingering a note) to the first fret, the second, third, and so on. Try the octive (12 fret). As you're doing this, you may encounter this "buzzing" sound as your fingers approach each fret. This is usually indicative of the quality and care that went into engineering the fret holes and saddle of the guitar. If it wasn't mapped out correctly, there is a chance that the the string, as it vibrates after you pluck it, will just so slightly bump against the wood of the fretboard, causing a "buzz" sound. Now, this is going to happen a little regardless of the quality of the guitar, because you probably won't have the adequate finger strength yet. However, it shouldn't happen a lot, and it shouldn't be difficult to fret a note on the fretboard without getting buzzing.

Check the guitar's uniformness.

Take your left hand, (if you are right-handed) and lightly touch the very middle tip of the headstock. Strum the guitar. If the guitar has been put together well, you should be able to feel a humming vibration with your left hand. This means, that the vibrational feedback bounced against the soundboard, and traveled all the way up the neck, to the headstock and your finger. The more powerful the vibration that you sense, the more care went into setting the neck into the body of the guitar, and the more sustain, and responce you'll get out of the guitar when you play it.

As far as acoustic strings go, I swear by Elixir strings. Quality strings make a HUGE difference. http://www.elixirstrings.com/


Are lessons the best way or can it be done with instructional dvds?

That's completely up to you. Personally, I'd say just try things out for yourself, and go your own route. I think it'll make you a better player in the end, and you'll develop your own style. There are great videos and articles out there for you to use while you're doing this--many of them free. Check out guitar magazines regularly, such as GuitarOne and guitarWorld.

Read lots of sheet music and tablature. Look up all your favorite songs, and learn how to play them. Pretty soon, after reading various tabs and sheet music, in conjuction with the songs you already know, you'll start to get an ear for notes and chords. Eventually, you'll notice that, when you hear a new song on the radio, for instance, you'll start to "see" what chords they're playing, as they're playing them--even though you've never even heard the song before.

Try your own approach, do your own thing, and seek help when you need it. You can keep it simple and just "campfire" it, or you can really delve into new techniques and theory. Just have fun. :yay:


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