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Post by dave1 on Aug 23, 2020 18:45:34 GMT
purchased one yesterday I'm a complete novice, never played one before but fancy giving it a go.
Anyone play? Anyone got any tips?? Not sure ill ever get the hang of it!!!
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Post by chuffedstokie on Aug 23, 2020 19:39:22 GMT
Check out Gordon Giltrap, he must have been born with one in his hand. I can't play a note on anything but he's brilliant to watch and listen to.
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Post by The Drunken Communist on Aug 23, 2020 19:41:49 GMT
Stick it in the corner of a room where people will see it, have the plectrum going through the strings so it looks like you play it all the time. That's what I did with mine.
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Post by telfordstoke on Aug 23, 2020 19:42:29 GMT
Fair play, I’ve played for nearly 40 years and still lousy lol well can carry a tune . Get the major and minor chords under your belt, and pick a few simple tunes and google search the chords and tablature for them. Not sure your tastes but That’s Entertianment by the Jam and Live Forever by Oasis are both easy and not many chords. Or indeed Shotgun by George Ezra . Ezra and Jam are 4 chords each and Oasis is 6 or 7 , all major/minor
And get a capo too so can change key and play a bit up the neck, many find it easier playing off 2nd or 3rd fret with a capo
Could talk guitars all day but sadly back at work tomorrow after a fortnight off. Good luck and have fun Oh and learn Smoke on the Water riff lol , mandatory
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Post by tonythefox on Aug 23, 2020 19:48:08 GMT
There’s some great tutorials on you tube 👍
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Post by alsagerstokie on Aug 23, 2020 19:53:24 GMT
Put in Youtube. Andy Guitar. Cant go wrong. Follow his videos they are good. I have a lindo acoustic also a novice. Getting there with it. Im struggling a bit with chord changing though. Know my Chords like. Finding it tough to do it quickly tho which is needed but ill get there.
Prepare for tips of your fingers to hurt for a bit. Need to press down really hard.
Enjoy the Guitar i love it.
Also if you have Spotify type in Mike Masse hes a fantastic acoustic player from American that does lots of covers excellently.
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Post by alsagerstokie on Aug 23, 2020 19:55:57 GMT
Fair play, I’ve played for nearly 40 years and still lousy lol well can carry a tune . Get the major and minor chords under your belt, and pick a few simple tunes and google search the chords and tablature for them. Not sure your tastes but That’s Entertianment by the Jam and Live Forever by Oasis are both easy and not many chords. Or indeed Shotgun by George Ezra . Ezra and Jam are 4 chords each and Oasis is 6 or 7 , all major/minor And get a capo too so can change key and play a bit up the neck, many find it easier playing off 2nd or 3rd fret with a capo Could talk guitars all day but sadly back at work tomorrow after a fortnight off. Good luck and have fun Oh and learn Smoke on the Water riff lol , mandatory Will also follow these tips cheers as im learning. As ive said Changing Chords quickly im struggling with as im trying to memorise each chord withouth looking at strings quickly. Little things help aswell like a strap for you guitar just helps you to hold it properly.
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Post by supersimonstainrod on Aug 23, 2020 20:17:48 GMT
Steve Stine on youtube has some great tips.
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Post by telfordstoke on Aug 23, 2020 21:06:49 GMT
Agree on YouTube. Guy called JustinGuitar is also excellent, simple tutorials and plenty of song choice. But spend time learning the chords and transitions between them.
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Post by marylandstoke on Aug 23, 2020 22:50:14 GMT
I (though ancient) bought a chord dictionary book, a Beatles complete song tab book and a Rolling Stones tab book. Learn three of the right chords (ADE, GCD, CFG) that’s a million songs right there, add the right minor (G Am C D) etc, that’s most of the rest. Form the chord, sing the line, stop, move the chord....slow, steady. It’s muscle memory, not 120 bpm. Dont bore yourself. Look at the inter duck and you tube and be inspired. Above all, don’t stop. Your learning a language that will take you anywhere in the world. There isn’t anything more satisfying than communication through sex music, even when you can’t speak Esperanto. Also, of course, just buy a a bastard piano. They never tell you this but everything on a piano is in the same place. You want a C? There’s loads of them! Make a funny triangle with your fingys? Every major chord evvver. Too lazy to reach that middle finger up? Never mind it’s a minor. Fancy plonking your pinky....it’s a seventh chord..whaaa. Best of luck. It made my life better
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Post by Timmypotter on Aug 24, 2020 6:02:44 GMT
There's a bit of pain to go through at first especially if it's strung with heavy strings. Consider putting 10s or 11s on if it's really bad. I use elixir strings as they last ages. Whatever you do though, your finger tips will hurt until you get calluses on them and the back of your hand will likely ache like hell for a while from the new shapes you have to hold.
I'm a picker and If you're into it I recommend having a go at Blackbird by the Beatles as a starter. You can find tabs easily on the Internet. Otherwise, just learn D, G and A and you can play 50% of all songs ever written.
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Post by Timmypotter on Aug 24, 2020 6:08:49 GMT
And remember to do everything slowly at first. Really slowly. As Maryland says it's about muscle memory. You're training your fingers to remember shapes, so if it sounds shit at first (and it will) don't worry about it. Eventually a C chord isn't those fingers on those strings - it's just a shape you make with your hand that you don't even think about.
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Post by supersimonstainrod on Aug 24, 2020 6:34:05 GMT
Imho,he's one,of the best out of there at articulating what he knows:
Plenty of incredible players around,but because everything is instinctive to them they don't delineate what they're doing very well at all.
A friend of mine,already a very accomplished guitarist,played acoustic exclusively for 12 months solid to "clean up his technique," as he reckons with the generally higher action and the fact that all the mistakes are there for everyone to hear,it's actually a tad harder than playing electric with a distorted sound which can blur (bum) notes.
Best of luck,I think it's a much better time to learn than 30 years ago when you had to rely on either a teacher for face to face lessons or books with basic tab and a floppy disc to play on the stereo!
Iron Maiden Thin Lizzy songs are good to learn imho,they move you on quite quickly,and make it fun.Finger exercises and scale practice can quickly become very monotonous.
Remember to 'warm up' before attempting any onerous stretches too (and they all seem onerous when you're starting out! 😉😂)
Think metalhead on here is a very advanced player,so may be worth a DM if he doesn't pop on to this thread?
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Post by dave1 on Aug 24, 2020 14:57:57 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long.
Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes
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Post by alsagerstokie on Aug 24, 2020 15:37:43 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long. Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes Same for me putting them together is difficult. Keep at it.
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Post by dave1 on Aug 24, 2020 16:00:49 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long. Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes Same for me putting them together is difficult. Keep at it. Good luck mate. U managed any tunes yet?? Or anything that resembles anything like one???
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Aug 24, 2020 16:10:55 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long. Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes Good luck. The important thing to remember is you will go through phases where you feel you're really not making progress - you are, it just doesn't feel that way. My advice would be to record yourself now on your phone and then when you go through a 'fed up with lack of progress' phase, play it back to yourself to remind yourself where you used to be. And repeat that process. Try Ultimate guitar on the web for decent tabs and chord of most songs you'll probably want to play (including Delilah!)
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Post by dave1 on Aug 24, 2020 17:43:07 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long. Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes Good luck. The important thing to remember is you will go through phases where you feel you're really not making progress - you are, it just doesn't feel that way. My advice would be to record yourself now on your phone and then when you go through a 'fed up with lack of progress' phase, play it back to yourself to remind yourself where you used to be. And repeat that process. Try Ultimate guitar on the web for decent tabs and chord of most songs you'll probably want to play (including Delilah!) How hard is deliah to play. And this may sound daft, but does it sound like Deliah? With some tunes I think that its difficult to hear what it actually is (not sure if this is just me though)
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Post by heathstokie on Aug 24, 2020 19:50:25 GMT
Good luck. The important thing to remember is you will go through phases where you feel you're really not making progress - you are, it just doesn't feel that way. My advice would be to record yourself now on your phone and then when you go through a 'fed up with lack of progress' phase, play it back to yourself to remind yourself where you used to be. And repeat that process. Try Ultimate guitar on the web for decent tabs and chord of most songs you'll probably want to play (including Delilah!) How hard is deliah to play. And this may sound daft, but does it sound like Deliah? With some tunes I think that its difficult to hear what it actually is (not sure if this is just me though) There are few major and minor and seventh chords but it contains a B chord which can be a little tricky for a beginner, its getting every note sounding right with it being a bare chord I found changing my plectrums helped with playing my acoustic, the dunlop nylon or the tortex are good acoustic picks. I would recommend you find the right gauge pick that suits and feels right, it can really help
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Post by Clayton Wood on Aug 24, 2020 19:55:35 GMT
Thanks everyone for the tips, greatly appreciated. I can do an A, D and E cord (majors I think) but struggling to put them together. Saying that had half hour lesson last week and brought a guiter on Saturday so not been going long. Really hope I get the hang of it and can start to bang out some tunes Ten songs with E A D chordsGood luck!
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Post by alsagerstokie on Aug 24, 2020 20:10:13 GMT
Same for me putting them together is difficult. Keep at it. Good luck mate. U managed any tunes yet?? Or anything that resembles anything like one??? Cant say its a proper tune yet. Just had an hour on it tonight ill get there hopefully
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Post by innocentbystander on Aug 24, 2020 21:34:00 GMT
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Aug 25, 2020 6:48:08 GMT
Good luck. The important thing to remember is you will go through phases where you feel you're really not making progress - you are, it just doesn't feel that way. My advice would be to record yourself now on your phone and then when you go through a 'fed up with lack of progress' phase, play it back to yourself to remind yourself where you used to be. And repeat that process. Try Ultimate guitar on the web for decent tabs and chord of most songs you'll probably want to play (including Delilah!) How hard is deliah to play. And this may sound daft, but does it sound like Deliah? With some tunes I think that its difficult to hear what it actually is (not sure if this is just me though) Delilah is not too hard, above all because it's quite slow. Use Ultimate Guitar for the chords. From memory there are about ten in total which sounds a lot but most are fairly straightforward. You can also miss out the tricky B chord (usually played as a barre chord) without it making that much difference.
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Post by eddyclamp on Aug 25, 2020 9:52:02 GMT
What type of acoustic have you had? Is it nylon or steel strung? As mentioned on here , your fingers tips will feel it for a good while , make sure you don`t push it too much. The nylon string being much more easier on the fingers.
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Post by thequietman on Aug 25, 2020 11:31:03 GMT
Some great advice on here. This is going to turn into an essay, I know, but it's a passion & I love to hear of people learing to play. My initial tips would have been ...
take an experienced guitarist with you when you go to buy a guitar
try and find one that's easy to play - in that it has a low action (strings aren't too high above the fretboard so that you don't feel like your having to squeeze themdown too hard to get a clear note)
try and find one with a fairly narrow neck so that you don't have to stretch your hand & fingers too much to begin with (some chord shapes will feel natural, others to begin with will feel like they're breaking your wrist & you have to dislocate your fingers to get them where they're supposed to be)
try & find one with medium - light strings. Or if your strings are heavy, change to some slight lighter ones. Heavier (thicker) strings can sound superb with great tone & sustain but it can feel like you're holding down barge ropes at first. but don't get strings so light that they fret (buzz) when you play them. Maybe experiment with a few sets of cheap strings to find some that are easy enough to play without fretting.
Expensive doesn't always mean best, but it's usually a fair guide. I've played guitars worth thousands of pounds that played like cheese graters and sounded like bashing a steel drum. Equally, I've played guitars that cost £30 which were amazing to play.
Set a budget before you even look at buying - don't be persuaded to spend more than you can afford. You may get a fantastic guitar which you could then resent and not want to play because it's made you skint.
But that's by the by now. You've chosen your axe for now .... but worth bearing in mind for your next guitar(s) - and I hope there are many of those to come. For now:
have a few lessons just to get your wrist, fingers, thumb and legs into the right positions (yes, honestly thumb and legs too - a bad thumb position makes it hard to play certain chords. And bad leg positions, if you're sitting down to play, can make you feel very uncomfortable even after just a short time). correct posture & hand positions will make chord shapes & changing chords much, much easier, much more comfortable and quicker. Take your time. Such great advice from many. Set your fingers up to a chord shape, play it. Move them to another, play etc. Slowly slowly catchee The Monkees.
When you've got a few basic chords, do the same with a song. Slowly slowy again. A chord/line at a time. Move chords, same again. You'll be amazed how you'll naturally start to quicken up but if you try & force the pace you'll start making mistakes & getting annoyed.
don't get frustrated - learning guitar takes time to start with ! But once you've got some basics down, you start to learn new things more quickly. If you're getting frustrated, stop playing, put the guitar away.
Don't do Bryan Adams & play until your fingers bleed. Yep, you'll get sore fingers, and when you start to play after a break or a day or two off, they'll feel sore when you pick the guitar up again. That's natural but the finger tips will toughen up slowly,
Finger picking is great when you get to that, but don't feel shamed or technically less able if you can only strum at first. Leave finger picking for later until you've got chord shapes & changes going a bit more fluently.
Finally the most important advice of all - ENJOY IT !!!
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Post by marylandstoke on Aug 28, 2020 22:18:20 GMT
Well, as no one else has stooped so low yet.....
You could also tune from the regular to DAGDAD.
Strum open, fret at the 5th fret and strum, fret at the 7th fret. Add Pot Noodle, instant rock and roll.
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Post by musik on Sept 7, 2020 9:02:40 GMT
Practice, but practice right and above all avoid repetitive stress injuries in your other ordinary life outside of the guitar bubble, which I'm struggling with now.
Begin with learning some of the basic chords. Good luck.
Recommendations for a decent guitar, not the absolute lowest priced, not extremely high priced - but priceworthy:
Accoustic guitar Yamaha FG750S
Spanish guitar Raimundo 104B
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Post by mickmillslovechild on Sept 7, 2020 13:05:45 GMT
Same for me putting them together is difficult. Keep at it. Good luck mate. U managed any tunes yet?? Or anything that resembles anything like one??? If you have A, D and E sorted, that means you've more or less got "Desire" by U2 nailed.
Really simple, but sounds more impressive to others than it is, simply because it's a pretty recognisable song.
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Post by musik on Sept 7, 2020 13:38:05 GMT
Expensive doesn't always mean best, but it's usually a fair guide. I've played guitars worth thousands of pounds that played like cheese graters and sounded like bashing a steel drum. Equally, I've played guitars that cost £30 which were amazing to play. Set a budget before you even look at buying - don't be persuaded to spend more than you can afford. You may get a fantastic guitar which you could then resent and not want to play because it's made you skint. Problem with the cheapest instrument is it can make you give it all up, because it sounds so bad and gets out of tune all the time. Yamaha C40 is an example of a pretty cheap but good guitar though, I would say.
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Post by thequietman on Sept 7, 2020 14:10:45 GMT
Good luck mate. U managed any tunes yet?? Or anything that resembles anything like one??? If you have A, D and E sorted, that means you've more or less got "Desire" by U2 nailed.
Really simple, but sounds more impressive to others than it is, simply because it's a pretty recognisable song.
Three chords, MM? Sounds like wacky prog rock to me.
All you need for a classic are two - E & A
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