jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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 Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:02 am Post subject: Learn to play guitar |
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| I am thinking of learning to play the guitar anyone have any info or experience that may help me make a choice whether i do it or not. I have no real experience playing but love music. I think it would be cool and just want to do it as a hobby. |
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redrobin62
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 03, 2012
Age: 50
Posts: 3822
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:12 am Post subject: |
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Unfortunately, learning to play the guitar is not a choice.
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jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| haha could be worth a try. anything that would help me? |
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redrobin62
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 03, 2012
Age: 50
Posts: 3822
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:33 am Post subject: |
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Yes. Get a puppy. Make sure it's less than 6 months old. It'll love you forever.
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If you think he's eloquent now just wait till he's sober!
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jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:36 am Post subject: |
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| anything without a smart a** comment haha. |
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auntblabby
Chief Assistant to the Assistant Chief
Joined: Feb 13, 2010
Posts: 18086
Location: the island of loveable toy humans
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:04 am Post subject: Re: Learn to play guitar |
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| jhighl wrote: | | I am thinking of learning to play the guitar anyone have any info or experience that may help me make a choice whether i do it or not. I have no real experience playing but love music. I think it would be cool and just want to do it as a hobby. |
my advice would be to try first a classical guitar and NOT an acoustic guitar, because the latter use hard sharp steel strings which will cause cut and cracked fingertips until one is able to develop calloused fingertips. i was never able to do that, they just kept cracking and bleeding.  the classical guitar, OTOH generally uses gut strings or nylon which are far more fingertip-friendly. or for something with a less steep learning curve, you might try a ukekele, which has only 4 strings and comes in a variety of sizes including a baritone model which is like a smaller easier guitar. learning chords on 4 strings is easier than on 5. ukes are such a cheery happy instrument.  but if it is a guitar you must have, yamaha makes an all-electric EZ-AG ["easy learning acoustic guitar"] "acoustic" guitar which uses actuator bars instead of strings, you just brush your fingers past them to strum, and you just touch the fretboard on the right spots to make the chords, and it contains training programs to teach you how to play it and hopefully later on, how to play a real guitar. it also has selectable instrument sounds, such as shamisen [a japanese plucked string instrument] and banjo and such. it also has MIDI [musical instrument digital interface] functions so you can connect it to a puter and upload songs to it. it needs no tuning nor has any strings to break/replace. sounds just like what dr. music ordered. 
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nortier
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Jan 16, 2011
Age: 25
Posts: 68
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:03 am Post subject: Re: Learn to play guitar |
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| jhighl wrote: | | I am thinking of learning to play the guitar anyone have any info or experience that may help me make a choice whether i do it or not. I have no real experience playing but love music. I think it would be cool and just want to do it as a hobby. |
I had been playing a number of instruments classically before I turned to guitar at age 10. I have a perfect pitch (this is not bragging), so I was able to teach myself by listening. You can teach yourself, or get a tutor. What I did was:
1. Get a guitar and a capo for my birthday (guitar start at fairly low prices, but you can go as high as you want)
2. Put on my favorite music in which a guitar is present
3. Look up the tabs online (http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ is my favorite)
4. Learn how the music I heard corresponded with what the guitarist and I (!) were playing
5. This way I not only got a sense of how different chords and tones are played, but also of how chords generally correspond to each other (like when people say all the Beatles songs consist of three chords)
6. After a few weeks I was able to play songs myself (I already knew scales from classical training, and this really helped with learning different chords)
There are, of course, other ways to teach yourself how to play the guitar, but I've experienced that teaching yourself becomes all the more fun when you can do so to the tune of your favorite songs! If you don't feel comfortable with getting into it yourself, you can of course always get help from a teacher (or friend!).
| auntblabby wrote: | | my advice would be to try first a classical guitar and NOT an acoustic guitar, because the latter use hard sharp steel strings which will cause cut and cracked fingertips until one is able to develop calloused fingertips. i was never able to do that, they just kept cracking and bleeding. |
As for which type of guitar to buy, Auntblabby has a good point... A classical guitar is good for people who start playing, because it is indeed easy on the fingers. However, I started with a Western, and while it hurt quit a bit in the beginning, I was able to master it. Picking up a classical or electric guitar finger-wise was easier - I think - than if I had started on any of the latter two. My credo: "Played until my fingers bled, was the Summer of '69 YEAH!" (Thank you, Bryan Adams) |
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auntblabby
Chief Assistant to the Assistant Chief
Joined: Feb 13, 2010
Posts: 18086
Location: the island of loveable toy humans
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:14 am Post subject: |
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another point i forgot to bring up about the baritone ukelele, is that it is tuned just like a guitar [DGBE] minus the lowest 2 strings, so some consider it to be akin to a training guitar for somebody to try out and decide if they wanna go on to an actual guitar or if they like the cute little uke enough to stay with it. there are so many lovely uke videos on youtube.
p.s.- and i also discovered, unfortunately, that yamaha seems not to make the EZ-AG anymore but there are a fair number of them on youtube if you are willing to deal with the evil paypal.  |
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SanityTheorist
Wandering Artist
Joined: Feb 14, 2012
Posts: 2093
Location: The Akuma Afterglow
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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If it helps you say yes, they've proven those that can play music are overall more intelligent...much like thsoe that can speak more than one language.
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jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the info i am really thinking of going for it. |
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jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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| is it easy to learn at first? i heard it isnt to hard if you put time in. |
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RockDrummer616
Phoenix
Joined: Dec 04, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 900
Location: Steel City (Golden State no more)
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| Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:41 am Post subject: |
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Drums came so naturally to me, but guitar was a completely different story. Just could not bend my fingers into the chord shapes. I want to try bass guitar but I don't own one and don't really want to buy one.
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PastFixations
One who will open the door.
Joined: Sep 22, 2011
Posts: 2697
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:06 am Post subject: |
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| jhighl wrote: | | is it easy to learn at first? i heard it isnt to hard if you put time in. |
It depends... some learn faster than others.
I'd start with slow paced songs as trying to play at a fast pace won't teach you anything. Though if you do like some fast paced songs, learn the hand strokes and then speed up when you are comfortable. 
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DanRaccoon
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 14, 2012
Age: 25
Posts: 871
Location: England
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jhighl
Raven
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Age: 22
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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| nice thanks everyone. |
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