Learning to play guitar

[Dave 123]

https://www.justinguitar.com/

 

[wisdom]

Get yourself to Ultimate Guitar and find a few tabs of songs you like, then have a bash at playing along to them.

Pick one or two songs with 3 chords A,D& E and D,A& G

It’s all very well practicing techniques, but years ago I made loads of progress in my head when I could play through a song in full (Pocahontas by Neil Young). So as well as learning pentatonic scales and hammering on and off get a song under your belt, then you’ll be a guitar player.

What kind of stuff floats your boat @wisdom ?

I like all types really.Rock(but I am not under any illusions).Its just something I fancy doing for a bit of relaxation.And to learn something new.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

Tanglewood make good acoustic guitars, but so do Yamaha. If you like rock music try to play some AC/DC, it's usually a few chords for the rhythm stuff and is really good. The easiest songs I learned were Sin City, Highway To Hell, Back In Black and Hells Bells. I'll never be any good but I like it. If you get an acoustic, consider a smaller one than a Dreadnaught, which seems the most popular, they are really big, have a big sound, but I think a smaller size would be easier to learn on.

If you go electric instead, they are easier to play in my very humble opinion, thinner strings, usually lower action. Then again you have to learn to mute if playing with distortion or else it will sound sh1t. The Yamaha Pacifica 112V is by far the best budget electric guitar (it's way above budget) for me compared to Squire/Fender and Epiphone/Gibsons's offerings. It's really well built, has great pickups (if you get the later "V" model), has a thin fast neck, has a bridge humbucker, with a coil tap to make it a single coil. Fender Mustang amps, are excellent also, can download presets etc, are pretty inexpensive and sound great.

Ultimate guitar is really good for tablature. Tuxguitar is a very good free tablature computer program for use with GuitarPro files that you can get off ultimate guitar.

Just enjoy it, I'll never be any good, but I'm happy with that. Don't waste your money on high end gear either, unless your minted. If you are like me, you'll sound average at best whether it's on a Gibson Les Paul (with its crap upper fret access) or the excellent Yamaha Pacifica 112V.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Tanglewood make good acoustic guitars, but so do Yamaha. If you like rock music try to play some AC/DC, it's usually a few chords for the rhythm stuff and is really good. The easiest songs I learned were Sin City, Highway To Hell, Back In Black and Hells Bells. I'll never be any good but I like it. If you get an acoustic, consider a smaller one than a Dreadnaught, which seems the most popular, they are really big, have a big sound, but I think a smaller size would be easier to learn on.

If you go electric instead, they are easier to play in my very humble opinion, thinner strings, usually lower action. Then again you have to learn to mute if playing with distortion or else it will sound sh1t. The Yamaha Pacifica 112V is by far the best budget electric guitar (it's way above budget) for me compared to Squire/Fender and Epiphone/Gibsons's offerings. It's really well built, has great pickups (if you get the later "V" model), has a thin fast neck, has a bridge humbucker, with a coil tap to make it a single coil. Fender Mustang amps, are excellent also, can download presets etc, are pretty inexpensive and sound great.

Ultimate guitar is really good for tablature. Tuxguitar is a very good free tablature computer program for use with GuitarPro files that you can get off ultimate guitar.

Just enjoy it, I'll never be any good, but I'm happy with that. Don't waste your money on high end gear either, unless your minted. If you are like me, you'll sound average at best whether it's on a Gibson Les Paul (with its crap upper fret access) or the excellent Yamaha Pacifica 112V.

I have a very nice Tanglewood acoustic, not expensive, i think about £150 15 yr ago

 

[Cuchilo]

What is your history with music ? It helps to know a little bit so you know why you are playing and in what chord .
As mention , google is your friend . If you type into google the song you want and then chords you will bring up a load of sites with chords / tab and rock score .
Learning A D and E will allow you to play a million songs and are the easiest chords . G D and C will stretch your fingers and are the next easiest . They will also give you another million songs .
The above is in a 12 bar format .

 

[Basil.B]

You can't go wrong by checking out Justinguitar.
Also an electric guitar is easier to learn on.

 

[wisdom]

Thank you all.
Plenty of scope here and great hints and tips.
I will give it a go I think.
Why though would electric be easier to learn?

 

[MontyVeda]

As mentioned, Tanglewood make decent, affordable acoustics... one with a solid top will sound better than a plywood top.

When i bought my first decent acoustic, I ended up going for a classical because, having strummed all the guitars on the rack, that had a sound that grabbed me... it was significantly over budget though.

I eventually got a steel string acoustic but didn't pick it up very often because the strings made my fingers hurt. This was rectified by putting a set of electric guitar strings on it which meant less tension, no pain and a more appealing 'lighter' sound.

 

[MontyVeda]

Thank you all.
Plenty of scope here and great hints and tips.
I will give it a go I think.
Why though would electric be easier to learn?

Possibly the lighter (thinner) strings and less tension... you don't have to press as hard on an electric... but one can put electric strings on an acoustic, like what I did.

 

[Basil.B]

https://www.andyguitar.co.uk/online-lessons/how-to-choose-a-guitar/

This might be helpful in deciding whether to get an electric or an acoustic guitar .

 

[colly]

I started some while ago had lessons for a while and they got me going and I got on really well, for a while. I reached a plateau and I seemed to just stay there.
Got very busy and stopped practising and sadly I fell off the perch.

I have a strum now and again while I can recall chords well enough, finding them with my fingers is quite another matter.

 

[sight-pin]

You can plug earphones into an amplifier so as not to disturb your OH whilst watching TV etc if using an electric guitar, where an acoustic would probably be too loud.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

This is a lovely guitar, not showy, but great tone:

https://rguitars.co.uk/products/earthgrandop

You can get it cheaper elsewhere, but IME he's a decent guy to deal with.

One day I might sell mine, having given up after a couple of years of learning - because perfectionist, and just couldn't get good enough for me, IYSWIM.

Am still sad

 

[further]

You can get it cheaper elsewhere, but IME he's a decent guy to deal with.

But can be a little bit strange at times, look him up on the Fretboard forum.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

But can be a little bit strange at times, look him up on the Fretboard forum.

Yep, experienced an element of that, but when I had an issue, he stood behind his product and resolved it. That counts for much as far as I am concerned.