further
Guru
- Location
- Glastonbury Somerset
Fairy nuff
Learning to play guitar
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Salad Dodger
Legendary Member
- Location
- Kent Coast
One suggestion for OP.... it is better to practice 5 minutes every day than to practice for 35 minutes once a week.
Your fingers will hurt from holding down the strings to start with, but persevere and they will soon toughen up.
Get an electronic tuner. The "clip on" ones that attach to the head of the guitar, near the tuning knobs, start from about £5 on eBay and are very useful.
YouTube has loads of stuff on it, and JustinGuitar on YouTube has some very good beginner lessons.
Don't expect to be forming a prog rock band within the first week, but even three or four basic chords are enough to bang out a simple song, as many of Justins videos will show.
Above all, just do it! And have fun. I have been playing badly for 40 something years, but still enjoy a chance to play, either on my own or with friends.
Your fingers will hurt from holding down the strings to start with, but persevere and they will soon toughen up.
Get an electronic tuner. The "clip on" ones that attach to the head of the guitar, near the tuning knobs, start from about £5 on eBay and are very useful.
YouTube has loads of stuff on it, and JustinGuitar on YouTube has some very good beginner lessons.
Don't expect to be forming a prog rock band within the first week, but even three or four basic chords are enough to bang out a simple song, as many of Justins videos will show.
Above all, just do it! And have fun. I have been playing badly for 40 something years, but still enjoy a chance to play, either on my own or with friends.
Well I've gone and done it.
Bought a s/h telecaster in sunburst.From a guitar shop which ensured it was right for me.Practice amp as well.
Going to get some lessons.
Had a look at justin guitars on u tube and will make a start.
Slowly slowly catchee monkey.
I have taken all your comments on board.
Bought a s/h telecaster in sunburst.From a guitar shop which ensured it was right for me.Practice amp as well.
Going to get some lessons.
Had a look at justin guitars on u tube and will make a start.
Slowly slowly catchee monkey.
I have taken all your comments on board.
My experience with instruments couldn't have been more positive.
I started on the banjo and learned several songs before having to relearn all the chords when I moved to the uke but that's even easier to learn. I've now got an electric Gibson-lookalike soprano and a Fender tenor uke and play in a group who've come on in leaps and bounds and now do concerts and special events. During these events, I'm also asked to play my other instrument, my Hohner Ignition bass guitar (it seems I only like four-stringers but no violin, please!) on our skiffle songs.
What I found is that when you come to what seems a ceiling, it's easy to push on through it. Just keep going back and back and back. When you get to something that seems beyond your abilities - like moving from one difficult chord to another difficult chord - practice until you decide you'll never do it and put it away for a fortnight. Go back and pick up the instrument and it will be there like you knew it all along. It's amazing to me how this occurs. Some of the things I would have thought impossible this time last year are now second nature.
I started on the banjo and learned several songs before having to relearn all the chords when I moved to the uke but that's even easier to learn. I've now got an electric Gibson-lookalike soprano and a Fender tenor uke and play in a group who've come on in leaps and bounds and now do concerts and special events. During these events, I'm also asked to play my other instrument, my Hohner Ignition bass guitar (it seems I only like four-stringers but no violin, please!) on our skiffle songs.
What I found is that when you come to what seems a ceiling, it's easy to push on through it. Just keep going back and back and back. When you get to something that seems beyond your abilities - like moving from one difficult chord to another difficult chord - practice until you decide you'll never do it and put it away for a fortnight. Go back and pick up the instrument and it will be there like you knew it all along. It's amazing to me how this occurs. Some of the things I would have thought impossible this time last year are now second nature.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
My cousin plays in a uke band and also solo from time to time. He did a solo performance at his dad's 100th birthday party a couple of years ago, playing a collection of songs that had been old even before I was born, but my uncle and his fellow care home residents remembered them from when they were kids.
My cousin sent me a link to a ukulele maker in Hebden Bridge. If you ever fancy having a bespoke instrument made for you, take a look at TinGuitar.
Thanks for that, Colin. As a matter of fact, I am looking for a bespoke uke. I'm looking for an eight-string semi-acoustic tenor preferably round backed but not absolutely essential. We do lots of concerts for care home residents.
Saluki
World class procrastinator
- Location
- ...Norwich over the water.
Try justinguitar.com it’s a guy called Justin Sandercoe, a session musician of some note and a good teacher. Online lessons through YouTube are free. Yousician is a fun app too.
No need to go mad, with cost, for a nice acoustic. Our local music shop has excellent acoustics for about £70. They sound fantastic and don’t fall out of tune every 5 seconds.
Remember to enjoy learning and also remember, all the greats were rubbish to start with.
No need to go mad, with cost, for a nice acoustic. Our local music shop has excellent acoustics for about £70. They sound fantastic and don’t fall out of tune every 5 seconds.
Remember to enjoy learning and also remember, all the greats were rubbish to start with.
My strong advice? Beg or borrow a ukulele and see thisI tried to learn the guitar. Got myself a cheap Fender acoustic and a few books. Still can't play a single tune. I'm sure I'll try again when the time is right
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRFKfhYw7FQ
and you'll be playing within a week. When I got this under control I was insufferable going round and round and round the house playing it incessantly; I played it straight, comedic, Bob Dylan-style, falsetto, all sorts and I loved it.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
I used to play, very badly many years ago
And, messed about on a friends 'slap Bass' too
I still, even though it'd undoubtedly just sit in a corner, as a piece of art, a Gretsch G6120 (the Eddie Cochran/Brian Setzer model)
And, also keep saying to wife, that I'm going to buy a Mandolin
And, messed about on a friends 'slap Bass' too
I still, even though it'd undoubtedly just sit in a corner, as a piece of art, a Gretsch G6120 (the Eddie Cochran/Brian Setzer model)
And, also keep saying to wife, that I'm going to buy a Mandolin
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Perhaps I should make things easier for myself by removing 2 strings from my guitar to get something halfway between a ukulele and a bass guitar!
Actually, that doesn't sound like a ridiculous idea. I have a cheap unused guitar (cracked body and bridge coming loose) which I could do a bodge repair on and use that...
Actually, that doesn't sound like a ridiculous idea. I have a cheap unused guitar (cracked body and bridge coming loose) which I could do a bodge repair on and use that...
D
Deleted member 89407
Guest
Good luck and enjoy!
My first guitar was actually an electric Yamaha Pacifica kit with basic amp. I soon realised that I preferred acoustic so bought a second hand Tanglewood for £50 and then about six months later an Ovation for about the same price, just because it was different. I learned a lot in the first 4-6 months then after that stayed at the same sort of ability for the next 8 years. I still only play open chords (I don't really like barre chords) but you can literally play thousands of song with just a few chords, many of then easy to moderate with simple strumming patterns. I'm the easy-going camp fire kind of strummer (I don't pick either) and I enjoy it when I practice. I'll never get any better because I'm not serious enough about it but I'm happy with that.
Try and stick at it, practice when you can and more importantly, enjoy what you're doing, then you will accomplished a great deal. It's then up to you how far you want to take it. Doing it in your own time to a level that suits you and have fun.
My first guitar was actually an electric Yamaha Pacifica kit with basic amp. I soon realised that I preferred acoustic so bought a second hand Tanglewood for £50 and then about six months later an Ovation for about the same price, just because it was different. I learned a lot in the first 4-6 months then after that stayed at the same sort of ability for the next 8 years. I still only play open chords (I don't really like barre chords) but you can literally play thousands of song with just a few chords, many of then easy to moderate with simple strumming patterns. I'm the easy-going camp fire kind of strummer (I don't pick either) and I enjoy it when I practice. I'll never get any better because I'm not serious enough about it but I'm happy with that.
Try and stick at it, practice when you can and more importantly, enjoy what you're doing, then you will accomplished a great deal. It's then up to you how far you want to take it. Doing it in your own time to a level that suits you and have fun.
The story so far.
Fingers sore.
The first time I tried the chords.(Using the justin guitar you tube lessons).my fingers just wouldn't sit right, some notes rang true others not.
Kept practicing 15 mins every other night and at last feel to be achieving things.SLOWLY.
Still have to fiddle around a bit every now and then as keep getting the odd string being impeded by the finger above.
But on the whole feel progress is being made.
The first week I was a little disheartened because of my fingers not going in the right place.But I realise I have to practice practice and practice again and it will fall into place.Hopefully.
Fingers sore.
The first time I tried the chords.(Using the justin guitar you tube lessons).my fingers just wouldn't sit right, some notes rang true others not.
Kept practicing 15 mins every other night and at last feel to be achieving things.SLOWLY.
Still have to fiddle around a bit every now and then as keep getting the odd string being impeded by the finger above.
But on the whole feel progress is being made.
The first week I was a little disheartened because of my fingers not going in the right place.But I realise I have to practice practice and practice again and it will fall into place.Hopefully.
Last edited:
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
Just like getting miles in your legs and comfort in the bum/saddle match, it's a keep-at-it-until-you-realise-you-are-doing-it thing. If you're OCD enough, you can, like Robert Fripp, break it all into tiny pieces. Do one tiny piece until you can do it perfectly, at any speed you like, then repeat with the next tiny piece. Then start adding them together...
It's not a method I could cope with, but, like me, he started in the days when you had to keep moving a stylus around a record to learn/copy a particular bit, if you didn't read music, or couldn't get the sheet music even if you did read.
FrothNinja
Veteran
Is TinGuitar still going?
Looking for a local luthier who can do repairs on very old mandolin
