Advice for a guitar newbie

[Pieman68]

I have decided, in my wisdom, that it is time to start making use of my more creative side once again. In my youth I was seriously into music and played in brass bands, as well as studying music to A level. However I don't have the time to commit to evenings out at band practice at the minute.

I can, however, find some time at home so have decided to try the electric guitar. I have taken some advice from some friends that play about starter packs etc. and one of them has helped me put together a little set up which I am getting on Wednesday (Second hand Left handed Encore strat and Marshall mg15, lead, strap and gig bag)

My question is if anybody can give me some good advice on books/youtube tutorials on where to start

Thanks in advance for any help

[Ewan S]

If you have a PC and like the idea of playing along with actual songs you know then I would highly recommend Rocksmith 2014. I've managed to do 195 hours of it in the last year and a half.

Note you have to buy the rocksmith cable as well (was £25 a few months ago on amazon - the xbox one is the same as the pc version), but the software and additional song packs can be downloaded from Steam.

If you've never heard of it then think guitar hero but with an actual electric guitar. I've got a library of guitar books and a few software packages but this is the only thing that can keep me practicing.

One slight snag is that it doesn't challenge you to memorise songs so I can never just pick up the guitar and play. I have to get the software running first.

[Loyly]

Train your ear. Listen to music, work out where the root notes are on the fretboard and go from there.

Without your ear trained, the ability to really listen to the notes you're playing and the music as a whole is rather limited. So listen to music and transcribe it.

[dojo]

Get one of your mates who plays to show you basic first position chords

C A G E D

Em Am Dm

Learn these. Buy a capo and pick some songs you like, go on ultimate guitar find the progressions and practise changing between chords.

After this start looking at power chords and build up to barre chords (this won't be for a while)

Good luck.

Oh and make sure you have a tuner (app, pedal, clip on - anything as long as you're in tune)

[Pieman68]

Thanks for the help so far.

Clip on Tuner due to be delivered today. With regards to having a trained ear - I am pretty musical and do still sing, on top of having played in brass bands etc. in my youth. I can read music quite naturally and quickly in both treble, alto and bass clef

Very different to guitar I know but at least I have some music basis to start from.

A mate who plays is collecting the guitar and I am picking it up from his tomorrow night so he can show me absolute basics. Also the option there once basics are mastered to meet up for a jam once in a while

[dojo]

Pieman68 said:

Thanks for the help so far.

Clip on Tuner due to be delivered today. With regards to having a trained ear - I am pretty musical and do still sing, on top of having played in brass bands etc. in my youth. I can read music quite naturally and quickly in both treble, alto and bass clef

Very different to guitar I know but at least I have some music basis to start from.

A mate who plays is collecting the guitar and I am picking it up from his tomorrow night so he can show me absolute basics. Also the option there once basics are mastered to meet up for a jam once in a while

Honestly is you've studied music to any level stay clear of Rocksmith, I bought it and it was the most alien thing I've ever done. I'm sure it has its place and is great fun but my god is it a wierd way to 'read' music!

Guitar as I'm sure you know is in treble clef, it actually is a bit of a pig to read on because the notes repeat on each string after fret 5 (fret 4 in case of G/B) so you end up with multiple options and positions to read in, the other thing is how its tuned so you end up stacking/voicing your chords in a strange manor (compared to piano). Therefore you tend to read chord symbols rather than notation.

There is also something called TAB or tabliture which is a way of 'writting' music for the guitar, it gives you the specfic location or where to put your fingers but no indication of rhythm. You'll find a lot of music is written like this.

Looking at first position chords will ensure that you get your hand position correct in order to get good clarity and work on the mechanics of shifting shapes. Once you're past that then powerchords into barre chords will give you 90% of the chord work you'll ever need - learn the blues scale and bingo - you're as far as most guitarists ever get!

You'll be flying once you grasp the concept and can start to relate previous musical training to the guitar

Edited by dojo on Tuesday 13th December 10:56

[Tom_C76]

If you can read music (I can up to a point) commercial tab books have standard notation with the equivalent tab. That way the tab gives you finger position and the notation shows the rhythm. Wouldn't want to try to sight read that way though.