Learning to play the guitar?

[RATATTAK]

Here's a finger exercise I do to show off with friends.

Hold your left hand (if you're right-handed) out palm down with fingers together. Then move your little finger away from the others and back again. Then move your third finger and little finger away from the others and back again. Then move your first finger away from the other three and back again. Then move your third finger and little finger away from the others and back again. Repeat at least twice getting faster each time.

This teaches you to move your fingers independently which is useful when playing guitar.

[cherryowen]

GetCarter said:

Yep. And most important you explain why you are doing this... root, fifth, root, third, fifth, root - not just putting fingers in places according to some dots from a book.

The idea is to explain WHY fingers go where they do, not just 'it's the easiest way to play a few chords'

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 25th February 18:14

This, in spades,

Learning where the relative third and fifth notes are, relative to the "root" note, opens up a whole new world. As you allude to, learning - say - an Amaj chord will mean once you know that the notes of an Amaj are A / C# / E then you can play it anywhere on the neck in any position.

[President Merkin]

GetCarter said:

IMHO: E maj should be played without using the index finger.

I mean.... I've said this a few times in here in response to beginners struggling to form a basic F major...

[wolfracesonic]

RATATTAK said:

Here's a finger exercise I do to show off with friends.

Hold your left hand (if you're right-handed) out palm down with fingers together. Then move your little finger away from the others and back again. Then move your third finger and little finger away from the others and back again. Then move your first finger away from the other three and back again. Then move your third finger and little finger away from the others and back again. Repeat at least twice getting faster each time.

This teaches you to move your fingers independently which is useful when playing guitar. live long and prosper.

[tr7v8]

Opps didn't update this after last weeks lesson.
OK, Having learnt his various strumming exercises (some not very well) we went through that. Then started on strumming 1 bar A, 1 bar D, 1 bar A, 1 bar E
with the same strumming patterns as last week.
God this is hard, cocked it up in the lesson and then practiced every day since. I'm getting better slowly, i.e. my muscle memory of the left hand is getting to know where the strings are without looking most of the time, but making each chord shape from one to another is still dog slow! Certainly not enough to keep pace with a reasonable strumming speed.
Next lesson Thursday!

[ben5575]

I found forcing myself to keep pace with a song helps speed up the learning/coordination/chord changes. I've even learned to ignore all the bum notes I play as well

Hound Dog's a straightforward song on those chords:



I had my first lesson last week as well. Am 1st position scale with I, IV & V chords.

I can do the scale, I can do the chords. But can I heck as like go chords, bit of scale, chords, bit of scale because my head, let alone my fingers explodes. I've got a little 30 min lesson first thing tomorrow to help me figure it out a bit more then it's off practising it again until I can do it.

I'm still at the 'guitar getting in the way' stage and like you it's frustrating the fun of learning

[tr7v8]

ben5575 said:

I found forcing myself to keep pace with a song helps speed up the learning/coordination/chord changes. I've even learned to ignore all the bum notes I play as well

Hound Dog's a straightforward song on those chords:



I had my first lesson last week as well. Am 1st position scale with I, IV & V chords.

I can do the scale, I can do the chords. But can I heck as like go chords, bit of scale, chords, bit of scale because my head, let alone my fingers explodes. I've got a little 30 min lesson first thing tomorrow to help me figure it out a bit more then it's off practising it again until I can do it.

I'm still at the 'guitar getting in the way' stage and like you it's frustrating the fun of learning

Glad its not just me! Neural networks at 65 years old is not what it was!

Apparently The Mavericks Dance the Night Away and House of the Rising Sun use the same chords. I'm now a member of Ultimate Guitar which gives a list of toones that use certain chords.

[tr7v8]

Lesson 3 today, I did 40 mins practice on strumming this morning, before the lesson. Barry was reasonably happy with it, although did say that I need to keep strumming even if I loose the plot as regards my left hand!
Then went on to a 16 bar blues chord progression. Unsymmetrical strumming pattern which my elderly brain will struggle with but something new to start with tomorrow. This is a 2 part tune. The next week is the other part of the blues. This is recognisable so progress at last.
Barry gave me a set of MP3s of all the lessons which is quite helpful.

[President Merkin]

The single best piece of advice I could offer is: keep going. The more you play, the more it all falls into place.

[ben5575]

Just to reinforce the actual lessons vs online lessons mantra...

I learned this week that when I see players lifting or 'pumping' their fret fingers between strums they're simply lifting them slightly to mute the strings.

6 months of three different online courses and it'd never been mentioned in one of them. I'm now in chucka chucka heaven

Just need to figure out why they lift a finger occasionally as well...

[President Merkin]

The answer to both of those questions lie in the musical stylings of Nile Rodgers' God tier disco shredding. Watch a bit of Chic & you'll see how the guitar can be just as individually melodic as a keyboard in the right hands.

[smn159]

President Merkin said:

The answer to both of those questions lie in the musical stylings of Nile Rodgers' God tier disco shredding. Watch a bit of Chic & you'll see how the guitar can be just as individually melodic as a keyboard in the right hands.

This guy played with Sister Sledge and explains the concept pretty well, including the importance of having a light touch when playing this stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcdkCpEX1ws&t=...

[cherryowen]

smn159 said:

This guy played with Sister Sledge and explains the concept pretty well, including the importance of having a light touch when playing this stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcdkCpEX1ws&t=...

That's excellent!

[Yahonza]

President Merkin said:

The answer to both of those questions lie in the musical stylings of Nile Rodgers' God tier disco shredding. Watch a bit of Chic & you'll see how the guitar can be just as individually melodic as a keyboard in the right hands.

The man himself explains the song structures in this vid.
A master of chord structure, progressions and syncopation.

Edited by Yahonza on Saturday 11th March 21:50

[oddball1313]

Dynamics - you can learn to play flight of the bubble bee and its all very impressive but the best piece of advice i ever had was from a luthier called Trevor who basically said hit it as hard as you can. Heres an example of someone who plays like he means it.

https://youtu.be/A8q09xG1gxw

…with a 10 watt practice amp

Edited by oddball1313 on Wednesday 15th March 18:27

[ofcorsa]

Inspired by my son picking up an acoustic recently, I've picked up a guitar again. Played as a teen and Im surprised how much muscle memory I still have,

Also shocked at how good budget gear is these days.

[RedAndy]

wolfracesonic said:

This teaches you to move your fingers independently which is useful when playing guitar. live long and prosper.

ha very good!

[tr7v8]

Another lesson today. The picking bit of the 16 bar Blues. As was last weeks exercise was the first 2 bars of happy birthday. Got reasonably deft at that although sloowww.

Teacher seems pretty happy with progress although I struggle with little hands & short fingers, especially on the lower strings.

[Cbull]

Couple of silly questions for the guitar Gods if you don't mind.

1. I'm looking on learning/attempting to setup my own new acoustic guitar (but not limited to acoustic) and save myself £35 to put towards some new tools. Watching You Tube videos on equipment a lot of them seem to be U.S. brands not available in U.K. Is there a particular website or brand I should be looking out for particularly as the seemingly more expensive stuff looks very similar to the Chinese kits. Any recommendations?

2. I replaced strings on my cheaper acoustic and they just don't sound the same. They were replaced twice, once with a set that was £8.50 and another for £12.50 (I forgot the exact brand/model, DiAddario or whatever and maybe a size up). The newer so called better strings sound terrible, so tinny, where as previously the guitar sounded a lot warmer. Am I missing something or is this normal?

TIA

[bmwmike]

Cbull said:

Couple of silly questions for the guitar Gods if you don't mind.

1. I'm looking on learning/attempting to setup my own new acoustic guitar (but not limited to acoustic) and save myself £35 to put towards some new tools. Watching You Tube videos on equipment a lot of them seem to be U.S. brands not available in U.K. Is there a particular website or brand I should be looking out for particularly as the seemingly more expensive stuff looks very similar to the Chinese kits. Any recommendations?

2. I replaced strings on my cheaper acoustic and they just don't sound the same. They were replaced twice, once with a set that was £8.50 and another for £12.50 (I forgot the exact brand/model, DiAddario or whatever and maybe a size up). The newer so called better strings sound terrible, so tinny, where as previously the guitar sounded a lot warmer. Am I missing something or is this normal?

TIA

Not a guitar god but i'll try to answer number 2 - assuming you've tuned it properly it is normal for new strings to sound different until they bed in with finger sweat, grease, and also stretch a little. The tinny sound is them sounding brighter than your old, presumably worn out, strings. Give it time.