Teaching Myself to Play Guitar

[fooloof]

I am wondering if it is realistic to teach one's self to play. I have perfect pitch and understand chords. Does anyone recommend videos over books? I felt I should be able to pick out some chords on my own, but am having trouble. it is certainly much easier to do on a keyboard.

I own a couple of guitars, but do not play them. I am not trying to be the next Jimi Hendrix, merely play basic chords and melodies, etc. Thanks.

[mikedunn211290]

Yeah you can teach yourself, however don't be surprised if your 'perfect pitch' screws you over, especially if your guitars are set up badly.
Also a keyboard follows a nice simple layout, everything runs straight, a guitar you have six strings to cope with.

Don't expect to get really far without some form of instruction, but you should be able to learn some basic chords and melodies - Basic being limited to your majors and minors in first positions, which is 14 chords.

Mike

[OzGizmo]

Check out these guys..... I have done some video work for them, and they have some pretty advanced studios for instructional video productions.

LTP Learn to Play Music - Koala Music Publications
http://www.learntoplaymusic.com.au/i...er-basics.html

[LX3]

What you want is Justin Sandercoe's site.

www.justinguitar.com

I could waffle on for hours about how good it is, but it's easier if you just go there and see for yourself. Start with the beginners' course and slowly work through the lessons.

Don't be put off by the fact it's not shot in a proper TV studio with flashy lighting and sound. It's the teaching that's important and Justin is very good at it.

All the videos (over 450 of them) are free - the site is run on an honour system, where you donate as you see fit. As a result, Justin's probably not so popular with other guitar teachers!

Guitar is a tricky instrument, because for the first few weeks you tend to feel like a complete klutz and wonder how anyone ever learns to play the damn thing. But if you persevere it suddenly starts to come together. Just don't expect too much too soon. And practice practice practice.

[king2070lplaya]

I taught myself to play. It's pretty easy, though kind of slow at the beginning. If you know chords and scales you don't really need any books; you can pretty much figure out the shapes and fingerings that you can get on the guitar. IMO this can be more helpful to you as it will force you to think critically about how the instrument works rather than just doing what you are told from a book. As you have good ears, it shouldn't be too long before you can pick out riffs off of recordings. Learn enough solos and such and you'll have a nice understanding of it. Just be patient with it, it will take a few dedicated weeks at least to get to feeling it well.

There's no substitute for a talented teacher though.

[brew]

Of course you can teach yourself in the beginning. Just get a small book of open chords. Then play along to songs that you like. Fortunately for me at the time it was Nirvana which is perfectly simple stuff to learn on.

[AlexDaCat]

Originally Posted by fooloof

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum; I felt it was the closest thing to what I am posting (since I'm learning on acoustic guitar). I am wondering if it is realistic to teach one's self to play. I have perfect pitch and understand chords. Does anyone recommend videos over books? I felt I should be able to pick out some chords on my own, but am having trouble. it is certainly much easier to do on a keyboard.

i own a couple of guitars, but do not play them. I am not trying to be the next Jimi Hendrix, merely play basic chords and melodies, etc. Thanks.

SCALES!!! (with a metronome. Will improve your sense of timing). As many as you can master..That and the combination of your perfect pitch, will enable you to follow whatever song you wish to tackle...

[LX3]

Guys, there are so many little tricks and techniques to playing guitar... things that you can't really pick up from just watching other guitar players (string damping for instance)... that I think it's very difficult to teach yourself without someone to show you what's going on.

It doesn't matter how many scales you know.

Yes you probably could fumble around in isolation and figure some of it out eventually, but beginners make much better progress and get a lot less frustrated if they have someone to guide them. Whether that's a real live guitar teacher or some good tutorial videos they can watch over and over.

I'm speaking as someone who tried to teach themselves to play guitar from books back in the 80s, failed miserably, and abandoned the guitar in disgust for two decades!

[AlexDaCat]

Originally Posted by LX3

Guys, there are so many little tricks and techniques to playing guitar... things that you can't really pick up from just watching other guitar players (string damping for instance)... that I think it's very difficult to teach yourself without someone to show you what's going on.

It doesn't matter how many scales you know.

Yes you probably could fumble around in isolation and figure some of it out eventually, but beginners make much better progress and get a lot less frustrated if they have someone to guide them. Whether that's a real live guitar teacher or some good tutorial videos they can watch over and over.

I'm speaking as someone who tried to teach themselves to play guitar from books back in the 80s, failed miserably, and abandoned the guitar in disgust for two decades!

You gave up tutt Scales practice scales...........scales....feel the notes.....

[LX3]

Originally Posted by AlexDaCat

You gave up tutt Scales practice scales...........scales....feel the notes.....

Ha ha, yes, that must have been it. I never managed to get my head around soloing using the Mixolydian. That and I couldn't string three chords together without tripping over myself

(Is that Alex who bought my 01V96? How's it going?)

[PoxyMusic]

I've been working on this for the past few months...

Rocksmith | Ubisoft | Home

Looks pretty cool!

[skiff]

I play pretty much rock and blues I guess you'd call it chuggy rock. I and dam good at it but you through a country or celtic tune at me I would go down in flames. Make sure you learn that stupid little irish jig rhythm first just go to youtube. If you wana hear it used right just listen to any u2 record. trust me

[fooloof]

Many thanks for all the replies, folks! I'm definitely gonna check out the links and suggestions.

[johnnybigdog]

As others have stated, there are many free resourses to get you going learning to play guitar. The oldest saying in that reguard is, "Playing guitar is 10% knowledge and 90% practice".
So get going.
Remember that, later in his career, Freddie Mercury(who's instruments were piano and his voice)taught himself to play guitar. He learned a few of chords and wrote Queen's biggest hit. The song was, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".
Break-a-Leg!!

[Michael E]

Guitar Tabs With Rhythm | Songsterr Guitar Tabs

It's free.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by king2070lplaya

There's no substitute for a talented teacher though.

10,000 hours. That's about what you need to invest to master the craft. Some need less, some need about 10 lifetimes.

Some can self teach, at a time wasted pace. Some can't, no matter what. What is important is not to pick up bad habits. The most common I see is the 'curled pinky' sindrome. That is when the player retracts that finger as it's not being used enough. Many accomplished rock players suffer from this. I was taught by a jazz guitarist back in 1963. He drilled me on extending that finger and to use it contantly. You can see the player's skill at using that 'appendix' if it is extended and used. The player is more fluid. I also got some tips from Mahavishnu John McLaughlin back in the early 1970's. He showed me how to change finger positions playing the same thing. As an example, drop the index finger and play as if the middle finger is now the index finger. Sounds easy, but try it. I can float from position to position changing that without any hinderance.

An old friend that's very stubborn has been 'playing' for 35 years yet cannot play along with others, he just plinks and passes time. He refuses to take a lesson, even from me. He's more about the mystery of the guitar than learning it. At campfires, I play alone as he can't keep up with a simple 3 chord blues tune. He does play a mean harp so he's forgiven.

Ya know people like that?