Learning to play guitar advice

Posted by: rockbus

↑

Any one have any recommendations or tips? 

1) Justin Guitar

2) Practice for 15/20 mins a day

3) Repeat

I started in lockdown, but fell off the practice-wagon after about six months when, to be honest, I hit the barre chord (or inability to play thereof) plateau.

Chordify is worth looking at too, it gives you the chords to play along with actual songs on YouTube, I still occasionally dabble, it's amazing how many songs I like that I can massacre play with just open chords 🙂

1. Find a teacher you can work with

2. Practice for 15/20 mins a day

I've tired various on line options but have found the real life experience to be the most beneficial. Others may differ, but it's working for me.

I've already got guitars from last attempts to learn (electric and acoustic ) so really want some tips about best way to learn.

Have patience. If you've already tried to learn in the past then you already know what your hurdles are and why you didn't continue. There is no easy way to learn, whether you do it solo or with a teacher. You don't need to spend hours with scales etc, but you still need to spend an awful long time making a horrendous noise that barely resembles any sort of tune, learning basic chords and how to move your fingers between them. That takes regular practice, whether it's an hour a day or 15-20 minutes or every time you sit down and can pick up a guitar - it won't come quickly.

Have patience; practice; there are no shortcuts.

yes, justinguitar is free and is what i'll use if i decide to continue down that road (currently learning bass but guitarcurious).

i struggle with finger placement, trying to squeeze them into an awkward position for the chords, but i may persevere.

bit of light reading here should you so wish...... https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/guitarists-of-singletrack/

2) Practice for 15/20 mins a day

3) Repeat

Very important. Do something every day even if it's just a little.

i struggle with finger placement, trying to squeeze them into an awkward position for the chords, but i may persevere

Most musical instruments require you to train your fingers to go where they wouldn't generally want to go.

Ive been playing for around 40 years. The thing i always say to people is that you do not always need to be forcing progression. If you can play something basic then its OK to just enjoy playing that and have fun with it. No need to always be trying to master something thats just out of reach. Also, in a similar vein, just playing along to songs via spotify or similar is great fun. Build a playlist. A couple of tricky ones you are learning but play these alongside plenty of bangers you can smash through with a big grin. The volume of the stereo is great for covering mistakes. Mess up that middle 8? who care the chorus is coming round again.

Remember you are doing this because you want to. Progression will happen naturally so try and enjoy the journey.

Posted by: slowoldman

↑

2) Practice for 15/20 mins a day

3) Repeat

Very important. Do something every day even if it's just a little.

i struggle with finger placement, trying to squeeze them into an awkward position for the chords, but i may persevere

Most musical instruments require you to train your fingers to go where they wouldn't generally want to go.

Theres a bit of that BUT there is also the part where you work out alternatives. I can play the guitar pretty well but i have tiny hands i cannot do thumb over chords,  at all, physically incapable so i found other chord shapes. And you build your own style which generally sounds better than exactly copying.

Look back a few days and there's a thread I started about Yousician Vs Fender Play.  

I've literally just returned to trying to play as well.  

I struggle with every day due to work / set up / not having a workable leave it set up space at the moment.  

I've already got guitars from last attempts to learn

If you have a friend who can play maybe get them to check your guitars are ok?  They are a bit like bikes in that although they may all work the difference in enjoyment between one that just works and one that works well is huge.  

I struggle with every day due to work / set up / not having a workable leave it set up space at the moment.  

This as well.  If it is out on a stand rather than put away in a case then you are more likely to pick it up for 5 mins rather than scrolling again.

 the difference in enjoyment between one that just works and one that works well is huge.  

Yep.  Every time I pick up either of mine I wish I'd bought the ugly fixed bridge, headless Hohner that played a lot better than the Ibanez I actually bought and the Les Paul copy that followed. 

My.mate said buy it, the shop guy agreed I played it better.   Silly teenager bought the one with the Floyd Rose and nicer paint job. 🙄

I'm basically you a year into the future as I started playing last Christmas time after trying and failing as a teenager. I could remember how to do about 5 chords.

My tips

1. Same thing others have said: practice as often as possible. Short bursts are fine. I play from 10 mins to an hour about five days a week. You can be learning a chord shape or some complex bit of song and it can seem impossibly hard but the regular practice really does work, often I just wake up 2-3 days into trying some fiendish new chord and I can suddenly just make the shape without having to stop to song and slowly place my fingers individually (memory consolidation happens during sleep)

2. Make it enjoyable or else 1. isn't going to happen. For it to be enjoyable you need to be learning a song you like and it be something challenging but achievable, which at the beginning might mean almost everything/a basic song with 3-4 common chords. Not necessarily your favourite song, but one you don't hate, you will enjoy playing if you can play it reasonably well.

3. Keep your ears open for stuff that seems simple to play and you like and then hit YouTube and the chances are someone has made a tutorial showing you how to play it. Guitar zero2hero is great as he also has tablature on screen, Marin music centre has the biggest breadth of songs but there are loads of people out there. Basically everything I've learnt this year has either been from looking up chords/tab for a song or watching the tutorial videos. The videos are especially useful for songs with finger picking instead of strumming.

What I can't do at the moment is any sort of improvisation/composition. I figure I probably need to know a bit of theory for that but at the moment I'm not motivated to do it. I don't see much wrong with just knowing a bunch of songs I like, it's not like I'm likely to join a band in my forties. 

A well set up guitar with an easy action and is properly intonated makes a world of difference. It doesn’t need to be an expensive guitar just tweaked to play the best it can.