Entering new year seems like a good time to be thinking about learning a new hobby and I'd love to play the guitar.
Main issue is I love music but not gifted with any talent and very questionable rhythm and am tone deaf! Can ANYONE learn to play? I only want to be able to knock out a few singalong tunes, not be Steve Vai/Hendrix/ Van Halen/CC Deville (insert your guitar hero of choice....the last is my own, even though most people will be in horror that he's in that list!!)
I've given it a go a few times but now I'm older (not wiser) and will have more free time I'd like to try again.
I've already got guitars from last attempts to learn (electric and acoustic 🙄) so really want some tips about best way to learn. Longer term I expect I'd look at lessons but I'd prefer to start off with stuff I can do at home (apps/you tube/online course etc).
Any one have any recommendations or tips?
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.
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.
had a bit of a jam (bass) on saturday with my guitarist mate who obviously made it all look very easy. had 10 minutes or so of him trying to show me chord finger positioning and barre chords but i just cant do them.
got the acoustic out yesterday and thought ok, lets try it bit by bit. just concentrated on trying to place the index finger across the strings with a trusty justinguitar youtube video to accompany me, but i JUST CANT DO IT!!
and yes, i only need to actually ensure top string and bottom two are pressed down but I JUST CANT DO IT!!
tried rolling my finger back a little away from the fleshy part but i cant do that either, its uncomfortable.
if i cant get this bit nailed then im never going to be able to play a barre chord. dont know if its my finger shape or what, but try as i might i just cant press down strings 1, 5 and 6 at the same time without muting them.
im happy to stick to bass only but itd still be good to have a bit of a go at 6 string too.
Echo what everyone else here has said.
few years back started to learn - always wanted to learn to play the guitar. So went and bought a second hand one at local music shop that was well set up.
Played/learnt that for a year just to make sure i stuck at it.
Things i learnt.
Internet is good like justin guitar etc, but got to a point where i went to get 1-2-1 guitar lessons from a teacher. Only so much you can do without explicit feedback
Just enjoy it for what it is - spend 15mins+ just playing and making a noise. I still do one hour a day
In my journey, i found Chordify helps a lot, takes songs you like and - well - Chordifies them. Shows you the chord pattern, and can slow it down etc to play along. Set me well to getting the chord fingering and chord movements between. All while playing along to songs.
Its a journey, not a destination. You just need to keep at it and build habits (playing and muscle memory)
If you can't hold a barre alternatives are:
Use a finger tip to mute the E (or other strings you don't want to hear), I do this when playing open C and others anyhow. You can usually easily mute e.
Thumb over but you've already said that doesn't work for you. Even if you can't hold the E syring down you can mute it. You'll be doing this to play open D and open A anyhow
Don't play the open strings, I rarely strum all the strings varying the strings I hit with each chord.
Take the E string off.
got the acoustic out yesterday and thought ok, lets try it bit by bit. just concentrated on trying to place the index finger across the strings with a trusty justinguitar youtube video to accompany me, but i JUST CANT DO IT!!
and yes, i only need to actually ensure top string and bottom two are pressed down but I JUST CANT DO IT!!
tried rolling my finger back a little away from the fleshy part but i cant do that either, its uncomfortable.
if i cant get this bit nailed then im never going to be able to play a barre chord. dont know if its my finger shape or what, but try as i might i just cant press down strings 1, 5 and 6 at the same time without muting them.
This is where I got to, but don't worry too much, there's absolutely tonnes of stuff you can play with open chords and a cheating F
This is where I got to, but don't worry too much, there's absolutely tonnes of stuff you can play with open chords and a cheating F
This is very true. And if and when you MUST go up a few frets you can always use a power chord rather than a full barre. Its the same shape anywhere on the neck and has served many a punk and metal guitarist well for decades. Put your 1st finger on the note you want to play and either your 3rd or 4th finger (whichever is easiest) on the string below it 2 frets along. If you can get that second finger to hold down the string below it even better.
So a power cord of G would be finger 1 on the fat E string 3rd fret (a G) and the next finger on the A string 5th fret. Just aim to play those strings and try not to hit any others. Its a solid bodge.
I have been messing around on guitar and bass for 20 years. Would assume after 20 years that I am pretty good but I am still crap (actually not too bad on bass but dreadful on guitar)
The sole reason is complete lack of structured practice so your 15-20 minutes a day of practice actually needs to be practice and not just messing around improvising to some blues backing tracks!
all very helpful, thanks. what would be even more helpful might be if anyone could point to a diagram maybe of the fretboard and all the different finger/fret placements for each chord so i could see which ones i might have success with, and if not offer an alternative? does such a thing exist? i see a lot of diagrams showing bits and bobs in isolation, but id be interested in a comprehensive diagram.
thanks
Internet is good like justin guitar etc
If the internet had been a thing when I started playing, in the early '80s, then I can guarantee that I'd be on stage showing Dave Gilmour a thing or two, instead of wasting my life in an office! 😀
Seriously, there is so much content on the internet that sometimes there can be an overload, whereas by the time I'd been playing for about 10 years I had a grand total of about six music books*, and didn't know one end of a guitar from another. These days, if I can't be bothered to play a guitar, I'll see what Andertons are selling, or Guitar Geek's latest video, or whatever, and fairly quickly something will pop up to inspire me to pick a guitar up. I am absolutely jealous of people who learn to play these days.
* including a Beatles Complete Chord Songbook, a Tune A Day book and one and only one chord book which was very incomplete.
all very helpful, thanks. what would be even more helpful might be if anyone could point to a diagram maybe of the fretboard and all the different finger/fret placements for each chord so i could see which ones i might have success with, and if not offer an alternative? does such a thing exist? i see a lot of diagrams showing bits and bobs in isolation, but id be interested in a comprehensive diagram.
theres just too many... You can get lots of basic chord diagrams with a google though.
Make sure you know A, B, C, D, E, F and G
Then learn the minor versions
Then learn the 7th versions
Now you know more chords than you can shake a stick at and none of them will require you to use a barre chord (inc the dreaded F)
Make sure you know A, B, C, D, E, F and G
How do you play F on six strings without barring or thumb over on bass? Likewise B on six strings. (Not that you need to play chords on all strings, obv.)
Here you go: https://youtube.com/shorts/QKWWfu91JEw?si=JAhxd5gLDwDcuTwr that's most pop songs covered.
(Easier version of the Axis chords
(identical sequence but played as D, A, Bm, G. Bm being harder for beginners though the four string version is easy enough)
How do you play F on six strings without barring or thumb over on bass? Likewise B on six strings. (Not that you need to play chords on all strings, obv.)
Either don't hit the E at all or (as Edukator says) just touch the E string with your thumb or 3rd (or 4th) finger enough to deaden it. I play F like that all the time when switching between F and C shapes as they are so similar.
This is handy if you can’t find a screen saver chart.
invest in a capo
a decent tuner helps
make a habit of using the tuner every time you pick up your guitar.
your ears will eventually tune to this reference.
hopefully, you’ll end up with ‘perfect pitch’.
when you attach the capo, it will make the strings easier to fret.
dont fret too much about pressing the strings hard to get a chord to sound correct.
try to get the right chord shape but without the finger pressure.
keep it light, and eventually you will find the correct amount of finger pressure.
you shouldn’t feel the strain travelling up your shoulder!
same goes for barre chords.
just work on your scales. That’s it. Applies to any instrument.
a bit boring whilst your wanting to bang out some kind of tune.
but, if you really must:
https://youtu.be/-7-4qgk-1Os?si=laKbJeQeZls2OHgE
having given it a half arsed go before, if i was gonna go for it again, my main thing would be to commit to some lessons with a tutor.
you`ll play more stuff and they can pick songs at your level (or adjust songs to be at your level) and plus you have to commit to practice or have those awkward - naughty school kid moments fessing up to no practice.
doing it yourself with no lessons is HARD.
I used to avoid songs that had a B or transpose them until they just had chords that I could get to easily. Ultimate Guitar (also shows as Tabs) is great for this.
Now I just lay a finger across the strings on the 4th fret and mute the ones that sound discordant. Or if you're already down at the dusty end of the neck a 4 finger F on the 7th fret or a D on the 11th.
OP - My one piece of advice would be to set yourself some tangible goals. Otherwise you can end up noodling meanlessly, or get stuck in a rut playing the same stuff over and over.
- When I first picked up guitar, I just wanted to be good enough to knock out a few Oasis tunes round a campfire (learned the basic chords and barre chords)
- Then I wanted to learn the solos to those Oasis tunes (learned single note picking, why the solo's work over certain chord progressions, pentatonic shapes etc)
- Then I wanted to do an open mic (forced me to learn whole songs instead of just my favourite riffs 🙂
- Then I wanted to be good enough to jam with mates, and solo over 12 bar blues etc (learned better timing with a drummer, got better at scales)
Each stage forced me out of my comfort zone, and made me learn something new.
I totally agree with benman. If you can find a pub that has a casual jam (people with guitars sitting at tables and joining in ) you will find a) you don't have to be as good as you think and b) you will get better quickly.
Start by playing the chords you recognise when others are playing them then recognise common chord progressions and be ready to switch from G to Em when the time comes. You'll find plenty of folks just strum along without starting one themselves.
The D’Addario apps are great for learning chords and scales.
The D’Addario apps are great for learning chords and scales.
@greatbeardedone interested so went looking for them in android play store and couldnt find any, are they under a different name? could you maybe link to which you find beneficial for chords and scales please?
thanks
I don't know if it was targeted advertising or a deal available to everyone but I picked up a years subscription to Chordify for £12 yesterday
I used to avoid songs that had a B or transpose them until they just had chords that I could get to easily. Ultimate Guitar (also shows as Tabs) is great for this.
Now I just lay a finger across the strings on the 4th fret and mute the ones that sound discordant. Or if you're already down at the dusty end of the neck a 4 finger F on the 7th fret or a D on the 11th.
Or just use a variation of a power chord for B (index finger on A string at second fret, ring finger on the D string at the 4th fret and pinky on the G string at the 4th fret). Quite easy to get to and also won't sound too bad if the B and top E string get played as well as they are harmonically related and will give a pleasant openness to the chord. If you don't want that then it can still be easy enough just to hit the three strings that you have fretted
As others have said, it is worth having some structure to your learning just so you can see some measurable progress. And genuinely, just 10 minutes a day will make a huge difference. One of the things you have going for you here is that it is something you want to do - which automatically gives you some investment in the process and should mean it is enjoyable. I think what kills off youngsters learning instruments is that they are doing something they have been told is good for them so they do it under duress and don't enjoy it.
Don't get put off by the fact that it will hurt a bit to start with as your fingers get used to pressing down the strings. While you are early in your learning process make a conscious effort to work out what "just enough pressure" is to allow the string to ring cleanly without feeling like you need to bury your fingers into the fretboard. Yes, your fingers will get sort to start with, but with time and practice they will get hardened to it.
It may not be a bad thing to find a local tutor to help get you off the ground if they can make it fun and inspiring for you. As you are learning for fun and enjoyment and not chasing exams and grades then they should give you lots to practice around real songs / songs that you like.