now that ive hit 40 its time to actually do something about my 20yr desire to learn the guitar.

can any of you talented folk give me some tips as to the best ‘how to’ book and perhaps some advice on a not too expensive guitar (can i get one that i can plug headphones into so as not to upset the missus when practicing whilst watching frozen planet)

much appreciated in advance…

IMO Youtube is a good place, you can subscribe to sites if you like and they’ll happily show you simple chord structures and take you through some basics whilst teaching you songs you hear on the radio etc.
Other than that they’ll be loads DVD’s out there, but they can be pricey, depends on your budget etc.

Guitars, well lots of em’. Cheap Strat copies complete with headphones from huge music stores are popular, can be had for under £100.00. But you do get what you pay for. The cheaper the cost the inferiour the goods etc. However not all strat copies are cheap and nasty, Squire and Tokai, Yamaha and the like all do decent stuff for around £200.00 ish.
Failing that ebay is a reasonable place, but try to look before you buy as twisted necks and dodgy pickups can cost if you need to replace.

Have fun and adopt the Jimi Page arm swing..

http://WWW.justingutar.com

the No1 resource for learn G on the web.

For a physical book, try,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guitar-Player-Books-Omnibus/dp/082561936X/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1321262664&sr=8-28

I found it the most useful out of the half dozen or so beginners books I had/got.

http://www.justinguitar.com

Very friendly and useful site

I currently have a Fender Squier Strat, Tweed case and Roland Cube Street amp kicking around – let me know if you’re interested as it would be a good starting kit.

tyger(at)talk21(dot)com

I started on a cheap £17 acoustic! Good for a clean technique as mistakes tend to be more pronounced on an acoustic. It can be a bit disheartening sometimes though. For great value and nice cheap guitars I would go for a Yamaha. Both their electrics and acoustics are great 🙂

As for learning, to start with I just got a book with a load of chords and popular songs they’re used in, so you can play along and get used to changing between chords. I would definitely recommend lessons though, it’s so much better actually playing with someone.

+1 for Justinguitar.com – If I’d had that when I first learnt I’d probably never have stopped.

As above, the very cheap Strat copies are a false economy….I’ve seen loads of them just fall apart within a year or so. The Squire and Yamaha budget stuff is pretty decent though, and more than adequate for a good couple of years playing.

I’d steer clear of the ‘Method Books’ as almost all of them are full of at least 50% of useless guff. I’d recommend getting lessons, a decent teacher will make life much easier in the early stages of your playing. (I am slightly biased in saying this though, as I’m a guitar teacher!)

+1 for Justinguitar.com – If I’d had that when I first learnt I’d probably never have stopped.

i will be there , i hope that it is as good as you have said !

Being in a similar position I’ve found Marty Schwartz lessons on youtube fantastic.

i used guitar playing for dummies and it was great!

Oh and on a slight thread hijack, does anyone know how to make my guitar sound like this? (apart from giving it to someone who can play)
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zneaWRLUS8o[/video]
Reverb? type of amp? summink else?
I’ve got one of those line 6 magic boxes that can model lots of things.

(can i get one that i can plug headphones into so as not to upset the missus when practicing whilst watching frozen planet)

I bought a line 6 pocket pod –

http://line6.com/pocketpod/
Plug the guitar in one side and headphones the other, but your missus will still be able to hear the strings twanging if you’re in the same room, which might drive her mad.
I’m using a little Roland Micro cube amp at the moment which I’ve found great for quietly playing on.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/Micro-CUBE/

As for guitars haven’t a clue! A bought an Epiphone Dot Studio, which I suspect is at the Sarcin end of guitars, but is fine for me.

If you’re going the modeller/headphone route I would recommend getting software-based stuff such as Amplitube 2 or 3. I’ve found them much better sounding and it makes recording a bit easier and more flexible if/when you come to that.

Reverb? type of amp? summink else?

Type of guitar and amp I would say. And then how it was recorded/produced.

cheers guys….. ive also ordered a pair of leather jeans, 3 sizes too small for that ‘slash’ look…. mid life crisis anyone 🙂

Don’t forget the tophat at a jaunty angle.

shaxi – Member

+1 for Justinguitar.com – If I’d had that when I first learnt I’d probably never have stopped.

i will be there , i hope that it is as good as you have said !

Its free so worth a try – I’ve bought his book which is good too.

Justinguitar.com is brilliant

I would take Tyger up on his offer – pre owned by a player, so it’ll be setup, have a nice straight neck and a bit of care involved. Too many EBay second user ones are just discarded hobbies, so it’s variable as too what you’ll get – save that for when you know when what you are looking for.

Reverb? type of amp? summink else?
I’ve got one of those line 6 magic boxes that can model lots of things.

Neck pickup, turn the tone down a notch or two on the guitar, something like a ‘Bluesbreaker’ combo (Marshall JTM45 combo) as the model with just a touch of gain. Bit of reverb. Should get you close.

On a tangent:
Anyone tried an iRig? I like the Line 6 stuff, but it looks quite handy…

Cheers brassneck.

one plays classical and I cannot help on this issue but do it

If you have an iPad/iPhone you could get the Amplitude ap and an irig, hours of fun I’m lead to believe.

As mentioned above the Microcube is a great little amp. Has some basic effects a handful of amp modeller, a headphone socket out and a mp3 style socket in. Hours of fun! And at 2w’s it’s plenty loud for a bedroom.

I’d find it hard to pass some of the new fender offerings. Various price bands too, the new Chinese ones look alright… Or some of that ‘modded’ squires. Or a secondhand Tokai or Vintage if you are of the LP persuasion.

has anyone bought the Justin Guuitar song book or DVD?

Just wondered whether it’s worth splashing the cash on?

Get in a band.

A mate formed a band to play at his Mrs’ 50th in March. I started playing bass from scratch about 10 weeks ago and am now comfortable with just about any basic, and some not so basic, songs. Given, guitar is a little harder as the chords require more fingers but there’s nothing like the motivation and fun of making noise in a group to egg you on.

One of these – cost around £20, bluesy slightly overdriven with a touch of crunch. No controls though, and being a recycled fag packet, gets a bit tatty after a year or two

if it’s of any value, I took up the banjo two years ago and never looked back. Best thing in my non-cycling/running world. In the end I had lessons (still do) and it really helped me improve. If you can find a good local teacher, then I’d go in that direction. Guessing the guitar’s no different.

took up the banjo two years ago and never looked back. Best thing in my non-cycling/running world. In the end I had lessons (still do) and it really helped me improve. If you can find a good local teacher, then I’d go in that direction. Guessing the guitar’s no different.

Totaly agree with this, if you want to get good, quickly, a good teacher is bar far the best way. If you don’t, you can get all sorts of horrible bad habits which prevent you from progressing, unless you start relearning. A youtube video can’t see what your doing to offer advice on what’s going wrong. Even if it’s once a fortnight for a half hour, a teacher can make things so much easier. They can also save you a lot of money in pointing you in the right direction for decent gear.

Irig/ amplitude on the iPhone is superb – my line 6 pod has not been touched since I got it. And a fraction of the cost of a new piece of hardware if you already own an iPhone/ pod/ pad

Irig/ amplitude on the iPhone is superb – my pod has not been touched since I got it. And a fraction of the cost of a new piece of hardware if you already own an iPhone/ pod/ pad

Christmas is coming, good news! 🙂

+1 whatever for Justinguitar. I’ve bought a DVD of his (good) and the book too (fantastic).

Have fun.

TS

last piece of advice is remeber why you’re learning. There will be days/weeks when it will drive you insane and you’ll hate it with a passion. Just put it away and come back to it later. Some days you’ll be able to play a piece, other days you won’t. Not reason, it’s just the way it is. As long as you’re not planning to be the next Jimmy Page and you want to learn for yourself, you’ll have a ball. Enjoy

What do you do if you see a banjo player staggering around on stage?

Shoot him again! 🙂

Sing as you play. It forces you to think about timing, getting stuff right without going back over bits to re-play them, helps you understand the songs and generally helps you learn a lot quicker. You’ll sound pretty daft tho 🙂

If you commute in the car, get some CDs with tunes you can (or could) play, and sing along a lot to get your voice wokring

i’ll probably repeat much of whats been said already, but…

when i hit 40 i did the same. i bought an argos classical guitar out the local paper for 12quid, did a bit of www/amazon research and bought this book as it suited the style of music i liked…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acoustic-Guitar-Method-Complete-Techniques/dp/1890490555/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321632067&sr=1-1

… after a few months and having learnt to play a few chords i went out and bought a new acoustic, tried quite a few in my budget and settled on a simon & patrick that felt nice to play and i liked the sound. i’ll state the obvious, but i was amazed at how different each guitar was both in terms of feel and tone.

anyway after a long while i hit a wall, got bored and my playing tailed off. prob i found was that my book was teaching me one thing, but i wanted to go play some dylan or bowie maybe and i could play the chords but could’nt figure out the strumming.

last year i discovered lessons on you tube. great. so now i go find a song i want to play and learn it.

if i had the patience and discipline i would sit down a few times a week and practice, either from one of the many books i’ve bought or via justinguitar lessons. i KNOW that i would be a million times better if i did. but i’m lazy!

if i was starting again, or indeed if i could afford it now, i would have lessons.

anyway, ramble aside, i’ll give you one piece of advice… go buy a cheap guitar either from argos or the paper and just get on with it. even with a small bag of chords and super basic skills like i have i love it.

a teacher

justinguitar is pretty good, but once you’ve got the basics, get a teacher. Guitars….Yamaha are good, try some before you buy, you don’t need to spend loads.

have a look at one of these amps http://www.dv247.com/guitars/vox-valvetronixplus–vt20plus–guitar-amplifier-combo–78472 for the money they are fantastic (am thinking about getting one,once i have saved up for a guitar) 🙂 oh and good luck 😉

practice, practice, practice

simple really

Not sure if this sounds like a good challenge, or no fun….

Get one of these. There are 60s,70s etc editions aswell.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0711986533/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0711979944&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0TQ0HQGY1Q1YH98877WD

et a similar one for an artist you like, I got the complete stone roses chord songbook aswell.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/22The-Stone-Roses-22-Complete-Songbook/dp/071198378X

I never bothered with lessons at all. If all you want to do is learn some chords and play rhythm guitar theres no real need. If you want to play lead, I’d say some lessons would be worth while.

Id also recommend learning on an acoustic. Something form Yamaha or Epiphone is a good place to start.

Buying too cheap isn’t recommended. If a £25 guitar is horrible to play, and sounds like crap, you aren’t going to get inspired!

Always fancied learning guitar – but consider myself to be fairly lacking in musical talent.

Any complete musical noobies (as opposed to transfering from other instruments) taken up guitar with any degree of success*

Also daughter has asked for a ukelele for Christmas… odd choice, but I believe that she is playing one in her primary school. Is this a good route to later guitar playing, or a bot of a dead end???

* success = satisfaction / enjoyment, rather than outright ability 😉

Only been trying for a couple of months, I wouldn’t say success (/edit: just saw your definition of success – yes very successful using that definition 🙂 ). I’ve tried learning a couple of instruments before – Harmonica and penny whistle, and as a kid recorder / violin / euphonium, none of which I really got past the 3 blind mice song level, and all of which sounded like a chaffinch being butt raped.
But the guitar has been a lot more satisfying so far and hasn’t made my ears bleed to the same extent.
I thought about a ukelele but didn’t really like the sound of them enough, so I first bought a travel guitar (which looks a bit like a ukele) but with a guitar sized fret.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgXs8fydbxI[/video]

Sounds much more like a proper guitar and is great for lounging on the sofa trying to play things. Some of the notes seemed a bit like hard work as the strings were quite a distance from the frets, so I then bought a full sized guitar to see if it was easier to play – it was, though isn’t quite as portable. But both are far more enjoyable than previous attempts at musical instruments.