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Playing the Guitar - How to teach yourself?


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A chord chart, a tuning fork, and playing along to songs I liked that were relatively easy (The Beatles). The resources out there now for learning are incredibly vast. I am sure I would've picked it up much much faster had I started in this era.

 

A good place to start online would be:

 

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get some personal tuition and you will learn 100 times as much, in way less than 1/2 the  time. get 10 teachers and get 1 lessons from them all, and  then choose 2 teachers to continue with. its way worth it. Buddha

Thanks for the reply bigbuddha23!

 

Of course I did think about getting lessons, however, it's a time issue. Trying to fit lessons into an already crammed schedule is difficult for me. I can find time to practice throughout the day but the time that it would take for lessons and the travel to and from would be tough to manage. Hence, the desire to teach myself.

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The world I learnt in was different, slowing down vinyl, wearing out tapes, hunting down rare and often expensive transcriptions.

 

The big, obvious change is online video, there's so much great teaching out there, much of it free.  Even paid video lessons, like TrueFire, are great value compared to the cost of instructional books and videos in the old days.

 

But, the a bigger change is being able to easily slow down stuff and keep it in pitch.  My playing really took off when I started to learn guitar parts and solos note for note.  Learning note for note parts forces the guitarist to be disciplined and accountable to something outside themselves, rather than just vaguely strumming along, playing something that sort of sounds right but isn't very musical.  And, it teaches the guitarist real musical parts that work in songs, rather than just vaguely strumming along, playing something that sort of sounds right but isn't very musical.

 

^_^

 

As for lessons - even a handful of sessions with a good teacher will improve your physical relationship to the instrument. I hear what you say about available time, but there's also an efficiency of time issue as well, since a few lessons might help you get hand positions right that could otherwise take hundreds of hours of trial and error.

 

Apart from all that just have fun and play stuff you like.

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Agree with what others have said, but a few additional points...

 

A big advantage of having an instructor is to ensure you are not practicing bad habits that will be difficult to "unlearn" later. As said, even a few lessons can help to ensure proper form.

 

Don't overlook learning the music theory behind what you are doing along the way. Not only can you develop this incrementally along with your playing skills, but having the knowledge of why you are doing what you're doing helps tremendously later with improvisation, song writing, and learning/transcribing songs by ear.

 

Finally, you need to mix a heavy dose of fun with learning. That's one reason I heartily endorse Justin's guitar site mentioned above. He has various levels of instruction, including just learning to play some popular songs. Sometimes, it simply needs to be about the fun of playing.

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A big advantage of having an instructor is to ensure you are not practicing bad habits that will be difficult to "unlearn" later. As said, even a few lessons can help to ensure proper form.

Good point.

 

Don't overlook learning the music theory behind what you are doing along the way. Not only can you develop this incrementally along with your playing skills, but having the knowledge of why you are doing what you're doing helps tremendously later with improvisation, song writing, and learning/transcribing songs by ear.

I played trumpet when I was much younger so I do have some background in music theory. I'm sure there's more to learn, there always is.

 

Finally, you need to mix a heavy dose of fun with learning. That's one reason I heartily endorse Justin's guitar site mentioned above. He has various levels of instruction, including just learning to play some popular songs. Sometimes, it simply needs to be about the fun of playing.

Thanks, another vote for Justin. I'll check out his videos.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply Droopy_TX!

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One piece of advice: RELAX. Use the absolute minimal pressure needed to get the sound you want. Do not squeeze the neck, do not squeeze the strings. Relax constantly. Watch top players, whether it is Hendrix or Segovia or Metheny, and you'll see people who seem to be making almost no physical effort. Imitate that. 

Excellent advice. Thanks abookstorecowboy!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I learned in the old days before every song in the bloody universe was available as a tab and youtube video. Back then we had to develop and use these things called ears! :-)

 

Quite agree with abookstorecowboy and Droopy. There is one thing about all this online learning that is a risk - developing bad habits and ergonomics with the right hand, left hand or both. It is so much easier to learn the right way first vs going back and breaking bad habits, positioning... These "good habits" are the key to developing the kind of effortlessness abookstorecowboy was describing. As for me, I had a teacher who at completely random points in my playing would slap my left had to see if I was loose in my grip. If my hand flew off the neck, I was good. If not, I was in trouble. It was pretty funny. Not sure you could do this to yourself.

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I had a teacher who at completely random points in my playing would slap my left had to see if I was loose in my grip.

Thanks for the reply deke!

 

When you guys speak of having a loose grip are you playing on acoustic or electric? I'm trying to learn on an acoustic and I find it takes considerable pressure to fret the strings or I get buzzing or muffled notes.

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Bluemonkey, this is really hard to explain by computer, but the answer is both. However, it won't happen overnight. It is a combination of developing strength and dexterity with the right positioning. Instead of pressing harder to get rid of the buzz, move your wrist around. Is your thumb behind the neck or wrapped around it. When your wrist is more parallel to the neck, you should find some of the buzzing goes away and/or you can play the note without bussing with less pressure. Are your fingers arching or laying across other strings causing muffled notes? Again, readjust your position and see what happens. Strength and dexterity will come. There are also tons of scale type exercises to help with this. Many are very non musical and more like calashetics. Probably a ton on YouTube. The absolute best in all the world on efficiency in guitar playing is Fripp. Whether you like his music or not, the guys is beyond a fanatic militant about economy of motion, pressure and so much more. Again, youtube may have some info for you here too.  

 

While not nearly as fun, it is really best to learn on an acoustic. To do otherwise is like learning to walk on the Moon and lower gravity, then trying to walk on Earth. 

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Bluemonkey, this is really hard to explain by computer, but the answer is both. However, it won't happen overnight. It is a combination of developing strength and dexterity with the right positioning. Instead of pressing harder to get rid of the buzz, move your wrist around. Is your thumb behind the neck or wrapped around it. When your wrist is more parallel to the neck, you should find some of the buzzing goes away and/or you can play the note without bussing with less pressure. Are your fingers arching or laying across other strings causing muffled notes? Again, readjust your position and see what happens. Strength and dexterity will come. There are also tons of scale type exercises to help with this. Many are very non musical and more like calashetics. Probably a ton on YouTube. The absolute best in all the world on efficiency in guitar playing is Fripp. Whether you like his music or not, the guys is beyond a fanatic militant about economy of motion, pressure and so much more. Again, youtube may have some info for you here too.  

 

While not nearly as fun, it is really best to learn on an acoustic. To do otherwise is like learning to walk on the Moon and lower gravity, then trying to walk on Earth. 

That's great feedback deke. I'll check out Fripp and keep your points in mind. As for the acoustic guitar, I had heard that it is best to learn on an acoustic then expand into electric. I like that idea. My guitar is actually acoustic electric so eventually I can plug into my interface and check out some of the amp and pedal effects in Logic. For now, I just want to learn the basics and develop the strength and dexterity that you describe.

 

Thanks again for your help deke!

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Thanks again for your help deke!

You are most welcome. Having completely failed to play trumpet when I was a kid, I can tell you that from my perspective it is much easier to develop hand strength for guitar than lip strength(?) or embouchure for trumpet. Also from another failed experience, the most difficult ergonomic instrument of all has to be violin. 

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