# Learning to play the guitar - best approaches?



## Alex Fraser (May 13, 2022)

Hey gang.
Like I suspect is the case with many VI-C members, my primary instrument is the keys.

I'm looking to expand on this and finally learn to play the acoustic guitar propped up on my back wall, which currently only serves to demonstrate I'm "the composer" in Zoom meetings 'cause it's in camera shot. The ultimate goal is not to have to lean on my VI guitars.

Anyone done the same? I suspect it's a process that a fair few forum members have gone through. Any tips, learning methods, online classes or books that anyone can recommend?

Thanks all.


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## Rocaille (May 13, 2022)

I have been playing for just over a year now. I use Fender Play and it's been brilliant. It works for me. There are other ones to choose from of course. Depends on the individual. But I am very happy I started.


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## Pappaus (May 13, 2022)

Greg Horne has a really nice series available on Amazon or many music stores. I started almost 45 years ago with Mel Bay books that were really boring. As you already can play one instrument ( I am a guitarist who is trying to learn keyboards which I am slowly learning at age 60), you may be discouraged as It is like learning a new language. You have to crawl, then walk, then run etc. Also with guitar there will be a period of pain until your fingertips get calluses. 
One thing I would recommend is just noodling while you watch TV or YouTube videos. Just get the finger strength and finger stretch working. As well as the two-hand co-ordination of picking the correct string.

Finally one hint for new potential guitarists is to try a ukulele. The chord shapes are the same as the upper strings of a guitar So you get a head start, the strings are nylon so they won’t hurt as much, and they are dirt cheap for a uke That you are only using as a step stool so to speak.

Good Luck.


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## YaniDee (May 13, 2022)

Perseverance...And sit properly..if your elbow is pressed against the side of your body, it restricts your movements.


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## jneebz (May 13, 2022)

Play long enough to get callouses on your fingertips. Seriously.


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## Pappaus (May 13, 2022)

Looks like we have more guitarists than we thought!!


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## premjj (May 13, 2022)

Alex Fraser said:


> Hey gang.
> Like I suspect is the case with many VI-C members, my primary instrument is the keys.
> 
> I'm looking to expand on this and finally learn to play the acoustic guitar propped up on my back wall, which currently only serves to demonstrate I'm "the composer" in Zoom meetings 'cause it's in camera shot. The ultimate goal is not to have to lean on my VI guitars.
> ...


Groove 3 has a wealth of guitar videos and audio books. Definitely worth exploring. 

Reason 3 just offered a free 30 days access to Groove3 to its email subscribers. You could try it out and see if the content on Groove3 interests you. 

You can get the code for the free access here. Offer expires May 15, 2022.


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## fakemaxwell (May 13, 2022)

Unless you're trying to develop some sort of classical technique, you're probably better off just learning songs you already know and like. I've found learning guitar out of a book doesn't work for many people.

The number one thing for performance that newbies struggle with is keeping the right hand strumming while changing chords. Don't stop! Try your best to stay in time with your right hand and the left hand will eventually find the chords faster and faster. Throw on some Nirvana and go to town with 4 power chords.

Again with the transitions, you'll probably find that theres one chord in a song you have trouble finding quickly. Whatever it is, you'll get better a lot faster if you just practice moving into and out of that chord over and over and over. Since the shapes can travel up and down the neck once you have it down you can play it anywhere.


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## Double Helix (May 13, 2022)

Might be more time consuming, but if you live anywhere near a college (two-year or four-year), might be worth a shot to take a look at the class catalogue, investigate "Class Guitar of Adult Beginners," (or whatever it's called) to find out which textbook is required; then, find it on Amazon (gotta be more cost-effective than the campus bookstore)
Might be an option to either enroll in a course (recommend face-to-face rather than distance learning) or simply audit, the rationale being to avoid carrying bad habits forward on your journey. . .
Have fun, Alex!


*The guitar instructor where I teach also teaches composition (we've had several students in common over the years), and the student-composition recital at the end of the semester is a don't-miss.


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## mikeh-375 (May 13, 2022)

keep the thumb pressed up underneath the fingerboard for the best hand position and not peeking over the edge. (I started out on jazz guitar)


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## GtrString (May 13, 2022)

Here's a free rookie course from True Fire








Learn Guitar: First Steps - TrueFire


Learn How To Play Guitar for Free with this Sure-Fire 10-Step Method for Beginners




truefire.com





They are generally great, and will end up on sales regularly. Spend no more than 50% or 5-10$ on a course, unless you are in a hurry.


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## ReelToLogic (May 13, 2022)

Rick Beato has taught a lot of beginners and created this video that seems to be just what you are asking about. I don't mute the low E string like he shows (i just got good at missing it when strumming) but the other suggestions are good. I've been playing for many years and was never taught the 4th item (at 6 min mark), but realized I do it during fast chord changes without thinking.


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## davidanthony (May 13, 2022)

Tomo Fujita is my favorite of all the online teachers I've come across. Haven't gone for any of his paid material, but if I was a beginner, I think I would have developed much faster if I had! 

Whatever you do, I really recommend developing some kind of structured daily practice routine. Some ideas here: 







At the start, make sure to play daily until your fingers physically can't do it anymore, and pay attention to developing strong calluses. Before the calluses have really set, it can help to keep your fingertips as dry as possible, e.g. don't wash dishes or take a long shower immediately before/after playing.

Good luck!


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

Guitar is such a strange instrument in the sense that you can tune it to whatever you want and completely change the instrument. I’ve always considered myself to be unteachable on guitar because I refuse to play in a standard tuning and none of the ways people have tried to teach me have ever made any sense to me, the way I learned was by watching playthroughs/covers of songs I liked and learning how to play my favorite riffs/songs and along the way I just picked up on certain frets a lot of riffs I like have in common, certain chord shapes, strumming patterns, etc. and then just stealing those and making my own stuff with them. I don’t know a single scale on guitar, I don’t know a single chord either, I’ve just made up everything on the spot based off of riffs I’ve learned over the years


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## Trash Panda (May 13, 2022)

Rocksmith. I'm serious. Think Guitar Hero/Rock Band, but with a real guitar instead of a plastic controller.


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

Also only use drop tunings, standard tunings make zero sense and need to die out already


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## Trash Panda (May 13, 2022)

KEM said:


> Also only use drop tunings, standard tunings make zero sense and need to die out already


Standard tunings are plenty useful if you're playing more than simple power chords.


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## EanS (May 13, 2022)

I play guitar and today I'm in at a sad attempt at keys. 

It will depend on what format will be more atractive to you, how would you like to approach the guitar, like "It's a *6-string instrument with 5 scales that are superimposed among them" or, "it's the companion for my voice", or "I want to melt faces" and a long etc... there's even one where you play and look at your feet.

All in all, since you said acoustic, but way more, with a learning path so you know where to start and
where to go, quite known artists like Vai, Carlton, Bonamassa, Tommy Emmanuel if you want to shred on acoustic.

www.truefire.com


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> Standard tunings are plenty useful if you're playing more than simple power chords.



I disagree, the tonic and the fifth are the foundations of any chord and drop tunings allow you to play the foundation with a single finger, freeing up all the other fingers to play other voices with much wider spacing and range. Standard tunings are very limiting because playing power chords in the lower register limits you to one shape and only have 2 fingers free with very limited mobility. Also all other string instruments are tuned in fifths, so having the lowest strings of the guitar tuned to fifths makes it easier to double with the orchestras lower register

And let’s not forget Periphery uses drop tunings exclusively on their 6/7 string songs, and they have very complex chord progressions and voicings


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## Bee_Abney (May 13, 2022)

Some of my comments apply generally; but mostly they are focused on traditions from folk, blues, through jazz to rock and pop. I would suggest learning chords first, with strumming, playing tunes you know. Do it to written music (any notation system) as that helps to give it some structure and you can see the notes and strum patterns that you are playing.

Work in basic arpeggios on the chord shapes, with finger picking, or, if you like the sound, a plectrum.

When that is going, start playing some melodic lines - again with notation. And at around this point start practicing scales, which will open up the fret board to you.

Once you get started on barre chords, you’ll have fully opened up the guitar.

I’d avoid alternative tunings until you’ve made more progress, unless you are keen to move to slide playing as soon as possible. In which case, tuning the open strings to a chord is a good idea.

I’ve never had much interest in alternative tunings. Standard tuning offers so much already, and switching tunings with a single guitar at a gig is not a sensible idea!

As for books, I really don’t know what is out there these days. I learned to play over thirty years ago.

Get to know the instrument you are playing. Every guitar is different, and will sound better when played in subtly different ways. But that can wait for a bit until you are happily strumming three chord songs and throwing in some twiddles.

Combining lead playing and chords (strummed or arpeggiated) is impressive, but doing one thing at a time well may be more useful to get you laying down tracks sooner.

Oh, and don’t use any effects or distortion. An acoustic is a great starting place for this reason. You need to be able to hear your mistakes, that your fretting is clean, and that you transition between parts and positions without unintended noise or notes.

It’s an easy instrument to get to the point of playing something nice, but extremely hard to get really good at. Well, the latter part it has in common with all instruments!


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## BigMal (May 13, 2022)

Depends what you're trying to achieve, but in teaching guitar to my kids I've found quick early wins will help with the learning process, so I'd recommend learning the blues scale as a first step (here in F):

.......................Fret1..Fret2...Fret3...Fret4
1st string (E) !---X---!-------!-------!---X---!
2nd string (B) !---X---!-------!-------!---X---!
3rd string (G) !---X---!-------!---X---!-------!
4th string (D) !---X---!-------!---X---!-------!
5th string (A) !---X---!-------!---X---!-------!
6th string (E) !---X---!-------!-------!---X---!

This will allow you to jam along with a vast array of material, and that shape can be moved anywhere along the neck (a huge advantage of guitar over piano: transpose by just moving the whole shape 1 fret up). Use this, and you'll start to develop a feel for the coordination of left/right hands; move on to chords later, not first - they'll sound terrible at first, as your fingertips will be too soft, chord shapes will feel like impossible contortions, and chord transitions will take an eternity, as you search for each individual note, before your fingers figure out the shapes, rather than the notes. Starting with this above gets you playing, gets you the feeling of the instrument, and quickly sounding musical. Good luck!


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## NekujaK (May 13, 2022)

If you want to strum chords to play along or accompany yourself on a song, then @fakemaxwell 's advice above is a good approach. Find some charts to your favorite songs, learn how to play and switch chords, and learn some basic strumming patterns, and you'll be set.

If you want to get a little fancier, learn how to play the same chords in different shapes up and down the fretboard.

To push yourself a little further, learn some fingerpicking patterns, so you can mix up how you play songs.

If you want to do some basic solo improvising, learn the pentatonic scale in all 5 positions. This is simpler than it might seem, and you can get some decent-sounding results with very little effort.

If you want to understand what's happening musically on a guitar, then some basic music theory learned specifically for the guitar is the next step. Learn all the notes for each string up and down the fretboard (I've been playing guitar for nearly 40 years and still don't know what note is on the 9th fret of the D string without taking time to think about it  ). Learn scales, arpeggios, and modes on the guitar.

While you're doing the above, be sure to work on the mechanical aspects of guitar. Proper left hand form (as described in a post above), how to hold a pick, how to strum properly, etc. Practice runs and scales to develop coordination and speed between your left and right hand. Play frequently enough to develop callouses.

And of course, if you have favorite riffs, solos, and songs by your guitar heros, by all means try to learn them. It will take time, and some might be impossible to play at speed, but with continued perseverence, you'll get there.


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## Trash Panda (May 13, 2022)

KEM said:


> I disagree, the tonic and the fifth are the foundations of any chord and drop tunings allow you to play the foundation with a single finger, freeing up all the other fingers to play other voices with much wider spacing and range. Standard tunings are very limiting because playing power chords in the lower register limits you to one shape and only have 2 fingers free with very limited mobility. Also all other string instruments are tuned in fifths, so having the lowest strings of the guitar tuned to fifths makes it easier to double with the orchestras lower register
> 
> And let’s not forget Periphery uses drop tunings exclusively on their 6/7 string songs, and they have very complex chord progressions and voicings


Like I said, standard tunings are useful if you’re not focused on power chords. What you described is still a playing style using power chords as a base. 

Drop tuning makes a number of common standard chords more difficult or impossible to play the entire chord (E, G, and bar chords immediately come to mind). Not to mention it makes scales shift on the low string, which is also problematic for some styles. 

While I’m personally a big fan of drop tuning thanks to Adam Jones and all the trashy nu metal bands of the early 2000’s, and freely admit it opens up new voicing possibilities, calling it superior is just false. 

And if we’re name dropping to make a point, Metallica, Pantera and Opeth all used standard tuning for the most part and were way bigger in their prime than Periphery. 😉

Also, you can play an inverted power chord with a single finger in standard tuning. It’s a common trick to make your note sound lower than your tuning physically allows.


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## Virtuoso (May 13, 2022)

Alex Fraser said:


> Like I suspect is the case with many VI-C members, my primary instrument is the keys.


That gives you a massive head start on most guitar beginners. Piano is exponentially more difficult than guitar! 

Many guitarists seem to learn in a purely mechanical fashion (put your fingers here, here and here...) and therefore find it impossible to transpose, or to break out of their muscle memory comfort zones. Most go no further than a blues pentatonic or a dorian. Even people who have been playing for decades still trot out the same well worn riffs out of pure habit, whether they make musical sense or not.

If you learn to play _relationally_, and play with your heart like a singer or a saxophonist, you will be in the top 0.1% of guitarists. 



(I've been playing piano for almost 48 years, but I realized in my early teens I would never get laid that way - trapped behind your keyboard riser, you have all the stage presence of someone doing their ironing. I _had_ to take up guitar! )


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> Like I said, standard tunings are useful if you’re not focused on power chords. What you described is still a playing style using power chords as a base.
> 
> Drop tuning makes a number of common standard chords more difficult or impossible to play the entire chord (E, G, and bar chords immediately come to mind). Not to mention it makes scales shift on the low string, which is also problematic for some styles.
> 
> ...



Those are fair points, but I will always say drop tunings are better and I will always recommend starting with them to new guitar players! Like I said earlier to don’t know a single scale or chord on guitar, I just watch playthroughs/covers and copy stuff from my favorite riffs and sings. To me drop tunings just makes more sense, I tried taking guitar lessons multiple times with different teachers and each time I was told to tune my guitar up to standard tuning, I never continued lessons after that

And I’m not saying Periphery is bigger than those bands, I’m saying they’re better  all those bands are old anyways and I don’t like old people music, all the modern bands use drop tunings!!

I know I know, I’m stubborn and harshly opinionated lol


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## The Retroblueman (May 13, 2022)

KEM said:


> Those are fair points, but I will always say drop tunings are better and I will always recommend starting with them to new guitar players! Like I said earlier to don’t know a single scale or chord on guitar, I just watch playthroughs/covers and copy stuff from my favorite riffs and sings. To me drop tunings just makes more sense, I tried taking guitar lessons multiple times with different teachers and each time I was told to tune my guitar up to standard tuning, I never continued lessons after that
> 
> And I’m not saying Periphery is bigger than those bands, I’m saying they’re better  all those bands are old anyways and I don’t like old people music, all the modern bands use drop tunings!!
> 
> I know I know, I’m stubborn and harshly opinionated lol


I am just going to gently observe that old (and long dead) people invented drop tunings, and used them often in their old people music - even if you ignore early blues and focus on hard rock, "Moby Dick" is well past its 50th birthday!😉


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

The Retroblueman said:


> I am just going to gently observe that old (and long dead) people invented drop tunings, and used them often in their old people music - even if you ignore early blues and focus on hard rock, "Moby Dick" is well past its 50th birthday!😉



And that’s definitely respectable!! My guitars are in Drop D, Drop C, Drop A#, and my 8 string is in a really cool tuning I kinda just made up one day, from low to high it’s: D/A/D/G/C/F/F#/F


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## rrichard63 (May 13, 2022)

I think it's important that you find an approach -- whether it's through books, videos, or teachers (both in person and on line) -- that motivates you. That won't necessarily being anything like what has worked for me or anyone else in this thread. My guess is that you've been playing keys for a long time and may have forgotten what kinds of teaching and/or instructional materials helped you then. So my recommendation is to explore a range of alternatives before devoting a lot of time to any one of them.

If books with audio disks are for you, the publishers of _Acoustic Guitar_ magazine have a series of good ones:









Instruction


Acoustic Guitar Guides, many of which include video and or audio instruction, will help you become a better player and a more informed acoustic guitar owner. For more Acoustic Guitar Guides, check out our Songs collection.




store.acousticguitar.com





You might start with Teach Yourself Guitar Basics, then check out The Acoustic Guitar Method: Complete Edition and The Acoustic Guitar Fingerstyle Method. Or books in the series specific to styles you want to play.



Pappaus said:


> one hint for new potential guitarists is to try a ukulele. The chord shapes are the same as the upper strings of a guitar So you get a head start, the strings are nylon so they won’t hurt as much,


Ukulele is definitely easy to get started on. The problem with using it as a stepping stone is that, even though the strings are tuned the same as the first four strings of the guitar, many fingerings are different. The real value might be that it's an easy way to learn coordination between the strumming hand the fretting hand.


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## gyprock (May 13, 2022)

Here's how I did it...

1. Learned to read the open string notes: Str 6 (E, F, G), Str 5 (A, B, C), Str 4 (D, E, F), Str 3 (G, A), Str 2 (B, C, D), Str 1 (E, F, G) - this was on Xmas the day I received my $20 Riviera acoustic guitar. By the evening I could play Poly Wolly Doodle with a plectrum.

2. With the above I went through some Mel Bay books Vol 1 and Vol 2 over 3 months or so.

3. If I recall correctly, the Mel Bay books added 3rds, 4ths, 5th to the tunes to create harmonized melodies before chords were introduced. Probably this was to enable accuracy with the plectrum i.e. to play more than one note at a time.

4. Simple triads were introduced (not full bar chords yet) e.g. C chord shape comprising G, C, E or F chord shape comprising A, C, F on top 3 strings

5. Couple with the above, the scales of C, Am, G, Em, D, Bm, A, F#m, F, Dm, Bb, Gm were slowly introduced so chromatics and theory were learned

6. At the same time as the above I started learning some classical guitar e.g. Carcassi. This enabled me to fingerpick and play polyphonically. At this stage I've been playing about 9 to 12 months.

7. After about 3 years I wanted to learn some jazz so I enrolled with a swing style player who used to play with the BBC TV studio band in London and then the ABC TV Studio band in Australia. He even claimed to have jammed with Django Reinhardt at a party in Paris. His name was Roy Plummer.

8. Roy didn't teach me too much jazz but his playing was inspiring and he introduced me to Wes Montgomery and Django. I still couldn't play too much jazz but we used to sight read the Bach 2 part inventions alternating between treble and bass clef.

9. Roy was impressed by me so he decided to send me for a lesson with Don Andrews - Australia's no. 1 jazz player at the time. Don asked me to improvise something. I couldn't produce anything. He then gave me a bebop part to read. I failed miserably because I couldn't read jazz syncopation. He then said "I wonder why Roy sent you to me?" I was 15 or so at the time.

10. To solve the jazz reading issue I got some Music Minus One records. There was one by Jimmy Raney and this one really taught me how to read at fast tempo.

11. So by this stage, technique on the guitar was not an issue. I could play in different positions and didn't need to look at the fretboard when reading. However I still couldn't improvise.

12. By 16 or so I had discovered the Blues scale (minor pentatonic). This was an eye opener for me until one day I went for an audition with a country singer and played a different Blues scale over ever chord in the progression e.g. for a C, F, G country song I played C Blues, F Blues then G Blues. Naturally I didn't get the job. The singer said to me "I don't think you're good at country"

13. After the country music disaster, it was a couple of years later that I discovered the major pentatonic scale and this solved all my problems. Now I understood the universe of music and could play along with some trucking songs and also some Eric Clapton blues. Life was good.

14. Slowly I built competency with the modes. For another couple of years I went into the woodshed with the dorian, ionian and mixolydian modes all over the fingerboard along and with the main chordal shapes for maj7, min7 and dom7 chords. By this stage my playing sounded like smooth jazz rather than bebop. I still had a way to go.

15. By the 10 year mark I took some lessons from a significant rock/fusion guitarist in Australia (I've forgotten his name) and he introduced me to the melodic minor modes, particularly the Super Locrian (altered dominant) and Overtone (lydian dominant). This allowed me to add tension to my ii V I and ii bII I progressions.

16. So now in the 1980's the guitar is king and everybody is either playing smooth jazz or some fusion hybrid. Think George Bension, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Michelle Cuson (UZEB) etc. It was all about which scale to use over which chord, side slipping, very difficult chord shapes (Ted Greene), Joe Diorio bebop etc. I also went down this path but still couldn't play a solid bebop riff style solo.

17. So after the fusion peak of the 1980s, my playing has become simpler. I appreciate the basics. If I had my time again, I'd focus more on phrase/riff based playing transcribed from records of the masters. I'd also concentrate more on repertoire. The secrets are in the tunes and songs. They teach you how harmony moves and counterpoint between the melody and bass lines.

18. The one technical piece of knowledge that I wish I learned early in my studies was the major pentatonic scale. Guitarists always learn the Blues scale first but the major pentatonic and its relationship with the minor pentatonic is very powerful.

19. The one style of music that tightened my chops the most and helped my jazz playing technique and phrasing was Bluegrass. Think Clarence White, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Steve Morse etc. I would learn this style as early as possible, particularly open string runs with open chords.

20. Where am I now in my guitar playing journey? - learning jazz piano!


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## fakemaxwell (May 13, 2022)

KEM said:


> Also only use drop tunings, standard tunings make zero sense and need to die out already


I uh....well, without getting into "better or worse" territory- it's very easy to learn standard tuning and then switch into drop tunings when you need them. For most people, the reverse of that will not be true.


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## robgb (May 13, 2022)

Here's how I learned at twelve years old. I got some chord books, put my fingers on the fret board and started playing until my fingertips hurt like holy hell. I had the benefit of having taught myself to play the ukulele at nine by listening. I think my uncle showed me a chord or two. When I graduated to guitar, I started on a classical guitar because the nylon strings are more forgiving and easier to play.

The point I'm making is to listen to guitar parts. Use your ears. Then put your fingers on the fret board and make sounds until you figure it out. There's that pain threshold you have to get past, but if you keep at it long enough the pain goes away and the sounds you're making start to sound more and more musical.


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## KEM (May 13, 2022)

fakemaxwell said:


> I uh....well, without getting into "better or worse" territory- it's very easy to learn standard tuning and then switch into drop tunings when you need them. For most people, the reverse of that will not be true.



Probably, I can’t understand standard tunings at all, but then again I have no desire to since drop tuning works perfectly for me. If people want to learn through standard tunings then by all means go for it, I just don’t like them for the way I play and none of the guitar players I ever looked up to used standard tunings


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## Collywobbles (May 13, 2022)

While there is certainly some good and... interesting advice so far, my recommendation would be to find a local teacher and take lessons for a few months. It'll save you time in the long run and will ensure (if it's a decent teacher) that you learn with the correct techniques and approaches right from the start. 

While there's no one "right" way to play, there are certainly wrong ways - I'll use myself as an example. My first instrument was bass, and when I later tried to learn guitar, I tried to keep my right arm in the same position since I was already comfortable playing that way. This was a terrible idea, but luckily in my very first lesson my teacher pointed this out and set me on the right path.

Once you get the basics down you can start learning some songs, and that's when the fun starts. Getting over that initial learning curve can be tough, and many people give up before they've even really started, but persevere and it'll definitely be worth it.


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## Rocaille (May 14, 2022)

I started looking at the free vids on youtube. From people like:


https://www.youtube.com/c/justinguitar




https://www.youtube.com/c/LaurenBateman



Once I knew I was going to commit to playing and my finger tips stopped hurting (only took a couple of weeks of playing) I then subbed to Fender play and have not looked back. I just started my second year this week. It holds your hand and goes at your own pace. It's done so you can use either an acoustic or electric guitar. Or Both. And is very much about the beginner. I took some screenshots of the account look (you can also have it on your phone):


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## JimDiGritz (May 14, 2022)

Learn the fretboard.

I spent the first couple of years trying to avoid this and it ended up costing me.

Sure you don't HAVE to know where every B is on the fretboard, however unless you are just mechanically learning to play by ear/shape you'll end up wanting to jump to the nearest B in a solo or need to quickly find an Bsus2 near the 8th fret and without knowing your way round the fretboard you're toast.

You won't find a keyboard player of any merit who when asked "play me a B at this end of the keyboard" who hunts around and counts up from Middle C...

FWIW I'm coming at this from the other direction. I've played guitar for 5/6 years and whilst I can play most things, I'm finding the ability to tweak VI guitars MIDI a revelation.


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## sumVI (May 14, 2022)

Agreed, get some fretboard memorization app on your Apple or Android phone, a few minutes a day will net you fretboard mastery in a few weeks or so. Also, learn the CAGED system, as that will teach the degree of the notes played (ie I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi vii, etc...)

I keep eyeballing this app on Steam that relates the guitar to the piano called AudioTheory guitars. Keyboardists might like it. It is only a few bucks too. I'd get it, but being forced to learn the keyboard while studying music in college killed it for me. Today, I only like to think about music theory when I need to sleep. 



Also, GuitarPro just came out with a new version and it is on sale. While upgrading for $25, I also got a six month subscription to MySongbook for an additional $10.






Guitar Pro - Tab Editor Software for Guitar, Bass, Drum, Piano and more...


Guitar Pro is a tablature editor software for guitar, bass, and other fretted instruments. Equipped with a powerful audio engine, it makes writing music easier, and it constitutes an essential tool for guitarists.




www.guitar-pro.com





Lastly, as Trash Panda already suggested, Rocksmith2014 is a great tool. It has been my go to for the last seven years. A subscription version called Rocksmith+ is supposed to be coming out, but it is already behind schedule by almost a year. So who knows....











Rocksmith+ - Learn to Play the Guitar & Bass | Ubisoft (US)


Official Site. Rocksmith+ is the fastest way to learn guitar & bass using your PC. Rocksmith+’s proven learning method featuring real time feedback and learning tools designed to give you control so you can achieve your musical goals.




www.ubisoft.com


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## davidson (May 14, 2022)

Like @Trash Panda and @sumVI have said - Rocksmith 100%. Man I wish that was around when I started playing.

If you get it on PC or Mac you're all good, but if you get it on playstation don't bother with the PS5 version, the latency is terrible. Optical out on the PS4 is perfect though.


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## MarcusD (May 14, 2022)

Lots of good advice!

Main thing is to break down problems and work on them SLOWLY. If you still fumble something, slow down until you don’t. It’s better to work at a snails pace when building muscle memory as it helps to link the left and right hands.

Once you can play something slow, gradually bump the tempo in small increments. 
Practice to a metronome as often as you can and when you start getting the basics down things will gel together easier. 

Try not to religiously rely on tablature or notation for everything. When you get some basic ability, spend some time transcribing by ear and figuring out riffs / songs yourself. It'll help develop the connection between hearing an idea and getting it down. Also helps in situations (playing live) like: "I didn't hear what key Barry the bass player whispered". You'll be able to hear the notes and roughly know where to aim. 

Don’t forget to have fun too, this is important. Jam along to tracks when possible and have fun with it.

EDIT: correcting my dsylexicness


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## R. Soul (May 14, 2022)

As mentioned above by Rocaille, Justin guitar is an exceptionally comprehensive guitar course, when you consider that it's completely free.
It contains something like 60 hours of video content where he takes you from how to hold and tune your guitar, right through to advanced techniques for things like Funk and Jazz.


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## J-M (May 14, 2022)

Plenty of good advice here already. My bit: Try to play every day, even if it's just for five minutes.


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## flampton (May 14, 2022)

Lots of people with good advice (and some bad,lol) but I think no one has mentioned the most important aspect for a decent start. 

Make sure your instrument is not junk. A lot of people start with wretched acoustics (poor intonation, crap action, etc.) and quit before they get anywhere. Also if you start with acoustic and the muscles aren’t there you can develop some issues. Electric can sometimes offer an easier path. 

And in the beginning make sure to cultivate fun


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## Guavadude (May 14, 2022)

FINDING THE NOTES

I’m a session player, used to teach a lot. The one thing that will make you progress the fastest is to learn the note names on every string. The sooner you start to see any string instrument more like a piano the better.
The names of the open strings on Gtr are low to high EADGBE. So those notes you now know.

Do this everyday, every time you pick up the stringed instrument

>Start on each open string and play a C major scale up and DOWN each string to the 12th fret (where it repeats). Call out the note names and SING the pitches. A half step is one fret, a whole step is two frets. In a C major scale, half steps are between E&F and B&C. Since you’re not starting on C note, when you come across one, pause so you start to hear the major scale tonality.

You can just use one finger or you can shift positions, with each finger getting one fret…then shift to first finger on the next note needed and play in that position. The most important thing is singing the pitches and calling out note names.

Once this gets easier, do it on two string simultaneously playing in 3rds, still in C major only.
Then skip a string and play a harmonized C major scale in 6ths (Brown Eyed Girl). Skip two strings and play the scale in 10ths (Blackbird). Play it in octaves skipping one string...play octaves skipping two strings, etc. Just keep running up and down the neck until you see the WHITE notes. If you know where F is, it’s easy to find F#. But if you play a chromatic scale you’ll never start to see the patterns. Work on visualizing the entire neck.

OPEN CHORDS

Learn a major, minor, and dominant 7th open chord (aka cowboy chords) with the root on E (6th), A (5th) and D (4th) strings. So E, Em, E7. A, Am, A7. D, Dm, D7. Also learn an open C, C7, G and G7. 

Now that you know the notes all the way up the neck on those strings you can change the fingerings of the open chords to leave the index finger free for barring like a capo and play these chords all over the neck (or use an actual capo and cheat). They call these barre chords because as soon as you can play them you can go play bars.

That’s 90% of playing guitar. The other 10% takes a lifetime.


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## Alex Fraser (May 17, 2022)

Wow.
Thanks to all for the goldmine of tips. This is the beauty of VI-C: When musicians really do help each other out.

So many questions to come - but for now, thanks guys. Amazing stuff.
🙏🙏


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## Mr Greg G (May 17, 2022)

The only reliable and fastest way to learn an instrument is to find a "real" teacher (not a virtual one via webcam or Youtube) and start practicing a lot.

Contrary to the piano, you have to understand that both hands completely depend on each other to play accordingly. A real teacher will be able to correct your hand position and strumming.


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## tonio_ (May 17, 2022)

KEM said:


> I disagree, the tonic and the fifth are the foundations of any chord and drop tunings allow you to play the foundation with a single finger, freeing up all the other fingers to play other voices with much wider spacing and range. Standard tunings are very limiting because playing power chords in the lower register limits you to one shape and only have 2 fingers free with very limited mobility. Also all other string instruments are tuned in fifths, so having the lowest strings of the guitar tuned to fifths makes it easier to double with the orchestras lower register
> 
> And let’s not forget Periphery uses drop tunings exclusively on their 6/7 string songs, and they have very complex chord progressions and voicings


I don't find that Periphery has necessarily complex chord progressions to be honest, but they do have some of the sickest riffs. On the flip side, Polyphia use standard tuning and their stuff is absolutely insane too, again not in terms of harmony, but in terms of the actual lines. Guys like Plini and Tosin have more complex harmonies already, but they rarely just play chords.

I personally think that the tuning doesn't really matter. Alternate tunings (not the basic Drop tunings) are good for challenging muscle memory (which is, as far as I'm concerned, my biggest enemy). Ironically, I don't feel like the guitar is a very chord friendly instrument personally, as in, the voicings and the range are both pretty limited compared to a piano for example and you always will end up doubling notes in your chords. In jazz, guitarists typically will comp with reduced chord voicings, just enough to outline a chord and give it some color and those rarely exceed 3 or 4 voices.

I feel like riffs are really the way to go on this instrument and that the Polyphia, Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Chon, etc. etc. approaches to writing "should" be treated as the idiomatic guitar playing style. For those styles, tuning's don't really matter. I mean, melodic lines sound better on the violins and winds, chords sound better on brass and the piano, but the guitar is really great for blending both... so just do that. But that's just my feeling on the subject.

To go more into the actual playability of chords on Drop vs Standard tuning. The thing is, you don't need the 5th of a chord unless it's altered. It doesn't provide any new information about the function of the chord to the ear (i.e. is it major/minor/dominant). So why even bother playing it? Barring with any other finger than the index is tricky when you only want to bar 2 notes
As a general "rule" the bottom 2 strings sound quite muddy (because overtones etc) when played together and therefore not really ideal for chords in the first place. Drop tunings do enable you to play 9ths and 10ths more easily if you use the index on the root, so that's definitely an advantage, but on the flip side, you're restricted to fingerings that are closer to the bridge for your other fingers. So overall, I'd say that Standard tuning enables you to play closed chord voicings better, whereas Drop tunings allow you to play more open voicings easier.

Sorry about the length, I haven't talked about guitar with other humans in so long.


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## tonio_ (May 17, 2022)

Alex Fraser said:


> Wow.
> Thanks to all for the goldmine of tips. This is the beauty of VI-C: When musicians really do help each other out.
> 
> So many questions to come - but for now, thanks guys. Amazing stuff.
> 🙏🙏


One tip for you for MUCH later down the line. Just write it down somewhere where you won't lose it and where you'll remember to check. Seriously.

Check out Troy Grady's Cracking The Code if you're having trouble with your right hand technique.


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