Learning the guitar. How to proceed? Advice, tips sought

I have been egging myself on to learn to play the guitar. Now I am at that pivotal moment where I have money, and desire. I am now lacking guidance.

How do I proceed? How often should I practice? What equipment besides a guitar do I need? What sort of guitar do I need?

I have sourced this number as a starter. Any advice on this choice?

squierguitars.com/products/s … 0930600021

It is a Squier SD 6 by Fender.

Thankyou in advance for any musings on the subject be they useful or spurious.

As a beginner guitarist one will fall into GAS or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. This is the belief that buying better equipments will somehow make me play better. This is not always true but you do want something with good action/feel because a beginner is most turned off by the fact that your fingers will HURT like hell playing the thing. As a beginner sound probably is not the most important thing but having an instrument that plays well is (like comfortable action, no string buzz, etc) and most guitar at the $300 (or around 10,000NT) range will more than satisfy you. First things first though you might want a teacher more than anything because you want to learn it right, not develop a bunch of bad habits that can hamper your playing. Now you can teach yourself (I have) but you will improve very slowly and may have to go back and re-learn stuff. If you’re playing acoustics you don’t need an amp but for electrics you do need an amp but for now assuming you play electrics (doesn’t look like you are) you might want something that won’t upset the neighbors. This one would NOT work that is…

This will cause the room to vibrate when fully turned up. Don’t ask how I know.

Come and talk to me at the happy hour.

(I’m the handsome one.)

(With the fantastic sense of humour.)

Segovia practiced 5 hours a day.
I think there is at least one other thread with a lot of good advice to newby git players. Find a nice person to show you some stuff. Get an easy begginers book. Don’t give up.
That guitar looks like a good one.

Thank you for your kind words.

Master Irishstu I am rather squat with a pugnacious face.

there is only one really important thing to remember.

turn it up to 11.

Classical guitar is also aces.

[quote=“irishstu”]Come and talk to me at the happy hour.

(I’m the handsome one.)

(With the fantastic sense of humour.)[/quote]

And the puppies.

[quote=“urodacus”]there is only one really important thing to remember.

turn it up to 11.[/quote]

With the amp I got my neighbors didn’t like it…

Find a teacher, learn the basics well. Hold the fingers properly and fret properly and do all that stuff properly. Practice, practice, practice.

Or you will end up hopelessly stuck in your ways playing open tunings and feeling frustrated about your lack of direction and you won’t be able to woo your sweetheart when she wants you to play for her because you can’t really figure out how to play her favorite Mando=pop ballad and she won’t appreciate the classic slide blues you spend years perfecting improperly because you used a huge brass slide on the wrong finger and you can’t fret very well while playing the root notes.

You will have to learn all over again or become a homeless “solo-artist” at bus stops and subway stations hoping someone will throw sushi at you.

[quote=“mike_rophonechecker”]Thank you for your kind words.

Master Irishstu I am rather squat with a pugnacious face.[/quote]

You’re going to be hard to spot then.

If the great depression does hit, at least you’ll have a better chance at putting biscuits on the table.

To the OP: There’s a lot of good advice already. Some stuff hasn’t been said so far:

Assuming you don’t have all the time in the world, practise more frequently, for shorter periods (eg. 2 x 15 minutes is better than 1 x 30 minutes, 2 x 30 minutes instead of 1 x 1 hour, etc.). Otherwise, if you just do one or two big sessions per week, aside from it being very physically challenging/tiring, you’ll have forgotten a lot since last time, so you’ll be spending a fair chunk of each practice session re-learning, rather than practising.

Well, it depends upon what you want to get out of it. If you want to go beyond the level of strumming some sing-along type songs, then learn some music theory too, starting with scales. Theory is a bit daunting at first, but it will start to make sense and it will really open things up for you. Scales can be boring (although you can mix up different ways of practising them), but they are the basis of everything else and well worth the time. On the other hand, if you just want to be able to play some songs, then just learn some easy songs. There’s no use suggesting that you have to know a diminished-whole tone scale or practise tritone substitutions unless you plan to hit the jazz circuit when you just want to play a Beatles song, for instance.

Assuming one has already scored some basic gear:
I would suggest:

  1. Scales and finger exercises.
  2. Learn tones.
  3. Get a book of chords, hash out a few basic progressions
  4. Jam & muck about with other guitarists, or gimp along with a few of your favorite songs.
  5. Listen to as much diverse music as one can, especially classical, funk & jazz, and that of other instruments. It helps to develop one’s ear, which is a never ending process.
  6. Rinse, Lather, and Repeat.
    Good luck, and
    “Keep on rockin’ in the free world…”

Intervals and their shapes all over the fretboard. This knowledge will come in immensely useful later in chord construction.

[quote=“canucktyuktuk”]Find a teacher, learn the basics well. Hold the fingers properly and fret properly and do all that stuff properly. Practice, practice, practice.

Or you will end up hopelessly stuck in your ways playing open tunings and feeling frustrated about your lack of direction and you won’t be able to woo your sweetheart when she wants you to play for her because you can’t really figure out how to play her favorite Mando=pop ballad and she won’t appreciate the classic slide blues you spend years perfecting improperly because you used a huge brass slide on the wrong finger and you can’t fret very well while playing the root notes.

You will have to learn all over again or become a homeless “solo-artist” at bus stops and subway stations hoping someone will throw sushi at you.[/quote]Absolutely. For anyone who’s remotely serious about learning a musical instrument, a teacher’s essential. Taking lessons saves a lot of frustration and prevents bad playing habits that create difficulties later on.

Before buying an actual guitar, a good first step is to practice with air guitar.

Irishstu, thanks a million for leading me to the following site.
justinguitar.com/

Screaming Jesus, is it air guitar, THEN guitar Hero, or the other way around? Do you also suggest I watch Wayne’s World to help with my air fingering?

I am self-taught, and don’t know a single scale. The trick is to get your rhythm right first. That is the biggest confidence booster. Just smack a simple E minor chord for an hour. It’s amazing what you can actually do with one chord in terms of subtlety and nuance. Then migrate to A minor (a simple chord change). Suddenly you find you have a SONG! Neil Young and Leonard Cohen made their careers out of those two chords. And don’t muck around trying to learn Stairway to Heaven. Write your own songs from the outset. Besides, Stairway to Heaven is crap.

[quote=“irishstu”]Come and talk to me at the happy hour.

(I’m the handsome one.)

(With the fantastic sense of humour.)[/quote]

And the fandabbydozy username :smiley: