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Am i the only one that skipped open chords immediately on starting to play the guitar?
All i ever really did was study the fret board and figure out what notes are in what keys and just play power chords.
I think i messed with tuning a lot too.
Now i have to go back and learn them all.
This kind of messed up my whole learning process.
I'm kind of scatter brained now.
Although i must say...it definitely left me with freedom to just riff til'my hands bled when i was younger.

Whats everyone's opinion on this?

It is what it is.

Unless one is "classically trained" by an instructor then we all find different routes to our desired effect.

When the goal changes so do the training methods.

Mel Bay was my first teacher, he's a pretty
good guitar player.

Don't sweat it Josh you're too young! At least you're aware and want to figure it out. You could probably go on YT and in a few weeks learn your basics. Or for a few bucks just get yourself a chord chart.

Just keep learning like you are you'll be fine. You should learn as many chord voicings as you can. It is confusing at first but keep at it. It will start to make sense soon enough and when it does you will take a GIANT leap in your skill level. Us old farts learned from Mel Bay books. The one I learned from (in the 60's) was Mel Bays Complete Guitar Method. Its a GREAT study! I remember learning Bar chords they seemed hard back in the day! Music is a lifelong learning process. Thats the beauty of it all to me. There is ALWAYS something new to learn! Like the saying goes "no pain no gain" the pain can be the pursuit of GREAT tone, and the fact that you have to work so hard to learn. As many have said on this site MANY times "if it were easy everyone would do it"

Haley you are showing your age, Meb Bay, I had those too, I got that Pat Thrall Solo Method stuff too, it was great. He played with Pat Travers during his Snortin Whiskey period, great guitarist.

These days you young guys have it made on learning guitar, online stuff, LOL, I cheat myself when I need to learn a odd part to a song and just dont hear it.

Haley remember slowing down records to learn the solos, man those were the days!

MEL BAY, is he any relation to eBay? lol j/k.

I only play by ear. I couldn't tell you the name of a chord or a note on the guitar without taking some time to figure it out. Can't read note one. I work out everything by ear, rather effortlessly I may add. Not because I'm smart or good, it's just because I have been doing it that way for so long.

I t would be nice to be able to do both, when I sit in with someone I don't need to know what they are doing beforehand. My ears let me know what to play. But I admire those who can do both.

I would rather have learned by note and by ear but it's a bit late for that since I get bored with music theory. I'd rather just bang away on the guitar.

Good for you. It is good have the desire to learn. Most likely you'll get a lot further than I did if you do.

jw123 wrote:Haley you are showing your age, Meb Bay, I had those too, I got that Pat Thrall Solo Method stuff too, it was great. He played with Pat Travers during his Snortin Whiskey period, great guitarist.

These days you young guys have it made on learning guitar, online stuff, LOL, I cheat myself when I need to learn a odd part to a song and just dont hear it.

Haley remember slowing down records to learn the solos, man those were the days!

John, LOL yes I remember slowing down records and having to retune!
The guiar player that is playing with Pat Travers now (playing Pat Thralls role) is an aquaintance. He went to high school with my wife.

Thats pretty cool Haley, I used to love Travers, put on a great live show, I saw him on Direct TV not long ago, still sounded good to me

joshuatrax313 wrote:Am i the only one that skipped open chords immediately on starting to play the guitar?
All i ever really did was study the fret board and figure out what notes are in what keys and just play power chords.
I think i messed with tuning a lot too.
Now i have to go back and learn them all.
This kind of messed up my whole learning process.
I'm kind of scatter brained now.
Although i must say...it definitely left me with freedom to just riff til'my hands bled when i was younger.

Whats everyone's opinion on this?

Just follow your heart... and your ears. There is no one right way to learn guitar. Jimi stepped off the bus and reinvented guitar playing over 40 years ago. Nowdays essentially anything you want to learn can be found on youtube. I like some of the lessons by Guthrie Govan. He has a boatload of technique but always seems to keep it musical. Can I play like him? No sir! Check him out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Hg4Jdw ... re=related

Thejohnny7band wrote:
Just follow your heart... and your ears. There is no one right way to learn guitar. Jimi essentially stepped off the bus and reinvented guitar playing over 40 years ago. Nowdays essentially anything you want to learn can be found on youtube. I like some of the lessons by Guthrie Govan. He has a boatload of technique but always seems to keep it musical. Can I play like him? No sir! Check him out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Hg4Jdw ... re=related

Nice one Johnny! Erotic Cakes is on of my favorite guitar album of all time. You are right! Govan has a great balance of technique and musical delivery that most shredders seem to lack. Thanks for bringing him up.

Here is "Waves" from the album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpst3W6KD8

jsantos wrote:

Thejohnny7band wrote:
Just follow your heart... and your ears. There is no one right way to learn guitar. Jimi essentially stepped off the bus and reinvented guitar playing over 40 years ago. Nowdays essentially anything you want to learn can be found on youtube. I like some of the lessons by Guthrie Govan. He has a boatload of technique but always seems to keep it musical. Can I play like him? No sir! Check him out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Hg4Jdw ... re=related

Nice one Johnny! Erotic Cakes is on of my favorite guitar album of all time. You are right! Govan has a great balance of technique and musical delivery that most shredders seem to lack. Thanks for bringing him up.

Here is "Waves" from the album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpst3W6KD8

That album is quite brilliant. Another of my recent favorite guitar albums is "Play" by Brad Paisley. I usually don't go country and I never paid too much attention to this guy's music but I can't stop listening to those tracks. Whew! A little taste of this country boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1om912O ... re=related

Thejohnny7band wrote:
That album is quite brilliant. Another of my recent favorite guitar albums is "Play" by Brad Paisley. I usually don't go country and I never paid too much attention to this guy's music but I can't stop listening to those tracks. Whew! A little taste of this country boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1om912O ... re=related

Wow that's awesome. I've heard of him before and he's great. I have always liked country music. Also, I love the Telecaster's tone (Gatton) and would love to own one when I get a little cash saved up.

There is a case for studying theory - there is a method to all that madness and pretty soon you start understanding just what you've been doing all along.

The big pay off comes when you hit a dry spell in your playing. All your stuff is sounding the same - you turn your guitar down so nobody can hear your tawdry, boring playing. That's when you call up GSOK.com and tinker with scales, arpeggios and various chord voicings.

There really is a difference between a natural minor scale and a harmonic minor scales. Slight difference actually but all of sudden it's totally someplace else. You can play them all at least six different ways.

My point is while you run through some of this stuff you find you are practicing timing, rythym, getting your ear used to hearing the nuances and exercising your fingers. Pretty soon you start banging those scales out of the park into some pretty nice lead guitar. And I mean pretty soon as in the same practice session.

I sincerely hope I'm not the only guy who hits those dry spells - not that I wish anyone ill. There is comfort in being one of the crowd. (one can still play but the overall feel is of a zombie strumming a piece of telephone wire)


Actual theory - circle of fifths and all that other stuff - can be helpful at whatever level you approach it. I think you could learn the circle of 5ths and some basic scales or modes; and stop there and you'd still have gained much. There is much more though and you can take it or leave it.

Yet I agree with some of the other guys here too - if your stuff is working without all that then run with it. The other side of it is that if you are pushing forward hard it might hold you back to start investing time in theory.

One question to ask yourself though, am I continuing to improve? If you are, to me that's the big win.

Talbot