General Music Chat

If you haven't tried using a capo yet, you may want to try one. You can try different voicings of songs, or transpose them to a different key (to match your vocal range). If you know your open chords (c, d, dm, e, em, f, g, a, am, b7), you can play a lot of songs in the same key that they were written in, and not have to kill yourself with bar chords. I learned classical guitar in high school, as well as music theory. I can't overstate how much the music theory and just knowing the notes, up and down the fretboard have helped me. But just a little advice about that. It's not for everybody. If you can play by ear, that's good enough for a lot of people. I guarantee you listen to quite a few big time musicians, who don't know a single note on the fretboard, don't know the names of chords they're playing, and they do just fine. Was that confusing enough, for you?

Kill yourself with bhars . . .
I find this humorous ( seriously . . . not being rude here )
I'm the guy that gets blasted for bharing everything . . . LOL
Knowing and using single and double bhars at every possible opportunity seemed easier to me.
Movable shapes are a convenience, and depending on how many / which order / direction one strokes or picks can vary the tonal quality tremendously.

Oh, I play everything in bar (or is it Barre, or bhar chords?) Chords. Just trying to give some suggestions to a beginner. I remember when I was 15 the bar chords hurt like hell. I couldn't imagine what that pain would feel like with my pre-arthritic hands, at my current age. Yikes!

Indeed . . .

I've seen the spelling in both forms 'barre' & 'bhar' in numerous reference . . .
Wondering which is correct ?
Not that it really matters, for communications purpose bar works as well as anything.
Being well into my 40's when I became serious about music from a players standpoint, the bhar chording and movable shapes were easier on my beat up hands than the open style seemingly.
Did I take some short cuts . . . yes.
Am I still suffering the consequence of doing so ?
Absolutely

Brenden

Good advice pal. I have two friends who are trying to learn to play, ignoring anything I suggest of course...

They're doing exactly what you warn against - learn some song by rote memorization. OK - and then you have what? One song? What you don't have is the music in your gut - the guitar is for getting that out. The songs come along as a bonus once you actually understand how to get the sounds you want out of your instrument.

Another common mistake, made often by moms and dads who've asked what they should buy for kid who wants to learn guitar: they go for cheap since he may not want to stick with it. Well he won't that's for sure, if the guitar is not playable. Fortunately the world now abounds with reasonably priced playable guitars. They also seem to think you have to start with an acoustic - yet the kid wants to play Ozzie and electrics are much easier to play!

Talbot

Talbot

Mike Talbot reminded me of the biggest think that hampered my learning (besides me not wanting to bother to learn scales & keys), is a poorly setup guitar. My first guitar was an acoustic with poor action and strings too heavy for my novice hands. I could not fret a barred chord ever. I thought I was just not capable of doing so. I , of course, had no clue about string height adjustments. Then I got an electric guitar, a Harmony Les Paul. I was surprised that necks are different on different guitars. But again, this guitar was not setup properly. A friend of mine told me not to mess with the screws on the bridge because the guitar would never sound right again if I did. So guitar-wise, I would recommend for someone new to guitar is, get an electric guitar (thinner neck). I would recommend a low end strat style guitar properly set up with 9s. There’s not a lot of hardware on the face of the guitar to get in a new player’s way, (in contrast to a Les Paul’s TOM bridge and tailpiece for a newbie to be banging their hand against while they are trying to learn to play). If the guitar is purchased over the internet, take it to someone to do the setup. If you get the guitar from a music store bring an experienced player with you to tell you if the guitar is over priced and if it is setup properly. The tech at the music store is supposed to have done so before putting the guitar out to sell, but you can’t trust that he/she actually did so. So there’s my rant about poorly set up guitars. Take care all and have a Happy Fourth of July. (firework noises).

Ditto. I learned all of that the hard way. I had a couple of CHEAP guitars that I had customized by the local guitar repair shop. One time, to restring them, I cut off all the strings at once with some wire cutters. Neither of them would play worth a damn after that. The tech had to tell me not to do that. They both needed to be set-up again. For the umpteenth time. That was a very costly mistake for a high school kid, who had to buy all of his own gear. I should have just bought a new guitar, had it set-up right, and KEPT IT IN A CASE!

New to the Forum. My suggestion would be, to get the book +DVD set called "Fretboard Logic". This will get you into chords and scales from a GUITAR perspective... as most theory books are designed around piano. Guitars being a polyphonic string instrument, learning the common chord shapes is a must!! This is also known as the CAGED system. Learning this from the get-go ...will really help your playing. Practice!

Polywannawhosahwatsis ?

Dog

I have Fretboard Logic. I have mixed feelings about it but will happily recommend it to new players. The CAGED thing will have one playing lots of chords much quicker than most methods which are usually memorization.

Talbot

Best thing to remember is the 3 P's.

Practice

Practice

Practice

Don't think you're ready for gigs? Only way to get ready is get some practice with a band and go do some gigging. I always like to get a band out and into a gig or two before we think we're really ready. One night making mistakes onstage is worth more than 2 weeks in the practice room. Since I did fill in gigs for 3 or 4 years, I learned to play right through mistakes real quick. Usually not even the band would know because most of the time I would turn around and do the exact same thing again and make it look intentional, with a straight face...works every time.

Someone mentioned open mics, great idea. I wish we had some around here, I'd be there every week. Nothing within 100 miles though. Same as getting out there and gigging, screw up a few times and you'll start correcting those mistakes in a hurry.

Kill yourself with bhars . . .
I find this humorous ( seriously . . . not being rude here )
I'm the guy that gets blasted for bharing everything . . . LOL
Knowing and using single and double bhars at every possible opportunity seemed easier to me.
Movable shapes are a convenience, and depending on how many / which order / direction one strokes or picks can vary the tonal quality tremendously.

Well said Sans! Barre chords have a very different tonality, attack and release all together. lol, I wouldn't be able to play funk guitar with open chords. Anyway, I can understand that Barre chords are unpleasant to learn and difficult at first. This is because of hand and finger fatigue (your hand just gets tired from pressing down all the strings), but you build up strength by doing. I practice normally on an acoustic with high action. Also, you can look into chord inversions to find new interesting ways to play chords. Good luck.

Here are a few of my views:
1) Don't rely on a capo. Learn how to transpose a song, for Pete's sake! Learn the names of every note on the "E" and "A" string, and you'll have no problem transposing.
2) Try to play songs that you cannot play.
3) go back and read number 2 again.
4) Practice.
5) learn a new song ever few days.
6) practice
7) Try to play a style of music which you have never tried before.
Learn 2 ways to play every major and minor chord. yes, that means barre chords, but deal with it.
9) practice.
10) If your fingers hurt after practice, try a lighter gauge string. That is one of the reasons there are so many choices.
11) Go back and read number 2 again.
12) practice.
.
How'm I doing, guys?

best tips....????

it doesn't matter the equipment? the guitars, none of it....
but one thing does....
Confidence........if you feel good with what your doing then it makes all worth while !!
you could have the best of everything? but if you don't feel confident even with your mistakes?
will be hard, and don't try to be or play like someone else? but play to "PLAY" because you want to play !
in other words? for example? you can "Sound like Eddie Van Halen" but be "YOU"
and your style will just be "Natural" it just "Comes Along" but practice being "You" and Playing to your Personal
Perfection Zone you feel comfortable and go from there.........
as for learning? making mistakes? I would not worry about it?
even those "Commercially more Known" make mistakes !!!
it happens but I can understand wanting to get it "Perfect" its part of the fun !!
heck I even make mistakes on "My Own songs" playing Live I have done for 30 years !!...LOL it happens ....
I do not know what you have or how far along you are? but I am sure your doing great !!!

best tips....????

it doesn't matter the equipment? the guitars, none of it....
but one thing does....
Confidence........if you feel good with what your doing then it makes all worth while !!
you could have the best of everything? but if you don't feel confident even with your mistakes?

Sup Bro BLADE!

Is Confidence something you have from the beginning? Or, is it developed over time and a result of preparedness?

Jerry

Fair question. Ego and confidence aren't the same thing of course but for me, my young man ego sustained me while I first played out way before I was anything like ready.

Confidence came later and for me, it's never been 100% - I know how good, good can be and it keeps me humble.

Just enough confidence to stand up in front of people perform.

As several here have noted - an hour or so gigging beats a week of practice - it tightens up your meter, your rhythmic approach and your understanding of the changes in the tunes you're playing. Miss a change in a live gig - you'll live. But you ain't apt to miss that change again!

Talbot