It's always been my ambition to play the guitar (I even have a pic in my siggy), so I brought an acoustic guitar :grin: !! The thing is I have NO IDEA whatsoever how to play :rolleyes: Anyway I'd just like to ask for some tips/tutorials/explanations/links. Remember, I am a complete n00bie at this. I broke the thickest string the first day I had this(Now it's restrunged back on). I don't take any lessons right now but hopefully I will when I go college in umm... about six or seven months? So basically I want to learn by book/internet. I HAVE googled for stuff but it's all too complicated for me :( BTW, if you look on Joe Hahns site (www.joehahn.com) on the information on page 2 you will see the guitar thingy for numb. Can someone explain how the heck you read/translate it?? Thanks oh and how long did y'all take to learn??

I'll have to come back and help you later...I'm a music teacher and am teaching guitar to my 7th and 8th graders right now. BUT, I'm actually at work and class is about to start so I can't help right this moment.

There are actually a lot of really great websites on line that can help you learn guitar. Again...I'll be back...I hear the kids coming.

I play some, and acoustic too (most of my friends play electric)

There are usually a LOT of people around you that know how to play at least some, have you tried asking around?
I didn't see anything much on the link you gave...but the easiest way to post guitar music is usually by using Tabs (which I think is short for tabulature) there is 6 numbers, corrosponding to the fret that each finger goes on, a 0 for no fret and an x if you dampen/deaden it. the first number is for the lowest (biggest) string, and they're obviously in order from there on.
This should help (http://www.christianguitar.org/lesson/20)

You basically learn all the chords (or all the common ones), get some easy songs together and practice practice practice! You can learn the fancy stuff later

when i first started i used a book that explained chords and just got some tabs online. its not that hard if its just chords, but anything tooo picky and i get all bung-ed up! good luck learning!

Thanks everyone :D! I have been researching a bit so I know bits about tabs and chords. Umm I've only had the guitar for a few days so I'll start asking people. Stupid question here: How do you do these??
h - hammer on (How do you hammer a string??)
p - pull off (huh? pull the string off? or just pluck it?)
b - bend string up (Like pluck it upwards?)
r - release bend (How do you bend a tightened string?)
/ - slide up (does this mean strum the strings from bottom to top?)
\ - slide down (^^vice versa^^)
v - vibrato (it's sometimes written as ~) (leave it after so it vibrates?)
t - right hand tap (This won't make a noise will it?)
x - play 'note' with heavy damping (What!!??)

Anyway thanks in advance!! Oh, by the way I can now play:
Twinkle twinkle little star
the first bit of titanic
Jingle bells
First bit of happy birthday
Bits of the simpsons though it doesn't sound quite right.

and that's it I think. By the way, how do you change finger positions sooo quickly?? Is it just practise?? And are you suppose to look at your finger positions or the hand you're plucking with?? I tend to get mixed up with both, but if I look at both I play sooo slowly! And is it better to use your fingers or a pluck/pick (whatever it's called??) Thanks!!

Oh and thanks for the link oneknight!! I see there are guitar lessons there!

By the way, how do you change finger positions sooo quickly?? Is it just practise?? And are you suppose to look at your finger positions or the hand you're plucking with?? I tend to get mixed up with both, but if I look at both I play sooo slowly! And is it better to use your fingers or a pluck/pick (whatever it's called??) Thanks!!
Practice Practice Practice!
You're not supposed to look at either of your hands, but you will tend to need to look at your left hand on the fretboard when you are learning. The finger/pick question is just a matter of your comfort. (A pick is generally louder, if that is an issue for you.) I prefer Dunlop(brand) "turtle"(style) .73mm(medium thickness) picks they're about $3/dozen from Guitar Center.

h - hammer on (How do you hammer a string??)
p - pull off (huh? pull the string off? or just pluck it?)
b - bend string up (Like pluck it upwards?)
r - release bend (How do you bend a tightened string?)
/ - slide up (does this mean strum the strings from bottom to top?)
\ - slide down (^^vice versa^^)
v - vibrato (it's sometimes written as ~) (leave it after so it vibrates?)
t - right hand tap (This won't make a noise will it?)
x - play 'note' with heavy damping (What!!??)
Those whould be in the tab I believe, like xx00222. except for the x (means you dampen/deaden/mute the string by putting a finger on it but not pressing hard enough to play a note. The rest of those things you don't need to worry about learning just yet.

Hello Flame,

h- a "hammer on" is when you play a note only by pressing on the string... ie, you don't strum. Instead, the force of the finger coming down on the string creates the sound. For instance, you strum a note and then let a finger come down on the next fret along the string (the next fret closer to the body of the guitar), giving you a note higher. Does that make sense?

p- a "pull off" is the opposite of a hammer on. Say you pluck a note. Now pull your finger off the string (while the string is still vibrating), and you will hear a different note. That's a pull off.

b- you bend a string by pressing your finger on it, plucking the string with you other hand, and moving the string sideways (left or right) along the neck of the guitar (with the fingering hand, not the strumming hand) while maintaining pressure with the finger. Sounds really really cool!

slides- place your finger on a string, pluck the string, and slide the finger up the string along the neck.

v- here you imitate violin players. Place your finger on a string, pluck the string, and losely shake your wrist while maintining pressure with the finger. Let the "vibration" travel from the wrist to the finger to yield that wonderfully neurotic sound effect.

t- i assume they mean gently tapping the body of the guitar with your strumming hand, a la flamenco players.

damping- not positive, but I think what they mean is letting the flesh of the strumming hand (the part along the side of the hand, below the pinkey) rest gently against the strings while you strum. The resulting sound is muted, or "damp".


The fast fingering definitely comes with practice. In the beginning you have to look at each position, but after a while, you just see the general area, and your fingers know where to go. The hand-ear coordination will develop in such a way that you will eventually be able to play without looking.

I don't think it maters whether you start out with a pick or with fingers. Just keep in mind that fingers can do a lot of things that picks can't, so they would be my first priority.

I'm not a teacher, so AmberBella will be able to give you better advice. But you chose the absolute best instrument out there! :rockerdud Good luck.
~Slava

Thanks everyone :D! I have been researching a bit so I know bits about tabs and chords. Umm I've only had the guitar for a few days so I'll start asking people. Stupid question here: How do you do these??
h - hammer on (How do you hammer a string??)
p - pull off (huh? pull the string off? or just pluck it?)
b - bend string up (Like pluck it upwards?)
r - release bend (How do you bend a tightened string?)
/ - slide up (does this mean strum the strings from bottom to top?)
\ - slide down (^^vice versa^^)
v - vibrato (it's sometimes written as ~) (leave it after so it vibrates?)
t - right hand tap (This won't make a noise will it?)
x - play 'note' with heavy damping (What!!??)

Anyway thanks in advance!! Oh, by the way I can now play:
Twinkle twinkle little star
the first bit of titanic
Jingle bells
First bit of happy birthday
Bits of the simpsons though it doesn't sound quite right.

and that's it I think. By the way, how do you change finger positions sooo quickly?? Is it just practise?? And are you suppose to look at your finger positions or the hand you're plucking with?? I tend to get mixed up with both, but if I look at both I play sooo slowly! And is it better to use your fingers or a pluck/pick (whatever it's called??) Thanks!!

Hiya!

Another wannabe guitar player here! :waving:

I've owned a guitar for about 6 or 7 years now... I can sort of play... but not really :oops: I know I could be good at it if I would just practice regularly, but it's been a bit of a love/hate relationship for me - it's the first instrument that I've tried to play that didn't come naturally to me straight away.

I did find the beginners lessons at about.com very useful http://guitar.about.com/ , but it's been a few years since I looked at them, I would assume they are still the same lessons.

There's been some great information in this thread, I'll have to grab the guitar and get practicing again :D

Ali

Those whould be in the tab I believe, like xx00222. except for the x (means you dampen/deaden/mute the string by putting a finger on it but not pressing hard enough to play a note. The rest of those things you don't need to worry about learning just yet.

Huh?? I thought that x means you don't play that string?

Yes, you're right....x means don't play that string.

h - hammer on- To hammer on you move from one note that you plucked or strummed and then put your finger down on the already vibrating string to make a new note. (How do you hammer a string??)
p - pull off- This basically means to pluck the string with a finger on your left hand. Usually you will pull off to a lower note or an open string.
b - bend string up- means to stretch the string so with your left hand as you are playing the note so that it will "bend" the pitch by making it slightly higher.
r - release bend- I'm not sure, but I imagine that it means that you stop bending a string.
/ - slide up- this means to slide your left hand from a lower pitch to a higer pitch ( I think)
\ - slide down
v - vibrato- To do this, you sort of rock your left hand so that the string stretches and releases just a little bit...this makes the sound waver up and down slightly. Violinists do this a lot.
t - right hand tap- not sure....Either means to tap the strings so that the vibrate only momentarily and then stop, or it means to tap the body of the guitar to make a drum like sound.
x - play 'note' with heavy damping (What!!??) Dampening is to muffle the string. The x only means don't play the string in a chord.

HTH...I'd try to be more specific...but my class has entered and I need to mold young minds. HA!

Hello Flame,

h- a "hammer on" is when you play a note only by pressing on the string... ie, you don't strum. Instead, the force of the finger coming down on the string creates the sound. For instance, you strum a note and then let a finger come down on the next fret along the string (the next fret closer to the body of the guitar), giving you a note higher. Does that make sense?

Yep! the noise is pretty quiet though! So you "hammer on" from the after-vibrations of the last note you played?

p- a "pull off" is the opposite of a hammer on. Say you pluck a note. Now pull your finger off the string (while the string is still vibrating), and you will hear a different note. That's a pull off.

b- you bend a string by pressing your finger on it, plucking the string with you other hand, and moving the string sideways (left or right) along the neck of the guitar (with the fingering hand, not the strumming hand) while maintaining pressure with the finger. Sounds really really cool!

When I do this, it just sounds like I plucked the string, stopped it from vibrating and then there is a small scratchy sound from where I'm moving the string sideways because it rubs against the neck. Is that right? :ponder:

slides- place your finger on a string, pluck the string, and slide the finger up the string along the neck.

v- here you imitate violin players. Place your finger on a string, pluck the string, and losely shake your wrist while maintining pressure with the finger. Let the "vibration" travel from the wrist to the finger to yield that wonderfully neurotic sound effect.

t- i assume they mean gently tapping the body of the guitar with your strumming hand, a la flamenco players.

Hmmm what's the point of this?

damping- not positive, but I think what they mean is letting the flesh of the strumming hand (the part along the side of the hand, below the pinkey) rest gently against the strings while you strum. The resulting sound is muted, or "damp".

Thanks for all the explanations!! I really appreciate it!!

The fast fingering definitely comes with practice. In the beginning you have to look at each position, but after a while, you just see the general area, and your fingers know where to go. The hand-ear coordination will develop in such a way that you will eventually be able to play without looking.

I don't think it maters whether you start out with a pick or with fingers. Just keep in mind that fingers can do a lot of things that picks can't, so they would be my first priority.

I'm not a teacher, so AmberBella will be able to give you better advice. But you chose the absolute best instrument out there! :rockerdud Good luck.
~Slava

Again thanks for taking the time to explain :D

Lol you posted that while I was SLOWLY typing out my reply to predislava.


p - pull off- This basically means to pluck the string with a finger on your left hand. Usually you will pull off to a lower note or an open string.
Do you actually pluck or do you just gently press your finger down and release?
b - bend string up- means to stretch the string so with your left hand as you are playing the note so that it will "bend" the pitch by making it slightly higher.
How do you stretch a string? :silly:
HTH...I'd try to be more specific...but my class has entered and I need to mold young minds. HA!

Yep that helps! Lol do you like to go on the hair forums before teaching? :rockerdud Anyway thanks alot for all that!!

Hiya!

Another wannabe guitar player here! :waving:

I've owned a guitar for about 6 or 7 years now... I can sort of play... but not really :oops: I know I could be good at it if I would just practice regularly, but it's been a bit of a love/hate relationship for me - it's the first instrument that I've tried to play that didn't come naturally to me straight away.

I did find the beginners lessons at about.com very useful http://guitar.about.com/ , but it's been a few years since I looked at them, I would assume they are still the same lessons.

There's been some great information in this thread, I'll have to grab the guitar and get practicing again :D

Ali

Cool!! What other instruments do you play? And thanks for the url! I'll check it out!!

Thank you everyone who has replied!! I've read every single post 8) ! Twice :silly: !

The point of tapping the side of the instrument is to add an extra element of rhythm to your playing. It really is a nice effect.

For a pull off you actually pluck the string with your fretting (left) hand. If you just lift the finger up you won't get much sound.

You stretch the string by applying pressure with your fretting hand and pushing the string one direction or the other while it's pressed into the fret. This action makes the string tighter which makes the note higher.

I play electric guitar. I don't know if there are any Guns 'N Roses fans out there, but here's some chords to some good songs:
Paradise City--G......C......F..C..G (that's the first line to get you started)
Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah song"-- D...A....G....A (the chords just repeat themselves during the entire song!
and this song (don't remember the titile)
"You can't always get what you want, no you can't always get what you want..) C......F.......C........C.......("but you try sometimes") D...then repeat

American Pie (or 'Jedi' by Weird AL) it starts off with, so bye, bye mr. anakin guy(G...C...G....D) maybe Vadar's 1 day later now he's just a small fry. So he packs up his things, and kiss his mother goodbye, says (E minor-easy chord, only 2 fingers on the 2nd and 3rd strings on the 2nd fret) soon I'm going to be a Jed-i (A7, another easy chord, 2 fingers on the 3rd and 5th string, 2nd fret), Em.......D7 (same as D but in the 1st fret).

"Hey Jude", F..........Eflat.......Bflat....F. Na.....na na, na na na na.......na na na na.........hey Jude.

"Louie, Louie" (a trained chimp can play this song, because it only has 3 chords throughout the whole thing). A....D....Em.

"Shout" tears for fears
Gm.."shout, shout, let it all out, (Eflat) these are the things I can do without come on (Gm) I'm talking to you come on.

I know lots more, but these common ones should get you started. Lots of songs seem hard, but surprisingly, it's just the same chords repeating over and over again. If you can play just 3 chords, you can play most of the songs here. Take your time, because getting your fingers used to the placement takes practise, but in the end, you get so used to it, you just love to sing along while you jam. Let me know if you want more
chords, I even have them to U2's "Vertigo" if you want. Easy song to play!! But, it sounds good

The point of tapping the side of the instrument is to add an extra element of rhythm to your playing. It really is a nice effect.

For a pull off you actually pluck the string with your fretting (left) hand. If you just lift the finger up you won't get much sound.

You stretch the string by applying pressure with your fretting hand and pushing the string one direction or the other while it's pressed into the fret. This action makes the string tighter which makes the note higher.

Ohh I get it now :smile: Thanks alot!

I play electric guitar. I don't know if there are any Guns 'N Roses fans out there, but here's some chords to some good songs:
Paradise City--G......C......F..C..G (that's the first line to get you started)
Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah song"-- D...A....G....A (the chords just repeat themselves during the entire song!
and this song (don't remember the titile)
"You can't always get what you want, no you can't always get what you want..) C......F.......C........C.......("but you try sometimes") D...then repeat

American Pie (or 'Jedi' by Weird AL) it starts off with, so bye, bye mr. anakin guy(G...C...G....D) maybe Vadar's 1 day later now he's just a small fry. So he packs up his things, and kiss his mother goodbye, says (E minor-easy chord, only 2 fingers on the 2nd and 3rd strings on the 2nd fret) soon I'm going to be a Jed-i (A7, another easy chord, 2 fingers on the 3rd and 5th string, 2nd fret), Em.......D7 (same as D but in the 1st fret).

"Hey Jude", F..........Eflat.......Bflat....F. Na.....na na, na na na na.......na na na na.........hey Jude.

"Louie, Louie" (a trained chimp can play this song, because it only has 3 chords throughout the whole thing). A....D....Em.

"Shout" tears for fears
Gm.."shout, shout, let it all out, (Eflat) these are the things I can do without come on (Gm) I'm talking to you come on.

I know lots more, but these common ones should get you started. Lots of songs seem hard, but surprisingly, it's just the same chords repeating over and over again. If you can play just 3 chords, you can play most of the songs here. Take your time, because getting your fingers used to the placement takes practise, but in the end, you get so used to it, you just love to sing along while you jam. Let me know if you want more
chords, I even have them to U2's "Vertigo" if you want. Easy song to play!! But, it sounds good

Hey! Weird Al are those people who do the ummm... weird songs right :grin: 8) ? I love the my fart will go on song lol. Anyways, do you (or anyone else for that matter) know where to get an easy to understand printout of all the chords?? Thanks! Or are you suppose to memorise them :ponder:?

Theoretically, you should eventually memorize them all, but there are many many books out there that have them. You can also buy a guitar chord chart. Just about every guitar method book ever made has chords in the back.

I'm sure there is a place online that you can find and print out the chords...but off hand I don't know where.

I don't know whereabouts you can get this at, but I have a poster showing the fingering placements for most of the chords. Wherever you want to buy movie posters/cd's or movie
stores usually have it in the back with all their other posters. Usually, it's from looking up the positions so many times that you start to memorize where your fingers go, and the next thing you know, you've memorized all of the 'common' chords.
Of course, you'll run into weird chords, like C add 9, which was a pain in the butt for me to memorize, but you don't get those wacky ones very often. The more you practise, the better you'll get, and don't get frusterated with yourself at first. It'll happen gradually without you even knowing it.

"If I don't practise for 1 day, I know it. If I don't practise for 2 days, my neighbors know it. If I don't practise for 3 days, my audience knows it." Unknown

Thanks for the replies! Ahh I'm still practicing single notes, but I want to start on chords soon ;)

Cool! I just bought my first guitar yesterday (I'm a late starter) so this thread should come in handy for me. :D I was just going to post something similar to this.

I used to play bass, but it was nothing spectacular. I have most of the summer off, so I'll be taking lessons once a week and hope to get something learned. My hubby plays bass and he wants a jam partner SOON. haha!

Hi flame & other new guitar players :wink: ! This thread reminds me of when I started learning guitar myself about 6 years ago. I found the very site that I used to frequent and that helped me alot: Dansm's Guitar Techniques (http://www.geocities.com/mike_mccracker/technique/) and here's another one I just found with alot of links: Guitar Notes (http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/instruction.shtml). You've already got alot of great advise on techniques. So now just learn some chords and practise, PRACTISE :lol: Initially I found myself having to look at my left hand to see where my fingers were going but eventually *revelation* I found I didn't have to look there anymore and I could play the right chord. Then *bigger revelation* I could change chords without looking and without missing a beat! LoL it took awhile to get there but you will get there, and the feeling is great! Another thing I did was to google for chords to the songs I liked and print them out. That way I was much more motivated to learn because eventually I would be playing some of my favourite songs. If some of the chords seem alien to you, don't give up, just practise and it'll come to you. Also there are alot of songs with very simple chords (like G,C,D,Em) probably including some songs that you like.

You should also ask around if you have friends who play guitar. Having someone you can learn from and eventually play guitar with helps alot. I only started playing with other people a few years ago in my youth fellowship and I learned a bunch of new chords, strumming patterns and songs along the way.

Good luck! I really hope you enjoy your guitar. Acoustics are my favourite instruments :cloud9:

I'm a guitarist.. I've got an acoustic I've had since I was about 11, but I only went serious when I got a Fender Squier Strat for christmas (Electrics are so much easier to play damn it! Lol!) I'm not a very good guitarist.. but I try. I have a few guitarist friends who try and teach me and I download alot of tabs and chords from the net.

I've kind of been learning to play guitar my whole life, but I've never practiced enough to get very good. My dad is a really good guitar player, and he taught me a few chords when I was a little kid. Then for a couple years in high school/ beginning of college I got more serious about it, and practiced on a semi-regular basis.

For the last few years I've been pretty much neglecting it, but I've recently decided I want to start learning again. I played clarinet from 5th grade all the way through high school, but then ended up going to a college without a band. I miss playing music, and a guitar is more something you can play on your own than a clarinet. And anyway, almost all the music I love has guitars in it. So this thread may be helpful for me too, as I get back into it.

I have an acoustic that my dad got cheap and then fixed up for me. Maybe sometime I'll get an electric guitar. I've played my dad's a bit, and it's fun. Actually if I'm home for awhile after I graduate and before I find a job this summer, I can play his.