New hobbie :Guitar help

[Afflict]

I have recently started messing around with my friends guitar and its quite interesting...
I know there are alot of you guys that play the guitar, any good documents links etc.
I can read and use to up my skill?

[auhsor]

Well I suggest looking at a few tabs and just messing around with it. Some advice: Don't give in too early if a song is hard. Stick with it and keep practicing. Even put it a side but come back to it later, you will be surprised with how much better you are.

I think I learnt alot by just leaving my guitar near the tv so everytime I was watching stuff I would play around on the guitar - but that doeas annoy other people watching btw.

I strongly suggest getting Guitar Pro because it is very helpful for learning songs, as you can see how they are played and can listen to the instruments. You can get tabs for it at here. I think the demo version only allows you to view 20 bars, so if you like it you should buy it.

Also, I havn't really gone to the site or done any of the lessons, but my brother really reccomends this site for lots of lessons, including ones for beginners.

[Afflict]

Thanks my fingers were acnhing after a long while but I got those damn keys down.
I have been avoiding it for about two years now and finaly got into it I enjoy it cause
it challenges me! Thanks will check them out looks awesome!

[Evil]

Yes, start with songs you know. I have friends who took lessons and hated them beause they learned all of the technical stuff. Learn what you want and have fun.

I always start people with basic chords: G, C, D. Those are the most common among progressions. Then go onto others. I wouldn't start barre chords until you've got a lot of time in. Barres can be very difficult for beginners.

[Ishmael]

basic chords: G, C, D

What about E and A? They're even easier

[Squinky]

Dood, screw all this good advice and start hammering power chords....

[Ishmael]

Well, power chords in case electric guitar is in question. They sound a bit... dry on an acoustic one IMO.

[Nine Toes]

MXTabs.  You can look there for notes on pretty much any song you can think of.  You can also find a lot of notes about learning to play guitar there on the forums too.

[Al_Ninio]

For some more in-depth lessons: www.cyberfret.com
Start at "first fret", then work your way up.

... And don't skip music theory, despite how boring it may sound at first.

[Nine Toes]

One more thing: I found that the best way to learn how to play guitar... *looks around*... is to teach yourself.  Just experiment.  Try to play a song you hear on the radio without looking up the notes for it.  I did that when I first started playing, the first song I ever learned to play was "Walk Like A Camel" by Southern Culture On The Skids.  I actually surprised myself.  It doesn't matter if you're playing it wrong or not, as long as you're content with the result.

It may be extremely frustrating at times, but this way you don't have somebody leaning over you telling you, "No, you're doing that wrong.  You should do it my way, etc."

[Phemar]

Dood, screw all this good advice and start hammering power chords....

Yeah, all the real guitarists only play power chords anyway ...

Theory may sound boring to begin with, but once you get into it, it gets so darn interesting you won't want to stop. Theory is my favourite part of music, and it's quite a nice feeling when you suddenly realise how everything clicks into place!

[Ishmael]

Now that I've learned a little something about scales I have learned to hear how off-scale notes sound out of place... They didn't do that before. But people complain to me if something is off scale -_-

[Tuomas]

Myself, I despise tabs... they tend to make you impotent... I recommend you get to know the most common scales first so that you won't have difficulties. I personally never learned any song by heart, just the chords and the structure, the musicians don't know the fills nor the solos by heart either, if they do, the solos lack depth and life.
   Actually I suggest you take into notes, once you learn them, they are much easier than tabulatures. My two friends learned stupid Metallica solos by heart and once they had to improvise solos, they only playd some from this and some from that. And basically, that sounded awful well, I don't know how my solos suond like, but my teacher says I'm rather good. Just that you need to know what for example blues, jazz, folk, country is all about before you can play it...

oh, and learn this by heart: http://users.utu.fi/mapekl/teoria/kvinttiympyra.gif

Might you give a hint of what kind of music you like...?

[shbaz]

I started by getting the feel of a guitar neck playing single note theme songs and such, then moved on to power chord songs. The reason I think that it was a good idea is that it kept me interested in guitar while I gained the hand strength and coordination to be a better player. Sure, you're not learning a lot, but you can play a lot of rock songs only knowing power chords.

When I really learned to play guitar, however, I started learning chords and scales. That's when you get to the point that you can play something decent without even thinking about it - and it's really what makes playing an instrument fulfilling.

When I was about 16 (1 year after getting my first electric guitar) I started to notice something - my amp sounded like shit compared to those on the radio. That was because I had a transistor amp and most professionals use tube amps or really expensive tube emulators. I couldn't afford either, so I learned to build one at ampage.org and ax84.com. I ripped expensive parts from old army equipment and eBay so it didn't cost much and used mouser.com for my electrical stuff. Built it in an old burned out transistor amps box for less than $120. Building your own amp really makes you feel more connected to your equipment and there's no substitute for even cheap tube amps.

Lately I've been thinking of building a guitar again. I've wanted to do this for a long time, but it's a difficult task and I don't have the tools. I stumbled across a cigar box guitar site recently though and that might also interest you, if you don't mind playing some more folkish stuff.

[Phemar]

My dad is in the process of building his own guitar. He's almost done spraying the body and then he just needs to connect everything up!

[Kweepa]

Two words: Guitar Hero.
http://ps2.ign.com/objects/748/748976.html
I've been playing this at work and it rocks.
(It's a flashier version of the old Konami Guitar Freaks arcade/PS1 game.)

[Nine Toes]

Dude! I want that!

[He-Man]

One more thing: I found that the best way to learn how to play guitar... *looks around*... is to teach yourself.Ã,  Just experiment.Ã,  Try to play a song you hear on the radio without looking up the notes for it.Ã,  I did that when I first started playing, the first song I ever learned to play was "Walk Like A Camel" by Southern Culture On The Skids.Ã,  I actually surprised myself.Ã,  It doesn't matter if you're playing it wrong or not, as long as you're content with the result.

It may be extremely frustrating at times, but this way you don't have somebody leaning over you telling you, "No, you're doing that wrong.Ã,  You should do it my way, etc."

So true!
That's also how I learned to play the guitar. After a few years I thought it would be a great idea to get a teacher but I hated it. I found out that teaching myself was way more effective and fun.
And who wants to learn to play some sad crap hit by No Doubt and play it for a bunch of sleepy parents who would rather be at home anyway, when you can jam your favourite songs at home for free.
Playing is supposed to be fun and for yourself.

word

[Squinky]

I taught myself using the internet and jamming with every damned musician I could find. I seriously reccomend this, go out there (once you get good enough) and start playing music with everybody you can. Play other folks guitars and pedals if they'll let you, and definately play with other styles...

I played for 7 years in an alternative band, and I used to love jamming with another band I knew that had a kinda rage against the machine+rappy feel. It was fun and a good learning experience.

One problem I always encountered with jamming around though, was that a LOT of musians only play by themselves, and they are sometimes really good. But they can't keep time, and feel the music with the band. This is why you need to go jam as much as you can...

[Helm]

ah the dreaded amazing technical player who just can't... keep... time. Awful. Play along with music you like. Connect the guitar to the computer, run it through Guitar Rig and don't worry about physical amps for practise. Practise scales more than chords. When you think you're good enough, go play with people. Any people you can find that will jam with you.