Any tips for an aspiring guitarist?

Cafe Society
1

I started taking lessons a couple of months ago, and that’s going pretty well, all things considered. But I thought maybe someone here could give me some tips to help supplement those lessons - maybe some exercises to strengthen my fingers, some good books to read, etc. I’m learning lots of lead electric parts right now (Sweet Child O’ Mine is what I’m currently working on…I can’t play it up to speed though :frowning: ), but I’d also like to learn strumming and such.

Also, if it helps, I like classic rock and metal bands, from Pink Floyd to the Beatles to Megadeth.

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[QUOTE=dysonsphere]
I started taking lessons a couple of months ago, and that’s going pretty well, all things considered. But I thought maybe someone here could give me some tips to help supplement those lessons - maybe some exercises to strengthen my fingers, some good books to read, etc. I’m learning lots of lead electric parts right now (Sweet Child O’ Mine is what I’m currently working on…I can’t play it up to speed though :frowning: ), but I’d also like to learn strumming and such.

Also, if it helps, I like classic rock and metal bands, from Pink Floyd to the Beatles to Megadeth.
[/QUOTE]

The best peice of advice I know is to start playing with a metronome. Do it as soon as possible. It is the one thing that many people don’t use when starting out and it makes life hard later.

The way I usually teach is in three parts. The first part is scales/arpeggios/theory, the second part is actual songs and the third part is improv based on part 1 and 2.

I think that the best way to learn is first to learn enough theory so that the chords and notes make a bit of sense on the neck. If you don’t know any theory get your teacher to teach you simple theory. Note, I don’t think you need to get too deep into theory. Just knowing major/minor keys and the modes is enough to get you started.

Once you learn a couple scales, play them until you can make it up and down the scale without many mistakes. Once you get to that point, start playing with a metronome. Start slow and don’t increase your speed until you can make it through the scales without any mistakes then speed up a bit. Once you get those scales down, learn another until you have all the modes down. Always use alternate picking. Always. Trust me on this one. It is hard at first but it makes life way easier later on.

It is basically the same thing with chords. Learn a couple and get so you can switch between chords pretty smoothly. Once you get to that point use the metronome again and play on time.

Learn some easy but fun songs (I can recommend some that target specific areas if you like. And remember that you aren’t going to be playing Metallica at speed for a while). Get so that you can play the chords changes and the rhythm about right. Once you can do that pretty smoothly, bring out the metronome again and START SLOW. Build up until you can play the song at speed. Also, know what key the song is in. Once you can play the song at speed it is time to take a bit of that theory that you have learned and have some fun. Once you get so you can play a song at speed, learn what key the song is in, put the CD/MP3/whatever on and solo on it. Make tons of noise.

There are a couple different parts to playing guitar. The first thing is making your fingers and hands work. That is practicing scales/chords and arpeggios. It is boring work. The second part is your brain and your ear. That is learning some theory, applying that theory by practicing so that you know what works and what doesn’t*. It is also a bit boring. The third part, the fun part, is combining the two so that you can actually make music.

I usually recommend practicing by starting out with a quick warm up, just get your fingers moving, play whatever until your hands are ready to go. After that do some serious scale/arpeggio/chord work with a metronome. The last part of each pratice should be just making noise. Play with the scales and chords, or a new song. Turn your amp up a bit and go for it. Have fun and don’t worry about sounding perfect. End each practice session with something fun.

There are a ton of exercises out there to do. Those are easy to find. The most important thing I have found from teaching people is making it enjoyable. You will sound bad when you start. You are going to make some horrid noises. I’ve been playing for 20+ years (I started when I was 11) and I still make some pretty awful sounds, sometimes on purpose :). The most important thing is to walk away from a practice session happy. To do so put the actual hard, frustrating part of the practice up front and end by just playing so you walk away happy about the noice you just created.

Slee

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You know, Slee, that’s one helluva post. Easily worth the subscription price alone.

I do think that “Sweet Child o’ Mine” is a bit advanced for a newbie guitar player - you might want to try something simpler like “A Horse with No Name” (or even the intro to “Stairway”).

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If you want something very satisfying, try the intro to Dueling Banjos. It can be memorized in about 20 minutes, and is one of those songs everyone likes to hear. “Hey, look what I can do!” kind of thing.

edit: Oh, and Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams is a good one too.

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How about starting out when you’re a young teen and sticking to it? :wink:

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Ah, crud. Computer crashed while I was writing this post.

Anyway, retyping it…Operation Ripper, I don’t know if I’m considered a “young teen” or not, but I’m definitely a teen. That should help with muscle memory and that kind of thing, you old people can’t keep up! :smiley:

Captain_C I’ll look those up after writing this.

JohnT, I agree that it’s probably too advanced, but it’s pretty fun to play. Plus, it just feels good to play something so familiar, even if it’s at half-speed or whatever. I’m not trying to play the solo or anything, just the opening.

Slee, thanks a LOT for the great post! I’ll try to follow your advice as well as possible, maybe I’ll save your post or something. My teacher has me alternate picking already, so I’m good there. I know that this is going to sound pretty weird, but I like playing scales and exercises. It feels great to see myself improving. Of course, it’s no substitute to playing a real song, but I like the feeling of progress.

Also, I know basic stuff like keys, minor/major, accidentals, etc. from being in the school band and taking piano lessons as a little kid…nothing too advanced, but probably good enough for guitar playing. I have the added benefit that my uncle knows how to play pretty well, so I can always call him up if I have any immediate questions. :slight_smile:

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It doesn’t look like I have anything approaching Sleestak’s experience, but from the perspective of a long-time amateur, the best advice I can give is to thrive on the “boring” stuff: I started learning when I was fourteen and, being fourteen, skimped on most of the theory, learned just enough to (barely) satisfy my instructor, and went on to more fun things.

Five years later I started playing with friends in university, figured out how powerful a solid understanding of the basic theory can be, and badgered one of my friends to basically teach me music theory from scratch.

So remember: if it’s boring, it’s probably important.

Also from personal experience, if you’re learning on an electric I would suggest buying a (very!) cheap acoustic and practicing on both; if your fingers get used to acoustic or classical strings they can handle electric easily, but the opposite isn’t really true.

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[QUOTE=Omi no Kami]

Also from personal experience, if you’re learning on an electric I would suggest buying a (very!) cheap acoustic and practicing on both; if your fingers get used to acoustic or classical strings they can handle electric easily, but the opposite isn’t really true.
[/QUOTE]

I’m very lucky in that regard, my dad already owns a decent acoustic. I should probably get it restrung, but it sounds OK.

9

One thing I used to improve my hand strength and stamina was a gripper. You can pick it up and work it any time. Reading a book? Work it. Sitting on the john for a while? Work it.
Better yet, a much cheaper option is to get some tennis balls and squeeze them. It works just as well. They also don’t make odd, incriminating noises from behind a closed bathroom door. I knew a guy who had a fancy gizmo that let him adjust the resistance for individual fingers so he could work his pinky.

Other than that, just practice every single day. Learn the scales and arpeggios because that’s all lead guitar is. It’s like I’ve told my former English students: you can’t break the rules until you learn 'em. Master the basic stuff like posture and never cheat on good habits. Every bit of boredom and frustration early on is a good note on another day.

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JohnT, thanks. I can run on about how I think people should learn to play. The big thing is to make it fun. Too many people quit because they get into the scales/practice thing and don’t get to the fun. It takes a while for guitar to be really fun, there is a bunch of hard work up front to get the payoff. Adding a little payoff to each practice session helps.

Omi no Kami is right on about the theory. It is boring but learning it makes life so much nicer. You can figure stuff out easier and it also opens up possibilities when it comes to writing when you know theory well. I believe the biggest thing for a guitarist to learn is the modes. Once you know the modes well you can see everything on the neck instantly and it also makes chord stuff easier. I have stuff with all kind of wacked chords which I would have never found without knowing the modes.

As Hung Mung said, the grippers help some people. I have never used one but they can be very helpful for a new guitarist. The strength will come but it does take a while. Anything that can help that is good.

Slee

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**Slee ** - you da man. Good post. What he said.

My two big recommendations, which I include in everyone of these threads (there are a few - you might do a search on them…):

  • Ensure your guitar is set up correctly - take it to a tech and invest the $50 - $75 to check the:
  1. neck relief ** (is it curved and must be straightened?);
    2)     the action** (are the strings the right distance from the fingerboard?); and
  2. **the intonation ** (are the strings adjusted to be the correct length, given the neck relief and action?)

A well-set-up guitar is less likely to get in your way; you are much more likely going to like the way you sound and find it easier (relatively - your fingers will still hurt) to play.

  • Play what you like - as long as you play. Playing is ALWAYS better than thinking negatively about what you “should” play and not picking up the guitar. I really respect what **Slee ** says about modes - make no mistake, he is 100% correct - but if the thought of working on scales or modes depresses you and distances you from the guitar, don’t do it. Or better yet - find a way to make it fun. I would work on my chords, then play Rock the Nation on 1 string, with the roar of a fantasy crowd in my ears. That silly stuff kept me going when it felt like my fingers were going to fall off…find what works for you.

My $.02

12

Not much I can add. Here are a couple of items…

Get in a band with people you like. Nothing motivates me to play like knowing I must have the song ready for next rehearsal.

Have patience. All those scales and exercises do (at least) 2 things:

  1. Get your fingers used to playing–strength, dexterity, stamina, callouses
  2. Build the connection in your brain between the action and the notes

Once you have those, and it takes quite a bit of time, then you can just play. And that’s when it’s REALLY fun.

IMHO, of course. :slight_smile:

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[QUOTE=Hung Mung]
One thing I used to improve my hand strength and stamina was a gripper. You can pick it up and work it any time. Reading a book? Work it. Sitting on the john for a while? Work it.
Better yet, a much cheaper option is to get some tennis balls and squeeze them. It works just as well. They also don’t make odd, incriminating noises from behind a closed bathroom door. I knew a guy who had a fancy gizmo that let him adjust the resistance for individual fingers so he could work his pinky.

Other than that, just practice every single day. Learn the scales and arpeggios because that’s all lead guitar is. It’s like I’ve told my former English students: you can’t break the rules until you learn 'em. Master the basic stuff like posture and never cheat on good habits. Every bit of boredom and frustration early on is a good note on another day.
[/QUOTE]

Whoa! Be careful there! Guitar playing does not require lots of finger strength and you can cause damage by trying to ‘strengthen’ your fingers! There are a lot of very small muscles that can be easily damaged by over stressing them. In fact if you feel any pain (other than the skin of your fingertips until your callouses develop) stop for a few minutes. If you feel any numbness or or a burn, stop for a little bit. Or the rest of the day if it doesn’t go away. These hand muscles are nothing like the major muscles you use working out with weights. No pain - no gain does NOT apply to the muscles in your hands or those you might feel in your forearm or wrist from playing. Overplaying too much can cause carpel tunnel syndrome or the like.

You’ll build the strength you need from simple daily repetition. Anyway, good technique will help you more than anything else to make the strings do what you want them to. With the left hand that’s used on the neck it’s a good idea to learn to play with your thumb somewhere on the back of the neck as much as possible as opposed to wrapping your thumb around it like a baseball bat. You’ll slightly bend your wrist to place your fingers over the strings. Your palm should not need to touch the back of the neck.

It feels weird at first and takes some getting used to but you can then get a lot more reach out of your fingers and you can use the weight of your entire hand (and even a little forearm) to help push down on the strings or to bend them. It make chord playing much, much easier. It also gives you a much better pivot point to get a vibrato. Other than the very occasional note you might play with your thumb on the low strings, your left hand thumb shouldn’t spend much time over the top of the fretboard.

Regarding the pinky, upright bass players have a technique for playing scales, arpeggios, and such where you use your ring finger and pinky together as a team. You can sometimes squeeze them together on the same fret or at least be sure that they are both pressing down the string at the same time. Other than when you’re playing chords obviously, where each finger is on a different string, learn to use as many fingers as you can to hold down a string. If you’re using your pinky to play notes in a scale ideally all four fingers ought to be holding down that string unless one is needed elsewhere. While you want to develop your pinky to where it has good independence the ring finger should still help as much as possible.

Trying to keep your index finger as a barre for holding down two or more notes whenever possible helps also. I use the ring finger / pinky tag team method most all the time and have my index finger almost always pressing down on a string somewhere on the neck.

14

I’m sure your teacher will be careful to coach you on this, but don’t get in the habit of fingering imprecisely. When you’re just starting out your placement on the fret doesn’t usually seem like a big deal, but getting used to high precision from the beginning makes a huge difference later on.

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I saw this Joe Satriani video a few days ago and think it might give you some good ideas. The link points to part one (about 8 and a half minutes) and there is a part two as well. It’s ostensibly about modes, but contains a lot of other useful information.

I would also like to point out a bad habit I’ve seen a lot of guitarists pick up. When learning a song (or later, practicing it) try to get used to counting out the rests. It’s easy when you’re playing alone to skip from the end of one part to the beginning of the next. While that isn’t a problem when you’re alone, it’s a really difficult habit to break when you start playing with others.

(Given your background (school band and piano lessons), I don’t think this will be much of an issue for you, but not everyone has those advantages. :wink: )

When my guitarist friend started trying to teach me some basics, he brought over a big ol’ honking book of Neil Young songs and told me he learned a lot from it when he was starting out. He liked that there were a lot of different styles represented. (And a lot of alternate tunings, but that seems more of a handicap to me.)

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Just to add my own question to this thread: Can anyone recommend a good beginner book or author?

For an example of what I’m thinking of: In high school band class we had this series of books that would first introduce, say, 3 different notes. Then it would give a page or two of exercises that used those notes. Nothing fancy, but something you could follow along with without getting extremely bored. ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ or some such. Then it would introduce another note, and more exercises. It went on this way until you could play simple songs, and on from there. It made learning alot more bearable than “Ok, now let’s play scales for 3 hours straight”

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There is a ton of good advice in here (there always is–the Straight Dope guitarist collective are a knowledgeable bunch) so the only thing I think needs to be added is a simple statement that will hopefully be a push for you during those times when you aren’t sure of yourself or don’t feel like playing.

Fundamentally, learning to play the guitar is like anything else. You will get better at it the more you play. Don’t worry about the things that I worried about while I was learning to play all of those years. Don’t worry that you can sacrifice all of this time and still not be a good, or even great, guitar player. You may pick up some bad habits along the way (some of which may get in the way of your ability to play complex numbers without a headache or two), but you will get better the more you play. In other words, if you want to be able to play Sweet child of mine as well as Slash, You can do it, even if your form or technique is off from lack of formal training. It may be harder, but you can, and likely will, play it as good the more time you spend trying to do it.

This is not to say that you should just ignore the fundamentals and just put your head down and plow through all of the songs you want to learn until you learn them, but sometimes it’s this rigid adherence to form and technique that can strangle you creatively and make you put the instrument down altogether. This is something that players like Angus Young and Stevie Ray Vaughan understood completely.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that although the basics are very important and many hours should go into picking up on the nuances of the instrument and musical theory in general during your lifelong love affair with this six-string creature, more importantly you should spend most of your time doing the things that give you enough enjoyment that you keep coming back and snatching your axe up by the neck and playing it in the first place. Do not get so caught up in the details that you find yourself without your guitar in hand, or you will begin to hang shirts off of the headstock as it rests in its stand.

Also, there’s something you need to know. It’s an ugly secret about most instruments but I think it rings particularly true with the guitar, and although I have never regretted a minute of the time I spent learning to play the guitar, it is a secret that you need to know, because it matters. You will feel two things during the process of learning to play a favorite song. The first feeling is the TREMENDOUS sense of accomplishment from learning a song from start to finish, every subtle nuance, every snaking riff, recreated via your fingertips, the battle won and the notes that you chewed through to get to the end are like dead soldiers lying on the floor all around you, conquered. It is an emotional high that no drug on the planet can touch and it never really diminishes. The second feeling is felt sometime, usually near the middle of the learning of a song, where things are beginning to click and you are starting to get the hang of it, and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That feeling is a little like someone spoiling a magic trick for you. Once you understand how the music is played, a little of that magic is lost, and you can never get it back. For you, the song doesn’t remain the same. You’ll still love it, though you might not respect it as much after conquering it.

Learning to play a Stevie Ray Vaughan song so well that the average listener can’t tell the difference between your cover and his original is akin to winning the lottery. Discovering that once you learn to play Pride and Joy, you also automatically know how to play Honey Bee, because the music is nearly identical and, as a matter of fact, most of SRV’s entire catalog can be picked up from just learning a small handful of his songs is a little bittersweet, and like having your lottery winnings cut in half by taxes. For most beginning guitar players, discovering that Angus Young (AC/DC) isn’t actually some kind of a guitar god, but just someone who plays very basic cords and ultra simple riffs and solos and really only excels at putting all of that together in one kick ass song after another may be a little bit of a letdown, but just remember that this only means that you are beginning to get so good that you are slowly rising to the level of that kind of play and are no longer in the crowd, wondering how they could possibly do it. You are becoming a magician, and to do this you must surrender yourself to the notion that there is no real magic, only the magical feeling that you experience from trying to prove to yourself and others that maybe there really is.

Just keep playing. I promise you that if you do your life will be twice as rewarding than if you never played at all. It is the closest to heaven that I’ll ever get.

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Nicely done, **Euth **- we gotta jam sometime.

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[QUOTE=WordMan]
Nicely done, **Euth **- we gotta jam sometime.
[/QUOTE]

I concur! Hear! Hear!

(And do you need a drummer?)

20

Learning guitar advice. . .

Play every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Strings don’t last forever they go dull and plonky after a while, if you’re playing every day they will be duff after a week or two. Keep spares.

Learn to read music, bit of a blind spot for guitar players this, but since you’ve played other instruments you may have a head start here.

Play some pieces outside of your normal choice of music, don’t just stick to rock try some Bach.

Learn to play bottleneck, a second guitar* comes in handy here.

Learn to finger-pick, Stairway** is a good place to start.

*there’s no such thing as having too many guitars.

**Never, ever, play it in public. Not Smoke on the Water either. People will point and laugh.