I bought an electric guitar (got a guitar-knowledgeable doper to help me pick it out) and took lessons at the Boston Center for Adult Education. I played viola back in high school, so I knew a bit about how to read music and such. Everyone else in the class had an acoustic, and hadn’t played any instrument before. It was fascinating to be with people who were just learning the symbols on the sheet music, the names of the notes, keys, all that. It made me try to imagine how I’d teach that sort of thing.
For me, it was great to start with someone around who could tell me if I was on the right track. How to hold the instrument, how it sounds when it’s in tune, just the confidence to know I had the basics down right was great. Since then I’ve been mostly teaching myself from books. I do find myself neglecting the rhythm playing a bit and practicing the leads more often. I’d like to do the group thing again at some point if I can find one that’s just at the level of the next thing I want to learn.
My advice to the OP would be to find a person or group who can give you a little bit of a start on several skills. Learn a little bit of how to read music and tabs, a few basic chords, a few simple strums, a few lead riffs, and then you’ll know enough to make up your own mind what’s next.
I agree with the previous posts/posters… my only additional comments are:
Take lessons, but also learn at least one or two songs you like and play them every day for fun
Find time every day to play, even if it is just for 5 minutes
When you play, pick 2-3 chords (not bar chords) and learn to switch to-and-from each of these chords… practice until it becomes second-nature, even if it takes months
Also, practice playing single notes on each string using each finger: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1, and then 1-3-2-4-4-2-3-1, etc… use a slow down-up-down-up picking technique and practice on each string and between adjacent strings
The idea is to have fun (e.g, learning/playing songs you like) and also give some time to the “technique” or details.
Try this for a few months and your playing will improve exponentially.
A lot of great answers here. If you can have an experienced guitar playing friend help you pick out an instrument that would be great. A cheap Squier or Epiphone is probably your best bet. A Yamaha Pacifica is also a very popular well-regarded budget guitar.
There are a number of cheap options for amplification and effects, usually with headphone jacks for neighbor-friendly practicing. My recommendation would be a Roland Microcube…small, battery powered, lots of tweakable sounds.
Definitely play with others as much as you can. Building calluses will hurt but eventually that will pass.
I, too, have been guitar obsessed throughout the years. Don’t even know when it started but it was early on in childhood. John Denver. James Taylor. Background music in the living room while I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Even if I still haven’t learned to play guitar by 50 years old, I would still try. It’s just that much to me.
Personally I wouldn’t recommend getting an electric and then using it unplugged, at least not regularly, because you will develop the bad habit of playing too hard.
A guitar teacher I really like actually recommends always plugging your guitar in, and always having the amp turned up reasonably loud - not necessarily so that you make a lot of noise, but so that you can play softly and still hear all the nuances of how your technique affects the sound. Another teacher says that when people pick up a guitar that he’s just been playing, they’re often amazed at how loud it is. That’s because he plays gently, with fine control.
While I agree with your intent - to develop nuance and dynamics in your playing - I don’t necessarily agree with your assertion. Playing loud is important, but playing unplugged is just fine. Eddie Van Halen played unplugged for hours as a teen; Jeff Beck’s around the house guitar is a plastic Maccaferri he got from jimmy page. When I play unplugged electric I am typically putting in reps, building muscle memory, not building dynamics. But I am a big-necked, big-gauged, thumb-over heavy handed player so it’s sounds like I’m your teacher’s worst nightmare ;).
Yes, but you also regularly play with an amp, right? Someone who only has an electric and no amp will likely become accustomed to thrashing the thing to get any volume out of it, if that’s all they’ve known.
I think that what the likes of Eddie Van Halen did is beside the point - those people are obsessives who would have perfected their technique under any circumstances. Us regular people need all the help we can get.
If that’s what you want to learn how to play, it does point more towards an electric (though there are certainly some rock songs played on acoustic). Are there certain songs or artists that you particularly like, and would like to learn how to play?
I was going to caution against spending too much money until you figure out whether you have the ability to do it, but if you can play the piano reasonably then you’re probably going to be fine. years ago I received a Squier (Fender’s “budget” brand) Stratocaster as a gift; back then they were made in Korea and seemed to be of reasonable quality with no real frills. e.g. no locking nut so don’t even look at the tremolo arm.
haven’t paid attention to the field in a long time, so no idea if Squiers are still any good.
Actually, I thought your first recommendation was the best advice: play often. Every day. I’m a huge believer in guided instruction, but you’re not going anywhere if you don’t practice, practice, practice.
All really good advice, but I would like to mention that before you buy that first guitar, it is important to take a look from the side view.
Electric is usually better, but with acoustic, make sure the distance from strings to the neck is very close! I have seen some cheaper guitars where it looks like it is about half an inch or more. Remember, you are pushing those strings to the frets, and it hurts! Until you build up the calluses on your fingers, it will hurt a lot! Thus, the closer the strings are to the neck of the guitar, the less hard you have to press.
Many newbies give up learning because it hurts their fingers.
Even a good guitar will take time for you to get used to this, but with a cheap guitar, it might mean quitting from the pain.
Yes, except you don’t want them too close because this will cause buzzing.
You do want the action to be low enough that you can fret them with little difficulty but that the notes ring out true with no buzz, distortion, etc.. More importantly is to ensure that this distance is equal all the way up the neck.
Secondly, the higher the action and the farther you will need to depress each string to fret it. This will increase the tension on the string and change it’s tuning. There’s nothing worse sounding or frustrating that playing a guitar that is untunable between the open and fretted chords. A guitar’s action and intonation are critical, especially for a beginner.
Agreed. A teacher’s feedback is invaluable. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes habit. Perfect practice makes perfect, and a good instructor will not let you practice bad technique until it becomes habit.
This thread is really making me want to try guitar again. Can’t help with the F chord, but five or six years ago when I was trying to get back in, I got a ton of mileage using just three-note chords on the top strings, like Kenny Burrell or “generic jazz” type voicings – probably not what you’re going for, but I found those pretty easy to get the hang of (and I never, even in high school, did a lot of barre chords, except for copying Clapton off the Blind Faith album with that nylon string folk-y tune).
ETA that’s fascinating above about playing with the correct volume on your amp – I find it’s true for keys as well. I live in a condo with neighbors, and don’t want to play loud, as goes for all places in the past I’ve lived, but how can you learn dynamics if you can’t hear the difference between loud and soft and all the tone variations.
Can you be more specific about what problem(s) you are having? I assume you are talking about an open F chord, and bot a Barre Chord… are you having problems “covering” the B and E strings simultaneously with your index finger? Is it switching from a particular chord?
I am just guessing at what your problem is, and if your problem is the little barre on the b and high e strings this won’t help* but if its not try this. Try focusing on playing Am and C. Forget about F for a while. Really focus on those two shapes for a good bit and then after you are feeling comfortable work on playing them with just you pinky ring and middle finger (good practice for all your open chords).
Lay off the F for a week or two at least while you work on those chords, and try not to think about it. It WILL come eventually. In a couple if weeks come back to the F and see if it isn’t a little bit easier. Spend a some time working on it until you get frustrated, then rinse and repeat.
Open F is hard, as are all the variations on a B chord. Don’t worry if those take you a little longer than others might.
*if the problem is the barre a lot of things could be causing problems. Check to make sure your thumb is positioned correctly first.