If you can’t afford the book, you can definately get places with just the articles. Wonderful Tonight is a classic beginner’s song so that’s a good choice. Regarding strum patterns: we simulposted so you probably missed the link I provided above about the strum pattern lesson. A better lesson than that one is at www.wholenote.com . I couldn’t link directly to the lesson before but I just figured out how:
If you can’t count rhythms yet then you can just play the midi file along with it and get the gist. Wholenote is probably the best guitar resource on the internet with www.cyberfret.com being a close second.
This guy is transcribing the “demo” version of the song (I don’t know this tune so you’ll have to decide) but is clearly trying to get a more accurate transcription:
He say’s he’s transcribing the demo version, but he isn’t. Thanks for the link. You mentioned that ellipsis have different uses in a tab, what are the different uses?
HAWKEYE: Like you I first bought an Acoustic and found it a bugger mainly because my fingers hurt (bless him) so I went and got myself an Electric because the action is not so high, Lo and behold I am now sought after by major recording studios throughout the world because now after just over 18 months I can play “Albatross” “Yesterday” and believe it or not “The Star Spangled Banner”…and I’m a Brit!!
These are not my only limitations but I like to show off.
Persevere my friend,persevere, you’ll get there and you won’t realise you are doing it until all your pals gaze at you in wonder and admiration and women throw themselves at your feet in adoration.
Self-taught guitarist here. My 2 cents:
If you practive every day, you will not get better every day. You will be better maybe 2 weeks from now, but in my case, my ability was characterized by punctuated equilibrium.
Also, don’t listen to Leo Kottke. It’s depressing.
The tabs look like that because OLGA got sued by the recording industry. They used to be much more complete, and you can sometimes find old versions archived if you poke around.
After reading my post I realized that you might think that I was referring to the first link as being to the demo version but it’s the second link (though that one might not be the demo version either). In any case it’s no wonder that the F didn’t sound right because the tab you linked to has it over “waiting” while the other two have it over “drown.” Sometimes in chord tabs the ellipses are used to indicate the omission of lyrics (as in the case of your tab) and in other cases it’s used between the syllables of a word if there a different chord to each syllable. Other times it’s used to mark time where there are chord changes but no lyrics. There really isn’t a formal method to those types of chord charts - everyone uses a different method and some are more clear than others.
I have found tabs from the 'net to be as good as the money I paid for them. Some are incredibly great note-for-note transciptions and others are the dog’s breakfast. If you find one that’s clearly WRONG or starts in the wrong key, there’s probably a better one out there. KidC, I hope you weren’t dissing me with your ‘bad advice’ crack. My post said to practice every day, keep it fun, play with other folks as often as possible and don’t start with a crappy instrument. I stand by all of those recommendations. I also second another poster’s suggestion of lessons. Check out the local YMCA, there’s probably a guitar class going on right now. You might get 6 or 8 lessons for $20 and learn how to properly tune the axe and learn all your majors and minors. The rest is all fun.
I am a part time guitar teacher, and the best advice I have seen mentioned so far is that you need to find someone to play with. As mentioned, make sure the person is slightly better than you or a lot better than you. They will teach you things, and you will become much better having played with them. I learned everything I know from one of my friends from high school. I have never taken a lesson, except from him. Just watching someone else play can sometimes open the mind up to new ideas.
