kenobi, I hear you. I would say that Fretting is Craft and Picking/Strumming is Art. Both require hard muscle memory work to obtain some competence, no argument there.
But your fretting hand is the Straight Man, and your Picking/Strumming hand is the Goofball partner that drives the gags, if you follow ;). If you go back and look at the GOGT, post 5180 where I share some links to my guide tracks, look at my fingerstyle grooves. That approach is just weirder and harder than most fretting challenges - chord clusters are dextrous, but not as idiosyncratic. Cool?
I’m terrible at the harmonica (never could figure out how to bend), but I can at least lay down simplistic/repetitive backing without too much trouble. When I was used to play on a semi-regular basis I would always keep a couple in my bag.
One night, I was outside a coffee shop before an open mic and accompanying an extremely talented buddy on his banjo while he played (I think) CC Rider. At one point the stars somehow aligned and I just wailed out an awesome set of bars. A guy walking past stopped and gave me a “hell yeah, man!” It was a completely inconsequential moment and is also one of my favorite music-related memories.
Making music is one of the best feelings in the whole world. I really wish I was better at it.
It’s going to take 1-2 weeks before the guitar gets here so in the meantime, I’ll learn about it in a more theoretical way until I can get my hands on it. Anyone have pointers about things they wish they’d known starting out?
In addition to Wordman’s always excellent advice, play with others! Even when I could barely play a clean note, I always got encouragement form other players and tips and tricks. It’s also hella fun!
I once played with a friend of my wife’s who was just learning and gave me the standard “I’m not very good, I’ve only been playing for three months…” and then proceeded to flawlessly play Metallica’s One on an acoustic, including the solo! At that point I had been playing for twenty five years and I still can’t play anywhere near that well!
That brings me to point two: Don’t compare yourself to anyone else’s progress. This is for your enjoyment, so enjoy it!
Point Three; Learn a bit of music theory. Steve Stine has some excellent videos on Youtube for beginning guitar and learning the fretboard. I really wish I had learned more of that at the beginning.
Poit Four: Set aside a bit of time each day for practice if you can, or a few times each week. It will help you progress into a better player in a shorter time.
MichealEMSo what did you order for an axe, Eugene?
I’d pick up the piano. You can get a decent keyboard for not that much, plug it into a headphone jack, and nobody will hear you. Plus there’s some cool software nowadays that make learning it much easier.
I played piano as a kid, and guitar as an adult. I’d say neither is particular hard, but the guitar is harder to play well. There’s some advanced techniques that are just a bitch. I’d only learn guitar if you’re fine with playing campfire songs, unless you put a LOT of work into it.
The best tip that I can give is to buy a cheap wind-up timer. Don’t pick up a phone and use an App. Phones will distract you.
Create very specific practice strategies and drill for five mins at a time.
Fully focus on that drill. Doesn’t matter if your fingers make mistakes.
Take a 5 min break. Do a different drill.
Gradually add several drills into your practice.
I like to practice twice a day. Repeating the drills.
Reward yourself with goofing off time on the instrument. Playing pieces you enjoy, or noodling around.
Here’s a very, very basic beginner drill. You’re learning chords on piano or guitar.
Play I IV V. For example, D, G,A chords. That’s the drill. Focus on getting your fingers to form those chords repeatedly for 5 mins. You’ll fumble around and make mistakes. It doesn’t matter. Drill twice a day for just those five mins. You’ll improve after a few days. Now you focus on playing every chord cleanly. A week later, Use a metronome. Every chord gets 4 beats.
Rest your hands for 5 mins.
Drill on G,C,D
Rest
Drill on A,D,E
Rest
Drill on E,A,B7
Rest
Drill on C,F,G
Notice some of the same chords pop up in different drills. You’re learning to transition into that chord different ways.
This approach will serve you well as you progress. The drills are different but the approach is the same.
When you fret and play a note the first thing that happens is the fretting, to prepare a sound, and the next is the striking of the note or chord. I think it’s the executive order of the activity that makes the dominant hand better for the strum, the natural sequence of preparing something and then taking the shot under control. Never thought about it very much until now.
I think you’ll feel a disadvantage as soon as you try. Just a guess.
You can get a beat up gibson or martin for $1500. You might get a beat up guild for under 1000. (Talking about acoustics). You have more flexibility with electrics.
I recently picked out a Alvarez acoustic for approx $500. It’s a very, very nice student guitar that will serve my cousin well past intermediate level.
Avoid their cheap, priced models. Any guitar under $375 is probably not going to be good enough as a student improves.
Always get a new guitar properly set up by a guitar tech.
I recently bought a new guitar, and it led me to research a bit on a recent(ish) development in budget guitars. Some stores, Thomann (Harley Benton) and Bax-shop (Fazley), have begun dealing directly with factories in SE asia, as an alternative to brand budget guitars like Epi and Squier. They have their own house brands, mostly knock-offs and variations of well known models. Prices range from around 50 euros to about 500 (for a double neck 12/6 sg, no less), with most being from around 150 to 300 euros. From reviews, they seem to play and sound well, but might have some cosmetic issues. They also offer full warranty for a month, no questions asked.
My impression, of a 80 euro telecaster by Fazley, is pretty damn good. The neck is good, it plays well and it was more or less set up as I want out of the box. I only set the action a bit lower. Only problem so far has been a sharp edge on the nut. Took me a few minutes to fix. It sounds pretty darn good. The beginner Squiers and Epiphones I started out with weren’t nearly as nice sounding or playing, to be honest.
Depending on where you live (customs), it might be worth checking out.
Have a chat with a music teacher. They should be able to show you a few different instruments and let you have a try.
Think about Cello, they are much lighter than they look, and sound fantastic. They are flexible for music types, from classic, to jazz to umm whatever you call what David Bowie was doing.
Learn the fretboard - Where the notes are and how to build simple chords. Review the basic chords and see how the chord tones fit on the fretboard. Not just where to put your fingers like on those little chord diagrams, but what those notes actually are. Figure out different ways to play the same chords.
Think about using a website like Guitar Tricks and going through at least their beginner course to get the basics down. I think it’s around $20 a month and progresses nicely step by step.
Oh another thing, if at all possible, get lessons. Wrongly learned technique is hard to correct later plus having to show what you did that week is motivating.
