Got an accoustic guitar for Christmas...

[Shoalzie]

I've wanted to learn how to play guitar for a long time and it was a great surprise to get a guitar for Christmas from my parents. By no means do I ever intend on getting good enough to join a band or anything...it's just going to be a hobby. Any advice from more experienced players? Also, any good sites out there for beginners and for easy music I can learn how to play? It would be cool to eventually be able to play the music I listen to...blues, classic rock, some modern rock.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I've wanted to learn how to play guitar for a long time and it was a great surprise to get a guitar for Christmas from my parents. By no means do I ever intend on getting good enough to join a band or anything...it's just going to be a hobby. Any advice from more experienced players? Also, any good sites out there for beginners and for easy music I can learn how to play? It would be cool to eventually be able to play the music I listen to...blues, classic rock, some modern rock.

You won't learn shit from a website. It's best to have hands on instruction. Many community colleges offer "beginner guitar" courses...it's cheaper to pay for the class than taking lessons from most "professionals".

[Shoalzie]

The local community college does offer two levels of guitar classes but I'm already going back to take a couple classes for work in January in addition to still working the usual 40 hours a week. I'll check out what there is in the summer...classes are usually just 8 weeks with 2 classes per week in the summer instead of once a week for 16 weeks in the fall and winter. Don't know if they'd offer them in the evening though. For now, I'll just goof around with it...no hurry on getting any good at it.

[Dinsdale]

Dude...play Freebird, man.

[Bizzarofelice]

I'm already going back to take a couple classes for work in January in addition to still working the usual 40 hours a week.

Good times.

I'll agrre that you should take the class at the community college. When I was a kid, my first instructor was all basics and my second one was "alright, you want me to teach you some Rush songs today?"

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

By the way, after the first 10 minutes of class, you'll probably be able to play about 30 Beatles songs, and then you'll be like, "so why the fuck were these guys so great".

[Shoalzie]

By the way, after the first 10 minutes of class, you'll probably be able to play about 30 Beatles songs, and then you'll be like, "so why the fuck were these guys so great".

[Dinsdale]

And it'll take you about 90 seconds to learn the entire Flaming Lips catalogue.

[Screw_Michigan]

And it'll take you about 90 seconds to learn the entire Flaming Lips catalogue.

remove your lips from his sack for once. quit acting like some cracked out tramp looking to score a fix.

good luck shoalz. from experience, don't spend the $$ for a class unless you are totally committed to it. not worth the money unless you practice regularly and a lot.

[Bizzarofelice]

And it'll take you about 90 seconds to learn the entire Flaming Lips catalogue.

Or you could spend your lifetime dealing with flatted fifths and focus so much on that aspect that the rest of your ability to communicate becomes crap, if not moot.

[Funkywhiteboy]

Dude...play Freebird, man.

"Stairway To Heaven"!

[Bizzarofelice]

"Stairway To Heaven"!

Yup. That and Fly By Night were the guitar instructor's faves.

[Shoalzie]

good luck shoalz. from experience, don't spend the $$ for a class unless you are totally committed to it. not worth the money unless you practice regularly and a lot.

The guitar classes at Valley are 2 credit hours...a little over $50 per credit hour. I'll try to self-teach myself but I wouldn't rule out taking one class just to learn the basics. I had a helluva time just tuning my guitar...let alone trying to play a few chords.

[Dinsdale]

The guitar classes at Valley are 2 credit hours...a little over $50 per credit hour. I'll try to self-teach myself but I wouldn't rule out taking one class just to learn the basics. I had a helluva time just tuning my guitar...let alone trying to play a few chords.

There you go.

Learning a new instrument is a bitch, and if you've never played an instrument before, it's going to be a major bitch as an adult...

BUT, the rewards will be so well worth it, hang in there. Start with the CC classes, or whatever you decide, and then if you have finacial or time constraints, you can just keep practicing as many of the lessons that you can. You may not learn anything new like this, but there's a lot more to playing than learning every note. The intonation and precision fingering of the notes you do know are a lot more important than mastering every chord. Heck, Angus Young only knows 3 chords, and he's a guitar god.

Hang in there, and congrats.

[TenTallBen]

I had a helluva time just tuning my guitar.

Must have for any guitarist, although I can say that I have pretty damn good ears and don't usually need one.

I started playing an acoustic around the 8th grade and took lessons once a week for about three months to learn the basics. From then on I pretty much taught myself. It so much better to learn to play by ear, in my honest opinion. Most importantly, keep it fun. The internet is a good resource for chord diagrams. The tabs mostly blow ass.

[Dinsdale]

[It so much better to learn to play by ear, in my honest opinion.

I'd say yes and no.

Yes, because music is ultimately about the sounds you make, and knowing how to replicate sounds by ear is going to be both neccessary, and tremendously useful if you ever want to write any music of your own.

On the other side of the coin, you can have the best ear in the world and be able to play anything you hear from memory, but without a way to write it down, it's worthless. Kind of like if Mark Twain couldn't read. Plus, the more you learn about musical theory, then your musical horizons will multiply exponentially. And without both the ability to read and write music, and without being able to study it in its written form, you'll never be able to learn theory.

So, IMO(obviously) BOTH of these skills are important. You can't be just a "play by ear" picker, and you can't just be a soulless music reader.

[Moorese]

I have pretty damn good ears.

Rack. Substantial enough to tug on? (filthy little whore)