Learn Guitar..

[Zito is God]

Lessons are the best way to go..but where theirs a will theres a way. I had a friend in high school who taught himself and he was arguably the best guatarist at my school. He just wanted it more than anyone else and spent hours upon hours with books, DVDs, and of course his guitar.

I'm gonna give you a tip that NO ONE on here will agree with except me: Learn music theory as you start playing, at least mildly. You don't wanna end up being one of those repeating parrots that look at tabs and copy where to put their fingers without knowing what notes they are playing and what scale something is based off of.

There is also a big difference between how to learn depending on why you want to play. Learning strictly for fun is much different than learning how to write songs yourself.

[AcidRock23]

I'm gonna give you a tip that NO ONE on here will agree with except me: Learn music theory as you start playing, at least mildly. You don't wanna end up being one of those repeating parrots that look at tabs and copy where to put their fingers without knowing what notes they are playing and what scale something is based off of.

I totally agree w/ this. I learned some theory from this dude through the university when I took bass lessons from him. It's very applicable stuff to playing guitar and really opens up the whole neck for you nicely. While I am not exactly a 'shredder', I can fake my way through just about anything.

Perhaps my most ridiculous moment was trying to cop "The Girl From Ipanema" off an online tab. The mofo had so many chords that I ended up circling them w/ different colored crayons from AcidDaughter's 64 crayon box to get the chord at a glance.

re the original question, I think that a combination of ways is good. Lessons will help and practicing on your own can work very well too. One of my favorite things to do is to just jam along w/ records. Figuring out Led Zeppelin I was pretty illuminating. I can't really pull off Jimmy Page but the songs themselves have some nice basic structures that are fun to jam along with and, here and there, you can feel his voice and pick up on stuff. It will, of course, drive your roommates batty to listen to you do that.

[RynMan]

Guys....can anyone tell me how to play B major or B minor? I tried for about 45 mins yesterday and man....it's tough. To get your pointer finger to hold strings 1 through 5 is tough. Any tricks on how you hold that finger/the neck?

[teddy ballgame]

Try not to curl your wrist. I had problems with that at first and it makes it easier if you keep it straight. Just keep trying to hold it down and you'll get the hang of it. You need to use that pointer finger holding 5 or 6 strings for a lot of rock stuff (if that's what you're playing) so just try and make your hand get used to it.

[RynMan]

Try not to curl your wrist. I had problems with that at first and it makes it easier if you keep it straight. Just keep trying to hold it down and you'll get the hang of it. You need to use that pointer finger holding 5 or 6 strings for a lot of rock stuff (if that's what you're playing) so just try and make your hand get used to it.

Actually playing acoustic but would like to try electric down the track. I'll try the wrist thing. Thanks Teddy. Another tip I read was to roll that finger back slightly towards the top of the neck, so you are essentially pressing down on the string with the side of your finger. Is still tough!

[teddy ballgame]

Try not to curl your wrist. I had problems with that at first and it makes it easier if you keep it straight. Just keep trying to hold it down and you'll get the hang of it. You need to use that pointer finger holding 5 or 6 strings for a lot of rock stuff (if that's what you're playing) so just try and make your hand get used to it.

Actually playing acoustic but would like to try electric down the track. I'll try the wrist thing. Thanks Teddy. Another tip I read was to roll that finger back slightly towards the top of the neck, so you are essentially pressing down on the string with the side of your finger. Is still tough!

Ah yes well that will do it. Acoustic is much tougher on the fingers at first.

[AcidRock23]

Guys....can anyone tell me how to play B major or B minor? I tried for about 45 mins yesterday and man....it's tough. To get your pointer finger to hold strings 1 through 5 is tough. Any tricks on how you hold that finger/the neck?

I find B minor easier b/c of where my pinky goes but the only real answer is to practice like that for about 3 or 4 years and it will start to get easier. Or if you are in a bar rocking out to a bunch of dancing women or skinheads. That helps too! It also can be much easier on an electric guitar w/ lower action than an acoustic. It can always get better though.

[seniorpaul]

I'm not trying to be a downer here, but if your JUST starting out with guitar, trying to play Bmaj/min is going to break your heart. Especially since i think you said your playing on an acoustic, which generally have the strings a little bit higher. What i did when i was first starting out was simplify chords. Bm for example: Instead of using your index finger to bar the E through A strings at the 2nd fret, only play the 2nd fret on the second string. Then only play the top 4 strings. Once you start to develope your hand strength, you can go back and start working on the BarChords. I hope that makes sense, i'm really not much of a teacher.

I'll echo what seems to be the popular theme here, that lessons are the way to go. A good teacher will help you with proper technigue and give you a solid start on music theory.

[benjapage]

Guys....can anyone tell me how to play B major or B minor? I tried for about 45 mins yesterday and man....it's tough. To get your pointer finger to hold strings 1 through 5 is tough. Any tricks on how you hold that finger/the neck?

well, the simplest answer is just learn your flipping bar chords.

you could also just mash your pinky and ring finger across the bottom four strings behind the 4th fret, while pinning down the 2nd fret of the A string.

my best suggestion would be to learn your theory on a piano (it's much more visual). a good understanding of how intervals work will take you through this current process exponentially more quickly.

best of luck.

b