Calling all guitar players!

[JoeFahey]

I taught myself how to play piano, I am a very good trumpet player, I have also started to play some bass tunes with my buddies, but now I want to learn guitar. I bought an Estaban guitar set for a good deal, and I was going to learn from his 6 volume set of DVDs. He sucks at teaching though. He keeps busting out with his own tunes, and the set it almost like he used it as his chance to show off. Mabye I'll go back to it after I can keep up with him. I think I'm going to self teach myself, but I have some questions. I have been learning some chords, and I've tried playing some songs with them, but I always have to have a long pause to get my hands into position. I'm sure this just comes with practice, but it is just coming to me very slowly. Was it the same for you? How did you learn the correct position of fingers, and which fingers to use when you position for chords? Is there some place online that could be of help? Also, I never got any good callusses from playing bass. How long will it take for them to form? And lastly, any tips for a beginner? THANKS!

 

[Platypus]

I taught myself.

Basically the slowness in chord formation can only be cured with practice and time, everyone starts off that way. As far as proper fingers to use, I probably don't use the 'proper' fingering on a few things but you'll begin to realize that it's easier to form chords with specific fingers because of changing to a new chord or adding your finger to another string to make a new sound.

Example, making an E chord without your index finger so you can slide that entire position up and then use your index to bar an entire fret to make another chord. The more you play the more you'll figure out which fingers work best.

Callouses form with time, there's no set time limit but they come faster the more you practice.

 

[ruffilb]

I took some intro lessons, but now I'm basically teaching myself the more complicated stuff.

Barring the chords just takes time to learn how to do quickly. Just practice a lot, and you'll soon find yourself doing it much faster than before. If you want to form calluses quickly, you can either work around with bending the high E string a lot, or if you're really obsessed about quick callus building, I'd recommend the Ruff Rider callus building tips for the gripmaster (Not associated with me in any way 😉)

If you have any specific fingering questions, you can PM me or make a thread, plenty of people will be happy to help.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Hey the most important thing is that you practice slowly and CORRECTLY. Use the proper fingering on all chords, it makes it easier to transition for chord to chord if you do. Also as you are preparing to switch to the next chord, get your fingers that aren't being used in the right position before you switch. For example, when transitioning from C to G move that pinky down to the high E string in advance.

 

[Rudee]

As Joe Satriani says, practice doesn't make perfect... perfect practice makes perfect.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
How did you learn the correct position of fingers, and which fingers to use when you position for chords?

Originally posted by: Sudheer Anne
Use the proper fingering on all chords, it makes it easier to transition for chord to chord if you do.

I think that's why he started the thread... reading comprehension is important 😉

 

[DainBramaged]

I thought this was a "Yet Another Girl Thread" for guitar players. 😱