for those who play guitar

[Buttzilla]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
I was trained through lessons on the piano and the violin for 5+ years. Does that mean I wasn't as motivated to play those musical instruments as I was guitar? No, I just chose to go the lesson route for those and the self taught route for guitar. It means nothing in terms of motivation.

It may mean nothing to you, but I disagree.
OK, so you took MUSIC lessons for 5 + years, then taught yourself guitar. How would that be different from him taking guitar lessons for a while, to learn the basics of music, notation, etc. then moving on to self education??
Don't you agree that the frustration level you experienced while teaching yourself guitar was mitigated by your previous musical training??
And isn't the level of frustration directly related to the attriton rate of music students, regardless of the instrument?
Thus my comment regarding the path one chooses to learn is directly related to motivation. You were motivated to learn guitar because you had already made a level of personal acheivement with your other instruments. He was relating his frustration level was rising because he had plateau'ed,learning wise. His motivation is there, it just needs direction, imo.

you nailed it pretty good. i do have back ground in music. been in choir starting in elementary school and junior, concert choir in high school, and a a capello group in college. i also took music theory course.

the voice is an instrument but the technicalities of playing with your hands is completely different IMO.

anywho, i guess i'm looking for some direction, although i like the john mayerish, jasan mraz, type of music because of the singing aspects but i've always been fascinated w/ blues. if i take lessons i was thinking about blues guitar but i'm trying to find some site online what would give me some insight of playing techniques. i also already have a teacher lined up, cost about 35 dollars for a 1.5 hour lesson but i'm trying to hold out as long as possible before i commit to a teacher.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
I was trained through lessons on the piano and the violin for 5+ years. Does that mean I wasn't as motivated to play those musical instruments as I was guitar? No, I just chose to go the lesson route for those and the self taught route for guitar. It means nothing in terms of motivation.

It may mean nothing to you, but I disagree.
OK, so you took MUSIC lessons for 5 + years, then taught yourself guitar. How would that be different from him taking guitar lessons for a while, to learn the basics of music, notation, etc. then moving on to self education??
Don't you agree that the frustration level you experienced while teaching yourself guitar was mitigated by your previous musical training??
And isn't the level of frustration directly related to the attriton rate of music students, regardless of the instrument?
Thus my comment regarding the path one chooses to learn is directly related to motivation. You were motivated to learn guitar because you had already made a level of personal acheivement with your other instruments. He was relating his frustration level was rising because he had plateau'ed,learning wise. His motivation is there, it just needs direction, imo.

Ahh I see where you're coming from now....I like it when things are black and white To an extent I guess some frustration was taken away by the musical lessons. Guitar was a different beast though - most of my memory and knowledge of piano and violin was a distant memory by the time I picked up guitar - I learned via tabs and not by notes. In a way yes it did help. Sorry if I flamed you

No problem. I did it that way also. Learned music on the stringed instruments in Orchestra, got an acoustic for Christmas in 7th grade, formed a band 2 days later...., played Bass Guitar in Jazz Band and then took beginning band for a hoot during senior year to learn piano.
<Been in the business since 1977.
<Been a guitar tech to some of the best.... not that that imparts anything special to me. It still amazes me to see them try to figure a riff out...... or write it out. I was able to read music and impart that to some that you would think would know how to do that already.

 

[silverpig]

Self taught. Learn the blues minor pentatonic scale. It's used in 99.999% of all rock songs/solos ever played. Learn that and a few chords and you're set. Everything is just mixing those few things.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Self taught. Maybe you're just not as interested in guitar as you had thought, or you're not putting enough time and effort into it.

Perhaps different people learn in different ways at different rates and you are applying what worked for you on someone you've never met before?

I say take some lessons. Then, when you have the basics, you will find that you are able to self-study with greater ease.
< Took lessons privately, music classes in school, learned a lot on my own as a result.

I agree, take at least 1/2 dozen lessons to get the basics down. I see too many people that are self taught that can't play a scale or don't know anything but power chords. Things that are important to learn:

1) Fingering: if you don't get this right off the bat, you're gonna be sloppy and inaccurate.
2) Scales: If you don't know your scales, you won't be able to do anything but regurgitate tabbed solos
3) Progressions: Knowing what notes go together is essential to improv.

Been playing for 20 years now.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: nan0bug
Another suggestion is to start early singing along with the music you play. It takes some time to get comfortable doing both at the same time, but when you can sing along with what you're playing it will help you not only play other peoples music but write songs as well.

Ughh....if you heard me sing you'd really want me to quit as soon as possible Don't do anything but a backup vocal here and then (ooooo....ahhhhh...etc).

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: jjyiz28

Originally posted by: Buttzilla
i'm been off and on for a few months...not really getting anywhere.

i was wondering if you guys took lessons or self taught. i'm thinking about taking lessons cause i feel like i'm not getting anywhere trying to teach myself. i guess cause i need some kind of structure.

so who got lessons and who was self taught.

zilla

just play what you wanna play. if you don't want to learn music or guitar theory, dont. you don't need memorize chords, or scale progression, or note reading unless you want to. you can just be a technical player, and work on technical skills.

These are the worst players. They're useless unless you just want to play to impress your friends. Looking for band members some years back, we got about 20 of these players that just memorized songs. We tried them out and were totally lost if we did anything but played the song exactly as it was written. Music is about improvisation and creativity. If you don't know the language, you can't speak it.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: mrCide

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
I just really started a few weeks ago and I'm teaching myself for now. As soon as I master the art of switching cleanly between chords with some degree of speed I'm planning on some lessons. I've got big fingers though so I'm having a b!tch of a time at it Decent progress can be made by yourself as long as you work at it though. Patience and practice in infinite amounts is key

big fingers don't mean jack look at yngwie's fatty fingers, just as fast as when he was a toothpick

I'm not saying it's impossible. Just hard as hell for me When switching quickly it seems like half the time I end up fretting two notes and the other half the time I've got an open sting bouncing of one of my fingers after I've struck it Eh, I'd probably save myself a hell of a lot of trouble if I'd just go have the action lowered already. It's an Seagull S6 + Cedar, my first guitar, and the action is stupid high. Not a good combo I should try to have that done this week now that I think about it

 

[dethman]

self taught, but i haven't really gotten anywhere the past several years.

 

[Omegachi]

self taught. a year ago.

 

[jamesave]

http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20040206.html

 

[fooshkee]

self taught... about 4 years total now... i took me a year and a half to get decent... was good enough to gig by 2.5 years, and by 4 years was good enough to impress most people...

 

[Lithium381]

I'm self taught too. I got a book on classical guitar(great one by Duncan) and learned to read music and then learned those songs, it was easy to transition to rock and stuff from there. learn the fundamental scales!!!!! i neglected to cause i thought they were boring, now i wish i had, good luck!

 

[thomsbrain]

i took 3 years of lessons... been playing for about 10 years.

i highly recommend lessons. you will learn much more quickly, and that will make it a lot more fun. you don't need to worry about not having your own style. my playing sounds absolutely nothing like my instructor's or any of his other student's playing. a good instructor will teach you the basic skills you need to become your own player. they are also valuble for learning the in's and out's of gear, although I know a lot more now than my teacher ever did.

 

[jjyiz28]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: jjyiz28

Originally posted by: Buttzilla
i'm been off and on for a few months...not really getting anywhere.

i was wondering if you guys took lessons or self taught. i'm thinking about taking lessons cause i feel like i'm not getting anywhere trying to teach myself. i guess cause i need some kind of structure.

so who got lessons and who was self taught.

zilla

just play what you wanna play. if you don't want to learn music or guitar theory, dont. you don't need memorize chords, or scale progression, or note reading unless you want to. you can just be a technical player, and work on technical skills.

These are the worst players. They're useless unless you just want to play to impress your friends. Looking for band members some years back, we got about 20 of these players that just memorized songs. We tried them out and were totally lost if we did anything but played the song exactly as it was written. Music is about improvisation and creativity. If you don't know the language, you can't speak it.

nothing wrong with being just a technical player. just play whats fun, thats all that matters, thats what im saying.

 

[MikeO]

Originally posted by: mpitts
Self taught.

Find some songs that you like and grab the tab for them online. That was how I learned around 7+ years ago.

Yeah, that's how I taught myself too, played along with the songs I liked. Been playing for almost 9 years now.

 

[kerokeroppi82]

self taught cause I heard some songs I liked and wanted to play it

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: mrCide

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
I just really started a few weeks ago and I'm teaching myself for now. As soon as I master the art of switching cleanly between chords with some degree of speed I'm planning on some lessons. I've got big fingers though so I'm having a b!tch of a time at it Decent progress can be made by yourself as long as you work at it though. Patience and practice in infinite amounts is key

big fingers don't mean jack look at yngwie's fatty fingers, just as fast as when he was a toothpick

Well half true, if you have fat fingers but fairly long or even normal length you can still do lead but with short and fat fingers like me relagated to do Chords only.

 

I took lessons a year ago from a Jazz guitarist and it sucked. He taught me the "correct" way to play but he was far too rigid and technical to be useful. I spent a while teaching myself from videos, tabs, and the internet and that helped but I really needed someone to tell me what I was doing right and wrong. I just started with someone new, she is a rock guitarist and really cool about learning. I probably picked up more in the last month than in the last year.

Bottom line is to take lessons but be careful who you get for a teacher.

 

[gistech1978]

mostly self taught
i have a friend who helped me out starting.
i took a beginning guitar class in college, but i knew all my chords by then, so it didnt really teach me anything new.
i could already read music as well.
now i just kind of noodle around listening to songs and pick them out.