Recommend Good Guitar Software

[49erinnc]

In need of a new hobby and thinking about buying a beginner's electric guitar/amp. I have NO clue how to read music but pick up on things relatively okay by ear. Is there any really good software available for learning how to play? I want something that makes it so easy that it does virtually everything but play the guitar for me. I don't even know what string or spot on the neck is what so I'm starting out as a 100% guitar n00b. I need something that's going to be relevant to my skill level but at the same time, I want something that I'm not going to be bored with or complete in the first couple days.

Sam's Club has some software that seems to start out pretty basic and takes you through multiplie skills levels to the point where you can play several songs but I'm guessing it can't be that great if it's less than $10. Any suggestions, aside from paying someone for lessons? I'm not looking to join a band by ANY means. I just want to be able throw on some headphones and play some songs for my own personal enjoyment so I'm not wanting to invest too much money into learning how to play to be honest.

Thanks

 

[kamper]

I doubt you can learn that well from software. When I started I just grabbed an acoustic guitar (much better value for a beginner) and played tabs I found on the internet. All you need to start that is one sheet that tells you how to play the basic chords. That can be found online too. The best resource, though, is friends who know how to play. Borrow books from them until you know enough to play on your own.

The advantage to the chords/internet approach is that it's simple so you can get the basics of a fairly wide variety of songs quickly and you get to pick what you want to play so you're much less likely to get bored and quit.

 

[Slogun]

Yea, pretty much ditto what Kamper said.

I've been playing guitar for more than 30 years and what you need to learn, whether it's from software or whatever is to learn some chords and practice getting your fingers to move into the right places more quickly over time.

Instead of learning to read music, what most people do for quick results is to learn songs from what's called "tabs." That is a graphical diagram of each chord in a song and which tells you the name of the chord and onto which string , at which fret you press each string.

Choose a simple 3 or 4 chord song you like and do an internet search:

"'my favorite song' tabs" and you will get the tab for it and just practice.

Here's another tip, you can buy a decent electronic tuner for $20-30 or you can download a free tuner off the internet and use your computer mic to tune your guitar by.
one such tuner

Here's a site which tells you about chords.

Here's one of the best sites with guitar tabs. also has some intoductory info about how to read tabs.

So, in my opinion, forget about software, you just need the internet and some time to practice.

 

[49erinnc]

Thanks for the great tips guys. I kind of figured there was a more simplistic/cheaper way to start out when you've never played before. And I was actually wondering how in the world I was going to tune a guitar so I appreciate the info on that as well.

I bookmarked your links and will put them to good use when I find a good buy on a beginner's guitar. Sounds like a better idea for someone on my level, than blowing money on some hi-tech software.

practice getting your fingers to move into the right places more quickly over time.

With only picking up a guitar maybe once or twice in my life, I already know that's going to be my toughest challenge. The couple times I tried, my fingers felt very uncomfortable and crampy just from trying to play a couple chords. Oh well...wasn't expecting to be Eddie Van Halen overnight.