Coldplaying's newest acoustic guitar beginner...

[Guest Osaka Sun]

Just like the thousands of members here on Coldplay's largest fansite, I have become completely addicted to the music of what is currently the best rock band in the world. At first, I was the mild Coldplay fan, enjoying their more famous singles (ie. Yellow, Clocks, In My Place, The Scientist, Speed of Sound, Fix You and Talk), but I really didn't go any further into the band's discography due to critics bashing that Coldplay really didn't live up to its hype. Then in June I decided to buy an entire Coldplay album, which obviously was their fourth album Viva la Vida and All His Friends. And suddenly I realized what I had been missing all these years in rock music, even if the band was soft rock. Coldplay had instantly reached the leagues of legendary bands like U2, and I then proceeded became a Coldplay completist.

 

Coldplay even inspired me to do something that music hadn't made me done before. Sing. I always had a nice falsetto (though it's not as high as Chris Martin's since I have a very low speaking voice), but I never really wanted to spread it around to the world. The band also brought out a dream I always had, to play acoustic guitar, particularly covers of Coldplay. I'm telling you, there is no such band or artist out there today that can match the acoustics of Coldplay.

 

So, after a couple of months of searching around, I am still having trouble deciding on what to do. I decided to join Coldplaying.com, since you guys here must be geniuses at this. I would like to search these answers on the site, but I just have so much of a busy life that I don't have the time to search every post on the forums. I sincerely apologize if this is the 300th time it has been asked before on this site. Here are my problems so far:

 

 

1. I want to buy an acoustic guitar online, at an online retailer like Amazon, but I've never made an online purchase before on a musical instrument. Which way is the way to go: buy it online and have a risk of damage, or go straight to a genuine guiar store?

 

2. My current budget is low, and due to that, I am restricted to what brands of acoustic guitar I can buy. I want a great quality, long lasting, beginner's guitar with a maximum price of $200 that can stay in tune for possibly days at a time. I don't know if I should try for a dreadnaught or cut-away and I am also unsure about which guitar pick, tuner, gig bag and other accessories I may need as well.

 

3. Though I've been playing piano for up to 9 years (but have since lost my love for it) and have played violin for 6, I know that just using a pick instead of a boe to play isn't the only different change I have to make to pick up an acoustic guitar. I want to get a tutor, but with my previous music experience, I don't know how long I would need one or if I don't need to get any training at all. Stupid of me to ask, but are there any decent tutorials I can get on the Internet too?

 

4. Who should I turn to here to get the best Coldplay acoustic guitar tabs / sheet music on the site?

 

Thank you for spending your time to read this, and it would be greatly appreciated if you can help.

[Tnspieler1012]

Just like the thousands of members here on Coldplay's largest fansite, I have become completely addicted to the music of what is currently the best rock band in the world. At first, I was the mild Coldplay fan, enjoying their more famous singles (ie. Yellow, Clocks, In My Place, The Scientist, Speed of Sound, Fix You and Talk), but I really didn't go any further into the band's discography due to critics bashing that Coldplay really didn't live up to its hype. Then in June I decided to buy an entire Coldplay album, which obviously was their fourth album Viva la Vida and All His Friends. And suddenly I realized what I had been missing all these years in rock music, even if the band was soft rock. Coldplay had instantly reached the leagues of legendary bands like U2, and I then proceeded became a Coldplay completist.

 

Coldplay even inspired me to do something that music hadn't made me done before. Sing. I always had a nice falsetto (though it's not as high as Chris Martin's since I have a very low speaking voice), but I never really wanted to spread it around to the world. The band also brought out a dream I always had, to play acoustic guitar, particularly covers of Coldplay. I'm telling you, there is no such band or artist out there today that can match the acoustics of Coldplay.

 

So, after a couple of months of searching around, I am still having trouble deciding on what to do. I decided to join Coldplaying.com, since you guys here must be geniuses at this. I would like to search these answers on the site, but I just have so much of a busy life that I don't have the time to search every post on the forums. I sincerely apologize if this is the 300th time it has been asked before on this site. Here are my problems so far:

 

 

1. I want to buy an acoustic guitar online, at an online retailer like Amazon, but I've never made an online purchase before on a musical instrument. Which way is the way to go: buy it online and have a risk of damage, or go straight to a genuine guiar store?

 

2. My current budget is low, and due to that, I am restricted to what brands of acoustic guitar I can buy. I want a great quality, long lasting, beginner's guitar with a maximum price of $200 that can stay in tune for possibly days at a time. I don't know if I should try for a dreadnaught or cut-away and I am also unsure about which guitar pick, tuner, gig bag and other accessories I may need as well.

 

3. Though I've been playing piano for up to 9 years (but have since lost my love for it) and have played violin for 6, I know that just using a pick instead of a boe to play isn't the only different change I have to make to pick up an acoustic guitar. I want to get a tutor, but with my previous music experience, I don't know how long I would need one or if I don't need to get any training at all. Stupid of me to ask, but are there any decent tutorials I can get on the Internet too?

 

4. Who should I turn to here to get the best Coldplay acoustic guitar tabs / sheet music on the site?

 

Thank you for spending your time to read this, and it would be greatly appreciated if you can help.

 

Welcome aboard! I guarantee many of us can relate to your situation...It was the album parachutes that inspired me to learn the guitar a couple years ago, and now I'm obsessed.

 

1. While it's a good idea to seek out guitar models online, when it comes to buying, always go to a guitar store so you can try it out yourself and know exactly what you're walking out with when you pay. Online purchases are risky, not to mention the expensive shipping charges....

 

2. $200 isn't too low for a good quality guitar. Most major brands have decent guitars as cheap as $100. Mine is an Ibanez, but Yamaha and Fender are very good brands as well. I payed a little extra for mine because I wanted a cutaway model, it's not a big deal, just a question of what feels more comfortable. Also take into consideration whether to go acoustic or acoustic/electric. There's very little price difference and it's an added benefit if you plan on getting an amp one-day.

As for the other stuff, picks are picks, and picks are cheap. medium or soft picks are fine for pretty much anybody. A decent tuner can be as cheap $10 bucks or so. My Acoustic/Electric has one built it in so that's another thing to consider.

The one thing you do have to remember going in is you'll have to invest in a decent guitar case. Nowadays this is do-able for less than fifty dollars, but it is something to keep in mind.

 

3. I'm sure there are. 8notes or e-chords could be helpful...Probably the best way to start to by going through the motions of learning the basic open chords and taking it from there. You can save a lot of money if you can get somebody whose been playing guitar for a while to show you the ropes. But books and online sources can get you started, and after you learn the fingering for basic chords you can apply them to popular songs like green eyes or don't panic.

 

4. haha! glad you asked, here at coldplaying we have the finest coldplay-obsessed musical minds tabbing out every song coldplay's ever played... I help out when I can, stephanbass, fakfak, yellow talk and many others are worthy to assist. If you need chords or tabs, start by browsing the instrument thread archives (kapone's tabs is great). If you can't find what you're looking for you can try 911tabs.com or just post a request in a new or existing thread.

[Mig-El]

Well I'm gonna be very brief since our friend here above me just gave you the large recommendation. I say

- Buy an acoustic electric guitar, you budget is not low at all, I wish I had it :P I have an acoustic too and it costed me what would be like $90 and it's a good one.

- If you buy a normal acoustic, I suggest you to buy one with thin neck for steel strings if you want good quality and the songs you play to sound like the originals.

- Buy picks (you'll find your right picks, I like thin ones), a tunner, a guitar case, a capo and a band or whatever it's called so can you play stood up haha, and if you buy the acoustic electric then you better save for an amp but that can wait for a while.

- When you wanna learn a song one of the best ways to go is Ultimateguitar.com or come here and aske for sheets but they will only give you chords, cause guitar tab sheets are hard to finde, there are some here though and I also suggest watching youtube covers, since coldplay is a pretty famous band, there are a lot of covers there

[sp★rkle]

Just like the thousands of members here on Coldplay's largest fansite, I have become completely addicted to the music of what is currently the best rock band in the world. At first, I was the mild Coldplay fan, enjoying their more famous singles (ie. Yellow, Clocks, In My Place, The Scientist, Speed of Sound, Fix You and Talk), but I really didn't go any further into the band's discography due to critics bashing that Coldplay really didn't live up to its hype. Then in June I decided to buy an entire Coldplay album, which obviously was their fourth album Viva la Vida and All His Friends. And suddenly I realized what I had been missing all these years in rock music, even if the band was soft rock. Coldplay had instantly reached the leagues of legendary bands like U2, and I then proceeded became a Coldplay completist.

 

Coldplay even inspired me to do something that music hadn't made me done before. Sing. I always had a nice falsetto (though it's not as high as Chris Martin's since I have a very low speaking voice), but I never really wanted to spread it around to the world. The band also brought out a dream I always had, to play acoustic guitar, particularly covers of Coldplay. I'm telling you, there is no such band or artist out there today that can match the acoustics of Coldplay.

 

So, after a couple of months of searching around, I am still having trouble deciding on what to do. I decided to join Coldplaying.com, since you guys here must be geniuses at this. I would like to search these answers on the site, but I just have so much of a busy life that I don't have the time to search every post on the forums. I sincerely apologize if this is the 300th time it has been asked before on this site. Here are my problems so far:

 

 

1. I want to buy an acoustic guitar online, at an online retailer like Amazon, but I've never made an online purchase before on a musical instrument. Which way is the way to go: buy it online and have a risk of damage, or go straight to a genuine guiar store?

 

2. My current budget is low, and due to that, I am restricted to what brands of acoustic guitar I can buy. I want a great quality, long lasting, beginner's guitar with a maximum price of $200 that can stay in tune for possibly days at a time. I don't know if I should try for a dreadnaught or cut-away and I am also unsure about which guitar pick, tuner, gig bag and other accessories I may need as well.

 

3. Though I've been playing piano for up to 9 years (but have since lost my love for it) and have played violin for 6, I know that just using a pick instead of a boe to play isn't the only different change I have to make to pick up an acoustic guitar. I want to get a tutor, but with my previous music experience, I don't know how long I would need one or if I don't need to get any training at all. Stupid of me to ask, but are there any decent tutorials I can get on the Internet too?

 

4. Who should I turn to here to get the best Coldplay acoustic guitar tabs / sheet music on the site?

 

Thank you for spending your time to read this, and it would be greatly appreciated if you can help.

 

That's a lot of talent you have there! In WikiColdplay, there's a list of a book or CD tutorials of Coldplay songs I just don't know how much they cost.

 

Violin, piano and a nice falsetto will work out just fine. Its a good start for Coldplay songs. After you've learned playing the songs, do us a favor and share! Record your "gig" and post a link here. :D

 

Anyway, just trying to root for you! So good luck mate!

[Guest Osaka Sun]

Thanks for your advice, guys!

 

So, today I went to the nearby guitar store, and bought a Yamaha 700MS acoustic guitar (I was looking about an acoustic-electric but for some reason the brands at the store went $300 and up just seperately) for about $210, which sounded like an amazing quality guitar as I tested it out. I decided to get a $60 dollar case, multiple sizes of guitar picks, a tuner and a strap at the same time (which means I'll be out of money for a while).

 

I then came home and decided to check out some online tutorials. I take out my baby, strum it once, and suddenly the high E-string pops out like a freaking lightbulb (:(). I feel so disappointed now, since I can't get it back to the store until Monday (the store's closed tomorrow) and can't play it until then. I've never in my violin experience have broken a string before, and this is very new to me. Could there be any reason it broke so quickly and is there any way to possibly repair it on my own?

 

Sorry for taking your time away again, but I really appreciate it.

[acade365]

maybe the string was too tight... it has happened to me before...

 

were the strings new or did they come with the guitar? maybe they were old strings...

[dorffy]

Strings breaking a is common thing. And the shop had most likely never changed them since they got it from the factory... old crappy strings ---> SNAP

[sp★rkle]

*agrees with the previous replies*

 

do you know how to change strings?

cos if not, you should learn how to. or ask the people in the store to teach you how to.

every now and then your strings will snap (especially if its low quality or old strings if the guitar you bought has already been in the store for quite a long time). If you buy original yamaha acoustic strings, its hard (and it hurts your fingers a lot and you won't get used to it. you will have blisters and callouses but it will still hurt like hell. I haven't tried it yet but my old band mate told me that if you use electric guitar strings (which is softer) in replacement of the acoustic strings, it won't hurt and it won't change the sound of your guitar. :D

 

but seriously, learn how to change strings and have back-ups. its pretty much easy how to.