so a couple of friends and i are teaching ourselves how to play the guitar...i was wondering if anyone on here did that if they did what should we start of learning first? and if you learned professionally ie with a teacher what do u think we should learn first? any tips at all would be great..

I think you should learn first the chords, how to grap them

i'm learning with no teacher... i'm learning basic things about the guitar, about music.. and once i can play easy melodies, with one or two strings being played.. i'm learning chords.

 

i'm learning from "easier" to more complicated ones, and trying to compose easy "rythms" that way.

 

for instance chords where you only need to push two string and all strings sound, to ones where you have to push on different frets but same string, and adding more strings pushed, and playing less chords. (for that i have a chords book where there are a lot of them there).

 

to begin with i did learnt another short book, that teachs me to translate a sheet to tableture :) and so has some easy melodies (arranged to be played by a beginner and which include chords to be practiced), and some easy rythms too depending on the style.

 

on another board i saw that question, and there was a big discussion about what is better to teach oneself or to be helped by a teacher, all they can got to a common conclusion, that learn to play an instrument is a matter of constance and patience, better learn chords first and then try to play faster and all that :) and no doubt use any method will help. :) but it all depend on what do you want to do.

Chords, Chords, Chords and Strumming Patterns they're gonna take you a long way!

take lessons

I think that beside learning the chords shapes (starting with the easier and basic ones) you should learn a little bit of theory so that you can work out some things on your own like naming a weird chord in case you don't know it or you compose something andbeing able to play stuff in other strings/frets so it is easier or anything cause it helps a lot

i really dislike music theory but that i probably a good idea...i play a violin so i'm not totally foreign to the world of music...

really though, take lessons. you will NEVER be as good as you could be with lessons. you will learn faster, better, and for long-term playing. lessons will make you successful. trying to teach yourself is a risk.

i'm not sure it's a risk...most of my friends have taught themselves and they are pretty good...and as of right now i don't really have time for lessons...i mean i go to school 5 days a week and i am a manager of a restaurant so finding time is rare...

i'm not sure it's a risk...most of my friends have taught themselves and they are pretty good...and as of right now i don't really have time for lessons...i mean i go to school 5 days a week and i am a manager of a restaurant so finding time is rare...

well it basically boils down to one word...practice

 

 

If you practice as much as you can and then some, you will get good. end of story.

 

 

you just might go a little faster with lessons. but if you don't have time, just make sure you practice as often as possible. that's the best and only way to get better;)

yeah i mean i'm sure it would be better to have lessons...it certainly made learning the violin easier...

I started out finding songs i like that weren't too hard to play, and then just kept on going. Never stopped really :P

well around here and all over the internet you can learn and clear your doubts if you don't have time for lessons and although I THINK it's a better way of learning it also depends a lot on you, some people have in the blood you know, like they were born to be musicians, to have an instrument on their hands but if you feel, like I do, that you don't have that much of the music gene you can still play lots of things but it will take you more. In my family there are several pianos, and the music is on the family blood I guess haha one of my greatgrandmas was a concert pianist or however you say it you know classical piano player bethoven style and I have an uncle who studies music and man! he's a real musician, he's amazing, he always has been since very young and he's not older than me, and he started with very few lessons, mostly by himself. And there are people that definetly don't have any coordination or ability in their hands and can't play at all. If you play violin then you are not one of those so think about it.

I teached myself as well, try to watch some youtube videos for guitar beginners. There are some excellent videos with people explaining strumming pattern and chords. Good luck!

Im 6 months into to pretty much self teaching...

 

Look for songs with E / Em / D / Dm / G / C / Cm / A / Am chords in them till you get into it. Those are the easy basic shapes and pretty much include more songs except ones with F's or B's in them.

 

Most bands have one or 2 songs that fall into this catagory. Snow Patrol and U2 have tons, as do Oasis and Travis.

 

Oh and try and learn Wonderwall, its a good song to build hand strength.

exactly try songs with those chords and their little variations like E7, Em7, D7, Dsus2, Dsus4, Csus2, Cmaj7... and then try F and Bm and then you will lack very little shapes basically

thanks guys this is helping...

I'm going to start teaching myself the guitar, i was searching on google and there seems to be lots of tutorials on google and youtube, i don't think it should be THAT hard to pick up.. i hope. I already play piano so i know about musical theory etc.

 

But yeah, there are loads of tutorials on google and youtube.

yeah i haven't looked at any tutorials yet but i know they will help...i learned some coldplay piano like that even though i don't play the piano...

I'm going to start teaching myself the guitar, i was searching on google and there seems to be lots of tutorials on google and youtube, i don't think it should be THAT hard to pick up.. i hope. I already play piano so i know about musical theory etc.

 

But yeah, there are loads of tutorials on google and youtube.

 

have u found any really good websites..i have a book that has taught me some chords..but yeah...

:) I have a couple of friends who have taught themselves the guitar and they totally rock. I taught myself as well, but I don't practice often enough, which is why I'm not as good as I would like to be.

 

However, with the help of books and youtube videos and looking up chords on sites like ultimate-guitar.com (it actually shows you how to do the chord shapes for each song), I am able to play beginner to intermediate songs... :D I'm sure you can do it too.

watched my older cousins play it.

Then got a songbook.

 

And then, downloaded lessons. :D

If you guys find a good tutorial or something for guitar, give the link, I would like to try practicing with something useful rather than just being playing the usual songs :D

learn "All Along the Watchtower" by Hendrix

 

 

guaranteed you won't mess up. should be real easy

GPASUYF is an easy Coldplay song to learn.