BillyWhizz

RichS:

I play 5 songs off the 'Surfing with the Alien' album....

1. Surfing with the Alien
2. Always with me, always with you
3. Satch Boogie
4. Circles
and
5.Echo...I said...Echo

although I have to admit, it's not note for note, but close enough not to notice too much

I found if you can actually watch someone, say on video, and copy them that way it helps loads

[Edited by BillyWhizz - 9/4/2002 9:08:04 PM]

InvisibleMan

I am going to start to learn to play the acoustic guitar.I am lefthanded,so....

Are guitars specifically left or right handed?
can you play a righthand guitar with your lefthand?
or do you have to turn the guitar upside down?
if you do, do you have to play the notes backtofront?

i am writting this a little drunk but if you understand what i am getting at, i would like to know,ta

Sparks

you need to try both and see what feels natural..

I'm left handed but play a righthanded guitar as normal ( i.e. not upside down or anything ). Tried a left handed guitar but couldn't co-ordinate my hands to do what they needed to properly! So went with a right handed guitar.

philc

I'm left handed and play left handed - even tho' the geezer in the shop suggested I try playing right-handed; which way do you play air guitar? That should tell u.

Spanish-style guitars can be re-strung if the bridge is exactly at right angles to the strings, otherwise no can do.

Electric guitars are made for left or right hand - altho' Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed guitar left handed; mainly 'cos he never received a guitar lesson in his life and didn't realize he was playing it upside down. HOWEVER, it did mean that it was quicker to get to the ***** to adjust the guitar sound than if he were playing normally.

Summmary - get a cheapo left handed guitar - and if u stick with it u can always trade up.

Here endeth today's lesson.

InvisibleMan

ah hadnt really clicked, when i play the air guitar (which i do quite often) it is right-handed. I instintively use the right, just tried the left & it feels weird...

strange when your left-handed & amibidextrious, you use a mixture of left & right for different things...

mega_stream

I was gonna post a similar question yesterday...I'm after an acoustic guitar so i can learn.

Have you been looking at any models inparticular? I'm a bit confused as to whether I want steel or nylon strings..

John

InvisibleMan

i havent looked yet, i will do when i return to the UK

I think nylon for a learner guitar as cheaper probably. Think learner guitars are smaller too, half size or summat.

g0d

Strange that I see this thread just after spending ages in my room
looking for leads and pick so some kid who has turned up at my house can have a go on my Les Paul. Must be a message from myself to play the guitar more. Definately start with nylon strings as the sound better and are eaisier on your fingers when you start. Beware that for the first month or two of playing you learn very slowly and it can be dis heartening but keep going and you will be soloing with the best and impressing all the ladies. For sheer style play a right handed guitar with the bridge and strings reversed as this is what Hendrix did.

mega_stream

I got one today, just a £70 jobbie from Argos, but it'll do me till I need to play infront of thousands

Problem now is how the heck do I tune it...

Ol me darling, ol me darling (Ducks as the wife throws a book at me)

Molds

I have been trying to play electric on and off for over 10 years. Acoustic is hard going on the fingers. Try not to give up too quick you'll need a few weeks at least to harden up those fingers.

It is easier when playing with yourself (ooer), you can get the heavy E string (first one as you look down) tunded with say a pitch fork and then you tune the rest relatively - "relative" pitch. This way it can sound OK when playing on your own even if not in "concert" pitch.

Alternatively, tuning is a pain unless you really have an ear for it. Cheat and buy an electric tuner.

Check thess out for some useful guitar stuff : -
http://www.harmony-central.com/
http://www.harmony-central.com/

Good luck!

Matt

Molds

Same link x 2, Doh!

http://guitar.about.com/index.htm?terms=guitar

MichelleWRX1994

I play the violin which I know isn't a guitar I am posting more to reinforce the don't give up bit.

It takes weeks to build up your fingers in order to play both the violin and the guitar. I spent ages doing crappy chords and such, but after 6 months I was playing some great classical stuff (well thats what I thought anyhow )

Good luck to all new starters

As my dad would say JFDI

InvisibleMan

Thats Mega. £70 sounds pretty good, which one did you go for? i'll look at the web site later.

Ive been waiting for too long to start. Being here in Mexico the guitar is huge. I just so love the fast spanish guitar playing so when i return & going straight out & getting one.

mega_stream

I went for the Encore one, steel string acoustic.
Having some agro trying to tune it, I guess thats why the music shop over the road from Argos had the same guitar for £86....they tune it before you buy it.

I've downloaded a sample wav file of an open string, tuned the rest best I can to match...seems ok....I still can't play for toffee though

RichS

I bought my first and only (cheap electric) guitar when I was 17.

I'm 31 in a few weeks, so you'd think by now I'd be good.

Unfortunately, I can't play to save myself, except for a few chords and some dodgy 80's metal solos/intros...

Anyway, to answer your questions:


What kind of guitar/what way to play.

Try out a few different things until you find whats suits you best.

- Right handed with a right handed guitar.
As stated above, if this is how you'd play air guitar, then maybe this is your best option.
- Left handed with a right handed/right strung guitar.
Hendrix style, really difficult though and I would imagine you'll have a job finding anyone to teach you how to play this way.
- left handed with a left handed guitar.
- left handed with a right handed guitar, but strung for left handed playing.
For this option, as well as "reverse-stringing" the guitar, you might need to set-up other things such as reversing the nut (the bridge at the top near the tuning pegs) - on my guitar for example, the nut has differing width grooves to take account of the different thicknesses of the strings. If I simply tried to reverse string my guitar without changing the nut, I'd find that my low E string (the bass one) would stand proud of the other strings as it wouldn't fit properly in the nut groove for the high E string.
Might not be a problem, depending on the guitar.


What kind of strings.

Again, see what you prefer.

- Classical/Spanish accoustic with Steel E,A,D strings and nylon G,B and E strings.
Easy on your finger tips, wide neck which helps with intricate fingering, but more difficult to play chord progressions standing up and might not produce the sound you're after.
- Contemporary accoustic guitar with all steel strings.
Hard on the finger tips to start with (expect to loose some skin!)
Easier to play chord progressions though.
- Electric guitar.
As per the Contemporary accoustic but easier to play.
Generally speaking, and electric guitar will have a lower action (the height of the strings above the neck) which makes it easier to play but more prone to string buzz.


Any more advice?

Try to borrow someone elses guitar first if you can.
This will help you decide what you like and don't like.
Take some lessons. If nothing else, this will teach you some good playing habits.
Find some mates to jam with. This always provides a bit of inspiration and it's good fun.
Be patient and persevere - it takes a while.
Enjoy it! - It's a wonderful thing when you get it right.

Hope this helps...


Rich

P.S. I believe Simon de Banke is a guitar guru - maybe if you point him at this thread, he could help with his advice.

InvisibleMan

Thats cool cheers for that. I may plague Si then

Another thing: Lessons?

Is there anything/websites that has a learning program/examples that i can practice at home before I actually go to class?

Thanks Muchly
Stef

ps. Mega keep us up to date with your progress of Ol me Darling

[Edited by InvisibleMan - 4/29/2002 12:56:38 AM]

Molds

Lessons: -

http://guitar.about.com/index.htm?terms=guitar

MarkCSC

First question is what type of music do you want to play?
Electric or acoustic?
If you want to play Flamenco (spelling) or Spanish guitar you will need an acoustic nylon stringed one. I wouldn't bother with a steel string one just yet as they are a bugger to play when you are learning and really hurt your hands.

Electric
Get a cheapish Stratocaster copy, probably plywood or something. (Avoid MDF! My friend bought one some years ago, total bag O'****e) and string it upside-down if you want it left-handed.

When deciding how you want to play (left or right handed) as said before just pick one up and put it on your knee. You will do it by instinct
It is also worth checking out the price of left handed guitar as they can be more expensive/rarer than right handed.

I had classical lessons for a bit and while they were crap and I hated them, my technique is really good. You will find that you may pick up some bad habits, having lessons at the start stops this.

Mark (slap master funk bass player extraordinaire)

PS you have to learn "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. It's the LAW!!!


[Edited by Mark Champion - 4/29/2002 12:08:28 PM]

Molds

My hero

http://www.dbsmith.co.uk/

second only to Stevie Ray Vaughan

TonyG

If buying, any decent guitar shop will let you have a play with some, just to let you get the feel of them. If you're wanting to learn a few basics before getting lessons, there's a lot of guitar tutor books out there. The best ones have a cd attached, so you can play along with them.
One thing nobody's mentioned yet - if you're getting an electric guitar, you'll also need either an amplifier or a multi-effects box with a socket for earphones (and possibly an aux input for your cd player) so you have to include this in your budget.
Whatever you decide, it's frustrating in the short term (but then nothing worthwhile is easy - remember your first driving lesson), and rewarding and fun in the long term.

Phill

Agree with everything said thus far....

I played semi-pro for four years doing the jazz circuits around london and for me the electric guitar is the only way to go, for a start it can be both an acoustic and an electric guitar (clean tone - distortion) and is allot easier to learn on as the strings are allot more manageable to newbies hands.

One thing to stress though is where you want to be at the end of it, if you want to play metal, rock and grunge the accoustic is not the way to go, on the other hand if you want to be martin taylor then why by an electric.

Practice is the key, and if you can play with as many instrumentalists you can find, including classical players, you will learn more from playing with other people (oh err)then you will ever learn from a book and you will develop a natural sense of timing as opposed to an automoton metronome approach which often hinders people.

Other than that buy secondhand for your first instruments, you will get more for your cash and trust me there is a world of difference even between a £200 guitar and an £80 argos special, except secondhand the will cost the same, look down the neck and ensure that all the frets are level and it should be OK !!!

Get back to me if i can be of further assistance,

NB. I started by playing along to my favorite tracks but remember the recording process makes the pitch half a step or a semi tone out, so they will sound like they are playing in E flat rather than E dont let it put you off !!

Good luck

Phill

Ferg

I would not recommend a nylon string guitar as a first guitar to anyone not interested in leaning the particular styles associated with it. If your love is for more modern music, steel string has to be it. Also no one seems to have mentioned avoiding a "solid-topped" acoustic. Although they do sound better, the costs involved in the construction and materials will put them out of your price range. Go for a "ply, or laminated-topped" steel string acoustic. Yes, your fingers will get sore, but that passes quickly. The increased volume and tone will be what you want.
Also, but a cheap electronic tuner. It will save you countless hours of frustration in the early days. Your ears will learn to tune.

Good luck.

The Crushinator

Agreed, Nylon string isn't the best way to start i started with a cheapy electri guitar & amp package. But looking back now, a reasonable quality accoustic would have been better. What i would recommend (highly unorthodox though) is learning something like 3 chords and playing along to a song which uses those chords, that builds up your timing, ear for rythms etc.

have a look at www.guitartabs.cc you can find chords to most songs & artists there



DON'T GIVE UP THOUGH

BHORT

Have any of you experienced blokes got any tips for finding a good tutor. I've been learning for a while from an excellent CD rom but I feel that the risk of getting into bad habits means that proper lessons would be beneficial.

Brendan

Markus

coming in late, as always

IM
I'm a leftie and have an electric guitar, but can't play

yes you can get left handed guitars

I believe that Jimi Hendrix was left handed and he restrung a right handed guitair and played it back to front!

The Crushinator

That IS what hendrix did

I didn't take any lessons or anything like that, just learnt a few chords from a book, and took it from there. IMHO it's just what you're comfortable with, i suppose it depends on what type of music you want to play feel free to mail me if you want any tips, because i've been playing for years now

Ferg

..."Have any of you experienced blokes got any tips for finding a good tutor. I've been learning for a while from an excellent CD rom but I feel that the risk of getting into bad habits means that proper lessons would be beneficial."...



The bad habits will make you a unique player. You should relax and embrace your mistakes and quirky habits. Let your thumb go where it wants to!

[Edited by Ferg - 4/29/2002 9:08:30 PM]

HAPPY

ask at your local guitar shop for tutors names!!!!!!!!!!!
i bought a guitar in december and started lessons straight away. i think that if i hadn't then i would have jacked it in by now!
i am 35 and never played an instrument before in my life. i am determined to learn though so will not give up.
for th erecord i bought a Yamaha pacifica electric and a peavey blazer amp + bag and leads for £215 and my tutor saya it is as good as any guitar he has played so vaery recommended.

pete

Molds

I think this is correct - Eric Clapton bought the first left handed Fender as a present for Hendrix, but never got to give it to Hendrix before he died.

Play along to Hendrix "Hey Joe" - greeeat.

Stop reading these posts and get playing!

Phill

To true, teach yourself if you can.......

I practiced by working out my fav. tracks note by note, by the time i got to college 2yrs later i did the guitar institute course similar to the classical grading of music, at grade 5 your good enough to teach and Grade 8 is the highest level, it's supposed to take years i did a grade a week !!

By a cord book one with several thousand cords, mine had 32,000 cords !!, and practice sticking them together.

Other than that if you are anywhere near guildford the ACM has a very good rep with students comming from all over the world, just try to aviod Mr. P brooks as my friends dont rate his teaching !!

Good luck,

Phill