Teaching yourself guitar?

jonny_trousers

Any of you successfully done it?

I've always wished that I could play the guitar at least well enough to strum away at chords confidently and I've even tried to teach myself on a few occasions, but I've never managed much beyond the absolute basics. I bought myself a decent, steel-strung acoustic many years ago (which I still have), but by the time my fingers were tough enough not to suffer pain after ten minutes or so practice I'd grown frustrated and quit.

I've heard it said that a nylon strung, classical guitars are better for the beginner: is this true?

I should probably invest in some lessons, and may well do so, but any advice on getting started myself would be appreciated.

CiB

All you'll ever need.

bompington

Youtube is your friend

jonny_trousers

bompington wrote:

Youtube is your friend

That's about how far I got last time. Next stop Stairway, eh?

bompington

Bomp jr. is, at 14, starting to show real talent on the guitar - I showed him the basics a few years back and he has since learned through two streams: guitar lessons at school, which are classical of course but include a fair bit of jazz and blues stuff - and youtube, which is where you go for the riffs.
A while back I showed him about the last thing I can play that he couldn't - a slightly simplified version of "tears in heaven". Within a couple of days he had found and nailed the full Clapton version.

jonny_trousers

bompington wrote:

Bomp jr. is, at 14, starting to show real talent on the guitar - I showed him the basics a few years back and he has since learned through two streams: guitar lessons at school, which are classical of course but include a fair bit of jazz and blues stuff - and youtube, which is where you go for the riffs.
A while back I showed him about the last thing I can play that he couldn't - a slightly simplified version of "tears in heaven". Within a couple of days he had found and nailed the full Clapton version.

That's great. You've given him a great skill for impressing girls with too! Learning an instrument is definitely easier as a kid, but I'm only aiming to be able to strum away at this stage and I'm pretty good at committing myself to projects when I need to. Just need to know where to begin really. In the past I've just been handed chord charts and told to get on with it.

bompington

Wowing the girls (& everyone else) singing "You gotta friend in me" on a recent school trip.

I'll get him to recommend some of the guys on youtube, having someone show you is always better than just a chord chart.

Other than that, just think about how Jens would do it ("played it till my fingers bled") and if you decide you want to get good, just don't ever give up (qv. Henderson, gorilla, training)

DrKJM

I'd say don't buy a classical, nylon strung, guitar unless you *want* to play classical guitar. They are very different beasts with different playing styles. If you are struggling with steel strings there is a degree of 'man up' but you could try lighter gauges and a lower action to assist. Lowering the action isn't rocket science but a local guitar shop might be worthwhile. I'd try strings first.

jonny_trousers

DrKJM wrote:

I'd say don't buy a classical, nylon strung, guitar unless you *want* to play classical guitar. They are very different beasts with different playing styles. If you are struggling with steel strings there is a degree of 'man up' but you could try lighter gauges and a lower action to assist. Lowering the action isn't rocket science but a local guitar shop might be worthwhile. I'd try strings first.

Cheers! Well as I already have a steel strung and I prefer the sound of them... Might be worth me looking into lessons. I suspect it would motivate me to work harder.

nweststeyn

Lessons is the way to go. If you're really struggling then lighter strings could help, along with a professional setup which should cost you no more than £30. Depending on the guage used currently, going too light will mean the nut needs adjusted also. Just play, a lot. Don't listen to anyone who criticises you, just keep at it.

fizz

Yes I did

I got to a competant level and then havent really progressed, its a bit like cycling. You start out and your not very good, you plateau for a bit and then something clicks and you get better.

I found learning songs I liked suited me better rather than just learning chords or easy beginner songs.

Google or search youtube for Marty Schwartz, watch his online videos as he has a really good way of explaning things and I picked up loads from him.

He also goes under the name of guitarjamz.com

mfin

Yeah, you can learn on your own. I picked up guitar when I was 15, noone ever showed me anything, I picked up a book that had chords in it which I learnt, and I learnt how to play songs by working out what chords they were by ear.

Attempted some classical stuff within a year and not bad at that.

Have played in bands, songwritten for bands.

Depends how good you want to get or feel you need to. Ive got friends a lot lot better than me but I can for instance nail the solo from Sweet Child of Mine dead on just as an example. Ive not no clue what 'key' Im ever playing in, or what a scale really is, I mean, ask me to play a C major scale and I'd hit the chord so I can tell what note is a C, then once Id worked out where a C was I could play the scale, maybe not first time though.

Sounds so contradictory to be that awful with theory but be able to play pretty much anything I want to.

Depends what you mean by 'learning', to what standard.... Ive always got a kick out of playing and learning or working things out... one friend can play literally anything, inc metal stuff like note for note perfect Satriani solos, but to be honest, although impressive, it does absolutely nothing for me apart from making me go 'how is that possible' and smile a bit.

If you're passionate as heck, and muck about for ours, getting a kick from everything you do, from playing a chord sequence in a song you love to the simplest riff, then that passion if you keep going will have you ending up being pretty damn good. One mate of mine gave me a couple of pointers on habits I could stop in techniques (took a couple of mins to tell me) and that was all the tuition I ever had anyway.

team47b

Learning anything is about realising what is stopping you and correcting that first.

Then it's just like riding a bike

eede

My Gibson J-200 that cost two and a half grand new played terribly when I bought it (sounded amazing though and I knew it would set up how I wanted it). The set up was they key. I didn't take it home after buying it. I gave it too their guitar tech who sorted the action out straight away. If it's a decent instrument, you need to do this. Straight from the factory they don't know if you want to do fine picking subtle work or play slide with a barbed wire gauge strings. .011 -.052 is the lightest gauge I'd consider going (IMHO).

As regards teaching yourself, perfectly possible. Bad habits are hard to loose once established though. Might already be too late, but learning a little music theory and good technique at first can save you years of trying to figure it out yourself. Al least try to learn a few basic scales in a couple of positions as well a chords if you do go our own route.

on the road

I taught myself, and I learned on an electric guitar.

You just need to stick with it and put in the hours of learning, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

stratcat

Just to qualify my advice, I'm a professional guitar teacher with nearly 30 years playing and teaching experience.
It depends on what you want to learn.
Do you just want to play songs or do you want to understand what you are doing?
There is loads of stuff on t'web - tabs, youtube vids, websites etc. If you are going to teach yourself its just a case of knowing what you want to do. As some of the previous posters have said its perfectly possible to make the right sounds without any understanding, if you want more insight into how music works, and why, then you are going to need proper tuition.
My advice is learn as much as you can looking at the web, maybe buy a couple of books. When/if you get stuck or start to plateau get a lesson or two to set you back on course. I wouldn't worry too much about bad habits, yes they are hard to eradicate, but to be honest there are some amazing guitarists out there who have pretty poor playing technique or bad habits.
Just go for it, but stick with it and most importantly - enjoy it!!
Hope that helps.

jonny_trousers

Thanks all! Some great advice there.

I think I've decided that lessons are the way forward for me. I'm really good at working at projects if I have a framework to work within and I think I could do with the guidance of an expert.

I'd really just like to be able to strum away at chords that I could sing along to.

I should probably have said before that I'm actually a professional musician who has studied at music college and has played within the best orchestras in the country, but my instrument, wonderful though it is, is entirely melodic and not that fun to play on its own. Apart from anything, I'd like to refind that love of just messing around on an instrument, no matter how cack I sound.

Teachers in SE London anyone?

StillGoing

on the road wrote:

I taught myself, and I learned on an electric guitar.

You just need to stick with it and put in the hours of learning, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Ditto. Acoustics are harder in my experience requiring more accuracy with your fretting. An electric allows you to get away with so much, but it also picks up other noise if you don't dampen unused strings. I learned by watching guitarists at concerts and by ear. If You tube and tablature had been around then life would've been so much easier.

mfin

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I'd really just like to be able to strum away at chords that I could sing along to.

In that case, until you want to do more (if you ever do) then just get a Chord Book and persevere, get all the major chords nailed first, learn a few minors when you need, then start looking at barr chords.

By the time you can move around the chords quite well your ear will be telling you when something aint right. (and you can get into all the other chords, part chords, extra fingers coming off and on etc)

First few months are a pain though. First guitar I picked up was a classical, and whilst not too hard on the old fingers, the accuracy really has to be there on where you're planting your fingers.

Grab a guitar, check with someone who can play well already that its not ridiculously hard to play through setup/quality/too heavy strings and plod away at it for hours and hours