Maggie

*sits here with guitar and reads tips* HEY THEY'RE WORKING ALREADY!

axeslinger0u812

Actually, I'm sure that once you start, and become even the tiniest bit familiar with it, you'll understand better. It's hard for someone who doesn't play to catch the terminology and the little things at first, but you'll pick it up quickly I think. the on thing about getting a guitar teacher if your a beginner is that they tend to want to teach you the basics, which isn't fun, and isn't songs you particularly want to learn. For the most part though, they are doing what will work, so don't get frustrated. The good thing about music recently is that it isn't difficult. Joe Satriani ( I believe...) once said that he had a student walk into a lesson with a tab book of Steve Vai, and wasn't even familiar with basic techniques. Now, if you don't know who these people are, just know that they are considered to be in the top 100 of guitar players ever, especially technique wise, and the Satriani taught Vai. You don't want to attempt to climb Everest if you've never tried the big hill at the end of the block. This was the 80's. Now, you could take the Ev book into a lesson, and the teacher could teach you the basics, and then give you a section to go home and practice that won't kill you.


EDIT:
I feel so helpful!
Me and Rocker are virtual guitar teachers!

Descend

Hi This is a really great idea for a thread...

I bought an ibanez acoustic guitar a few months ago and I'm teaching myself with some help from online lessons.

I can kinda play it, but not chords. At all. I just can't do them. Is that weird? Someone told me that most people prefer chords to...other stuff.

I can play piano and I sing so I have a good ear. I've also just started bass lessons (although without a bass guitar just yet) and I can play some bass tabs on 6th string of my guitar.

Anyway, I have a weirdish question; should the 4th string sound lower than 5th? Because that seems the way to go with my guitar :S

And I also have a tip...Your fingers should be just behind the frets to avoid the rattling sounds

Qweedle Guy

Yes that's wierd. Learn chords. Now.

haha No. The fourth string should sound the same as the 5th string at the 5th fret. And so on, 3rd string should sound like the 4th string, 5th fret. Second string should sound like 3rd string, FOURTH fret. And 1st string should sound like 2nd string 5th fret.

Or since you play piano just tune the strings with the piano.
E A D G B E
(descending)

Descend

:shock:

Okay thats very strange...

I have an electric tuner thingy, and the fourth string is the right note, but its A LOT lower than the 5th string still. And it's definetly not the same as 5th string 5th fret. It's also much more loose and rattly than the other strings.

EDIT::: Whoa, okay. Somewhere along the line I was terribly misinformed (not by anyone here by the way). All is well, carry on Thanks for all the help.

axeslinger0u812

LMFAO!!!

This made me laugh more than anything on the board so far! I like you. Please keep posting.

[Uz]

Bring Me To Life is a pretty easy song to play, it's basically just three chords all the way through the Chorus, Em, G and D, and the Verse is just Em and Am.

Hope that helped

ps. get the tab book.. it has all the solos and stuff in there

Vampy_Doll

These were great tips man. Id offer the same thing as well.

Algemar

Well, I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but pick harmonics are quite helpful for songwriting if you can do them correctly. The thing is though, that until it starts to come natural, they aren't easy. It is the same with regular harmonics even. I remember back in the day when I had to stop and find the correct spot on the string to properly sound a harmonic, now I can quickly switch between them with my eyes closed. Moreso than anything else almost, you have to practice a lot in order to get any good at playing guitar.

axeslinger0u812

very true. I find that after you become able to produce harmonics, especially pinched harmonics, you tend to do it to often!
I once played a show, where most of the night was totally improvised, and it was more bluesy, so when it came time for me to lead, I have a more metal style, so I was trying to play more bluesy to fit the songs, but this guy came up after and said that he loved the old school Van Halen sound I had. That made me more proud than anything I've ever heard. He said that the only thing I could try was to do less harmonics, because it became to be a little too much. He said to make the audience 'want' to hear it. When I recorded myself for teh first time, I understood what he meant. So, just because you can, doesn't mean you should!