learning to play the guitar

cry of the banshee · **Posted:** Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:16 am

metal_xxx wrote:

cry of the banshee wrote:

metal_xxx wrote:

Fingertapping is IMO the easiest lead technique... Sweeping however, and especially six-string-sweeps are a fucking pain in the brown eye. I never took lessons, and I have managed to teach myself scales and combinations and techniques, with a lot of reading. That demands a certain ammount of discipline, and I struggled for a long time with stuff that I would've come easier with a teacher.

Yep.
I wish I had taken lessons, things would have been so much easier.
Sweeping arppegios are fucking difficult. I find the downsweep half to be much easier than the upsweep to synchronise with the left-hand movement.
I would also add to reading and learning scales / shapes, theory, etc. this: watch instructional videos.
And practice, practice, practice.
Then practice some more.
One of the hardest parts about learning the guitar is not becoming disheartened; it takes a lot of time and effort to shred.
Good luck.

After two years of intense practise I learned to sweep pretty clean both 3,4,5-string. 6-string is still a fucking bitch. The problem now is that I haven't learned a tenth of all the scales and patterns and stuff.. So when I'm composing I'm just experimenting, not really knowing what to do...

And I don't find pinch harmonics that hard.. Learned it pretty early actually... Was a bitch to get into though.

Pinch harmonics only seem to happen (for me) just below the top pickup. They are fun when playing leads, though, and they sound fucking cool.
I've been noodling with the so-called gypsy scale a lot lately, works well with soloing.
I played for about ten years, then put it away after my son was born (no time) and just this last year picked it back up.
But, yeah, it takes a special skill to pull off clean arpeggios, quickly and fluidly.
Also, stretching excercises are essential.
the one I am cuurently hammering out looks like this:

*19*15*12* *19*15*12*20*17*15*19*15*12*
*19*15*12* *19*15*12*
*19*15*12*
*19*15*12*
*19*15*12*20*17*15*19*15*12*

employing tremolo picking as fast as possible.

Thomas · **Posted:** Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:34 am

Looks like a good one... will note it down.. I'll try to tab in some of the sweeping stuff I do, but it's all in a book.

cry of the banshee · **Posted:** Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:45 am

metal_xxx wrote:

Looks like a good one... will note it down.. I'll try to tab in some of the sweeping stuff I do, but it's all in a book.

Please do, I am always looking for new stuff to struggle with.

Heres a nice basic sweep.

http://www.shredacademy.com/lessons/Cam ... ck3Tab.PNG

lot's of good stuuf at this website.

http://www.shredacademy.com/lessons/free.htm

more:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/

http://www.cyberfret.com/techniques/tre ... /index.php

and if anyones interested in musical theory:
http://www.thenextstepguitar.com/lessons/theory.html

Azrael · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:16 pm

classical guitars cost around 100 euros, while acoustic steel-string guitars are some €160-200.

my question is, which one should i go for?

Thomas · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:16 pm

I'm myself a big fan of steel-string guitars which is more powerful and well somewhat "heavier" than the classical nylon-guitars... Then again, nylon-guitars are normally easier to start out with, Which music do you want to play? If nyou want to sing along while you play, I recommend the steel-string, but if you want to play sweeping classical stuff you should by a nylon-guitar.

Azrael · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:03 pm

i doubt i'll be singing along unless it's for some joke songs. for now just learn to play, move on to electric if i get good at it (i want to play some Metallica and co. :dio:

).

so for a learner you'd recommend a nylon-string?

Thomas · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:21 pm

Yup... Although I cut the crap and went straight to the electric guitar:P

devijones · **Joined:** Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:23 am **Posts:** 1

If you are thinking of playing folk or country music it's probably easiest to start by learning chords and strumming. Also take this approach if you're not sure what you want to do on guitar. You can play a really easy song reasonably well in a week and can be playing effectively in less than a year.

Some good chords to start with are G, C, D, Am, Em, Am7, D7.

After you can play 5-10 chords, you can start practicing scales.

About 6 months in, it's time to really focus on getting a steady beat and then playing more interesting rhythms. Playing a steady beat is much harder than it seems so don't start with that (unless you're a drummer or something).

If you are inspired to learn guitar because of guitar players you've seen, it's a good idea to watch what they do (hopefully you can get some video of them) and try to do the same things yourself. This is more fun than learning from a book, although you can do that too.

Oh, and I almost forgot: If you want to play guitar well you have to have a strong grip in both hands. Get a foam grip exerciser (made especially for guitarists, under $5) and squeeze it for about 5 minutes a day. This makes more of a difference than the 1 hour of practicing you do.

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noodles · **Posted:** Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:53 pm

i'm buying an acoustic guitar today

Cú Chulainn · **Posted:** Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:51 pm

I'm getting a foam grip

Mike · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:19 am

I've found a series of books and videos to be insanely educational to expand your guitar playing. I've incorporated much of this stuff into my teaching. Check out these books/dvd's:

http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Carl-Fischer-Guitar-Grimoire-Vol.-1-Pack-BookDVD?sku=948504

http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Carl-Fischer-Guitar-Grimoire-Vol.-2-Pack-BookDVD?sku=948505

http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Carl-Fischer-Guitar-Grimoire-Vol.-3-Pack-BookDVD?sku=948503

Thomas · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:13 am

Currently practising to some Frank Gambale-book. Excellent lessons.

Can post if anyone is interested.

danstevens · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:46 am **Posts:** 1

why don't you try to post this to members at guitarchillout.com, its a community for guitarists and you can link up with a lot of people trying to learn guitar........

You can visit my Profile Page - http://www.guitarchillout.com/danstevens

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