How do you start to learn the guitar?

I would start out with a cheaper guitar in case you lose interest and don't knock the dummy books, they're great for learning. They have videos as well you can look into.

My son lost interest in his guitar, so I think I'm going to steal it. Don't tell, ok ;-)

Good luck and have fun :-D

Sorry to hear that, Montana. The picture of him at Christmas was of one of the happiest looking kids I've ever seen.

He thought it was cool at first, but I guess it's just not his thing. He picks it up once in a blue moon, but not much. I would have been thrilled to get a guitar when I was a teen and believe me, I would have used it.

I started learning guitar less than two years ago. Was thinking about it and Mrs. SealPoet said 'Why the hell not?'

So I bought a reasonably good guitar on the theory that I'm going to have it for a while, it may as well sound good enough to keep when I get good enough to play... and I have a less most every week.

Practice, practice practice... when I pick that thing up for a half hour every day, I get better. When I don't, I don't.

Buy an insrument that is good enough to stay in tune and has a good action. Don't buy the bottom of the line unless you absolutely have to. Nothing more discouraging than trying to learn on a guitar that won't sty in tune up the neck.

For an electric I recommend an Ibanez. They make a great guitar and are reasonable in price.

What kind of style do you intend to play?
Because you certainly won't need the same kind of instrument and books if you want to play Flamenco, Jazz or Heavy Metal :wink:

These are the two most helpful sites I've encountered on the web for guitar. Everthing you'll ever need to know can be found between these two sites:

Harmony Central (great place to research equipment)

Whole Note (make sure to check out their forum entitled "fretbuzz". Ask aquestion and someone will have an answer for you in a matter of minutes.)

Ibanez would be a good purchase for someone looking for more of a hard rock sound. A lot of guitar shredders out there play them. I don't particularly like their tone, but I'm not into the guitar shredding style.

There are several different kinds of guitars available for different styles. I would recommend going to that site I posted Whole Note and ask them what their favorite guitar is for the style that you like. You'll be surprised at the responses you'll get.

Good Luck!!

I'm thinking of getting into both rock and lighter music with the guitar, so i guess i'll need two guitars instead of one. but what would you suggest first getting into? thanks for all the help!!

As far as brand of guitar at first, I would not stress this at all. You will really need to find out what brand fits your taste in tone & playability. Most large manufactures of guitars would work for a first and I would not spend more than $100 until you know you love the instrument.

I would honestly recommend learning on an acoustic guitar and preferably one that you can get your hands on anytime you want. Barrowing can work to see if your intrest in genuine, but believe me you will want to get your own. I was lucky that a guy I lived with when I was 19 had a pretty beat up old Washburn guitar that after some convincing he sold to me for $40.

I proceeded to torture the world

Insidently I can't stand washburn guitars now and would most likely not buy one. Thats my taste though, im sure they have some out there that sound good.
You will find that great guitar manufactures can make crap guitars, just as supposidly crap brand can put out a good one. And I don't mean model, I mean the individual instrument. I would not even concern yourself with this until you find out if you really like to play.

I would not recommend ordering out of a catolog. That to me is a hit or miss, you might get lucky, you might get a guitar so warped it's unplayable. Im not exagerrating, a good friend of mine ignored this advice and ended up having to ship back the first guitar he ordered from a catolog. The neck was so warped it was truly unplayable. These would be the Musicians Friend type catologs - lower end instruments. Im sure there are high end instrument catologs out there where you can be confident they are going to deliver a real solid guitar - but i've never had that kind of money to spend. These would be hand made instuments most likely, not manufactured. Were talking starting in the thousands.

Ways I learned, hmm. I seemed to get the most info from books, but this does not work for everyone. I really wanted to learn to play the blues so I got a book that was understandable and came with a CD. Being able to listen to what it *should* sound like is really important.
Out of all the books I found, The Complete Guitarist by Richard Chapman was by far the most helpful. You can find it in any Borders, or Barnes & Noble style book stores for $20.


Another major recommendation! Seriously, go to the local music shop and get a cheap tuner. First one I bought was $20, I have been playing now 7 years and still use it. The brand was Korg which I do recommend. They make really great inexpensive tuners.
This will help you know that the instrument is 'in tune' easily without having to have your ear trained. This will come with time, after a few years you will probably be able to tune it by ear.

Okay one more thing and i'll shut up.. Scales. You will see this again, and again if you get into learning the guitar or any instrument including your voice. Practing scales in such a way that you are hearing the individual note ring full before you play the next note - that will help you learn to hear the instrument. Playing scales for even a few minutes every day will make a huge difference in your playing. I can guarantee it. And I do mean everyday, if possible try to play for even just a few minutes everyday. This will make a monster of a difference as you get used to the instrument.
I would guess that as you go you'll start to hear the sound more intricately, details. Playing slowly and really concentrating on listening to it helps a lot. Do not sit down with your guitar and watch TV! It is possible to teach yourself the wrong way. You are developing muscle memory when you are playing, if you practice fast and sloppy you will play sloppy. They key is to slow it down at first and yeah, it can be really hard for someone else listening to you learn. Take what they say with a grain of salt and don't let it discorage you. Some people will not like that you are trying to learn and to them buchering the peace. They will come around to be your biggest fan once you pass the real first learning hurdle and have some basics down.
If you go with the acoustic guitar, you can go to a park or where ever to be alone and play. Which is actually a major reason why I recommend it. They are simple, you sit down, you tune it, and start playing. No volume and tone dials to mess with/ amplifier setting to change. Really this can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.
That book I listed covers scales very well. In fact it's why I liked the book so much. It will really give you a complete understanding.

So this is really an opinion, im sure there are things here that some really great guitarists would disagree with. Especially the scales bit ha ha. You need a place to start though, and this did work for me.

Good stuff y'all. I'll throw my 2 cents in. Although I'm a hack I play guitar in bar bands as an adjunct to my keyboard. So usually I'm playing rhythm or twin leads. I never learned scales, too impatient. I started in the folk boom with a Kingston Trio book with chord diagrams. When I got into Doc Watson and Travis pickin everything came together and I worked on my fingerpicking as accompaniment to singing popular songs and Beatles stuff. Try "Blackbird" for a lovely Beatles guitar tune.

As far as brand of guitar. Electric or acoustic? I think it's better to start on acoustic and if you're still into it you can add a Fender Strat later. But start with a GOOD acoustic. My choice is a Martin D-18. I know they're pricey but I've never seen a Martin go down in value. It's a very good investment if you can swing it.

Panzade said,


That is a really good point and would give you the advantage to learning from the start on a quality instrument. At the very worst, and this goes for music stores around my area.. They would be able to buy back the instrument at half of what they would be able to turn around and sell it for. Ask them about their policy with this, they will all have something similar.

I totally agree that you want to start out on a good acoustic. It's funny, that old beat up washburn guitar I said I started on. I used that for at most 6 months and realized that it was making noise it should not when I would play it. Only certian notes would be a problem, but there was a definitely mystry(to me anyway) buzzing.
After some searching I ended up buying a Martin D-1R. It took me a bit to save up, and actually decide to buy it. THAT is when I really started to grow and learn as a guitarist.
That starter just showed me that I really had a lust for leaning this instrument so when I went to buy the more expensive I was pretty sure it was going to be a good idea.
My idea of 'don't spend more than $100' sould have came with this explination. I was thinking damage control, but this might not be the best advise without saying more. If you have the money and are pretty sure you will put in some time on this Panzane's advise is really good in my opinion. A good guitar will even increase in value over time.

Another brand im leaning towards that I think stands up to Martin is Takamine. I think the next acoustic I buy will be one of theirs and they seem to run abot the same as Martin in cost. I love my martin though, the sound from the low's to high range is just sweet. Sounds amazing mic'd to a PA.

Edit, to fix a typo.

Ok nappy

you should practice and work hard but most of all you need to really want to play...


is this just a fad? or do you really want it?

Okay, my 2 cents' worth ..... I bought cheap for my first guitar a couple of years ago. It needed a lot of adjustment very frequently, so I went out and bought an Epiphone Dot semi-hollow body electric, new, for about $400. Once I had a guitar guy set the intonation up properly, it's functioned flawlessly. Being a semi-hollow, it's loud enough to practice without an amp, but not so loud that I get embarrassed if I play on my front porch. It's similar to the guitars played by John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and John Lennon, also Keith Richard used one from time to time. I play mostly rock and blues, it has a good tone for that, and I like the look of it too.
See if you can take a few lessons before you buy, especially if the shop or teacher will lend you one for the lessons, just to get a feel for different instruments. And take lessons!!!! I fooled around on my own for too long, and wound up having to unlearn bad habits I'd taught myself.

Good advice retrop.
And welcome .

Lessons is important whether from a good book, video, or real person thugh real person is best. However if u want rock you may not need more than basic knowledge of power chords and ismple note riffs. I can play basically any modern rock song (as well as many classic ones) and ive only played guitar for 8 months, book taught.

Let me begin by saying that I was always one to jump into something with no lessons or instruction. It was pretty late in my life that I started to appreciate the advantages of a good teacher.
The problem with learning ANYTHING (guitar, tennis, skiing, calculus) without proper instruction is manifold. First off, you'll learn simple stuff, but but you won't progress as fast or as far as you might otherwise. Second, learning proper form and the fundamentals will give you a discipline that will help you in the long run. Third, the more advanced your knowledge of basic theory, the easier it will be to learn.
I played bass guitar in about 8 or 9 bands in high school and college (3 at once!), and I had no lessons. I wasn't bad, but I had to pick up every bass line note for note, brute force method, without any understanding of why or how the notes sounded good together. I started to learn guitar the same way. Believe me, if you're trying to sound like Keith Richard, it helps a LOT to be able to play the pentatonic scales. These will also allow you to make up your own and make it sound like it was part of the original song.
Also, trying to play something like the Doobie Brothers, Santana, Steely Dan, etc. is impossible without knowing minor and diminished chords.
I am and probably will always be a hack. I'm just starting to get some of the stuff my teacher was telling me a year ago, the theory is a challenge, but I know it'll help me get a lot better a lot faster than I ever could on my own.