Learning Guitar:

[Vaylos]

Hi all. I've kinda been wanting to learn guitar for awhile now. Finally saved up enough to go out and get one. Thing is, I'm broke again, so it's going to be awhile before I can afford a tutor.

Now, I remembered in a past thread, think it was last year sometime, someone posted a link to a website with some pretty good lessons for someone just picking up guitar, but I haven't been able to locate it really. (been using the one on about.com for now)

Anyone remember which site it was?

[Tensei]

I believe you should try your luck on google.

No instrument is easier to learn through the internet than the guitar due to the sheer amount of websites dedicated to it so you shouldn't have any trouble finding material at all, and with a vague description like that I really can't help you much further.

Just work your way through the about.com pages, they're pretty good IMO, after that you can start looking up specific techniques you're interested in (string bending, legato, sweeping, etc.)

[Vaylos]

I kinda had a feeling that you'd say that hehe. Well, it's good to get an opinion on the site i've been using at least.

Step 1: Learning scales and chords

Step 2: Building muscles and callouses

Step 3: ....

Step 4: Profit!

I guess I should have phrased my original question this way:

" Been using the guitar lessons on about.com

http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm

Is this a pretty decent site, or are there better free lessons out there?"

Well, the lessons seem pretty straightforward to me at least. I may need to do some work on my left hand pinky though...playing piano seems to have given me some tension in that finger...reaching down to that 4th fret is still awkward for me.

(not NEARLY as bad as my right hand though lol)

But, all in good time, Thanks!

[MikeViper]

As a guitar player, I'm going to be truthful with you man, learning chords isn't really necessary to get good. As for scales, you should practice those to get faster and faster at your playing. If you want to get good at soloing and improvisation, look up the blues scale and practice the hell out of it, you'll be able to do killer solos by simply learning to improvise on that one scale. Reason I say chords won't help you much, is that most professional rock, metal and pop music, doesn't really use chords. Although if you're looking to get into jazz guitar you'll NEED to know chords. Also, if you're going to get into more acoustical guitar music or classical guitar, knowing chords will help. Other than that, learning all those basic chords really won't help, as most rock and metal music, use power chords. Basically, if you're just looking to learn mainstream music, knowing chords isn't necessary.

[Harmony]

Gotta disagree with MikeViper on that one. If you're going to play power chords your entire life then fine, you don't need chords, but by the same token you wouldn't need a tutor or tutorials either. IMO, One of the first and most important things for you to do is learn the basic chords Am,A,C,D,Dm,E,Em,G and how to transition smoothly between them. With that, you'll be able to play a decent amount of popular music. When your fingers get used to the feel of those chords, move on to some tougher ones like F,Fm,B,Bm (these require using your pointer finger to 'bar' some strings which can be tricky at first) and then you'll be able to play an overwhelming majority of just about anything. Power chords are the basis for those last four chords btw.

In anycase, once you start learning about modes, scales, add9 dimished 13 blah blah blah, I think you'll find that having a good fundamental knowledge of simple chords will only help move you along even faster. To summarize:

1) Learn to play Am,A,C,D,Dm,E,Em,G

2) Learn to play F,Fm,B,Bm

3) ...

4) Profit

[suzumebachi]

Gotta disagree with MikeViper on that one.

that would be a good choice. for anything. ever.

[JJT]

yeah, rock music doesn't use chords anymore. it doesn't use polyphony either, which is why the airwaves are dominated by gregorian chants.

[MikeViper]

Gotta disagree with MikeViper on that one. If you're going to play power chords your entire life then fine, you don't need chords, but by the same token you wouldn't need a tutor or tutorials either. IMO, One of the first and most important things for you to do is learn the basic chords Am,A,C,D,Dm,E,Em,G and how to transition smoothly between them. With that, you'll be able to play a decent amount of popular music. When your fingers get used to the feel of those chords, move on to some tougher ones like F,Fm,B,Bm (these require using your pointer finger to 'bar' some strings which can be tricky at first) and then you'll be able to play an overwhelming majority of just about anything. Power chords are the basis for those last four chords btw.

In anycase, once you start learning about modes, scales, add9 dimished 13 blah blah blah, I think you'll find that having a good fundamental knowledge of simple chords will only help move you along even faster. To summarize:

1) Learn to play Am,A,C,D,Dm,E,Em,G

2) Learn to play F,Fm,B,Bm

3) ...

4) Profit

Like I said though, if you're looking to play rock, metal or popular music knowing that stuff probably won't help because it can be done with power chords. However, if you're planning to get into jazz or even classical you'll actually need to know all the minor chords, the diminished chords and all that to play the music. Then again, chords are also good if you're into music theory. Funk bands might also require you to learn a few chords.

Like my guitar teach taught me chords and all that but it never really helped me get good. I didn't really start getting good until I just started getting faster and faster at scales and started to learn how to hammer on and pull off. Had dude just practiced scales with me, it would of helped a lot more.

[suzumebachi]

As a guitar player, I'm going to be truthful with you man, learning chords isn't really necessary to get good.

Really. As a guitar player. Yeah because, learning finger placement on the fretboard is like, totally unimportant. Learning rhythm is like, totally unimportant. Learning basic music theory, again, totally unimportant.

Reason I say chords won't help you much, is that most professional rock, metal and pop music, doesn't really use chords.

Really. I mean, when was the last time you heard a chord in a song? Oh by the way, power chords are chords too. To suggest otherwise suggests complete ignorance. Which, coming from you? Unsurprising.

Like I said though, if you're looking to play rock, metal or popular music knowing that stuff probably won't help because it can be done with power chords. However, if you're planning to get into jazz or even classical you'll actually need to know all the minor chords, the diminished chords and all that to play the music.

Really. So what you're saying is minor chords and diminished chords are never used in popular music, but they're staples of jazz and... and even classical! Really.

Good to see you back to your usual bullshit, Mike. And by bullshit, I mean pretending to know everything. When really, you don't know anything. Really.

Back from guitar lessons. Once step closer to impressing the ladies.

HAHAHA REALLY

[MikeViper]

I came here to enlighten a rookie guitar player not to argue over someones misconceptions of my post.

[Vaylos]

Okay okay okay, no fighting in my thread. Don't make me grab the hose >_<

I'm going to have to agree with Suz though. Chord structures, knowing how to build them, and switch between them would be a necessity in learning music, whether learning guitar, or piano, or violin, or any instrument capable of producing them. Learning the scales and moving between strings and fret positions I would have to say is equally important especially when it comes to melodies, as I would assume that would be necessary for playing leads, and doing melodic improvisation on guitar and other instruments.

I would also wager, that learning to move between chords as well as learning scales, and getting faster at BOTH would be a good idea.

Mike, no offense, I think I see what you're trying to say, however, the way you said it just didn't sound right. I agree that learning scales and building speed on them sounds like a good way to get better at working with the leads and melodies, but seeing as I'll be laying down a -chord- progression, and then improvising a melody over the top (if/when I get good enough to actually record myself) I'd have to say BOTH are important for me to have a good hold on. Especially since chords kinda lay down the key/mode of the track, and I tend to use a lot of modality in my work.

I'd also like to say, that I generally work in a variety of musical genres, not as much in popular, but I've been planning on branching out a bit, seeing as how some of my music is starting to sound. (that, and Jamstix2 is just plain fun to play with )

[MikeViper]

Yeah, it really comes down what's good for you. For instance me, I'm the type of guys who just thinks up a melody in my head and starts playing, but you do the whole chord thing, which is okay because that's your way. I was just saying that through my experience scales have helped me get better at lead guitar. Especially the blues scale, since most professional artists improvise on that scale for solos.

[Strati]

Wait, are we talking acoustic technique or electric technique? Because they're two different styles.

[Vaylos]

It's acoustic as in...er....not classical hehe Which I understand carries over to electrical. It's your typical steel-string guitar with the narrower neck. I ordered the Ibanez V50 package off zzounds through the OCR link. I know it's on the dirt cheap side of things, but it sounds good to my ears, and the action isn't super-harsh or anything.

It is not a classical guitar (broader neck/smaller body/nylon strings) so I'm not trying to learn classical technique. I'm not finger-picking anything here hehe. I might try learning classical technique later on once I get used to fretting though. My g/f has a classical guitar, but she doesn't really play anymore.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

I learned how to play, but I still can't tell you what the best order of things to do is. But the most common way that it happens out here in Japan is that after they've plucked around on a guitar a bit and gotten a feel for it, they start learning their favorite songs on it. I did that just a bit too. I recommend it. Of course, once you HAVE learned some chords, you can play some boring ass songs like The Beatles or Jewel or any of the other 5 million chord playing bands in the world, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[Tensei]

No, you got to know chords. Nearly any type of complex lead playing where you don't want to be stuck in the pentatonic scale requires a decent knowledge of chords. Geez, even using double stops would mean you know at least something about chords, let alone sweep-picking or tapping arpeggio's. That you're not going to be playing them if you're shredding through some metal song doesn't mean you shouldn't know them!

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Mike, I'm sorry, but you're completely full of shit. Knowing chords is an absolutely essential part of being a good guitarist. I don't care what style you're playing.

[Fray]

I think it's pretty universal... if you try to learn an instrument and tell yourself "I don't need to learn X", then you're not going to be able to do "X". You're limiting yourself, but maybe that's okay for you. If all you ever do is practice metal guitar leads, you'll get good at them and nothing else. But if that's all you ever want to play, who gives a shit? No, you probably won't be able to get into a good band, and you'll certainly never be a session musician, but if all you want to do is add metal leads to your remixes without having to manhandle a multisample into sounding realistic, you'll have accomplished your goal.

So figure out what you want to do, and practice it. There is such a thing as having a good foundation (chords are a good foundation), but I think people can put too much emphasis on "what" you practice and not enough on "how much".

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I think it's pretty universal... if you try to learn an instrument and tell yourself "I don't need to learn X", then you're not going to be able to do "X". You're limiting yourself, but maybe that's okay for you. If all you ever do is practice metal guitar leads, you'll get good at them and nothing else. But if that's all you ever want to play, who gives a shit? No, you probably won't be able to get into a good band, and you'll certainly never be a session musician, but if all you want to do is add metal leads to your remixes without having to manhandle a multisample into sounding realistic, you'll have accomplished your goal.

So figure out what you want to do, and practice it. There is such a thing as having a good foundation (chords are a good foundation), but I think people can put too much emphasis on "what" you practice and not enough on "how much".

This is slightly closer to being accurate, but still misses the mark significantly. A strong working understanding of chords is absolutely essential in order to write or improvise a good lead. If all you want to do is copy other people's riffs note-for-note, then no, you don't need to know chords. If you want to write good leads yourself, you need to have at least some knowledge of chords.

[po!]

to repeat what other people have said

KNOW THY CHORDS

what kinda pianist would you be if you didn't play chords? what kinda guitarist would you be if you didn't play chords? those are the 2 instruments that can easily play chords, and are expected to play chords.. so you better play them chords

[Fray]

This is slightly closer to being accurate, but still misses the mark significantly. A strong working understanding of chords is absolutely essential in order to write or improvise a good lead. If all you want to do is copy other people's riffs note-for-note, then no, you don't need to know chords. If you want to write good leads yourself, you need to have at least some knowledge of chords.

Yeah, you definitely have to understand chords to play good leads. You don't necessarily have to be able to play chords on the guitar, but I'm splitting hairs now