Guitar tips you wish you knew when you started playing

[msteeln]

Maybe the Holy Grail of noob questions.
#1 Quality time to practice.
#2 Dedication.
#3 Quality gear that is affordable.
#4 Learn properly. www.guitarprinciples.com

Yours?

[deeaa]

That you're not gonna be making a career out of it & there's always gonna be players wayyyy better and more successful than you no matter how much you tried :-)

And IF despite all odds you're gonna somehow make it into a career or even a self-sustaining hobby, forget about normal life & family and good steady income. Chances are very slim.

Also IF it seems you could make it a career, be aware that it likely includes making tough choices, disregarding and discarding friendships and forgetting about just having fun and partying about it - music making is a career just like others, and a very unforgiving and tough one at that that needs a level business head more than it does creativity and whatnot.

[Eric]

I like this thread.

I guess if I had one, it would be finding someone who knows what they're doing and who has been around the block and listening to and trusting them. The tough part is in realizing just how difficult this is. I've been 'tutored' by a couple of people who were just blowing smoke up my ***, and they hurt more than they helped. There was an awful lot of stuff for me to learn, and it has taken exponentially longer because it's been largely self-taught.

[marnold]

Just because someone who has been playing forever is getting into all kinds of exotic scales, it doesn't mean that you have to. Conquer the pentatonic. That other stuff won't go anywhere.

I also wish when I was first playing bass that I had the slightest hint of music theory. That way I could have learned one pattern for all the modes and not try to jam different ones in my head for each. What a waste of time.

Oh yeah: if you have a bass (or guitar, for that matter) that you really like, don't sell it even if you think you'll never play again. You'll hate yourself for it.

[Eric]

I also wish when I was first playing bass that I had the slightest hint of music theory. That way I could have learned one pattern for all the modes and not try to jam different ones in my head for each. What a waste of time.
I'm not sure I understand this point; how do you view it now?

[R_of_G]

Listen to lead players other than guitar players. You can learn a good deal about phrasing by listening to horn players and pianists that you might not get by limiting your influences strictly to guitarists.

[marnold]

I'm not sure I understand this point; how do you view it now?

The Metal Method lessons opened my eyes on that subject. Since so much of metal is minor, he teaches it from the standpoint of the minor key (instead of the major key like most music theory books will). You learn patterns for the A minor scale all over the neck (five total, seven with three-notes-per-string). Once you know that, you know every mode. All that changes is the root. For example, if I play the A minor pattern starting on "A," it's a minor. If I play the same pattern but start on "C," it's C major. If I start on "E," it's E Phrygian. One set of patterns, you know every mode. Of course, in metal you don't use every mode anyway. The big ones are minor, Phrygian, and the occasional Dorian.

[Spudman]

I like Marnold's suggestion about learning theory. If I would have been more receptive of learning some in the beginning I'm sure I'd be much farther along in my skills. Mine is all ear training.

Two other things that I wish I would have grasped early on: learn the business end of music, and don't get real drunk at a gig, do a bunch of cocaine and forget to take your expensive guitar home with you.

[R_of_G]

... and don't get real drunk at a gig, do a bunch of cocaine and forget to take your expensive guitar home with you.

Well if we're getting that specific with them, don't plug in to play for the first time with a neighbor you're trying to impress and forget that you left your guitar in an open tuning and sit there looking bewildered when the notes you're trying to play of a song you've played a thousand times before come out sounding utterly wrong. By the way, if you were to commit that error, the remedy is as follows... Suddenly realize you're in open G and begin cranking out Brown Sugar as if the prior thirty seconds were some odd avant-garde ambient intro.

[Tig]

That guitar/amp/pedal you are lusting after and just know it is the best possible choice in the world, even though you know nothing about guitars/amps/pedals... Well, it is very likely you will find out that is wasn't all that, after you purchase it. (take online reviews and demo's with a grain of salt, too) Don't be taken in by a dumb or too slick sales person at the store.
Learning guitar will take plenty of time, patience, and dedication. It will take years to sound like what you really want to, if you have the talent and dedication. Don't expect too much right away, but don't let this advice turn you away. You will enjoy the journey and be surprised just how good you can sound fairly soon. *This doesn't apply much to prodigies, however.



There are many exceptions to the above.
This became more advice to new players than stuff I wish I knew. I'll add more later...

[Zip]

#1 Cool it on the drugs. Seriously.
#2 The guy running the board is not your enemy. He really wants to make you sound good to everyone else in the house - listen to his suggestions.
#3 It hasn't all been done before.
#4 Really. Lay off the drugs.
#5 The guitar is the instrument, not just the strings. The whole thing makes music.
#6 Sometimes, noise is just noise....not the "coolest thing I ever heard!!".
#7 Listen to all styles of music, not just the guitarists you want to sound like.

[R_of_G]

#5 The guitar is the instrument, not just the strings. The whole thing makes music.

+1

There are a great many sounds to get out the guitar without involving the strings.



#6 Sometimes, noise is just noise....not the "coolest thing I ever heard!!".

Conversely, sometimes noise is exactly what the situation calls for. Not every solo needs to be a means of forward propulsion in a predictable arc. It's all in how the player approaches the noise.

[Hampus]

I wish I had known what I know now...

1. Learn musical theory. Not just how to do things, but why. This will help you in the future as you well be able to figure things out even if you don't know them by heart.

2. Practice with a metronome.

3. practice with a metronome.

4. Jam with others, our practice to a song from your cd our mp3 player.

5. Speed isn't everything. Timing and phrasing is even more important.

6. Practice rhythm as much as you practice lead.

And last but not least, practice with a metronome!

/Hampus

Sent from my cobra phone

[Photomike666]

Practice various picking patterns. Couldn't tell you how much time I wasted trying to work out the timing of a song or tab, only to now know it is just a picking pattern.

Train your ear. Not just hope it comes with practice, but actively add techniques into daily practice. There and websites that play a random note or chord & and you learn to distinguish which. The quicker you get this skill the better. JustinGuitar.com has this.

Learn theory. Guitar is about creativity, and it's easier when you know why something does or doesn't work.

Start writing a song as early as possible. It forces you to put theory into Practice and gives an idea how other song created.

Take all advise with a pinch of salt. It's your journey, enjoy the experience.

[Photomike666]

Oh two others,

use a metronome always. Learn slow as well as fast.

Learn some stage craft. Way too many accomplished musicians fail to entertain their audience.

[sunvalleylaw]

Maybe the Holy Grail of noob questions.
#1 Quality time to practice.
#2 Dedication.
#3 Quality gear that is affordable.
#4 Learn properly. www.guitarprinciples.com


Yours?



I may have been told some of these and not paid attention, but in any case:

1) Proper and efficient ergonomic techniques in fretting, ie, how to efficiently place and hold hand depending on what is going on, where to place thumb (not up the neck), how to hold the guitar , etc. Some additional feedback from my first instructor, who is basically a folk style acoustic strummer and finger picker, would have been nice.
2) Importance of practicing rhythm skills, and subdivisions of beat. I really wish I did not develop, and have to overcome, the habit of starting and stopping my right hand while strumming in order to match time. I jumped into learning songs (maybe forced my instructor to teach me some honestly), and tried just to match what was going on by ear and by starting and stopping my hand as my sense of time told me. Instead, I it would have been better to learn (and practice) how to move my hand constantly in time, subdivide time and strike the strings in accordance with the subdivisions, with the right hand moving in time the entire time.

Those are the main things I can think of right now.

[marnold]

It's interesting how many people mentioned rhythm. As someone who came to guitar from bass, rhythm isn't a problem because that's what bass _is_. Granted, there's still quite a difference between bass and rhythm guitar, but once you've got the beat, you can do lots with it. If you don't have the beat, it won't matter what you're playing.

[Robert]

My tip - if you want good looking babes to show up for your gigs - don't play jazz!!! :D

[Robert]

#2 The guy running the board is not your enemy. He really wants to make you sound good to everyone else in the house - listen to his suggestions.


That's right. Running a discussion board is hard grunt work, but I am not your foe. I do want you to sound terrific.

:D (sorry, couldn't resist. All the stress lately is messing with my humour)

[sunvalleylaw]

My tip - if you want good looking babes to show up for your gigs - don't play jazz!!! :D

Man, I can't believe that answer. It can't be true!

[Tig]

1) Proper and efficient ergonomic techniques in fretting, ie, how to efficiently place and hold hand depending on what is going on, where to place thumb (not up the neck), how to hold the guitar , etc. Some additional feedback from my first instructor, who is basically a folk style acoustic strummer and finger picker, would have been nice.

Pebber Brown has an excellent lesson on this, which is good to refresh our technique with even years into playing:


http://youtu.be/fWlW6ikndsw

[sunvalleylaw]

Mark Wein also has some good free vids on this point, including ways to increase your reach, etc.

[msteeln]

Importance of practicing rhythm skills, and subdivisions of beat. I really wish I did not develop, and have to overcome, the habit of starting and stopping my right hand while strumming in order to match time as my sense of time told me. Instead, I it would have been better to learn (and practice) how to move my hand constantly in time, subdivide time and strike the strings in accordance with the subdivisions, with the right hand moving in time the entire time.Great input, thanx!

What are some forum thots about anchoring the picking hand vs keeping it completely free?

[Zip]

That's right. Running a discussion board is hard grunt work, but I am not your foe. I do want you to sound terrific.

Haha :) Ummm, the 'front of house engineer'. ;)

[sunvalleylaw]

Great input, thanx!

What are some forum thots about anchoring the picking hand vs keeping it completely free?

I will leave that to the instructors. There are different opinions.

[msteeln]

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

[Radioboy950]

Some good stuff here already.
*Learn the fretboard*
Even if you play by ear, everything you do will make so much more sense to you, and open up your playing like you never imagined.
Jeff Kollman (Glenn Hughes, UFO, Cosmosquad, Bombastic Meatbats) passed along something that really helps. When he was learning, he drew the fretboard on a piece of cardboard and put it in front of him to better visualize different positions for chords and lead runs, etc.

*Don't be afraid to try new things*
Maybe it's learning slide technique, or learning to funk it up with a Wah-Wah...or experimenting with a different music genre or style. Have fun.

[Ch0jin]

Some good stuff here already.
*Learn the fretboard*
Even if you play by ear, everything you do will make so much more sense to you, and open up your playing like you never imagined.
Jeff Kollman (Glenn Hughes, UFO, Cosmosquad, Bombastic Meatbats) passed along something that really helps. When he was learning, he drew the fretboard on a piece of cardboard and put it in front of him to better visualize different positions for chords and....

This. I made one like 20 years ago and I STILL regularly drop it on the floor or on my amp when I'm practising just to remind myself where all the notes are.

[sunvalleylaw]

Some good stuff here already.
*Learn the fretboard*


That is the other thing I have worked on. I am not sure I needed that straight off, but it is sure a good pursuit now. Learning pentatonic patterns, learning minor and major patterns, and from there, learning the chord tones and triads to focus on in all of the above.

msteeln, I love that Ira Glass quote!

[Monkus]

excellent thoughts here guys...here's what I wish i'd known...

1. The act of creating doesn't guarantee awesome.
2. Use forearm strength rather than thumb strength to fret chords.
3. Get to know overplaying, then don't do it.
4. Everyone needs a 'talent' pedal.
5. Have fun, always.

That Ira Glass quote is boss...

[Spudman]

Put space between the notes.

[R_of_G]

"Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself." - Miles Davis

[Tig]

Put your feelings, your heart, and your soul into it. When you play something... anything... it should always sound like you. Otherwise, you may sound as if a cardboard cutout is playing instead of you.

Regardless what we might think of Slash, here is a performance without much feeling or soul. It isn't bad, just lifeless:


http://youtu.be/xuColM2rRVw

[Tig]

"Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself." - Miles Davis

Now there's a truth that really hits the target!

[R_of_G]

Now there's a truth that really hits the target!

I take it to mean pretty much the same thing as your previous post. Whatever you do, try to do it authentically. It's great to learn how to play songs the way they're recorded to learn different techniques, but it's that much more fun when you have enough skill to play it your way. Deconstruction and reconstruction is something I learned a lot of from Miles and his cadre of musicians.

[omegadot]

One I've recently thought of is that I always paused when going up or down a scale when I hit the "end". This definitely impacted my progression and playing in a negative way. Now that I smoothly go up and down my fingers get a much better workout.

[bhatnagar.ashish001]

oh great... thread... i love to plya guitar.. but i am not expert in playing guitar... any one here who is expert in guitar from india??? because i want nods of a india song... ??













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[Glacies]

I have been thinking long and hard about this. I have 2:

1. Learn to play what you like - I started with lessons and played music I wasn't interested in. 2 months in when I couldn't play anything that sounded like music, I quit and didn't pick up guitar for almost 2 years until...

2. This one might be debateable and I'm wondering if anybody will roll their eyes about this. Learn Powerchords first! - I wish I learned power chords right off the bat. They sound awesome, you can make so many songs off of 2 string power chords, they teach you all of the E and A string roots, they set you up for soloing in the right key, and the E shape barre chords fall in right easily because you're almost already there...

I had so much fun with powerchords when I first learned them, I couldn't put the guitar down. I was making up riffs, trying to figure out classic riffs by ear... It really opened up the world of guitar for me. To this day, if I'm having trouble with a chord progression, I will sometimes work it out in power chords if I can.

[Eric]

I have been thinking long and hard about this. I have 2:

1. Learn to play what you like - I started with lessons and played music I wasn't interested in. 2 months in when I couldn't play anything that sounded like music, I quit and didn't pick up guitar for almost 2 years until...

2. This one might be debateable and I'm wondering if anybody will roll their eyes about this. Learn Powerchords first! - I wish I learned power chords right off the bat. They sound awesome, you can make so many songs off of 2 string power chords, they teach you all of the E and A string roots, they set you up for soloing in the right key, and the E shape barre chords fall in right easily because you're almost already there...

I had so much fun with powerchords when I first learned them, I couldn't put the guitar down. I was making up riffs, trying to figure out classic riffs by ear... It really opened up the world of guitar for me. To this day, if I'm having trouble with a chord progression, I will sometimes work it out in power chords if I can.
I think both of those are really good bits of advice. In fact, I think I'm going to tell my friend who is currently learning that he should focus on power chords a bit more.

[Tig]

I have been thinking long and hard about this. I have 2:

1. Learn to play what you like

2. Learn Powerchords first! - I wish I learned power chords right off the bat.

Excellent advice!
I'd add that like power chords, learn the basic chord shapes and experiment by moving the shape around to different locations on the fretboard.
From there, learn barr chords using these shapes.

[NWBasser]

Don't operate in a vacuum.

I mean, music is usually a team effort and it's a very good idea to play with other musicians as much as possible. You'll learn a lot this way. You'll learn even more if you play with guys (or gals) that are better than you are.

Playing with a band is a completely different experience than by yourself.

[R_of_G]

Don't operate in a vacuum.

I mean, music is usually a team effort and it's a very good idea to play with other musicians as much as possible. You'll learn a lot this way. You'll learn even more if you play with guys (or gals) that are better than you are.

Playing with a band is a completely different experience than by yourself.

It's such good advice, and yet I always found myself very intimated in those situations early on with players I knew were significantly better than me. I often had to consciously remind myself that (a) aside from being great musicians, they were also my friends, and (b) they were thoroughly familiar with my skill-set at the time and still wanted to play with me. There's a recording I have from a little less than two years into my playing. I was playing with three friends, all of whom had played since they were teenagers, one who toured for years with assorted blues acts, one who could play any instrument you handed him, and one who was just a damn good guitar player. What I hear on that recording is that for the first few minutes my playing is very stiff and hesitant. By the second jam, I was playing much more comfortably and it's audible. You can hear when I must have reminded myself that I was there to have fun, not impress anybody. By the third jam I'd swapped my guitar for my friend's bass and brought them a good 5-6 minutes of solid funk to do their thing over. It's amazing what ignoring your self-consciousness can do.

[Plymman]

I'm learning guitar after playing bass for years and it's making want to learn bass properly from scratch again. I only ever learned patterns without theory and have picked up so many bad habits!

My main tip is to learn the simple stuff and don't move on until you've got it nailed. Its easy to want to play the lead lines and solo away before you're ready.

Play chord after chord until you have the transitions completely perfected and concentrate on perfecting your rhythm. Learning how to hold a solid rhythm is the cornerstone of good playing. I've been so frustrated (as a bassist) over the years at the amount of guitarists that can solo/noodle/shred like a pro but just can't work tightly with the bass and drums.

Oh yeah, i almost forgot, don't turn down a university scholarship because your band is going on tour.

[Spinshred]

I wish that I know that there many good starters electric guitar for a starter like me at that time,Because even in my three years of learning how to play, I'm just using an acoustic not a real one because I can't afford to buy a stratocaster.

_____________________________
http://www.themodernman.com/how_to_talk_to_women.html

[Perfect Stranger]

Take up stamp collecting instead....

[jpfeifer]

1. Treat music like learning a language ... listen to those players that you like and try to copy their phrasing and note choices ... like learning to speak in some other language. This is where the music is. Learn the theory to help you understand the music, but the theory/scales are NOT the music, just a way to make sense of the structure. In the same way a dictionary is not a story, just an explanation of the words. Focus on story telling with your playing, not the dictionary!

2. Use earplugs at loud concerts and turn down those stink'n headphones! You will regret it when you get older and your ears start to ring.

3. Buy the best equipment that you can afford and hang onto it. Don't settle for cheap stuff that you're not happy with. One good guitar is much better than owning 3 crappy ones.

4. Spend time developing your sight reading skills on the guitar. It will help you to communicate with other musicians, and can also help you get more opportunities to play!

5. Make goals for yourself to help focus you on where you want to go with your music. Find a new song or lick to work on and always have something to be excited about learning. Never stop finding things to learn.

6. Sing! Don't be afraid to develop your vocals ... get over the fear. You will get more opportunities to play with musicians as a guitar player if you can also sing harmonies. It's also fun!

7. Write your own music! It helps you to understand how things fit together. It also helps you to listen to music in a new way, appreciating various aspects of other songs than just the guitar parts (production ideas, chord progressions, interesting bass lines and drum grooves, etc)

[bleakerthanyou]

Whether it's because I had a convoluted sense of pride or some other reason, I never took lessons. While I did not have an instructor, I DID scour bookshelves and once the internet became prominent, I scoured that as well and tried to soak up as much info as I could.
Every theory or method book I've ever picked up starts off in the same place.....reading the staff. I still can't read music, and you don't have to read music to understand guitar theory, but my problem was one that could've been solved easily if someone could have just said it to me in the right words. I attempted to understand modes repeatedly and I failed miserably at it until certain lines on the page kept jumping out at me. Like a lot of people, I totally ignored a lot of sage advice in the beginning because no one explained the "why."

They said focus less on lead guitar and learn rhythm. They said learn chords and intervals instead. They said practice with a metronome. They said a lot of things I didn't listen to.

And here I am, 16 years later, begging noobs to step around those same pitfalls.

A friend once told me to learn and UNDERSTAND the major scale. He said everything has to do with the major scale, but that seemed ludicrous to me at the time. Now I know. It doesn't matter what you're playing or in what key, it comes from one of the major scales.

So i taught myself the major scale and finally had a breakthrough regarding modal playing. I've played and written music for years, and all the mistakes i'd ever made in skipping proper instruction became very apparent when I started learning modes, because I would take songs I've written and try to reverse engineer them to see how my chord progressions fit into the modes, and I felt helpless.

So take lessons if you need it and ask questions always. I could play pretty well before I ever knew why any of it worked, and I wouldn't recommend that path. If you want to play lead with the greats, then learn the how and why of chord construction, and you will find that you're ability to solo and improvise will improve greatly without even specifically working on it.

and maybe the single comment that helped me break through when trying to understand modes: "Any time there are two major chords one whole step apart, you know that HAS TO BE the 4th and 5th notes of the PARENT MAJOR SCALE."

[Tig]

Very good stuff, bleakerthanyou. :thumbsup