One year later... still going!

[Pongo]

Hey,

I doubt anyone will remember, but it was about a year ago now that I stopped in for some much needed advice.

A quick summary:
- 38 yr old decides to pick up guitar for first time.
- Has no idea what he's doing or looking for.
- Not even sure it will hold his interest.

Ok, now the great news,... one year later.
- Still having a lot of fun with this. I have managed to put the guitar in my hands almost every single day I have had it. Over the last year, there have probably only been about 10 days where I did not do something with it.

I guess that answers the question about whether I would stick with it or not! I still know so very little about any of this, but things are so much better than last year.

I do have a few questions but I don't want this to get too long winded. In short, I'm looking for ways to improve. My training over the last year has been from books,videos on the web, and DVD's I've been able to rent from NetFlix. Seeing some of the videos has helped a lot just in how to hold my fingers. When I started out I couldn't figure out how to play certain frets, but once I saw some different fingerings, then things started to get a bit easier.

Right now I'm able to play some simple songs, make a lot of noise, and eventually put my fingers into some chord shapes. I'm curious what any of you think I might be able to learn from a few lessons. I'm pretty sure I would only be able to do a few at best, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

I also have a few guitar questions, but I'll post them later to avoid this post getting too long.

Thanks all!

[bigG]

Pongo, great to hear, man! Congrats!

My humble suggestions: Robert offers a two DVD instructional set (done by him) that is very good. Might not be for beginners, but the way he teaches is very laid back, and he thoroughly explains everything: Names notes, strings, frets used, slows the lesson down and picks it apart - so I think, from what you've said, these would be ideal and really move you along! The video and audio quality is very good, and he often uses different camera angles to help you out even more.

Go to www.dolphinstreet.com (Robert's site) to order both DVDs for $16.99 incl shipping!

Also, guitarworld.com has a number of different instructional DVDs, from beginner to learning the blues to learning lead guitar, etc... the ones I've seen are quite good.

Hope this helps, man. Great to hear that you didn't give up and still want to move forward!

[Monkus]

justinguitar.com is also very helpful. Robert's is too! Glad to know that you're still playing!

[t_ross33]

Personal lessons can also be a great asset for some. I've been playing guitar since I was 12 (almost 30 yrs ago : ), but being primarily a bass player at the time had no need for anything other than the big, open "cowboy chords" - i.e. open chord shapes. Since picking up electric and a "lead-ish" guitar spot in our band, I have taken some lessons and found them to be very useful.

One of my teachers, while a very good guitar player and teacher, was only 19 and really into shredding - me, not so much so I haven't taken lessons from him in a while. Not that he's a bad teacher, he's very good - just not my style or what I was looking for. That said, I was test driving some electrics (love the Hagstrom Ultra Swede) through a Vox AC15 during lessons and he came by afterwards and commented on how much my playing has improved since he last heard me. Moral of the story, even the few lessons I had with him helped my playing.

Good luck and keep playing, Pongo. Nice to have you aboard :

[marnold***]

Refresh my memory--what style(s) do you like to play?

[Pongo]

Thanks for the comments. I will check out Robert's DVDs. I'm also aware of Justin's site already, and have learned from both already over the last year.

As for what kind of music,... anything I can play at this point! I like instrumentals mostly, especially songs that I can play by myself, since this is what I will be doing 99% of the time. To throw out some names, I like SRV stuff as well as Satriani and EVH. I know as a beginner I'm not going to be playing that stuff for quite a while, but what I have done is tried to follow along with some of the slower stuff. (With small bits of success)

I do have a question about my guitar though. I'm not sure if this has always been here and I'm just noticing it now, or something recent. I have a single fret on a single string that is not working. (Fret#13 on the high e string only) When I press that particular fret, I either get a dead sound, or it gives the same note as fret 14, just a little buzzy.) I believe that fret 14 is just a touch too high, only on that string. Is there anything I can do to this, or do I need to take it in to have it worked on?

I'm a bit concerned about raising the string height, since it already seems a bit high. (keep in mind I'm still new at this, so I have no real frame of reference.) My only comparison is with a few other guitars I have had the opportunity to pick up in the last year. A friend let me borrow an old Squire strat, and I felt like I could play it a lot easier than my own guitar, but I liked the sound of my own better. I have an HSH configuration that I tend to play on the bridge pickup almost exclusively and his was an SSS configuration, so I'm sure it was mostly the single coil vs. Humbucker that I was noticing.

Anyways, with this info, I've been thinking about a new guitar rather than spending money on service. Any thoughts? I'm not expecting a new one to make me any better at playing, and I don't know how I'll convince my wife of a new purchase. Budget would probably max out around $300, so I don't know if it's even worth it.

edit: for what it's worth, here's my first thread from a year ago. Pics of my guitar on page 3.
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=6204&page=3
and here is a link to a review of the same guitar. It has a few specs, so I'm hoping someone can tell me a bit more about it.
http://guitarjam.blogs.com/guitarjam..._tech_hoh.html

[marnold***]

You could take it in to a tech and just ask how much it would cost to fix it. That'd give you an idea. It sounds like you have a high fret which would be a relatively simple fix.

For learning to play music in the vein of EVH/Satriani I'd suggest giving Metal Method a try. Doug's course has been around since the 80s and was revised last in 2007. I've got the ~1996 revision on DVD and like it a lot.

[Blaze]

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/