[Closed] Right, er, my sister seems to have bought me a guitar

First of all get an electric tuner for it, then get onto YouTube

What a gal! That's great. There is a guy on YouTube, Justinguitar I think, has a huge library of free starter lessons.

www.justinguitar.com

snap!

1. Guitartricks.com
2. fender.com/play (was free for first three months a while ago, don't know if offer still exists)
3. find a local teacher

I found any lessons on youtube unstructured and pretty useless, mainly adverts for paid sites ie justin guitar, guitaartricks and jamplay

First of all get an electric tuner for it,

get a tuning app for your phone.

get a tuning app for your phone.

This. They work very well, I’ve seen people on stage using them with acoustics, although most musicians use an in-line tuner as part of the amplification setup.
It’s not difficult to get to grips with enough chords to be able to play recognisable choons, I could probably still manage A, Am, C, G, D, and F and I haven’t picked up my acoustic for years!
Ought to get it out of the loft, really...

Whilst apps do work, you can get a clip-on harmonic tuner for like £7 (I have one made by Ammoon) and it's so much better than an app.

I'm interested to know what you find - I'm trying to get my son into playing the Ukulele. I wonder about the various training apps you can get (SimplyGuitar is one that seems to spam my YouTube ads) but don't know if they're any good.

I find the free Fender tuner app on my phone more accurate than my cheap clip on or the tuner in the pre-amp of my acoustic, but not as good as tuner pedals or tuners built into amps.

Find songs you would like to play and learn them. That alongside Justin Guitar of course. The important thing is that it has to be fun and rewarding.

TBH though, the type of tuner isn't really the issue here - the OP just needs to have a tuned guitar so when they start trying to play chords they sound right and they aren't put off at the first hurdle.

Cheers all, I'll see what Justin Guitar has to say.

And get a tuning app

You think anything can be discussed on STW without people disagreeing and dissing each others' suggestions. 🙂

The people I know who've ended up as really good guitarists have just learned to play stuff they like rather than following a general course. This is more problematic if you're into Steve Ray Vaughan than Dylan but whichever you choose someone on Youtube will have posted a tutorial.

As well as lessons you maybe need a goal to motivate yourself - more of a challenge you've never had the urge til now. Goals for exercise are easy to set as they're just numbers: distances and times (and weights maybe). What can you set yourself as a target with an instrument? One of the reasons I've never learned a musical instrument is I don't have the willpower to listen to myself play badly for any amount of time. I'd love to be good at playing an instrument but I'm not at all prepared to be bad as a means to get there.

A friend of mine once decided he would hitchhike to a music festival in Crete - learning to play the guitar by busking for a living on the way - so that by the time he arrived at his destination he'd have e had both the motivation and the practice  to get at least 'pretty good'.

Great plan - I was driving to Brittany anyway so gave him a lift to get him over the channel.

The next time I heard from him he'd been beaten up with his own guitar less that 10 miles from where I dropped him off 🙂

So as well as a goal and self discipline you maybe need an unforgiving audience as a motivator.

The next time I heard from him he’d been beaten up with his own guitar less that 10 miles from where I dropped him off

I shouldn't have, but I did ROFL

A couple of riding mates and I are all learning guitar again. I hadn't played for a few years BC. We've started to record ourselves on the phone playing 1 song a week and sharing the video over WhatsApp. It doesn't half add a bit of focus to your practice. (Not the focus on the camera).

You think anything can be discussed on STW without people disagreeing and dissing each others’ suggestions.

What a ridiculous thing to say

🙂

I've been playing for about 35 years off and on. The best advice i can give you is, as others have said, find something to play that is a) easy and b) you actually like.

I have a mate who's a bit crap on the guitar and he's always struggling to play stone roses or smiths type stuff. Which is quite advanced. So he keeps struggling and doesn't really enjoy it. And that's why he's still crap.

And lean to read TAB (its easy) and use sites like https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ to find whatever easy and enjoyable songs you decide to play.

Thread revival - it's about two weeks in, I'm on Justin Guitar's lesson two, and I now 'know' A, D and E, with which I can play Common People very, very badly.

I'm enjoying it, but blimmin'eck it's frustrating trying to get my fingers to do what I want them to do.

Its hard but it will click.

Try not looking at you hands. If you associate finger placement your gingers will wait for instructions.

Obviously look at your hands to see where they should be get comfortable with the shapes but practice changing between them without looking.

And try some power chord songs just to give you something playable immediately. I don't particularly like nirvana but it its easy to sound okay so there is a satisfying reward at each practice*.

*Doesn't have to be nirvana obviously. Crazy horses is a mint song. Song 2 etc

Brilliant, stick at it. I got my old guitar out the loft on week 1 of lockdown, and since then have started from scratch working through Andy Guitar and Justin Guitars courses. Now on Grade 2 of Justins course, which is getting onto scales and stuff.

I found they both have a few different tips that you pick up, so if you find one part of the course lacking in detail (or difficult) maybe check the other teacher out, and they might teach it differently.

I think the 'dashboard' system on Justin Guitar is great, and I'm constantly saving songs to learn, or important lessons to go back to.

A, D, E you say? Turn up the amp and get playing Wild Thing 🙂

I think the ‘dashboard’ system on Justin Guitar is great, and I’m constantly saving songs to learn, or important lessons to go back to.

Are you using the free website lessons or the app? I'm using the website, I'm wondering if I should fork out for the app.

I found they both have a few different tips that you pick up, so if you find one part of the course lacking in detail (or difficult) maybe check the other teacher out, and they might teach it differently.

Good tip, ta, I'll check Andy Guitar out

Having come back to guitar after quite a while away I started going through Justin. I'm at a reasonable standard - I can play most chord shapes cleanly and quickly but I found Justin's way of fingering the A chord set me back badly! I still can't get to grips with it. If in doubt just lay one finger across 4 strings and mute the "thinner string".

I just cancelled my subscription to the app. The navigation was confusing me and the backing tracks seemed too basic. I still bung Justin a tenner every now and then after I get a Eureka moment.

I'm looking for a source of good backing tracks though - or will I have to record my own?

An excellent purchase for me was one of those Vox headphone amps. Not only does it mean I can practice without making horrible noises, it's got very few settings so I don't spend an hour just playing with the effects on a modelling amp.

A, D, E you say? Turn up the amp and get playing Rock Island Line 🙂

Just to be clear, there is no amp, it's an acoustic 🙂

I would go with the original point 3 about getting a teacher. If you see it as a Six month/year investment. You’ll get someone analysing your technique and making sure you’re doing it right, they should also do some theory with you which is horrible but then helps when you start picking & playing down the neck*

* when we can all meet again that is 😀

Meanwhile you could do worse than watch

there are a total of three workshops all based on G major scale and using the E movable scale shape which is part of the CAGE system.
Part of the problem I found was too much information on the web but Simon is a good teacher and its free.
Yes its classical guitar but using the E shape scale you can learn to play off every fret on the sixth string F# and above and if you name the notes as you go you end up learning the note positions over the whole neck and most music uses the same notes.

Are you using the free website lessons or the app? I’m using the website, I’m wondering if I should fork out for the app.

I'm using the Justin Guitar website, with a free login. I tried the app, and its based on his old lesson programme, not his new one - so the order of lessons was very confusing.

How much time are you spending practicing IHN?

I now ‘know’ A, D and E

Or do you?

Justin guitar's A is the most bizarre A I've seen. It's a lesson in how to make a chord hard to play and the change to subsequent chords harder. Either do it the way he tells you not to or just use your index to barre the D, B and G strings and your thumb to mute the E string. You'll probably find you mute the high e-string without trying.

Having the other three finger free means you can can do walks with them. Zee Top's La Grange opening riff is in A. telphone's New York avec Toi, Slade's Goodbye to Jane riff. All rely on a barred A and having fingers free to walk around with.

Learn to sing with it.
I can strum a bit, do a few chord changes and play through a couple of basic Floyd songs. Not got one though, which is probably best for my neighbours.

Maybe not just into it to play entire songs without words but once at a friends teepee arty in the campsies, I start strumming Wish you were here, and 20 people started singing it OMG
I was horrified, terrified it fk it up but at the same time it was really amazing. I even mumbled a few words myself 😆

The Floyd songs I think are the easiest as most people seem to know many of the words. You can strum the song, and just start humming the words or such - Again more on her better equipped to tell you how to do that

I'm always a bit stuck when somebody says "Go on - give us a tune".

Most of my practice is either learning/improving songs that I play on the acoustic when I'm down the pub at a jam session (remember?) Man On the Moon, Why Does it Always Rain on Me, You Were Always On My Mind, etc. or its soloing on the electric, like Little Wing, Bold As Love, Need Your Love So Bad.

None of them are just right for the purpose. Singing at somebody uninvited is just cringing for all concerned. I want something that mixes chords and melody and sounds harder than it actually is! I've been experimenting with Albatross and am doing my own arrangement of Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (coming on nicely, thanks, some good power chords in it!) but I could do with some suggestions that make a 1 minute self contained tune.

And how to record and play back my own backing tracks with no proper studio equipment; just a phone, tablet and laptop?

Justin guitar’s A is the most bizarre A I’ve seen

I think Andy Guitar teaches it the same way. As a recent beginner I found it the easiest way to switch between A, D and E when they were the only chords I knew, as you have the index finger as an 'anchor' which slides between the chords.

I agree it makes it harder when you advance and start changing from an A to a C, F or Dm though. I now play whichever A shape is convenient depending on the chord before / after. Same with G!

Either I've missed it or noone has asked "what guitar?" Or asked for a picture. This forum has changed.

Keep going, I'm six months in with a local teacher, Skype atm, can't believe how far I've got, barre chords are starting to get fluent and I'm doing ok on some easy classical stuff.
I have to say I'm addicted big time currently playing about 4-5 hours a day.

How much time are you spending practicing IHN?

About 20 minutes a day

Either I’ve missed it or noone has asked “what guitar?” Or asked for a picture. This forum has changed.

No-one has, but here you go (don't get too excited...)

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/eastcoast/eastcoast-acoustic-guitars/eastcoast-d1-dreadnought-satin-dark-sunburst-spruce-laminate-top

Nice, that's a good amount.... you'll make a decent amount of progress with that. Feel free to drop me a PM for some tips....we can do a free online lesson if you want (I'm a session player and teacher for a living)

Thanks Tom, that's very kind.

Looking at my dashboard on Justin's Guitar, turns out it's actually only whole ten days since I did the first lesson and practice, so I know I just need to stick with it. And yesterday, for probably the first time, I managed to have maybe four bars where I got a clean chord change within the bar. That's right two different chords played in the same bar. Boom!

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I managed to have maybe four bars where I got a clean chord change within the bar. That’s right two different chords played in the same bar. Boom!

Sweet 😎 I reckon it took me about three months of making an unholy racket to be able to play a vaguely recognisable (to my ears!) 'Need' by Mudhoney (three chords).

Nice work mate. Keep at it and soon you’ll be wondering what the problems were.

So, anyway, remember this? Well, slowly, slowly, catchee monkey stylee, my guitar playing is coming along. I've got A, Am, E, Em, D, Dm, C and G now, and a growing repertoire of songs that I can murder, along with a handful of riffs that I can massacre 🙂

It's fun, I'm enjoying it, it's slowly starting to click. The change from C to D can go **** itself however...

The change from C to D can go **** itself however…

Slide the open C shape up 2 frets...

It doesn’t work for every song because it’s not a proper chord, but it adds nice colour to a lot of songs.

This works because C major and D major chords are commonly found together in ‘the people’s key’ of G major and/or E minor (which are probably the two most commonly used keys in guitar music). In G major or E minor keys the open G and e strings are kind of fair game. So you can embellish the D major chord with those notes. That won’t work in many other keys, but in those other keys you don’t often see C maj—> D maj chord transition.

It’s fun, I’m enjoying it, it’s slowly starting to click.

You're winning! Nice one.

Have you tried any bar chords yet?

No bar chords yet, no.

Barre chords are tricky if you've never done them before; try power chords as an interim. You play the bottom note with your index, then next string using ring finger two frets up and Little finger next string same fret as the ring finger. It's the simplest form of chord because it has no major or minor note. Works almost everywhere on the neck with the exception of the top two strings 🙂