I Want to Learn How to Play the Guitar HELP!?
Posted in learn guitar on 08. Mar, 2011
What’s this week’s question? Let’s dive straight in…
When I was in year 5 (10years old) I started learning, and I had a half hour lesson once a week.
Then I started Year 7 and I forgot most of the chords and songs I learnt so when I auditioned for guitar lessons I didn’t have anything ready – while the other audition people knew some stuff.
And at school its better to have one instrumental lesson since the lessons are during other lessons such as maths etc. and I didn’t get in to have the lessons.
But I still want to learn how to play the guitar – I just don’t know how, and there are no places to learn in my neighborhood.
Is their anyway I can learn how to play?
and I don’t want to pay any or much money for it anyway.
I know that some musician’s self teach themselves
but if I saw going to do that – I wouldn’t know where to start!
Is their anyway I can learn without paying?
because I know I can get like a private tutor or whatever.
Thanks!
When I said
And at school its better to have one instrumental lesson since the lessons are during other lessons such as maths etc. "and I didn’t get in to have the lessons"
I meant that I didn’t pass the guitar audition to have lessons.
I played bass guitar then switched to guitar.
You can find tutorials on google which tell you how to play and learn notes.
Or you can just watch youtube videos
just type in "how to play guitar beginner" and should be many videos!
Goodluck
i am a self taught guitarist but i started 20 years ago. My advice would be to pick a song you know really well. (your fave song would be best but depends what it is) type the song title and the word "chords" into you tube. I have found out how to play a heap of songs this way.
You will also find guitar lessons on youtube too. its worth a look just search guitar lesson!!
Once you get the basics you can use 911tabs.com or ultimate guitar archive (google it). Both sites are a wealth of information the down side is some people put their version of a song on there. sometimes the music is in the wrong key.
I am currently teaching myself (with a few tips from friends who play). It sounds as if you might know a few people who you could ask to give you a few pointers when you need it and you certainly have internet access so all you need is a guitar. Electrics are easier to use than acoustics. Learn some of the open chords and you will be able to play a lot of stuff almost immediately. You can get the chords for songs from sites like http://www.chordie.com or http://www.ultimate-guitar.com and if you look up the chords on the internet (just type in g chord guitar) you will find guides on how to do them. Pick some songs that are easy to play and you will be golden… I started off by learning the G open major and D open major which let me play most of ‘the young ones’ by cliff richards, add an A minor and you pretty much have the basics for ‘knocking on heavens door’ by bob dylan, or if you then choose a C major chord instead of the A minor you will have ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynard Skynard, then have a look at the E minor chord (the saddest chord of all) and you will have ‘Let it Be’ by the Beatles and ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and ‘Redemption Song’ by Bob Marley. Keep looking up songs that you want to learn, avoid anything with an F or B chord of any description to start off with but try them out because you may find you don’t need some of the chords that they say you do (remember you are just playing basic versions to start off). Once you have mastered a good deal of the open chords and developed a bit of a sense of strumming (ignore people talking about strumming patterns, just do what feels right and it will come naturally) you can then look into doing a F chord. This is a massive step!!! What I did was learn ‘Cats in the Cradle’ on open chords and then switch to try to play the same thing (really badly at first) using Bar chords. An F is basically an E major with your pointer finger ‘barring’ the first fret. There is no F in Cats in the Cradle but there doing the same thing but barring the third or fifth frets gives you the E, G and A that you need and will help you move the hand (locked in position) up and down the fretboard giving you access to loads of ways to play different chords. I also recommend using open chords for ‘House of the rising sun’ but just using the F bar chord in there when it is needed which will help you switch between open and bar chords. Once you’ve done that, it’s just learning a bit of finger picking. House of the rising sun is good for that too, but it is way in the future and really all you need to do for now is buy a cheapy electric guitar and amp package go online and get going learning this stuff. Practise whenever you have the opportunity and ALWAYS sing along (it’ll help you pick out when the chord changes should occur). Within a week you should be able to play (badly but recognisably) your first few songs. A few weeks after that a few more. Don’t be discouraged when it comes to bar chords, they take a long time to master. Good luck. Youtube also has a lot of tutorials.