This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:
Question: Whats the Best Way to Go About Learning Guitar?
Answer: I was grounded for a better part of my childhood. mischief. I had alot of time on my hands and energy to match. Time with it in my hands was a huge factor. When you’re watching TV, or doing whatever, have it there in your hands. There are alot of instructional videos on youtube to help with fundamentals. You can also get a beginners book at any music shop. You will have to suffer through "London Bridge" and "Hot Crossed Buns", but it will be worth it once you notice your left hand cooperating more and more. Always remember, it will sound bad at first. This is universal. Virtuosos sound like crap in the beginning.
Go to it, and good luck.
This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:
Question: i thought challenging means harder, so how can it be easy and hard?
Answer: It becomes easier because you will get used to the chords but it can also be challenging because after learning the basic chords, you will learn harder chords that will be harder to play.
Another learn guitar question has come in this week. Let’s tackle it straight away:
Question: is that a good thought? something better?
Answer: That’s an excellent way to place the objective of learning the instrument. Each beginner has his or her own pace in the learning curve. Learning to play the guitar is a tedious and exacting job daily, requiring many hours of devoted practice, research, and study.
In short, don’t get in a hurry to catch up with someone who plays well. Go at your own speed.
Keep the guitar lessons questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: which is better? learning guitar over a computer course or having a real live teacher?
Answer: Can you hear me now???? A computer-based or CD-based lesson cannot. Only a LIVE teacher can motivate you, assess your abilities, and assign you work that helps you grow. Plus – they often have extra gigs that they can sub-contract to you as soon as you are good enough – a CD does not send you any work, or establish any personal rapport. The world is FULL of mediocre (they think they are AWESOME!!!) kids who taught themselves to play guitar in their bedroom, using YouTube or CD ROMs. And now – they are good enough to play in their bedroom alone! Or they make a band (???) with other cranky and limited kids. Nice . . . .
Keep the learn guitar questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: Would You Prefer Learning Guitar or Ukulele?
Answer: ukulele
This week’s question is as follows:
Question: I’m 22 and I always wanted to learn how to play guitar. I never took initiative because I figured, "eh, I’m too old." But of course that’s silly reasoning and now I’m starting to think more about learning.
My primary reasoning is that I’m unemployed and my days can be long and boring. It will definitely be worth trying something new. I also listen to a lot of metal and I always wanted to replicate and cover a lot of songs I like, even if it’s just a few parts.
Now the other reason I want to learn guitar is that I may be more marketable to chicks, which was the main reason why I asked this question. A lot of people say chicks dig musicians. Well, I don’t see myself playing in any kind of band, but I’m sure having those skills would make me more marketable. The problem with this reasoning is that it all seems like BS. I mean, a reason like this was the same reason I start learning how to ballroom dance. I heard chicks loved it and now I’m trying to subconsciously market that skill in the dating world, but haven’t really seen much success with just that.
The whole issue seems like a big mind**** to me. On one hand, there are reasons why I want to learn guitar because I’m genuinely interested in it. But on the other hand, I also want to learn because of the stereotype that it might make me more attractive to chicks.
Is my attitude a little screwed up behind the matter? Help me get in touch with reality haha.
Answer: I guess I admire your honesty on the subject.
Just quit over-thinking it. If you want to learn guitar, then learn guitar. Don’t stress over the why. Just promise me you won’t become one of those douche bags that sit at parks by themselves and play the acoustic without any skill to show for it. If you insist on playing in random public places, at least be good at it,
Oh, and try getting a job. That will help with your attractiveness level tremendously.
Keep the learn guitar questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: I can play piano and read music well and I’ve been thinking about learning guitar. If I get lessons and practice would it be difficult for me to learn a few easy songs by the end of a couple of months?
Answer: If you really WANT to play a guitar, it will not be as hard as one might think. The learning will be a "labor of love" and you should enjoy it. I had a friend show me a few simple chords and I practiced them over and over, then he showed me a couple more, and I practiced them over and over. Put them together and you have a song. There are a lot of songs you can play with 3 or 4 simple chords.You should have no problems learning a few not too difficult songs in several months. You’ll have to put yourself on you tube so we can watch your progress. Good luck, have lots of fun, and believe me….it’s worth the effort.
This week’s question is as follows:
Question: I have a little experience on Guitar, and Bass. However, I’m at the point
where I want to concentrate on one more seriously. Eventually, I’d
like to get to the point where I can play in a band, and teach one day.
I know bass is by no means an easier instrument than guitar,
but do you think I would have more success if I concentraded
my studies on Bass?
Thanks for your responses, and for the advice! I was leaning towards focusing on bass, and the advice you guys provided is helpful! 
Answer: If you eventually plan to master both instruments, I strongly recommend that you focus on bass first. It’s much easier for a bassist to make the transition to guitar than for a guitarist to become a good bassist. Guitarists tend to treat bass like it’s a four-stringed guitar, rather than a rhythm instrument, so they usually overplay and defeat the purpose of their instrument. But a good bassist will follow the rhythm of the bass drum and provide a bridge between the rhythm and the melody. Since guitarists are focused on melody, many of them don’t understand the role of rhythm players. But everyone understands the role of melody in a band, so a bassist can move to guitar with a full understanding of both the rhythm and melody.
Another advantage to being a bassist is that you’ll never have trouble finding a good band to join. Good guitarists are a dime a dozen, but any band that’s ever searched for a bassist will tell you that they’re few and far between. A reasonably competent bass player can have his/her pick of bands. In fact, many guitarists looking for work try to "moonlight" as bassists, but bands can always tell they’re not authentic rhythm players because they tend to cram way too many notes into every song (because they think like melody players).
If you focus on bass exclusively for a while, you’ll still be able to learn and master guitar later. And being a bassist gives you an easy entry into the music world, since your skills will be sought after. I played bass for five years before learning guitar and am always grateful that I didn’t learn guitar first. I’ve heard way too many guitarists try to pass themselves off as bassists and it’s not pretty. But I know quite a few bassists who’ve evolved into great guitarists. They’re especially great because they aren’t inclined to step all over the rhythm section, since they understand how important the drummer and bassist are to a band’s overall sound.
This week’s question is a good one. Let’s have a look:
Question: Is it easy or hard? Everybody keeps telling me its so so so easy. And if I could play the guitar, does that mean that I could play a bass too? And do you know a good website to help me learn ?
Answer: Learning guitar (or any instrument for that matter) is a lifelong process and is definitely not easy. Anybody who says it is easy is probably a person who just learns a few popular songs and says that they can play guitar. If they’re given any classical pieces, they would just stare at the sheet music blankly and give up at the first sight of a challenge. Actually studying music theory, understanding of what you’re doing, and gaining the ability to compose entire pieces by yourself will take years of hard work and practice.
Guitarists can sort of play bass because of the similarity in shape, but the role of bass in a band is completely different. There’s a huge difference between actually playing bass and playing a bass like a guitar.
Keep the learn guitar questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: I’ve been wanting to learn the drums for a while now and was going to start saving up for a drum kit, but wanted to know what a good price would be to pay for a beginner set to learn on and hopefully last for a while? What are some brands to look for?
Have any of you had any luck buying used sets?
Also, on a side note, will learning drums help me with learning guitar/music. What with the rhythm and time that learning drums requires.
Thanks!
I’ve been playing guitar for about a year and a half now, so I wanted to try something new and I think I have a good sense of rhythm and would enjoy the drums a lot.
Answer: Since you’re experienced in guitar and music in general, you most likely know that EVERYTHING is expensive. With drum sets, its just as bad, if not worse. A good quality drum set can cost a few thousand dollars. And cymbals are a pain; most quality cymbals cost around $200 each, and some can go up to $400+, just for ONE cymbal! Most drum heads cost relatively the same, so there’s not much of a problem there. But for a beginner kit, you probably just wannna get an off-brand drum kit, which usually comes with the necessary hardware and some cheap cymbals and heads. There are tons of companies that sell off-brand kits, so I can’t tell you specifically what brand to get; however my first drum set was a Rockwell. But even a new off-brand kit usually will cost you around $500-$600. Used drum sets, whether off-brand or quality-brand, are still gonna cost you some big money, at the least being around $300. If you buy a used one off the internet (e.g. eBay), make sure you know whether or not cymbals and hardware are included.
I would probably have to say that the drums would relate more to bass guitar than anything; it’s crucial that the drummer and bassist in a band play "together" (in other words, the bassist should mostly correspond his notes to the beat of the bass drum). As you may know, playing the drums requires a heck of a lot of multi-tasking, so it does take lots of time to get used to; but since you already play guitar, it might be easier for you, since that requires multi-tasking too.
