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Learning guitar...

Rockin' Doc Dec 11 2011 05:50 PM

I know that several members of the forum play guitar. My son has played around with the guitar (on and off) for the past 4-5 years. He recently took a renewed interest in playing again. I am looking for any suggestions of good instructional/songbooks for him to use. I'd like to get him a book (or maybe a video) to work with for Christmas.

TheOldMole Dec 11 2011 07:14 PM Re: Learning guitar...

http://www.homespuntapes.com/

Fman99 Dec 11 2011 07:25 PM Re: Learning guitar...

What kind of music does he listen to, or want to be able to play on his guitar?

Rockin' Doc Dec 12 2011 01:01 PM Re: Learning guitar...

Thanks for the information, mole. I'll check out the site this evening. My son is pretty much a rock and roller, but he has taken a recent interest in country music. The rock and roll is my influence over the years and the country music is his girlfriend's influence the past 2 years. This is a sampling of what I have heard him playing (in total or in part) over the past day or two: Beatles (Day Tripper & Blackbird), Oasis (Wonderwall), Eagles (Hotel California & Desperado), Eric Clapton (Tears In Heaven), John Mayer (You're Body Is a Wonderland & Waiting for the World to Change) and Kansas (Dust In The Wind).

Methead Dec 12 2011 06:15 PM Re: Learning guitar...

Never learned to play guitar myself, but my hero Frank Zappa started off by learning the blues. Blues guitar teaches different keys, scales, and improvisation without getting too complicated. Then you can move on to other stuff. Back when I was a music student I hated practicing my scales, but they really are pretty valuable if you want to master an instrument.

Fman99 Dec 12 2011 06:51 PM Re: Learning guitar...

I have been playing guitar for twenty years, self taught. Here's what I'd suggest. Go to a music store and look for guitar fakebooks with songs by the artists he enjoys the most. He'll have lyrics in front of him as well as the chords in the song and small tablature diagrams on how to play those chords. I taught myself to play the guitar in college, initially, with nothing more than a guitar and a 500 page Beatles fakebook. The pages should look like this -- with pictures of the chords throughout the whole song. It won't work for every song -- especially something like "Day Tripper" which is built around a riff -- but if he can sing at all, he can start recreating the songs he likes best.

Rockin' Doc Dec 12 2011 08:19 PM Re: Learning guitar...

Fman99 wrote: I have been playing guitar for twenty years, self taught. Here's what I'd suggest. Go to a music store and look for guitar fakebooks with songs by the artists he enjoys the most. He'll have lyrics in front of him as well as the chords in the song and small tablature diagrams on how to play those chords. I taught myself to play the guitar in college, initially, with nothing more than a guitar and a 500 page Beatles fakebook. The pages should look like this -- with pictures of the chords throughout the whole song. It won't work for every song -- especially something like "Day Tripper" which is built around a riff -- but if he can sing at all, he can start recreating the songs he likes best. His younger sister is the singer, my son is, shall we say, best suited to be an instrumentalist. He has been printing tab/chords (like your example) off the internet for individual songs off the internet. I will check to see what the local music stores have in the way of sheet music for guitar. I appreciate the input from everyone.

Edgy DC Dec 12 2011 08:34 PM Re: Learning guitar...

I've been playing guitar for 25 years*, and here's what I say: 1) Get an electric guitar. 2) Take some time. 3) Learn how to play. 4) With your hair combed right, and your pants fit tight, it's gonna be all right. 5) Go downtown where the agent man won't let you down. 6) Sell your soul to the company who are waiting there to sell plastic ware. 7) In a week or two, if you make the charts, the girls'll tear you apart. 8) Don't forget what you are. (You're a rock and roll star.) *And I suck fiercely.

Methead Dec 12 2011 08:44 PM Re: Learning guitar...

Nigel Tufnel wasn't the greatest guitar player, but he did have an armadillo in his trousers.

attgig Dec 13 2011 02:00 PM Re: Learning guitar...

Is the guitar he owns an acoustic or electric? if it's acoustic, make sure he gets his strumming. the changing your hands to the chords will take time, but he'll get there if he keeps playing. the strumming usually takes a while for a beginner to really get. when he listens to music with an acoustic, make sure he's listening to their strumming patterns. always be moving the hands up and down to the beat (hand goes down every down beat) and only touch the strings to the strumming pattern of the music.

Rockin' Doc Dec 13 2011 08:41 PM Re: Learning guitar...

attgig wrote: Is the guitar he owns an acoustic or electric? Both, but he he definitely seems to prefer the acoustic. attgig wrote: if it's acoustic, make sure he gets his strumming. the changing your hands to the chords will take time, but he'll get there if he keeps playing. the strumming usually takes a while for a beginner to really get. when he listens to music with an acoustic, make sure he's listening to their strumming patterns. always be moving the hands up and down to the beat (hand goes down every down beat) and only touch the strings to the strumming pattern of the music. Okay, you completely lost me. I have absolutely zero musical talent. I have no rhythm and couldn't tell a down beat if I were to get beat down by one. He will probably understand what you are talking about since he can read music from his days taking piano lessons as a youngster. I tell him that his biggest problem is that he has generally preferred to skip over strumming chords and jumped straight into finger picking the leads and solos. Patience is not one of his virtues. Single minded, dogged, Dogged persistence in pursuit of a goal is a trait that should help him learn guitar.

attgig Dec 15 2011 09:46 AM Re: Learning guitar...

finger picking leads and solos... sounds more like an electric man.