When you first started playing...

[rgordon83]

How did you go about learning guitar when you first started playing? Did you take lessons? Learn from a friend? a book? over the internet?

 

Did you start with theory? or did you learn that after you had been playing for a few years?

 

What were some of the biggest challenges for you when you first started playing?

 

I am starting a blog with lessons and resources (you can see it in my sig) and i'm trying to see what needs i should address. Some feedback would be great.

[Derrick1642607670]

5th chords

[A String]

I started by learning chords. After I had memorized the basics, I got a big book full of all of the Beatles songs, with little chord diagrams above the music. I was able to learn a ton of songs and through that, learn a ton of new chords.

 

[Rampdog]

I learned to play Gloria for chords and the one string lead to Satisfaction... (I alomost got em down now.)

[mdrs]

I started by learning chords. After I had memorized the basics, I got a big book full of all of the Beatles songs, with little chord diagrams above the music. I was able to learn a ton of songs and through that, learn a ton of new chords.

 

I did exactly what A String did. This way gets you to where you can play a song fast. That keeps it fun.

 

First song I ever played was "Mandolin Wind" by Rod Stewart.....dates me, don't it? :grin:

[Hardtail]

I've been looking for a decent Beatles songbook. There's so many, I don't know which one to get.

[mdrs]

I like the books with the little chord/fretboard diagrams above the line of music. They don't seem to make them as much as when I was getting started.

[Gifthorse]

I started with classical, I seem to remember having a problem with rest strokes.

[rgordon83]

I started with classical, I seem to remember having a problem with rest strokes.

 

not to be confused with breast strokes. That always gave me trouble in swimming lessons....

[Bejeeber]

Started in junior high with a lot of enthusiasm, and a grumpy teacher who would only allow playing from the Mel Bay book. no. 1. No cool songs or riffs allowed. What a complete arse that guy was.

 

I quit the lessons right away and the guitar went in the closet for a few years until I met up with a GREAT rock teacher who on the first lesson showed me 12 bar blues playing and the pentatonic scale and how to use it for lead playing. During the next couple lessons I picked up how to learn stuff by ear off of recordings, and I took off like a rocket, as so many enthusiastic players at that age do (I know, because I later copped his teaching method and saw a lot of kids that age make tremendous progress real quickly).

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I started with classical, I seem to remember having a problem with rest strokes.

 

not to be confused with breast strokes. That always gave me trouble in swimming lessons....

 

Really? The only time I had trouble with breast stroking was on first dates.

 

 

Bejeeber: Was that Mel Bay's "Modern Guitar Method"? I was always amazed at their calling it "modern" when it seemed to have been written sometime in the 1940s. And in the edition I had, there was always that picture of Mel Bay on the back cover, looking as if he'd eaten something disagreeable. Having said that, I sometimes look for that series in second hand shops.

[Bejeeber]

That was the one. Actually not a bad book for learning to read standard notation on the guitar IMO, and I think it has sold like three bazillion copies, but I sure couldn't get into it when I was a junior high kid who just wanted to rock! :grin: Well that and breast strokes.

[The Big G]

I got a chord book and just started banging some very poor chords out, I wish i had went for lessons and learnt a fair bit more as i would be a better player today. (3 years banging away on an old acoustic in my room, not very progressive) Started at 31 which is late to be any real good, kids just fly through in comparison.

 

Get lessons !!!!!! play with other guitarists !!!!! it will help tons, that my advice.

 

G

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

That was the one. Actually not a bad book for learning to read standard notation on the guitar IMO, and I think it has sold like three bazillion copies, but I sure couldn't get into it when I was a junior high kid who just wanted to rock! :grin: Well that and breast strokes.

 

Yeah, same here.

 

Like I said, sometimes I keep an eye out for the old Mel Bay series when rummaging in 2nd hand bookshops. I'm sure there's some pretty good stuff in there.

 

 

 

Was music really as boring as that or did we change our expectations or what? Old manuals make playing guitar look like such a drag. And a very serious, humourless drag too.

 

For example, one the books that came with my first (2nd hand) guitar taught how to play excitin' stuff like "On Top Of Old Smokey". And there was another, thinner, book whose highlights included "Silent Night" and "Greensleeves".

 

But it was pretty much par for the course. The brass books I had included stuff like "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls". Did people ever think, "Wow! That's EXCITING! I can't wait to get this book home!"

 

How did that stuff ever sell? Especially in a world that since the 50s was used to the guitar as a happening rock and roll instrument? Some of these old books even had pictures of electric guitars, so it's not as if the authors were unaware of Leo Fender's efforts. Did people really buy guitars hoping to learn how to play "Greensleeves" (and- my cup runneth over- "Skip To My Lou"?)

 

When did guitar books change?

 

[Billster]

I took lessons, but I already had a few years of saxophone playing in, so I could already read music. Translating to the neck, and learning chord symbols was the main task.

 

My first teacher was more of a traditional folky/acoustic type player, but I learned a lot about the neck and using different chord shapes and positions.

 

I played all those "Jimmy Crack Corn" songs, but I played them on sax too, so what the hell. The point is that they are musical applications of different counting subdivisions. The other option is "etudes" which don't often sound very musical. OTOH, the etudes force you to really learn the count, or fingering, or whatever because you can't fall back on familiarity. If you are asked to play "Jimmy Crack Corn", you might be able to play it without actually concentrating on the counting or reading the written notes; since it's a familiar melody you might be able to fake through it without learning anything about the inner workings of the music.

[Hardtail]

Yeah, same here.

 

Like I said, sometimes I keep an eye out for the old Mel Bay series when rummaging in 2nd hand bookshops. I'm sure there's some pretty good stuff in there.

 

 

 

Was music really as boring as that or did we change our expectations or what? Old manuals make playing guitar look like such a drag. And a very serious, humourless drag too.

 

For example, one the books that came with my first (2nd hand) guitar taught how to play excitin' stuff like "On Top Of Old Smokey". And there was another, thinner, book whose highlights included "Silent Night" and "Greensleeves".

 

But it was pretty much par for the course. The brass books I had included stuff like "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls". Did people ever think, "Wow! That's EXCITING! I can't wait to get this book home!"

 

How did that stuff ever sell? Especially in a world that since the 50s was used to the guitar as a happening rock and roll instrument? Some of these old books even had pictures of electric guitars, so it's not as if the authors were unaware of Leo Fender's efforts. Did people really buy guitars hoping to learn how to play "Greensleeves" (and- my cup runneth over- "Skip To My Lou"?)

 

When did guitar books change?

 

I grew up taking lessons from the old Mel Bay books (the Modern Guitar ones). It got a bit dull at times but by the time I got my cheap Japanese Magnum Les Paul (that I thought looked like Jimmy Page's at the time), I was ready to rock and had the ear for it.

 

As far as when things changed? Probably when magazines started putting out tabbed versions of rock songs... maybe the early 80s. That's how I remember it anyways.

 

funkjazz sent me some pdf scans of some old, old guitar books a year ago. I mean these things were written in the 50s. There was definitely more emphasis on reading music and knowing theory then than some of the newer books I see now.

 

I used to be a very good sight reader for the guitar but I admittedly lost it a little. I mostly learn a tune by ear these days.

 

[Mudcat]

I started off trying to play based on chord diagrams in sheet music books. I quickly discovered the songs were rarely in the correct key and often had incorret chord formations.

 

Next I got a book on bar chords which was a HUGE help. Learning how to play the barred major formation with the root on the fifth string was a BIG challenge.

 

After discovering none of the guys I jammed with (IE. made noise with) could play lead, I got a book on rock & blues scales. From this I started to improvise lead lines.

 

Somewhere along the way I took 4 or 5 lessons from a fellow named Dave Mason (no, not "the" Dave Mason) and he helped me a bit with my picking/strumming technique. Other than this, the lessons didn't seem particularly productive so I quit.

 

My playing REALLY improved in college when I started gigging with a band and also started going out frequently to watch other guitarists live. To me, if you are going to play rock, pop or country, playing in a band and watching other guitarists is invaluable experience for improving as a guitarist.

[Zuben]

When dirt was young

[Squ]

I learnt a lot from this book:

 

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?item=2960002&cart=3261735613

 

Unfortunately I didn't really know the theory before I learnt the songs, so I forgot a lot of them. Now I am relearning and remembering though!

[Hardtail]

I learnt a lot from this book:

 

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?item=2960002&cart=3261735613

 

Unfortunately I didn't really know the theory before I learnt the songs, so I forgot a lot of them. Now I am relearning and remembering though!

 

I have that one myself.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I started off trying to play based on chord diagrams in sheet music books. I quickly discovered the songs were rarely in the correct key and often had incorret chord formations.

 

Yeah, I've often wondered about that myself. I can't see why or how people could transcribe songs and make so many mistakes unless it was intentional and I was missing the point, somehow.

 

I think the problem was that those "old school" guys were trying to transcribe a full band's harmonies into music for a single guitar. ALL of the harmonies.

 

Now... normally, when we work out a song, we apply some sort of selective hearing and if a keyboard (say) is off doing some weird counterpoint thing in a corner we tend to ignore it, realizing that it is not essential to the song. The old style transcribers WOULD try to include that counterpoint keyboard line and eventually come up with something that was neither fish nor fowl. SIgnificantly, the weirdest chord diagrams I've seen are for 60s songs with strings and/or a full orchestra. Those ones NEVER make sense.

 

It's the only explanation I have. If it wasn't intentional, why did noboy realize that most of those chord transcriptions were totally off?

[geoffk]

Got a good book by Happy Traum after the 'folk guitar' stuff folks are mentioning above. The coolest thing in there was bass lines around the moveable C7th position.

[Megiliel]

When I started off playing, I actually didn't want to learn to play, so I was for all intents and purposes forced to take lessons. Then I realized it was awesome and I started to learn from a really good book (forgot the name) and played by ear.

[alittlebatty]

I started off with a nylon string guitar from Thrifty drug store and a Don Commando Vol 1 book-I taught myself to read music at 11,and had guitar lessons at a guitar shop in Santa Monica during my high school years. Lets see...there was a Gene Leis guitar book I had as well,which taught me chords. I was likewise discouraged by songbooks being in the wrong key-I thought I just couldn't play the songs right or something. I studied classical for a few years,and moved on to fingerpicking blues and then wound up with an electric and started learning rock guitar from a guy named Fred....wish I'd never lost contact with him-he was a blast to be with as he made me laugh a lot. Good guitarist & juggler!

[Durockrolly]

When I first started playing in the early 70's, I used to go watch bands, look at what shape their hand was in and go home and copy the shape all over the fretboard until it sounded like a chord. What really sucked was the band I used to go see the most was Van Halen at backyard partys.

[Griffinator]

I started on piano. I'm probably the wrong guy to ask.

[Chad Thorne]

...First song I ever played was "Mandolin Wind" by Rod Stewart.....dates me, don't it? :grin:

 

Please. You're a baby!

 

I bought my first guitar at age 13, in the summer. Played melodies with one finger until my parents bought me a book of folk tunes for Christmas, "John Henry", "Frankie and Johnny", etc. I progressed to buying individual pieces of sheet music for the Top 40 hits I wanted to learn (you could still do that then). The first ones I bought were for "Help" and "We Can Work It Out", which were on the charts just then. (Incidentally the first recording I ever bought was a, yes, 45 rpm record of "Ballad of the Green Beret" by Ssgt.Barry Sadler...)

 

The sheet music had those chord diagrams over the staff and I leasrned a buttload of chords that way.

 

Sight-reading and theory came in high school, though I never did much with it until later.

[Mudcat]

I started off trying to play based on chord diagrams in sheet music books. I quickly discovered the songs were rarely in the correct key and often had incorret chord formations.

 

Yeah, I've often wondered about that myself. I can't see why or how people could transcribe songs and make so many mistakes unless it was intentional and I was missing the point, somehow....

 

I've heard that most sheet music was/is geared toward piano so the songs are often transcribed to "piano" keys(hence all of the sheet music in the key of C). Don't know if this is true or not but it seems like a reasonable explanation.

[SJA]

I started with a songbook(Beatles). Learned the basic chords. My biggest challenge in the beginning was learning scales and alternate picking. Looking back I wish I had taken lessons. A good chord book is very helpful.

[Darcy H]

When I first started playing, around 12 or 13, it was on a cheap Les Paul copy, a buddy showed me a few Rush licks and I just played those over and over and over.....

 

I tried lessons but it was always simple single note songs like "Row, row, row your boat" and I quickly got bored and eventually dropped guitar.

 

In my thirties, I found myself with a great work schedule and tons of free time, so as I gift to myself, I figured I'd take it up again. A great instructor (who is now one of my best mates by the way) got me started in the right direction.

 

Now I rock!!! (that's sarcasm by the way..... )