Starting with the guitar

[dmcummins]

Well at 66 I decided to give playing guitar a shot. Had a acoustic back in college, but that was in the 70’s. So I’m starting from scratch.

I probably went a little overboard on the guitar, but I’m impatient and my son has a friend that sells guitars on the side. This was actually the least expensive one he had, and also the one I liked the best as far as looks. I’m old and this just looked like what a guitar is suppose to look like.

So I have a Gibson les Paul standard, and a orange amp with my wireless headphones hooked up to that.

So I’ve started with Andy guitar you tube lesson. So far so good, but my fingers are hurting.

Any suggestions?

[flatbutt]

First of all have fun. Grin through the fingertip "enhancement". They're going to hurt for awhile. edit...removed the arrogant question...my bad)

In either case I urge you to learn how to read music or at least tablature. Also , learning the scales in in the main positions and playing them over and over ad nauseum will build speed and fluency.

Now, FWIW my personal peeve. Guitar players that make a lot of the "zoot zoot" noise when changing hand positions because they drag their fingers on the strings while moving. FWIW

Have fun.

[LWJ]

I will go 180 from above.

I played bass for a long while. Read music. Won some awards. Whatever.

Never learned to read treble clef. Don’t read tab. Try this. Take a beginners class somewhere. Learn some chords and basic scales. And then take a blues class. Guitar and The Blues are like salt and pepper. They simply go together.

And, learn to improvise.

Phase two? Try a little jazz.

I’m serious. Playing Blues on guitar is so much better than that guy on Animal House playing some lame Folk song.

Congratulations. Les Paul’s are awesome.

[unclebilly]

I’ve been doing lessons with my daughter for about 3 months or so. It’s addicting.

[ramonesfreak]

Been playing daily almost 40 years now and still learning and still improving so don’t get discouraged. It’s an easy instrument to play but a difficult instrument to play well.

My callouses are gone if I don’t play for one week. Takes about another week to get them back. They are very important so work to get them asap. Just keeping mine is a reason to play every day.

Nice guitar. Can’t go wrong with a Les Paul std. Congrats

[porsche930dude]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

First of all have fun. Grin through the fingertip "enhancement". They're going to hurt for awhile. edit...removed the arrogant question...my bad)

In either case I urge you to learn how to read music or at least tablature. Also , learning the scales in in the main positions and playing them over and over ad nauseum will build speed and fluency.

Now, FWIW my personal peeve. Guitar players that make a lot of the "zoot zoot" noise when changing hand positions because they drag their fingers on the strings while moving. FWIW

Have fun.

I just got one that has smooth strings on it i think they are piano strings its a little weird but sounds good and doesnt zoot zoot

[wdfifteen]

I’m trying again. My wife gave me a Seagull acoustic just before we moved to the “ranch”. Between the arthritis in my hands and the work load here I didn’t get far. I’m following along with the Apple GarageBand app. The lessons are OK as far as I know, but I’m having trouble with the built in tuner. When the tuner says it’s right, the B string sounds awful. If I tune it to sound like the guitar the guy who is leading the lesson sounds, the tuner says it’s way out. I do have a tin ear, so I don’t trust it.
Is there an on-line app that will give me the note and let me try to match it? What should I do?

[Steve Carlton]

I like the Airyware Tuner application on my iPhone. It's inexpensive and easy to read. I don't think my clip on tuner does any better.

When you tune to a note, sharpen into it. Don't flatten the note to get there, or if you do, stretch the string a little to relieve the slack. I find the tuning on the guitar changes as you play a while- warms up or something.

[ckcarr]

All you have to learn is Link Wray "Rumble." Just play that all day long!

On the other hand, I watched an interview with Steve Morse and it can really get complex and discouraging.

[ckcarr]

You can't go wrong buying quality.
I bought this around 30 years ago

[HobieMarty]

I would love to find the time to learn how to play this, my Grandfather's 1965 Silvertone. Guitar and amp were made by Danelectro.

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[LWJ]

^^^Hobie

I have a similar amp. It will need a grounded power cord. Trust me on this.

It may sound like poop. Or, it may sound awful. Still it will be fun to play with. Very cool.

[HobieMarty]

I've messed around with it and it sounds fantastic. The Tremolo is a lot of fun to play around with.

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[craigster59]

Start with something easy on that Silvertone. D,A,G. Get the strumming hand going and have fun with it.



Pretty soon it will sound like this.....

[ramonesfreak]

Love those Silvertone amps. Nice Zep I tones can be had

[Superman]

Originally Posted by dmcummins

.... my fingers are hurting....

Yup. Ends of the fingers, right? The solution is playing more. Guys who play acoustic regularly sometimes have finger callouses that phlebotomists cannot pierce.

Originally Posted by LWJ

...take a blues class. Guitar and The Blues are like salt and pepper. They simply go together. ...learn to improvise..... lame Folk song.

Blues is basically the father of modern popular music. Uniquely American. Gave rise to Jazz, Country, etc. If you can pllay 1-4-5 chords, then you already know thousands of songs. Add the 2 and 6 chords, and you know thousands more. Plus....blues is fun to play. Listen to some Delbert Clinton. You're welcome.

But I would not agree that folk is lame. Playing guitar, you will develop some style and preference. Some guys just want to play lead....wailing, screaming, successions of single notes and string stretching. Poor bastids. Others focus on rhythm guitar. If you do this, then you can play songs. Folk-type stuff lends itself to open mic performance.

Originally Posted by unclebilly

.... It’s addicting.

Yes it is. Really a joy.

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

.... Airyware Tuner .... clip on tuner does any better... I find the tuning on the guitar changes as you play a while- warms up or something.

Polytune (TC Electronic). You're welcome.

Originally Posted by LWJ

.... It will need a grounded power cord. Trust me on this. ...

Some of the older stuff have the "death cap" which can allow the ground to become energized if it fails. The "hot" circuit is actually connected to the neutral circuit, believe it or not. Some of the (DC) voltages in tube amps are much higher than the 120 volts (AC) coming from your wall. Any competent tube amp tech can identify this in about two seconds and can fix it in about three minutes.

You'll pay a "bench fee."

My path is different from yours. I am a gigging bass player whose career is likely about over. Partly because live bands in nightclubs are not common these days, and partly because of arthritis at the basses of my thumbs, near the wrist. I am grateful though, to music. While wearing clothes, the funnest thing is to stand on a stage playing music for a hundred or a thousand deliriously happy people dancing their asses off. SO much fun.

[dmcummins]

Here is a update, I’ve been using Justin guitar and guitar tricks for lessons. The fingers are fine now and I’m doing ok on most of the open chords, I’m slow on the full f chord. I’m on power chords now.

I can play some basic songs now and a few riffs, along with a few scales. I spend at least a hour a day on the guitar.

I like the Justin guitar songbook where the chords pop up and there is a backing track with vocals to play to. But guitar tricks explains how to play some of the songs a little better and I can figure out the tabs for the single notes easier. So I’ve paid for both for a year.

[dmcummins]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

You can't go wrong buying quality.
I bought this around 30 years ago

Wow!!, that top sure looks nice. Mine is on the plain side, I’m a little impatient and really didn’t look around any. But after checking, after I already paid for it, I find that I got a decent deal.

[brp914]

fwiw and maybe not much at that, years ago, I got a Les Paul and gave it a solid go. I became fairly proficient with many chords, scales, and riffs. But it took a good 10 minutes warm up to get to where I was the prior day. Despite the old saying, practice doesn't necessarily mean perfect. It could mean "meh". I wasn't cut out for it and gave it up. On the upside, I escaped with my joints intact. I saw Les Paul play at House of Blues shortly before he died, joined by Slash and others. He was having a hard time playing. The joints on his hand looked like knots on a tree branch.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Start with something easy on that Silvertone. D,A,G. Get the strumming hand going and have fun with it.



Pretty soon it will sound like this.....

I would love to learn how to play this!!!

https://youtu.be/ucTg6rZJCu4?si=DjiDIsFW1XXXzl9q

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