Just got a guitar!

[bryanthompson]

Just traded my 90-amp welder for this guitar: http://www.bmusic.com.au/prod1237.htm

My friend wants the welder to finish up his 240z v8 swap, and hasn't had time to learn to play. The guitar has less than an hour of playing time on it, and is in perfect shape.

Now to learn how to play...

[Don Ro]

Now that's one nifty rig. I like it in black.
Looking at amps now, I guess, eh?
.
I have a Martin J40M. Bought it new back in '88 after a heroin addict burglar snatched my Guild (among many other items).
I play 3-finger Miss. Delta Blues style...entertain myself, mostly.
.
Good luck...you'll have great fun, I'm sure.

[IROC]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Now to learn how to play...

I've been saying this since around...1980... :>)

Need an amp? I've got a Marshall VS265R in like new condition I'm selling...

Mike

[targa911S]

Nice axe. Looks good in black too.

Now..............

Just buy a Fender twin reverb and be done with it. Eventually you will anyway.

[IROC]

Originally posted by targa911S
Nice axe. Looks good in black too.

Now..............

Just buy a Fender twin reverb and be done with it. Eventually you will anyway.

Ha!! Fender! Waste of money!! :>) Just kidding. I've always been a Marshall fan which is interesting since I'm selling my Marshall now that I have a Univalve...

Mike

[targa911S]

As a bass player I only know what I hear from other guitar palyers...that's what I hear.

[bryanthompson]

Well, I've been practicing about 30 minutes a day for the last month... I can see some improvement, but this isn't as easy as I expected. I'm using the book & dvd, once I get good at those basics I want to start taking lessons.

My biggest problem seems to be in switching chords quickly. I can memorize the notes and move along reasonibly fast, but I have to pay a lot of attention to make sure I'm hitting the chord correctly.

But damn is it fun! I love it, I've finally found something that I can do for 20 minutes to clear my head during the day. I can't wait to get good!

[IROC]

I hear ya! I've been playing for about 25 years and I still suck. But...I love it. I get so much enjoyment from playing that my lack of prowess has not been a limiting factor.

For sure, playing guitar is not as easy and simple as some people make it look.

Practice will allow your fingers to automatically made the myriad of chord fingerings without even thinking about it. Bar chords will become your best friend... :>)

What type of stuff do you intend to learn/enjoy playing?

Mike

[bryanthompson]

Well, I took a quick listen through my iTunes library and found a few songs that have some decent guitar that I think I could learn. Here are a few with somewhat easy guitar.

White Stripes - We're going to be friends
Dashboard Confessional - Standard Lines
Lots of 3 Doors Down: It's not me; let me go; be somebody; The Real
Life; Behind those Eyes
Better than Ezra - Closer; Briefly

edit: didn't mean to submit already! I'm a compulsive tab + enter hitter.

Breaking Benjamin: So Cold,
Finger eleven - One thing
Fuel - Shimmer (of course!)
Oasis - everything they do with guitar
Seether - Broken (The non-Amy Lee Version)
Lots of Tenacious D (Almost have Kielbasa down)
Lots of Unwritten law

[Don 944 LA]

Now get a 7 string and REALLY be confused...

I like playing one of my 7-strings, then picking up one of the 6 strings. It feels like I'm playing a toothpick.

The song I'm currently working on is " Don't take me alive - Steely Dan "

I have been playing since about 1986 and have really gotten good within the past 5 years. I have all my equipment racks/amps/cabinets in storage, and I use a small pocket amp ( Korg/Toneworks Pandora) plugged into the computer.

welcome to guitar playing.

Don

[IROC]

I can play most of the songs off of the first 3 Doors Down album but haven't heard alot of their newer stuff. With the type of music you enjoy, I can reiterate that bar chords are going to be your friend. :>)

Definitely some good selections there. Breaking Benjamin (and Seether) has some pretty decent guitar tone.

[IROC]

Originally posted by Don 944 LA
The song I'm currently working on is " Don't take me alive - Steely Dan "

Yeah, my life's work seems to be learning "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush. I have gotten alot of peices down, but I doubt I will ever put it all together...

It's all fun, though!

Mike

[FrayAdjacent911]

For an amp, I like Laney. I had an LH50 and an LC50 that just sounded SO beautiful. Their tone is a little on the dark side, but it's so sweet...

[deathpunk dan]

I play in a semi-touring punk/rock and roll (more in common with 60's garage/detroit/NYC rock than pop punk) band and have had the good fortune to play with/rub shoulders with some pretty 'big' names (well, big fish in my pond anyway) and learn a lot from 'em.

I have a 1960 Les Paul Junior and a 1978 Les Paul Special, both TV yellow with P90 pickups. My main live rig is a Marshall 2205 JCM800 head into either a 1936 2x12 stuffed with Celestion greenbacks or a 1960 4x12 slant with greenbacks. I use a boss eq and stage tuner and monster cables plus the longest black leather strap I can find. homemade strap locks. I used to have flight cases from the hair band 'Extreme' but I was embarassed to use them so I sold them, replete with 'Extreme world tour 90' stencilled on them hahaha.

I used to play through a twin reverb (135w 1981 model) but it just did not break up enough for the crunch I needed despite using a tube screamer. Stupidly, I sold it. I shouldve kept it anyway.

My guitar heroes...hmm:
-Chuck Berry (the REAL king of rock and roll!)
-Keith Richards
-Ronnie Wood
-Billy Zoom (X)
-Johnny Thunders (NY Dolls)
-James Williamson/Ron Asheton (Stooges)
-Wayne Kramer/Sonic Smith (MC5)
-Ross the Boss (Dictators)
-Mick Ronson (Ziggy stardust and beyond era bowie)
-Bob Stinson (replacements)
-Izzy Stradlin (Guns and Roses -yet I cant stand Slash...)
-Euroboy (norwegian band Turbonegro)
-Dregen (swedish bands Hellacopters and Backyard Babies)

Sorry if I hijacked the thread...its cool to see other players on here!

[bryanthompson]

Not a hijack at all! I'm looking for good guitarists to learn from. It's crazy the amount of variety and styles there are... I didn't appreciate it at all until now, when I'm trying to find my style.

[David]

I been taking lessons for about 6 weeks now. I'm progressing very slowly. The lessons help some, but mainly they force me to practice so I'm not wasting my money. I pay $40 an hour, does that sound right?

I'm starting on an acoustic but I want play electric. Is this a good approach or should I just learn on electric?

Lastly, my fingers hate me.

[IROC]

$40/hour sounds decent if you "get what you pay for". I took two months of lessons and they were $15/hour. I took the lessons after playing for over 20 years and the single best thing I learned was to *listen* more carefully.

I think the single biggest factor in becoming a better guitar player is to have the desire to do so. Getting better takes time and effort, for sure.

IMHO, I would take lessons on the type of guitar (electric/acoustic) that you're going to be playing most often. If you're wanting to learn the entire Green Day collection, don't take lessons on an acoustic. Although most everything is interchangeable, there are styles that you'll learn on one that isn't totally applicable to the other.

Mike

[deathpunk dan]

watch it on Green Day comments...a good friend and longtime providence rock and roller is their touring backup guitarist..he actually let them sleep in his folk's living room in '91 when they first played out here and has stayed tight with them since.

And I agree- I took 4 lessons and then learned everything on my own. I already knew a lot of theory from taking piano lessons as a kid....when I was 16 and taking lessons all the instructors wanted to turn out mini Yngwie Malmsteens and crap like that.

blech.

Like most kids, I picked up a guitar wanting to learn Black Sabbath, Zeppelin etc and was discouraged at first. Seeing the Ramones at 14 changed everything. And the funny thing is, most classic rock bands have fairly rudimentary rhythm parts anyway.

Can I sweep pick arpeggio's now? Sure. Do I play like that? Hell no.

[Dantilla]

I know just enough to amaze myself. Loads of fun. My only amp is a small battery powered headphone thingy, but it has lots of effects, and sounds great. And I don't bug anybody else when I crank the distortion.

[jim72911t]

Besides practice and more practice, the best thing you can do is start playing with other people. Find another guitarist to bounce ideas off of and a drummer and bass player to provide some rhythm, and have at it. Doesn't matter if they're at the same level or ten times better, just do it. (crap, that sounded like a Nike commercial )

You'll learn a ton that way, as everyone has different styles and musical tastes. Heck, in my first band the only one who knew how to play was the guitar player (bar chords and some rudimentary leads); the rest of us literally had picked up our instruments only weeks before.

We were awful, but we were gigging within a month.

Have fun.

Jim