So I'm trying to learn guitar.....

[stealthn]

And boy do my fingers hurt

No really, I am a drummer but I thought I would really like to learn guitar (I have 3) even at my advanced age. :P

I found out something REALLY cool, reading a Mac article on the latest Garage Band which I have and never use, it's got full teaching in it that is done the best I have seen.

The totally cool feature is you can download artists songs for a fee, and the artist will teach you their song! Sting is going to teach me Roxanne for $6.50, Then I'm going to learn Black coffee in bed by squeeze, then maybe some Proud Mary.

They have guitar and piano, so you could get Nora Jones to teach you Thinking about you.

Now if I could only get these meat hook sausages to curve and bend the way I want...is it possible my fingers are too fat for guitar?

Anyway if you have Garage band 11 check it out.


Bob

[JMPRO]

You can do it. Just look at this guys fingers.
YouTube - Redd Volkaert & Bill Kirchen (Twangbangers) - "TUBE'N"

[Lothar]

I played keys in my early musical life, gave it up for about 25 years, picked up a strat in '09 and have been playing almost every day since. There are a lot of ways to learn these days. There's some good stuff online and some good YouTube lessons. There are also some really bad 8 year old kids with a kit in the box guitar that think they are ready to post You Tube lessons that really suck.

My daughter bought a bass guitar and is learning from a book and dvd for now. I've discovered that I really like bass, maybe more than guitar. Funny thing is that I am playing my daughter's Squire Jazz bass. She's a righty and I'm a southpaw. Playing upside-down really sucks, so I guess I will have to find a lefty. That said, bass came naturally. My next challenge will be relearning a lot on a lefty bass that is properly strung for me.

[9dreizig]

What's garage band? I found Justin guitar dot com really good and donations only

[stealthn]

Garage Band is a Macintosh application that's in the iLife package of products (it may just come in the OS install, but I'm not sure.

I just downloaded a bunch more content and I'm really surprised, it goes into 12 bar blues, classic riffs, etc.

Took me all night, but I think I've got the intro to Roxanne (Stings' a great teacher ), now on to the next lesson.

Downloading does take forever as some of the lessons are bigger than 1.5 G

[Rick Lee]

Man, the new players have it so much easier than it used to be. I remember when TAB books were very hard to come by, no Youtube, no Internet, no iPods and no CD's. Back then it was all by ear. Play, pause, rewind, play and repeat. It was a lot more difficult and you often got it wrong. But it made your ears very sharp. I was playing plenty of Van Halen and Rush songs wrong until I had good seats at a concert and saw up close how they did it right. Now I just go to Youtube and find the guy with the most views and compliments and figure he has it right.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Man, the new players have it so much easier than it used to be. I remember when TAB books were very hard to come by, no Youtube, no Internet, no iPods and no CD's. Back then it was all by ear. Play, pause, rewind, play and repeat. It was a lot more difficult and you often got it wrong. But it made your ears very sharp. I was playing plenty of Van Halen and Rush songs wrong until I had good seats at a concert and saw up close how they did it right. Now I just go to Youtube and find the guy with the most views and compliments and figure he has it right.

Yeah well, if it's so easy how come I'm still so bad at it?

Oh that's right, no talent. Never mind.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Yeah well, if it's so easy how come I'm still so bad at it?

Oh that's right, no talent. Never mind.

Well, it does take a lot of practice. But the main thing is to practice the right things and to not develop bad habits. Unlearning bad habits and techniques is harder than doing it right the first time.

One of the best ears I've ever known was the guy who played drums in my college band. He was a horrible guitar player, but when I couldn't figure something out by ear, I put him on it and he could do it. He could never play it correctly on a guitar, but I could figure it out from there, once he showed me how he stumbled around it.

A lot of DIY guitar learners practice inefficient motion, sort of like slapping the water when you swim. You have to learn all the tricks like double picking, sweep picking, palm muting, muting strings you're not playing, vibrato, pick harmonics, angle of attack, strumming near the bridge or near the neck and many, many more. Just knowing the notes and even the groove of the song is only half the battle.

[stealthn]

And how long do good calluses (sp?) take to build up?

Just for you Rick I am going to download Working Man, Tom Sawyer, and The Spirit of the Radio and let Alex teach them to me himself

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by stealthn

And how long do good calluses (sp?) take to build up?

Just for you Rick I am going to download Working Man, Tom Sawyer, and The Spirit of the Radio and let Alex teach them to me himself

a good long while. ymmv

[Rick Lee]

If you're a noob, calluses take about six mos. I have them on all my fingers and, after so many years, they're just about permanent.

[Erakad]

I'm learning too, I've been following the lessons on justinguitar.com. Has videos, good to know stuff about guitars, tuning, etc.

[campbellcj]

My son started playing a few months ago and just got a cool little Fender amp that plugs into the computer and can be used with Garageband etc. Looks like fun and I am thinking about taking a crack at it myself! I played piano as a kid but have been away from any sort of instruments since.

My worry is that my hands/fingers are a bit weak and painful sometimes including a touch of arthritis in the thumbs. 30 years of heavy daily computer use will do that. Will guitar (or piano) help or just expedite the damage?

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

A lot of DIY guitar learners practice inefficient motion,

My main problem exactly...

[azasadny]

Bob,
Take your guitar to a guitar tech and have it setup. This makes a huge difference and will make it easier to play the guitar. The string height, fretboard, bridge, tension rod, etc... all may need to be adjusted. I'm a drummer, too and I just had my son's guitars setup and it made a huge difference!

[stealthn]

Thanks yes I had my Kramer V setup by a local store but I still need to take in my Hammer to have it done, it sounds like crap.

I'm switching between acoustic and the V right now so it's not the guitars that sound bad

Man my fingers hurt....

[Rick Lee]

Find a buddy who can show you how to set it up yourself. I found a pro who let me watch it once and, though I was very thankful to him, I never had to take a guitar to a pro again. It's not that hard to DIY and, when you really have it down, it gives you a little more understanding of how it all comes together. What I could never figure out is how some of these guys can tune a single string the middle of a song. I remember seeing Yngwie in a club long ago and, as he uses vintage Strats and beats the hell out of them, they're always going out of tune. It was amazing to watch him just shredding some solo and then reach up and turn a tuning peg in a fraction of a second and come right back in.

[HardDrive]

Thanks for tip Bob. I had no idea Garage Band had this.

[porsche4life]

Wow just found this thread and opened garage band and there it was.... I know I'll never be great, but even mediocre impresses the ladies....

[5String43]

It's the same way you get to Carnagie Hall: Practice, son, practice. Don't overdo it. Pretty quick you'll have calluses on the fingertips you're using to fret the guitar. When that happens, it'll get a lot less unconfortable.

And if you're playing electric, so many of which use really light strings, so much the better.

But I'm not so sure about learning songs. I should think you'd want to learn chords first. Just depends where you want to go, I guess.