Starting to play guitar....really rewarding

[twobone]

A couple of years ago I picked up a Fender Squire and an amp as part of a mid-life crisis spending binge (along with a few skateboards and a pair of jeans that don't fit)...took a few lessons and then dropped it.

I recently picked it back up with the help of a friendly neighbor who gave me some chord pointers.

Now with more and more practice my left hand is starting to hit some of the harder chords.

I also picked up a guitar effects machine (Korg Pandora Mini). so the sound coming out can be tuned to sound like blues, pink floyd, etc..

Now with the help of the internet and all the chord to lyric mapping out there, I'm able to play (and I use that word loosely) along with my favourite bands.

I know I'm just a geek in his basement with a crappy guitar, but sure feels great

[szyzygy]

Congrats! The guitar its my first love in life. I've been playing for 23 years. Started out playing metal, now just classical.

Pm me if you ever want advice or tips.

[matthew-s]

I started about 9 months ago. Also sort of mid-life crisis / need a mental diversion thing.

It's going slow, but I keep telling myself at my age, I'm doing it for personal enjoyment, not to join a band.

I broke down and started to take lessons. That has been a good investment for me.

Good luck, and enjoy!

[twobone]

toughest thing is holding back on buying more guitars....its like upgrade-itis

Day dreaming about an Epiphone SG 400

[matthew-s]

Originally Posted by twobone

toughest thing is holding back on buying more guitars....its like upgrade-itis

Day dreaming about an Epiphone SG 400

I will say, it's worth just getting one good guitar. I have an american made telecaster. I always know it's way better than I am, and it makes the process more enjoyable. I also have decent amp.

I've been able to avoid upgrade-itis this way. I've found in the past, upgrade-itis takes the fun out of an endeavor. I've gotten burned out on it. If I choose to drop this, I also know it has resale value.

I was fortunate though - I was able to borrow a guitar for a few months - which was long enough to help me decide to pursue it. It would have been a lot harder to get a good guitar if I was unsure of my commitment.

[tmsautoart]

My grandfather was a jazz guitarist and gave me an old Gibson acoustic guitar as a teenager. For years I would just strum it and wish I could play.

Years later while in college I bought a Fender Squire with the thoughts of being in a hardcore punk band. How hard could it be. 3 chords was all i needed. Fast forward a few years, im in my late 30's and still hadn't learned anything. I was still going to learn someday.

Well.... That someday came and I finally told myself I was going to do it. I got a book, instructional DVD and stuck with it. The Internet helps. YouTube is great. I can now play numerous songs, know all of the basic chords and have really started learning some of the more complex chord structures.

It's great to be able to sit down and just play a few songs. Very rewarding.

[Rick Lee]

As long as you're motivated to get better, it's good to start out with a cheap guitar. It forces you to try harder. Acoustic is even better at building calluses and hand strength. I played on a cheapo for 18 mos. before I got a real guitar and I was almost instantly good once I got on the real guitar. It feels more rewarding too when you work up to it and feel like you've earned it. A real Les Paul was totally out my reach in those days, but it sure feels nice now to have one and be able to shred on it. My best friend in 8th grade had all the most expensive stuff, even a real Steinberger TransTrem, and he sucked in those days. It was always frustrating to see such good gear go to waste.

[Rikao4]

I simply lack the patience...
friends helped get/gave me guitars..
was up to 6...
down to 2..
I look at them..

Rika

[hardflex]

I learned on a 60's Stratocaster. I sure wish I had kept it. I currenlty have 7 guitars, 3 electrics, 3 Acoustics, and a Bass. I keep some tuned differently and play them all depending on my mood.

I find the lessons available on youtube make it a hundred times easier to expand your guitar playing in different areas. Its' a great time to learn. Good luck and keep at it !

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Get your Squier setup by someone good. A good setup can sometimes make a cheap guitar play very well.

Learning guitar is now easier than it has ever been. I had to play to records (which you SHOULD do anyway as it develops your ear) and the occasional tab from Guitar World. You Tube guitar tutorials blow me away.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by tmsautoart

My grandfather was a jazz guitarist and gave me an old Gibson acoustic guitar as a teenager. For years I would just strum it and wish I could play.

Years later while in college I bought a Fender Squire with the thoughts of being in a hardcore punk band. How hard could it be. 3 chords was all i needed. Fast forward a few years, im in my late 30's and still hadn't learned anything. I was still going to learn someday.

Well.... That someday came and I finally told myself I was going to do it. I got a book, instructional DVD and stuck with it. The Internet helps. YouTube is great. I can now play numerous songs, know all of the basic chords and have really started learning some of the more complex chord structures.

It's great to be able to sit down and just play a few songs. Very rewarding.

Do you still have the Gibson?

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Jared at Pelican Parts

Get your Squier setup by someone good. A good setup can sometimes make a cheap guitar play very well.

Learning guitar is now easier than it has ever been. I had to play to records (which you SHOULD do anyway as it develops your ear) and the occasional tab from Guitar World. You Tube guitar tutorials blow me away.

Yes, when I started it was LP's and cassettes. Play, pause, rewind, play, pause, rewind for hours and hours a day for years. Once in a while one of the guitar mags had tab for some of the songs I wanted to learn and even more seldom you could buy the Cherry Lane tab books for the whole albums. That stuff grows on trees now at every Guitar Center and there are even free play-along TAB sites out there. It's never been easier. There are some amazing kids on Youtube.

[Superman]

I started out playing my sister's acoustic guitar. It was an inexpensive guitar that had a VERY narrow neck, The action was not particularly good and with the very-narrow neck, my fingers had to be in exactly the right position to fret a string without damping its neighbors. Nevertheless, I had some friends who played and I would play along with them. There was no Internet, but these friends helped me learn the songs and it was fun to play music together. This was in the very early '70's.

Eventually, I came to understand that playing this cheap acoustic guitar with the narrow neck and poor action was like running with those lead weights on your ankles. When I got a chance to play an electric guitar with good action and a regular-width neck, the guitar almost seemed to play itself. Very easy compared to that old acoustic.

After learning guitar basics I purchased a bass guitar and a gigable amp (Sunn Concert Bass with 215SH speaker cabinet......wish I still had them) and was part of a band. Then there was another band. And another. Until about the late '70's when I got married, had kids, yadda yadda. I barely touched a stringed instrument for just over 30 years.

Then, late in 2010, I became interested in bass guitar again. The interest continued and I started playing again. Found a band that needed a bassist last Fall, and am now back to gigging. This experience has virtually saved my life. I have had some personal changes and challenges lately, and those things would have been terribly disturbing to me if not for music. Music can, in just a few minutes, wash away the stress and disappointment and replace them with joy and lightness of heart. Just like magic.

And so, I would STRONGLY encourage you or anyone to pick up an instrument and make music. It is an emotional and spiritual and creative "game-changer."

It sounds like you are at a point where you are indeed making music, and so I would say to you that from here forward, the rewards will come more quickly than they did when your left hand was less obedient. Now that you are starting to actually experience the joy of making music, I would encourage you to seek out similar souls to sit and jam with. They can help make you a better guitarist, and there will be moments when YOU, and not Page or Gilmour or Van Halen, are making your own music. When this happens, when you are in a mix with a couple of other musicians and the music is blending together to make something that sounds clean and clear and expressive and smooth, the experience is so uplifting that you will become addicted to creating music with other musicians. And that, my friend, is indescribably joy.

There are those who say that the moments we find ourselves creating wonderful-sounding music for an appreciative audience are better than sex. I suspect they probably lack my skill in the sex area but I can surely understand their assertion. Making music is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on. Seriously. When you are making good music for an appreciative audience......man, that's cool. REALLY cool.

[Rick Lee]

FWIW, I've always felt my right hand was the one that needed the most training. Left hand stuff always came natural. If you want to get good at finger picking, chicken picking, pick harmonics, clawing, plucking, speed picking, etc., the right hand is where it's at. Don't forget your right pinky is there for volume and tone knob effects too.

[Superman]

In the beginning, making chords with the left hand is the greatest challenge. But soon, making chords becomes the easy part, and the right hand becomes the limitation.

[Rikao4]

am a true lefty...
but in the end..
that's just another excuse...

Rika

[nostatic]

fwiw I suggest finding a decent teacher and taking some lessons so that you don't adopt bad habits early on.

[algs911]

twobone, I went through the exact same experience 2.5 years ago. I'm not the lead singer and rhythm guitar player in a band. Keep it up! I find it VERY stress relieving, fun, and just hard enough to keep me in that "Zen" mode.

My 12-y-o son also picked up playing guitar. Two years ago he actually performed in the 5th grade talent show. Not too shabby!!! CamSong.mpg - YouTube.

Awesome thread!

Al

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Jared at Pelican Parts

Get your Squier setup by someone good. A good setup can sometimes make a cheap guitar play very well.

Bought a Squier for my daughter on Ebay when she was just starting. Was crap. Not because it was a bad guitar but because it was corroded where it should not be. Amp was good and the whole setup cost under $100 so I kept it. Never had it "set up". Suspect it should be relatively inexpensive for a pro to clean and dial it in.

However, felt like a schmuck for cheesing out on her and went the other $$ direction and bought her a new black and white polka-dot Buddy Guy Strat.

So a couple of months later I am listening to the Stones "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and I say "Hey April, find the tab and learn this one." She finds it and says immediately "It's too hard, Daddy"

So I grounded her. Three months of lessons for what, I say. :-)

[twobone]

Bob, it could not be worse than my parents. They bought my son a kiddy-toy guitar so he could have lessons. A little blue one that will not hold the strings in tune for more than 12 seconds. What were they thinking.

My 10 year old has been using my Fender Squire.