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"Gei-tar"

Yes, another minion wants one. I wanna start playing. My mate has a Squire he never uses, and I'm sure its diabolical, but its going dirt cheap. I just need a few ideas to get started........ i.e any decent musical books etc, reccommended guitars if not his out of tune banger, etc.

Thanks.

Number of things - first, just learn on whatever you can get your hands on easiest as both have their advantages. I learnt on an acoustic; it's harder because of the bigger action, but then once you can play clean notes and chords on an acoustic an electric will seem like child's play. Also, you don't need to worry about the added expense of an amp. Sure, they aren't bank breakingly expensive, but then if you get serious you'll want to dump the cheap amp for a better model soon anyway. Lastly, you're far more likely to learn "properly" on an acoustic. On electric guitars it is too easy to get into just learning simple riffs by heart, acoustics push you in the other direction to rhythm guitar.

If you must get an electric look at the budget Yamaha model (think it's called the Pacific). Leagues better than the cheap and nasty Squire, but at a similar price.

Lessons - largely pointless. There's plenty of material out the on the internet. Best way to learn is to grab a pile of this and get stuck in, rather than paying £15 an hour to some guy who'll teach you things you'll immediately want to forget in the name of RAWK. Find some friends and pick their brains, play together. Find some good music and some tab and play along until you sound good. Practice is free and allows you to do learn what you want.

Lastly, don't believe the hype. Getting something tuneful and recognizable out of a guitar is easy - it must be one of the most basic instruments. There are clearly stages of difficulty, but the majority of guitar playing you'll hear isn't that technically accomplished and is easily replicated with a smidgen of effort. Notation has been boiled down into something anyone can understand – the standard tablature notation and chord boxes can be explained to someone with no musical knowledge in two minutes. I spent years learning traditional music theory and that just doesn’t come into guitar playing at all. Well, if you want to, you could use more conventional musical notation, but there’s no real advantage to be had by it. In short, just practice and find your own way of doing things. I hold the guitar all wrong, but still make it sound right. I couldn’t play some chord formations now without using my thumb to fret, but traditional lessons would say no no no to that. Still sounds the same.

I started on an acoustic and moved to an electric to find it was much easier. The thinner neck makes it easier to play chords too.

Thanks very much for the advice - particularly the guitar condition from Mr. Bigglesworth. I shall be certainly looking into that Pro program too.

Acoustics are NOT harder to learn on. Generally they are better, because without distortion you can hear your mistakes. They are also better for strumming chords on which is how most people start off. They are much harder to learn to play lead on however, and if you want to learn rock songs then an electric is probably a better bet.

Squires are very good value for money. The best guitars under £200. They are owned by Fender and are just cheap Fenders. Generally the timbers are decent enough and pickups are good if not exactly spectacular.

If you are considering buying it off of your mate check it over first. Make sure the neck isn't warped, i.e. it should be straight, not curvy along the fingerboard. Also check that the neck isn't loose, the tuning pegs work and that the whammy bar is working ok. And you want to hear it plugged in.

And get Total Guitar every month. £5 and it has CD's and tab, theory and other stuff. Teaches you so much.

I use Guitar Pro tabs. Best place to get them is mysongbook.com. Obviously you need Guitar Pro to open them.

Get Guitar Pro 4 from somewhere. It's a really cool program, because the bass and drums are usually tabbed in it too, and you can play the tabs in the program, which is really cool for playing along to.

I suggest getting some good practice with 'normal' chords first.

Learn C - A - D - G - E.

Then.....

A7th E7th D7th

Am Dm Em

Bah chord names suck :P

I know I won't play like a pro after a month :D

I just wanna play, and then maybe go more serious.

The guitar comes with an amp and stuff, so its all really a basis for a possible greater interest.

I really wanna try and learn some Pumpkins.

Memorandum! wrote:
> Acoustics are harder to learn on.

Agreed.

+ People with interest in more electric guitar based music will totally go off playing if they start on an acoustic. I found that when I started playing - an electric was more appealing.

Anyway Cyclone - Good man for wanting to learn the guitar. But remember it does take a lot of practice and you won't be playing like a pro after a month. (Sorry - I have to give this pep talk to everyone)

I suggest going for roughly 10 lessons to get you started on the basic material of the guitar, like chords and how to play them etc. If you wanna play like really proffesionally and good then its probably best to just have lessons all the time. I'm just a casual player - I play my guitar everyday for fun. I generally just self teach myself things and to some extent i'm getting pretty good!

Firstly check the guitar you are thinking of buying off your mate is in a good condition and does it come with an amp? You'll need one of those (prefrably a 15w one will do) and DEFINATLY an electronic guitar tuner (essential IMO). Go to the library and rent books to read etc.

With a bit of practice you'll be stringing chords together/playing your fave song and learning the beauty of powerchords! For guitar tabs (easy to read guitar music) I use www.mxtabs.net.

Currently i'm learning Enter Sandman (Metallica)

Are they? DAMN!

Then again, I don't play the guitar. I was only reitterating something I hear often.

Acoustics are harder to learn on.