Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Hi!
I really want to learn how to play guitar,but do I have to take lessons for that?Can books or Dvd:s or anything else teach me something? I really don't want to take lessons :-\
And does anyone know if there are any good "beginners pack" out there?
And if I want to learn how to play bass later,is it easier if I know how to play guitar?
I hope someone here can help me :)


Yeah,there is probably some threads about this out there,but I didn't know what to search for :-\

Check out the first page of this: http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=6602.0 (it's one of the stickies at the very top)

It's got a number of good places to start from. I never took any lessons, and learned the basics from cyberfret.com. Playing bass is IMO easier if you've played guitar before, as is playing the guitar if you've played bass.. they're not that different.

guitar world has a DVD with lessons on it for sale now....like 400 lessons from beginner to expert...i dunno how good it is but you may wanna check it out it's only like $13 CDN so prolly $10 US :peace:

No, u can learn entirely on your own. I recommend that over lessons, since u can go at ur own pace (plus u don't have to learn to play kiddie nursery rhymes first  :) )

The only possible downside is there's no one to push u along. You have to be sufficiently motivated or u'll stop after a few months. I've seen numerous friends who've done just that.

i basically did just that myself genesis, but i had a buddy that got me started and could show me stuff whenever i was ready to take another step

^ Great.   :)

@ Nighteyes: That and practice, practice, practice. Good Luck.

and if you get super frustrated and do put it down try and pick it up again a couple months later....guitar is weird that way at least for me....i can try and try to do something and fail then a week later it's gravy :peace:

It's not difficult.  I taught myself and have been playing for about 9 years now so I can do nearly anything. It's fun and great to play to any song you want - just get a good foundation of the basics and then fuck around 10 hours a day until you can't take it anymore... you'll get there.  Good luck  :peace:

Don't learn theory first, you'll want to quit. Just print out tabs. Just learn how to play based on this. Once you can play a bunch of tabs, start taking lessons to learn the theory behind it, because theory IS important for any musician. If you want to write music one day, or read music, or be able to play like Slash and others who play with scales and all that, you need to learn theory. It's much easier to take lessons than try to get bogged down with boring reading on it - trust me.

I can play guitar OK but I don't play it regularly. I learned piano first so it was easy for me to pick up guitar with little practice, once you learn one instrument it's easier to adapt to a new one - another reason theory helps!

But as I said I'd learn the basics of playing before attempting to learn theory.

Thank you so much guys!Really appreciate it  :-*

I've heard people say that you should start with acoustic guitar,and I've heard others say that it doesn't matter.Does it?

I've been looking for "beginners pack" and found these:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Special-II-Player-Pack?sku=518677
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-SG-Special-Electric-Guitar-Players-Pack?sku=518745
anyone knows if they're any good?
just have to find a site that ships to Europe :(

I recommend an acoustic. It helps build ur finger strength. The reason being u need to press much harder to get a sound out of the acoustic. Once u're comfortable with that, an electric should be a snap.

I interestingly enough teach people to play bass first, makes the transition to guitar easier cause they are use to moving up and down the fretboard.


Learn theory, learn actual chords


I hate kids today who all they can do is play a bunch of power cords and they think they are great guitar players.

Learn proper chords, barre chords.

Keep going with it once u get great at that, start learning how to solo, dont just stop once u get where u can put chords together.

Yeah, ALWAYS start acoustic. It's harder to play, toughens your fingers and is just a better overall way of learning.

I started on an electric........

I also started on an electric.

It has it's advantages and disadvantages.

An advantage is that if your fingers are not very strong it's still possible to practice 'clean' chords (as in you'll be able to actually play the chord), and get the fingers right without a fear of creating too much tension on the fingers. A disadvantage would be that crossing over to an acoustic is a bit harder.

I'd suggest starting on an acoustic if possible, but I for one didn't have the money to buy both at the time, and wanted to play an electric, so... It's not really a thing in terms of right or wrong (a lot of things in guitar playing are not), but a question of what suits you better.

Epihpone guitars are OK beginners guitars. Decent quality for a modest price.
The Amps in these packs will most certainly suck though. They all do :)
But a decent practise amp will cost you about 300 euros, so that's to be expected.

Just step into your local music store and get a demonstration, use your ears. If it sounds good enough, it is[/] good enough. Ask for basic lessons to get you started, then go off on your own and learn different styles. They usually have like a 10 lesson pack or so in most music shops. I started on acoustic (the nylon string variant), but electric should be just as good if you want to play rock n roll. There's plenty of ways to strengthen your fingers.

I disagree.
You can be a awesome musician without ever learning how to do 600 hammer-ons in 2 seconds. Take Joy Division for example. You can hear they really can't play shit, but who cares? They have their own way of transferring their feelings trough their instruments, which leads into awesome music.

I recommend first you experiment with different kind of music, then decide if the path you chose requires more advanced learning of theory and such.
And it can also frustrate you really quickly if you just keep on pushing with the theory stuff.

I started playing from tabs/notes and just kept on going, learning all the necessary stuff on the way. (I may not be able to play trough the latest Malmsteen album from start to finish, but I really don't even want to)
Just enjoy, no worries of? how many solos you can do and how fast. Then ofcourse if you wanna be the fastest...? :confused:

Don't get me wrong, ofcourse basic lessons and some theore are good, but theres always "that" limit. (IMO)

thanks guys :)

i think i'm gonna start with a fender dg8s pack,and later one of the electric guitar packs..yeah,it may seem stupid,but it's better that i buy something a little bit cheaper in the beginning,if it turns out that i don't wan't to play guitar (it's very unlikely,but anyway) and then buy something better later..

just how long should you play acoustic before you go over to electric?  :beer:

All up to you. When u feel confident that u can play anything u want on the acoustic. I still play an acoustic after 5 years, but that's b'coz I can't afford the electric I want.  :crying:

Only reason I dont recommend starting on an acoustic is cause it IS harder to play.

Some people get discouraged easily and when u start on an electric, u build confidence by changing chords.

Once u get the basics down, it is then easier to go to an acoustic and build up strength.


Im not sayin u have to do  600 hammer ons, its just people limit themselves on the guitar by learning power chords and then stopping their learning process.

I dont recommend doing that. I recommend learning as much as u can and if your style is Power Chord, Power Chord that is fine but at least know how to do some of the other stuff.

yeah i played acoustic for 4 years then got an electric...played it for 4 months and i hated it and went back to acoustic until now...well i get my electric @ xmas...i started playing in 1994

the thing i find for differences...an acoustic is more forgiving for finger placement in chords on electric you need to be more precise...but electric isn't as hard on your hands cuz you don't have to press as hard and the strings are lighter gauge...Nighteyes you should play what you want...if you really wanna play electric then get an elctric...cuz your not gonna dig the acoustic as much :peace: