help starting on guitar (+Word of Advice)

[Oddy]

well even though i don't have a guitar and have only ever had 3 weeks of experience i can tell you the most valuable thing i learnt. A simple blues scale that is movable up and down the fret board, with the note u start it on being the key, such as blues scale in A is starting the pattern at the 5th fret, blues scale in E at the 12th fret etc. Here it is in the key of A


E:----------------------------------------------------------5---8--------
B:-------------------------------------------------5---8-----------------
G:-----------------------------------5---7---8--------------------------
D:--------------------------5---7---------------------------------------
A:-------------5---6---7-----------------------------------------------
E:----5---8-------------------------------------------------------------

I hope that makes some sense, i think i have it right. There's tonnes of blues scales but this one is good because its movable, so you can improvise anywhere, just remember the root note (in this case A on the 6th string). God I can't wait to get my own guitar.


ps: why is it that my pic refuses to show?

[AdZ]

Yup, there's your standard blues scale, it works for any key, it's great.

[Slashisthebest]

Dude,

For the best wat to learn is by ear.  Don't look at a lot of tabs.  Devolping your ear to know chords and notes is frustrating, but once you get it down you can learn almost anything and you fell a real since of accomplishment.  Listen to lots of Slash and Pages stuff for devolping GNR style.  My ear has just recently come around and I am crusing now its alot easier.  Also I listen to a little Steive Ray Vaughn, his stuff will help you devople crazy skills.

Later,

Slashisthebest

[ktucker450]

yeah i also just found an electric guitar in my basement and have started screwin around, and i printed some GNR Riffs, and yeah, can somoene please tell me what the fuck the numbers on the guitar tabs mean please?

[Miz]

The numbers indicate the fret, while the six lines each represent a string on the geetar.   The top line is the top e string (the thinnest one) and the bottom line is the bottom e (thickest one).

I'm not entirely sure that learning by ear is the only way to go.  I mean, yes it lets you develop great skills for transcribing stuff yourself and recognising patterns, chords, notes etc.. but it doesn't really give you a huge chance to develop your technique.  I mean, look at classical musicians, how many concert pianists learnt just by ear? Or how many people in an orchestra...any orchestra?  My guess would be about none, and it probably wouldn't be too far from the truth.

I'm not saying only read tabs, or sheet music, but I do think it's important to get a good balance.

[AdZ]

I think learning by tab first and then developing your ear later on is a good way, but each person finds there one way I guess...

[Oddy]

well i've been playing since half way through november..............1...2.....3.........basically 3 and a bit months and all i can say while the method u choose to practice is pretty important, the ammount that you practice especially during those 1st times is crucial.

all i can say is practice practice.........and dont stop........think of the guitar as ur enemy........sitting there.......laughing at u cuz u can't do a certain lick or something..............are you just gonna sit there and let it laugh at you..........no you play it like a bitch and make it whine. Thats my philosophy, i play guitar as much as i can, i might miss a day but its no big deal it doesnt matter. Sometimes i might play 6 hours a day sometimes it might be 20mins.

im really developing a bad habit. Being the nocturnal person that i am, i've begun having night time practice sessions from like 2am to 7am everyday these past couple of weeks, i gotta stop that and change that to some time during the day cuz its not healthy.

another thing, yes when i 1st started i learnt so many songs (well tried to) before i learnt any musical theory or exercises etc. I rarely learn songs now, instead i learn technique, theory, scales, chords something new everday. Because once you do that its much better. Im finding myself able to create my own solos to songs (hotel california for example) just because i know the chords.....know the notes and which notes to use in the solos etc.

thats one thing, another thing is being able to play whats in your head exactly. When you can do that perfectly you're only limited by your imagination. So just say your humming a tune, try playing it on guitar, it may take a while, but its training your ear and letting you play off the top of your head.

thats just my ideas for learning, evry1's different but.

yeah thats enough from me, ahhh such a long post that nobody will read. Ah well 10 yrs time and maybe i will actually be a kick ass guitarist where pp will read wat i have to say.

[Captain P?l]

if you want to play guitar real good, do as our own duff sais he does!"So i played the guitar 'til my dick got hard. And i fucked that bitch night and day!"
yeah! those are really cool lyrics! duff rules!  

[slashman91]

first pick up a guitar teacher if your a begener and lear all of the basic chords like a,c ,d,g,e,and em next power chords witch you'll need for songs like mama kin. then lear your scales finaly and most important practie moving your fingres you might also want to pick up a wammy bar good luck  

[theblues]

I recently bougth a Peavey VTX Classic all tube amp....and heres my advice to all players who DONT own tubes....


DONT BUY SOLID STATE AMPS OR CHEAP AMP MODELING SYSTEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tubes own them all!

[EVH]

explain exactly what a tube amp is someone

[Miz]

It's and amplifier which uses vacuum tubes (or valves depending on what country you're in...) to amplify the guitar signal, as opposed to transistors.

[EVH]

so that makes it sound better?

[Miz]

Quite simply, yes.  The effect isn't as pronounced when it's clean, or when it's really quiet, but when you start to saturate the tubes, and send them into non-linear amplification, then the difference really becomes noticable.

[EVH]

Do Behringer make good amps?

-EM

[Miz]

Don't know much about them.  I didn't think they were that big on guitar amps, I thought they were more geared towards PA stuff.  But, i've never heard anything bad about them, but again, i've never heard anything good about them...I've never really heard anything about them.  The cabs are supposed to be ok, but nothing special.

[EVH]

well they have a 100 watt amp wit built in effects and stuff for 249.99 and i wanted to get that ..  but do you know any other good amps for about 250

[loretian]

I bought a pretty nice used Crate Stealth-50 amp awhile back, which is a tube amp.  My old amp was just a tiny Crate practice amp, so it wasn't that great of a comparison anyway, but the Stealth-50 defiinitely sounds a whole lot better.  It's like a different class of distortion.

The only thing that's weird is that it takes a minute or two to heat up before I can start using it.

[Skeba]

I recently bougth a Peavey VTX Classic all tube amp....and heres my advice to all players who DONT own tubes....


DONT BUY SOLID STATE AMPS OR CHEAP AMP MODELING SYSTEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tubes own them all!

Yes, because if you don't have enough money to buy a good all tube amp, you shouldn't buy anything. Hell I don't think one should even be allowed to play.
The truth is, that of course the all tube systems sound better. They soudn warmer and more rich, than any solid state device ever will.

But I - for one - do not have enough money to buy a good tube amp. Plus, I live in an apartment building, which means I can't play loud at home. And as you know, tubes don't sound half as good when played on low volume levels. So, what I did, was that I bought an amp modelling system that I can hook up to my computer via USB if I want to, and it sounds a lot better than any of the solid state amps (at least with the tones I'm playing with) that I've tried.

But for me... It really was about value for money, in which case the tube amps just weren't an option.

[Miz]

I recently bougth a Peavey VTX Classic all tube amp....and heres my advice to all players who DONT own tubes....


DONT BUY SOLID STATE AMPS OR CHEAP AMP MODELING SYSTEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tubes own them all!

Yes, because if you don't have enough money to buy a good all tube amp, you shouldn't buy anything. Hell I don't think one should even be allowed to play.
The truth is, that of course the all tube systems sound better. They soudn warmer and more rich, than any solid state device ever will.

But I - for one - do not have enough money to buy a good tube amp. Plus, I live in an apartment building, which means I can't play loud at home. And as you know, tubes don't sound half as good when played on low volume levels. So, what I did, was that I bought an amp modelling system that I can hook up to my computer via USB if I want to, and it sounds a lot better than any of the solid state amps (at least with the tones I'm playing with) that I've tried.

But for me... It really was about value for money, in which case the tube amps just weren't an option.

But some people who have money to burn still waste it on Line 6, Randall, or something like a Marshall Mode Four.  Now if all you want is pure distortion and scopped mids, then thats fine, but you know, if you want real tone...

But I completely agree with you, if you got no money (like me) then it's not feasible to buy tubes, and also, unless you've got either a soundproof room, or an extra ?200 to spend on a power soak then it's totally impractical as well.