Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject:
Beginner Guitar Lessons on the Web Subject description: Where are some good ones?
Hi, I am the proud owner of a brand new shiny black Fender Stratocaster (Squire Affinity Series) and a Line 6 amp. I am shocked and amazed at how beautiful and powerful they sound! The only problem is I have no idea how to play the guitar. So of course I checked the web but I ran into information overload fast!
Some sites claim to have beginner lessons but they are buried within the site underneath videos and ads. Other sites have a zillion links and none of them say "guitar for dummies", which is what I want - a simple, basic introduction, perhaps just some chords. It's like they are all throwing eye candy at me and what I want is something much simpler.
So, can you suggest some good beginner lessons? Thanks in advance. _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject:
Thanks, Jan, that is probably the single most important image(s) to start with, I guess. I was looking for a chord chart but found eye candy instead. I'm also trying to familiarize myself with the string positions by playing a peekaboo game with random string plucking - can I hit string 4 this time? Gracias amigo. _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
I find instructional books more helpful than on-screen tuition, for the simple reason that they're ad free - and you can take them to another room. Then again, it all depends on what you want to do; If you want to learn some of the many idioms of the guitar, you need a good instruction book, but if you just want to generate sounds to "mangle" electronically, you can basically bash the guitar any old how! _________________ Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
Lin Yutang (1895-1976)
I really like how he starts you off with the intervals, and introduces the notes on the fretboard and open strings.
I taught myself with the Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer and the Fretboard Logic books (vols 1 and 2). I then took lessons with teachers for a little while. The most valuable thing I learned from them:
- The Intervals
- How to build chords out of Intervals (aka "Chord Construction")
- One does not have to play all 6 strings when playing chords - in fact just 3 or even only 2 strings are enough.
An interval is the most atomic unit in music. If you stack intervals, you get a chorsd. If you make a sequence of intervals, you get a melody. Learn them and your overall learning on guitar will be tremendously accelerated. People will marvel at your "amazing ear" when you jam with them. _________________ Current and recent work on Soundcloud
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:17 am Post subject:
Wow, thanks for all the great advice, folks! I am going thru the tutorials now, though I had to take a long nap this morning (I sleep around the clock in naps). I'm doing a little reading, a little playing, a little posting, and cycling between those three right now.
I'll buy a book next month when I can afford to, and use the web resources for the first month. Fortunately I have lots of time for this, I'm having a ball and your help is appreciated! _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1349 Location: Washington DC Metro
G2 patch files: 1
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 10:21 am Post subject:
Yeah, when you first issued a challenge to better the Roland VG-99 user interface (I assume that's why you posted on that thread), I thought you already knew how to play guitar. That's a tall order, but no doubt you are up to it.
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 11:29 am Post subject:
GovernorSilver wrote:
Yeah, when you first issued a challenge to better the Roland VG-99 user interface (I assume that's why you posted on that thread), I thought you already knew how to play guitar. That's a tall order, but no doubt you are up to it.
Good luck!
Oh, I'm not sure about better or challenge, I'm just doing my thing and hoping it will turn out great! I've made a mouse-driven prototype of the software and it's way cool to me at least. We will see if the accelerometer solution works out. Funny, my mom's hippie friend said that the word accelerometer sounded like something from the Jetson's cartoon: "Yes, Mr. Spacely, I'm working on the accelerometer right now!" Haha _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
I really like how he starts you off with the intervals, and introduces the notes on the fretboard and open strings.
I've just gone through the first lesson, and I feel that it is very good instruction. The author goes slow and walks you through the way that the fretboard is "spelled". I remain a little confused as to why the strings are set up the way they are and why the notes and half-notes are set up that way, but I'm just taking it all as gospel and memorizing it.
For practice, I can do an E-major chord and a D-major chord, and slowly switch between them. Then I pluck each string from low to high while holding a chord to verify that each string is "ringing" properly and not muted or buzzing. I'm finding that my fat fingers are too big for the fretboard, but I can manage with very careful placement of the fingers.
Also for practice, I am playing sequences of notes on the fretboard, say for example: all the "A" notes on the first 12 frets from low E string to high E string.
So the practice includes some chording and some plucking for a mix of skill development. It is just barely beginning to feel comfortable, I can't wait for my brain to catch up with my imagination! _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
I remain a little confused as to why the strings are set up the way they are and why the notes and half-notes are set up that way, but I'm just taking it all as gospel and memorizing it.
There are alternate tunings, but maybe that's something for later on.
Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 2518 Location: San Jose, California
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 1
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 11:56 am Post subject:
Re: Beginner Guitar Lessons on the Web Subject description: Where are some good ones?
Inventor wrote:
Some sites claim to have beginner lessons but they are buried within the site underneath videos and ads. Other sites have a zillion links and none of them say "guitar for dummies", which is what I want - a simple, basic introduction, perhaps just some chords. It's like they are all throwing eye candy at me and what I want is something much simpler.
So, can you suggest some good beginner lessons? Thanks in advance.
I've found some free guitar lesson videos on YouTube a few weeks ago.
Some of the video quality makes the vids hard to see though.
One of the vids had a link to the guys' website that has many beginner videos. I didn't have to pay for any of these, although donations are possible.
You dont need an account to login either. Just click _________________ Free Tibet. Release the Panchen Lama from prison. Let the Dalai Lama return to his home.
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 4145 Location: Sweden
Audio files: 373
G2 patch files: 100
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 1:02 pm Post subject:
Blue Hell wrote:
Inventor wrote:
I remain a little confused as to why the strings are set up the way they are and why the notes and half-notes are set up that way, but I'm just taking it all as gospel and memorizing it.
There are alternate tunings, but maybe that's something for later on.
I went to lessons in classical guitar when I was young (before I reached teenage I think), and after a while my teacher threw me out because I didn't practice enough - one of those lifetime regrets. Anyway, a couple years later I started taking lessons in electric organ (much easier). Then even more years later I found my old guitar and started to try to remember my old lessons and imitate rock stuff.
A lightbulb went off above my head when I realized the connection between the way the guitar strings are layed out and the piano keyboard, how you can think of each string as a flattened keyboard (black keys painted white and placed next to the "rightful" white keys so that they're indistinguishable. And they're tuned to facilitate playing many different chords and note successions according to the locally common scales (especially e-major and its friends). One of those things that seem so obvious now but were once mysterious and confusing...
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject:
I am looking for a quality online guitar lesson Subject description: guitar lesson
I am a guitar lesson learner and I am looking for a quality online guitar lesson site. Can anyone who has experience with them recommend good online guitar lesson websites? There are so many of them it's tough to weed out the good ones from the lame ones. If you have no experience with any of them, please don't reply. Any helpful information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
______________
electric guitar lessons Last edited by marena on Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Dec 24, 2004 Posts: 2518 Location: San Jose, California
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 1
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:
Re: I am looking for a quality online guitar lesson Subject description: guitar lesson
marena wrote:
I am a guitar lesson learner and I am looking for a quality online guitar lesson site. Can anyone who has experience with them recommend good online guitar lesson websites? There are so many of them it's tough to weed out the good ones from the lame ones. If you have no experience with any of them, please don't reply. Any helpful information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Quote:
I've found some free guitar lesson videos on YouTube a few weeks ago.
Some of the video quality makes the vids hard to see though.
One of the vids had a link to the guys' website that has many beginner videos. I didn't have to pay for any of these, although donations are possible.
You dont need an account to login either. Just click
_________________ Free Tibet. Release the Panchen Lama from prison. Let the Dalai Lama return to his home.
Tony, I don't think that is the answer marena is happy with.
See marena is not really from NY but from India rather. In a little while the other person will show up, also claiming to be from the US or Europe maybe, using an IP address located in India or China, with the answer that marena wants.
At that very moment (or maybe a bit later) things will annihilate resulting in the permanent loss of two member IDs, it's so sad, such a waste of numbers ... and yet so inevitable
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:39 am Post subject:
I got so excited about guitar practicing and so bored with doing the same old thing over and over that I wrote an application in ChucK to teach me. It has a random quiz mode of fret notes and chords, plus I also just added song support for the song "Back in Black by AC/DC". This morning I just finished making a bullseye LED display of correct and incorrect notes. I posted the source code to my web page which is here:
It is fun and easier to use than the professional Guitar Vision software that I was trying to use. Oh, and the software is structured somewhat like the game "Guitar Hero", so I called it "Guitar Zero" as a joke. The tough part was getting a microphone input to recognize notes and chords, but a comb filter took care of that. It still needs some fine-tuning on the recognition but overall I'm pleased. I still can't play the dang thing but I'm getting faster with the notes and the chords. Cheers! _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Joined: Oct 11, 2006 Posts: 271 Location: Far in the north
Audio files: 1
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:56 am Post subject:
Inventor wrote:
..."Back in Black by AC/DC".
Hah Now that's some real rock !
Btw, I have to mention that keep an eye (or ask someone else keep on eye) on your posture when playing. It's one of the things that are mentioned too rarely and (IMO) it's really important to have a good posture when playing. You'll develop skills much faster if it's right from the start, as well as it helps you to get better stamina to play longer periods at a time
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:21 am Post subject:
Thanks, softfin, that never occurred to me. I've been playing in my chair but i need to get off my butt and stand up while playing, I think I'll start that this afternoon! _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
I really like how he starts you off with the intervals, and introduces the notes on the fretboard and open strings.
I've just gone through the first lesson, and I feel that it is very good instruction. The author goes slow and walks you through the way that the fretboard is "spelled". I remain a little confused as to why the strings are set up the way they are and why the notes and half-notes are set up that way, but I'm just taking it all as gospel and memorizing it.
For practice, I can do an E-major chord and a D-major chord, and slowly switch between them. Then I pluck each string from low to high while holding a chord to verify that each string is "ringing" properly and not muted or buzzing. I'm finding that my fat fingers are too big for the fretboard, but I can manage with very careful placement of the fingers.
Also for practice, I am playing sequences of notes on the fretboard, say for example: all the "A" notes on the first 12 frets from low E string to high E string.
So the practice includes some chording and some plucking for a mix of skill development. It is just barely beginning to feel comfortable, I can't wait for my brain to catch up with my imagination!
Excellent! Mike Dodge teaches chord construction the way I was taught, except when I took guitar lessons, this stuff wasn't on the web or in any books I found - it was practically the kind of "secret knowledge" that gets passed by word of mouth only like in the kung fu world. Kudos to people like Mike getting the secrets out. _________________ Current and recent work on Soundcloud
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:18 am Post subject:
I found a really good guitar teacher on the web, Ben Lowry. Here is a commercial for his services:
I'm going through his 12 free guitar lessons and then will buy the Johnny B. Goode guitar lesson next month. This guy can really teach guitar! _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
Joined: Oct 13, 2007 Posts: 6221 Location: near Austin, Tx, USA
Audio files: 270
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject:
I must once again commend this guitar teacher Ben Lowrey, a younger fellow in England. I'm up to lesson 6 in his 12-lesson series, and he's got me hooked like a fish into buying his videos once I'm done with that. The guy has selected a sequence of incrementally challenging exercises that slowly guide you from complete novice to, well, not so much of a novice. It's also just enough information to get a mini-lesson every two or three days that has just one fundamental concept to grasp and practice.
So far I have not jumped into guitar playing like a maniac as I had planned to, but rather just return to it from time to time. Each time I pick this Fender Stratocaster up, I admire it's amazing craftsmanship and design, despite it's being their cheapest Chinese model, and I'm glad I took two weeks of hobby time to hand-craft a chainmaille guitar strap for it as that makes it personal and extra special. Playing all my tunes plus my guitar through my astonishing Fender amplifier completes the whole picture.
This guitar is probably the best money I ever spent, or highest value for the dollar anyway. I still can't play even part of a real song on it, but that's OK, I'm building skills first and foremost. Unlike my computer-generated music which I enjoy immensely as well, this guitar responds to my command. My every touch, however gentle or harsh, produces a corresponding audio response that ranges from subltle sensitivity to the crude and violent; it's all a matter of how you interact with it.
I don't know, I guess I could go on and on about the experience but I'd rather stop typing an play that blues riff I just learned one more time, haha! Thanks for all your advice on learning guitar lessons, I think I've found my groove for the moment at least. _________________ "Let's make noise for peace." - Kijjaz
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Now that's some real rock !
