Guitar Tips

“I just received an early Christmas present on Saturday. It's been a secret dream of mine to learn to play guitar. Since he won't be around over the holidays, Jon gave me an early gift of an acoustic guitar, stand and digital tuner (I'm so lucky).

So I'm wondering what tips any of you can give me on owning and playing a guitar?

Muchos gracias!”

“Don't practice 6 or 7 hours the first day - your fingertips will never recover....”

“Practice practice practice. Get those cords down to the point you know them by heart. 20 minutes a day and you’ll go far. Toughen up those finger tips too. They will hurt bad at first but just keep at it.”

“No pain, no gain!!

If Lance can ride 2,100 miles without complaining, you can learn to play guitar!”

“It's been two weeks since I began practicing, and the callouses (sp?) are formed, chords are learned, and now I just have to figure out how to make it sound good. LOL!

Good luck Ruby, see ya in Nashville.”

“Keep those fingernails trimmed on your fretting hand! <G>

(unless you're Dolly Parton. in which case, just get a classical guitar and let those velociraptor claws grow, lol)”

“Hey Vic,

I am planning on taking lessions again soon. I was taking them from Highland Guitar Studio. I might go back there or to a studio in Griffith.

Any interest in joining me?”

“I think Dolly also does some open tuning to make things easier on the nails.

Get some Mel Bay books - learn a few chords and play the blues.

G G G G
G G G G
C C C C
G G G G
D D C C
G G G G

Then do E A B
Then do F Bf C

Then play Heart of Gold by Neil Young

Then play Helplessly Hoping by CSNY

Then play Friend of the Devil by the Dead

Then play Ramblin Man by the Allman Brothers

Then With or Without you by U2

Just the chords mind you - this worked for me. After about 15 years of this I --- still suck.”

“I remember some of the chords I was taught before and could almost play one song.

Don't think I remember them anymore though.”

“Thanks for the tips so far. I like to keep my nails on the long side. Realized on Saturday that I'm going to have to sacrifice them so clipped them all down to nubs. :( Gonna have to work on making callouses now.

I have figured out some major chords. Dang, C is tough for me.

WoundedKnee, I was thinking about taking lessons at Dynamite in Griffith. That's where we picked out the guitar. Did you know they have a bluegrass open mic thing every once in a while there? I would be interested though in taking lessons anywhere. Let me know what you find out.”

“Learn how to read tablature (sp??) easiest/fastest way to learn songs.”

“Yep!

Get those first few major chords down pat (G, A, E, C, D...) and start tearing up those 3-chord wonders! <G>”

“Roam, what's that?”

“Ruby, you have mail...”

“Thanks, Tree! Another fun site to explore.”

“YW!”

“Ruby, there are a number of string lubricants/treatments that protect the strings from corrosion (from your own skin oils and sweat) and reduce the friction on the fingertips. The stuff I got when I returned to playing was recommended by a long-time player and music shop owner, I think it's by GHS (I'm at work, so I'll have to check when I get home). Rather than a spray or wipe on liquid,which are harder to control, its an impregnated material that you run down the strings. No excess to wipe off. Helps the fretboard too.

What type of guitar did you get, BTW?”

“Barbie bought me an acoustic guitar when I graduated from college. That was what I first started practicing with. My teacher recommended that I buy a cheap electric gutiar and amp and practice with that at first because it is easier to play.

I started using that and found it easier. I will call later today if I get a chance to see what opening they have any how much they cost”

“Pekka: Got a Hohner, model HW-300. I was told by Jon to pick out whatever I wanted, but I have a very hard time doing that knowing I'm not paying for it. So I asked the dude who worked there to recommend a decent inexpensive beginner model.

WoundedKnee: Cool. Let me know what you find out. I know Dynamite is $15/half hour for private lessons, and you pay by the month.”

“Tab is great. When I learned to play guitar is hs I must have played Stairway to Heaven a million times. When Wayne's World came out I took some ribbing from the gf (now wife) since it has a scene in a guitar store with a big banner, "No Stairway!!!"

Do like Nigal said, a little bit a day and you'll go far. Also, once you start getting comfortable be sure and play with other folks. I always learned more in an hour playing with other folks than I did in playing for 10 hrs in the bedroom (that didn't come out quite right, did it?)”

“Dude, I just nailed "Born on the Bayou" by CCR during my lunch break.... so much for food!


Thanks for the awsome webiste treebeard!”

“:)”

“Share the web site. Me too! I want to play something cool!”

“Might as well put the link up here. I printed out about 3,000 pages from it (no exaggeration lol)

Guitar Universe”

“Ruby, the string treatment is called FastFret, and it's by GHS. Does your guitar have an adjustable bridge? Can help you obtain a good setup where the strings are just high enough to avoid buzzing, but low enough for easier fingering. My first guitar back in the 60s was a Silvertone archtop f-hole acoustic -- really high tension that required much too much finger strength to keep it fun for too long and was pretty hard on the finger tips.”

“YAz... a lower action is easier on the pinkies for sure. Light gauge strings, too. I'm willing to bet your guitar came with light gauge strings.

I've never tried Extra Lights, but I did try Mediums once.... and I learned some new cusswords! I took them off in less than a week.”

“How do you read tablatures? Can someone explain that in writing? What do all the numbers mean and why the staggering of them?”

“The dots correlate to your fingers and the lines correlate to the frets. There will sometimes be a number over the fret which relates to the number of fret from the end of the neck.”

“There also may be a legend (on some songs) that tells you how to play certain notes (B= bend string, for instance, or H= hammer the note, etc.)”

“Ah -- sheet music.

I'm guessing those numbers to which you refer are the time signatures... 3/4 time, 4/4 time... you don't wanna know about slip-jigs, LOL

Anyone else remember Mason Williams' "The Great Waltz'? <G>

You got your whole notes, half notes, quarter notes... with some 32nd notes for that fast and furious Bluegrass, LOL



I was brushing up on my Italian the other day:

Accelerando -- a directive for the musician to gradually increase the tempo,
"accelerate"
Adagio -- "slowly"
Adagietto -- "somewhat slowly"
Adagissimo -- 'very slowly"
Ad libitum -- the speed and manner are left to the performer, ad lib.
Affrettando -- hurrying, pressing onwards
Agitato -- "agitated"

[..]

Tremolo -- can mean a rapid repetition of the same note, or an alternation
between two or more notes. It can also mean a rapid and
repetitive variation in pitch for the duration of a note. It is notated
by a diagonal bar across the note stem or a detached bar for a
set of notes.
una corda – "one cord", is a directive in piano music for the musician to
depress the soft pedal, reducing the volume of the sound.

Un poco - "a little"
Vivace - "quite fast"
Zeitmass - tempo.



I mostly play by ear. I haven't tried to read sheet music since those piano lessons in the fourth grade! <G>”

“I can help you out there, Tilt.

Good work on the Italian!”

“I'm heck-on-wheels with that cutting & pasting! <G>”

“what's the source? Its interesting because many of those terms are hardly ever used anymore.”

“Stacatto.com?”

“Get an electronic tuner. I love them. Here is a fun site to listen to a great guitar piece.

http://www.homespuntapes.com/prodpg/prodpg.asp?prodID=989

click on the sample clip

see this site
http://www.ibiblio.org/bitcasting/

for mpegs worth listening to”

“Hmmmm.... Where did I find those... ?

a-ha -- Wikipedia.com, 'the do-it-yourself encyclopedia' <G>”

“Bob: I agree on the tuner. My 4-year-old wreaked havoc with the sound of my guitar by playing with all the tuning peg thingies (don't know yet what they're called). But using my new tuner, I got it back into shape quickly. There's NO WAY I could have done that on my own otherwise.”

“thanks treebeard, you made my day, i can play tears in heaven on the keyboards, but couldn't quite get the hang of it on the guitar. My significant other can play 12 string fluently, i can barely play an acoustic, and electric is OK, but I really like the pleasant sound of the acoustic. My advice is to play a song you really, really like and you won't even notice how long you have been practicing......”

“Hey Ruby

How's the guitar coming along?

How about you Buddha?”

“Pickin' and scratchin'??”

“I hate using a pic... guess I got learn how if I ever want to strum.”

“I bought a Les Paul copy off a guy for $100. Sounded great but the neck was fuct up. I found another Les Paul copy for $50. The electronics were fuct in that one so I swapped the necks out and got one good one. I stripped all the good parts off the other body and scrapped the rest. I did have to put new tuneing machines (Grovers) on it though. Sweet sounding axe for $200. Great thick blues sound. Not a good guitar for Metal but my B.C. Rich's got that department covered.”

“Does anyone here have an old Vac-tube amp or now how to rebuild them?

I'm going to keep an eye out for old ones at yardsales.”

“Good luck. That'll be hard to find at a yard sale.”

“yeah... I've got a while, so you never know.

I don't plan on getting an electric guitar for another year.”

“I've got 9 guitars now. Not one is an Accustic.”

“All I have is one acoustic...

I'm just learning.

BTW... you and that Masked Marauder dude planning on getting together anytime soon?”

“I haven't talked to him in awhile. Has he posted lately?”

“Nope... He's trapped in college. Got his nose stuck in the books.”

“Wow.. not sure if anyone else has used this program but I just downloaded it for free and its awesome. You can do sooo much with it! Download version 1.7. http://www.power-tab.net/downloads.php

And then you can download tabs/sheet music from this site to view in it: http://www.powertabs.net/”