51–60 of 239 posts
I think RockSmith is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaHsqGSetVo
I think there are others that might look more pedagogical.
When I was 30, I decided to pick up the guitar.
Knowing how to read music was certainly a jump start, but it's certainly doable.
JustinGuitar.com is a fantastic resource, but finding a teacher is the best.
I tried picking up a guitar this past week, and was overwhelmed. Just playing a basic chord was a struggle. How do you get your figure to press down just right on the string and not interfere with another. Amazed by people who can play effortlessly. The post encouraged me to try again. 15 min a day sounds like a reasonable practicing goal.
Warning! If you're middle-aged and thinking of picking up the guitar, you should realize that the public image of guitarists has shifted from "sexy gods" to "annoying hobos" sometime in the last two decades. If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't), maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now, not in your imagined past. So in a sense, yes, it is sometimes too late :-(
The best advice I ever heard about learning guitar was from Eddie Vanhalen to Wolfgang. Wolfgang was getting discouraged. Being a good father, Eddie spilled the beans.
He told his son it's basically about 10 cords. Don't try to learn them all.
I wanted to learn to play at least one Johnny Cash song. So many of his songs use just a few chords. A, E, and B7 come up so often, with a Capo on the second fret.
I would never even think about playing in front of anyone though, but then again never wanted to be "A sexy guy". Content with Begging.
Warning! If you're middle-aged and thinking of picking up the guitar, you should realize that the public image of guitarists has shifted from "sexy gods" to "annoying hobos" sometime in the last two decades. If you are at least partly motivated by popularity (and who isn't), maybe pick another hobby that actually helps people be popular now, not in your imagined past. So in a sense, yes, it is sometimes too late :-(
If you're worried about being unpopular at all, my advice would be to not start trying to learn.
As someone who has been playing for 35 years or so, here are some observations... First and foremost, guitar is a pretty straightforward instrument for beginners. There's a reason it's the most popular instrument in the world. If you put in the effort, you can be playing something musical in a few months, and proficient in basic folk/rock music in a couple of years. It doesn't take "talent". It just takes effort. Som…
This x1000
Far too often I've seen people try to learn on a ghastly cheap acoustic because they were "building up to" an electric, the thing they wanted to play in the first place.
There's a weird kind of asceticism around the notion of paying-ones-dues on an acoustic first, which ends up just discouraging the learner and preventing them from actually enjoying the instrument.
As someone who learned guitar recently in my late 20s, I can say don't overlook basic theory and the value of soloing/coming up with melodies. For me, the creation aspect helped keep me interested. A lot of the beauty of programming is creating new stuff. If that's what you love about programming, try to create your own music as soon as possible. You may want to start on ukulele first (4 strings/requires less pressur…
I'd have to argue against starting with a ukulele. You miss out on the unusual tuning quirk present 6-stringed instruments tuned to thirds, where every string but one can match the tuning of the string above it by phrasing at the 5th fret, that string being the 3rd string (G) and the one above it (B,) you have to phrase at the 4th fret of the 3rd string to get the matching B of the string above instead of at the 5th…
A ukulele is tuned to thirds as well. It is basically the same as a four string guitar with a capo on 5th fret (with the typical quirk of having the lowest string being an octave higher)
"I'd also say go with 6 strings because the typical chords can have more than 4 notes."
Typical chords for a beginner are minor and major chords which uses only 3 notes. And the augmented 7th have 4 notes which leaves you with quite some chords to play.
You will be limited by extended dominant 9th,11th and 13th but I wouldn't call those typical.
I think a ukulele can be fine to start as you'll get some very quick progress, but its limitations will come very quick as well.
I'm 29 and have been playing guitar for at least half my life at this point. It's a great stress reliever and just fun in general. I'm not good by any stretch of the imagination, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying myself. These are some of my personal recommendations for starting out: - Use an acoustic, you don't want to have to carry an amp around with you. - Learn to sing while you play early on. I think it's h…
So I agree, except that I think starting out on an acoustic teaches a lot of bad habits, and can also be frustrating for beginners, because acoustics are simply more difficult to play.
I tried picking up a guitar this past week, and was overwhelmed. Just playing a basic chord was a struggle. How do you get your figure to press down just right on the string and not interfere with another. Amazed by people who can play effortlessly. The post encouraged me to try again. 15 min a day sounds like a reasonable practicing goal.
What I find harder for beginning guitarists than fretting, is moving from one chord to another. Once you can finger a couple of musically related chords (pairs I recommend learning - G and C, G and D, D and A, A and E), learn to move back and forth between the chords without stopping. Don't "correct" yourself. Keep your strumming rhythm going, uninterrupted, even if you miss a chord!
It is better to play the wrong note at the right time, than play the right note at the wrong time. Always.
The true sound of a beginning guitarist is the sound of a song stopping for two seconds while they fumble to the "right" chord, because they played something wrong. Don't do that. I recommend playing along to records, because records won't stop just because you did. They'll teach you to keep going.