Guitar players...

General Music area.
Did punk rock get it right?
InnocentDe
Posts: 44
Joined: 7/19/2003, 7:10 pm

Guitar players...

Post by InnocentDe »

OK, I'm teaching myself to play the guitar, but 4 some reason I'm still not getting very much better... and it's pissing me off, for someone whose already trying to get members for her band. Does anyone have any strategies to get me playing better? I mean, I lack the cash for lessons, I have only the cash for guitar books, equipment, and hopefully (sometime soon) an electric guitar so I can have an electric and acoustic at my disposal. I'd appreciate advice.. thanks
De :wtf: lol
She stands/ in the rain/
always outside looking in/
trying to hide her pain/
trying to find your sin/
with a shiver and a tear/
it's everything you've feared-
from Amy- by De Choquette
Axtech
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2004
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2004
Posts: 19796
Joined: 3/17/2002, 5:36 pm
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Post by Axtech »

Well, first of all... hold off on the band. If you're just starting out, adding the pressure of bandmates will not help.
- -
Image
Every now and then I fall out into open air just to feel the wind, rain and everything.
And though the hum and sway gets me down
, I'll find the way to peace and openness.

Image
"Robbo" - © Alex (happeningfish)...^5 ^5 v v
User avatar
Sufjan Stevens
Oskar Winner: 2005
Oskar Winner: 2005
Posts: 6738
Joined: 3/17/2002, 12:25 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Post by Sufjan Stevens »

If you wanna start a band and have no experience, learn power chords. Just rotate the A, D, and E chords and no one will ever know the difference. Punk would be the best way to go if you wanted a band now. If you can hold off, just keep finding songs that seem easy to play, after a while, you'll get better. And when you can start piecing shit together, start working on how to switch to each barre chord. When you learn how to do that, playing the guitar is easy and you'll have people wanting you in a band.
I faced death. I went in with my arms swinging. But I heard my own breath and had to face that I'm still living. I'm still flesh. I hold on to awful feelings. I'm not dead... My chest still draws breath. I hold it. I'm buoyant. There's no end.
User avatar
Dabekk
Posts: 1495
Joined: 3/13/2002, 9:05 pm
Location: Edmonton

Post by Dabekk »

it's all coordination, just practise scales, and chord changes a lot.
User avatar
committed
Posts: 4893
Joined: 3/15/2002, 10:28 am
Location: on tour
Contact:

Post by committed »

tabs
we are the brand new beatniks. we are the down and outers.
we are the bleeding hearts, beating syncopated, broken rhythm.
our speed is often break neck. we need to slow it down.
tired of being sleepless. tired of being broken.

Image
Johnny
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Posts: 31096
Joined: 8/21/2002, 5:35 pm
Location: Edmonton

Post by Johnny »

PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE :nod: :)
Professional Canadian.
Johnny
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Posts: 31096
Joined: 8/21/2002, 5:35 pm
Location: Edmonton

Re: Guitar players...

Post by Johnny »

InnocentDe wrote:OK, I'm teaching myself to play the guitar


How long have you been playing?
Professional Canadian.
InnocentDe
Posts: 44
Joined: 7/19/2003, 7:10 pm

Re: Guitar players...

Post by InnocentDe »

T'wasn't Me Gov'na!! wrote:
InnocentDe wrote:OK, I'm teaching myself to play the guitar


How long have you been playing?

Well, I kept thinking since dec. when I got my guitar for xmas/hannukkah/solstace whatever religion I was then.. i don't rememba. But then I realized, my aunt has been playing b4 that, which means I did too. I started when I found one of her guitars... an acoustic, down in the basement and started randomly doing crap. Then she gave me a beatles song book to try out, and I almost got some of eleanor rigby, but I used hers all the time until she got me my own. Then I spent a lot of my time trying to figure out how to tune the thing, so I had put it away for a few months, then I got a tuning cd, so now I'm playing again. I'm just in love with it, and I can't explain why.It's just the feeling, I guess. It's different for everyone I guess.
She stands/ in the rain/
always outside looking in/
trying to hide her pain/
trying to find your sin/
with a shiver and a tear/
it's everything you've feared-
from Amy- by De Choquette
InnocentDe
Posts: 44
Joined: 7/19/2003, 7:10 pm

Post by InnocentDe »

Dabekk wrote:it's all coordination, just practise scales, and chord changes a lot.


I'm getting better at chord changes, because when I play "hero" (chad kroeger and josey scott) I gotta change from a D to an F sharp minor a bunch of times, and that is really sucky for my small fingers. But my changes really lack fluidity. But that's just a matter of practice, it's not that I don't know the chords, it's just that I sorta skipped practicing changes, so I'm not used to them.
She stands/ in the rain/
always outside looking in/
trying to hide her pain/
trying to find your sin/
with a shiver and a tear/
it's everything you've feared-
from Amy- by De Choquette
InnocentDe
Posts: 44
Joined: 7/19/2003, 7:10 pm

Post by InnocentDe »

I hope this is goodbye wrote:If you wanna start a band and have no experience, learn power chords. Just rotate the A, D, and E chords and no one will ever know the difference. Punk would be the best way to go if you wanted a band now. If you can hold off, just keep finding songs that seem easy to play, after a while, you'll get better. And when you can start piecing shit together, start working on how to switch to each barre chord. When you learn how to do that, playing the guitar is easy and you'll have people wanting you in a band.

That's when u lost me. lol. That's good advice, but I don't know anything about barre chords, let alone the switching of them, because I have very little music vocab. This is the girl who had to shake her guitar for about 15 minutes after dropping the pick in the soundhole again. lol. And used shoestrings for a strap ( which really hurts, especially since I just got outta pt for shoulder dislocation a while ago, and keep hyperextending it.) I'm getting a strap tomorrow, lol .thank god.
She stands/ in the rain/
always outside looking in/
trying to hide her pain/
trying to find your sin/
with a shiver and a tear/
it's everything you've feared-
from Amy- by De Choquette
User avatar
I AM ME
Posts: 5956
Joined: 3/13/2002, 9:09 am
Location: Manitoba

Post by I AM ME »

Barre chords are just a diffrent way of playing chords they're all basically the the same shape just moved up and down on diffrent frets, which changes the note......him could one of you real guitar pros offer a better description for her, or maybe a picture?

PS I've done the exact same thing with my picks! i thought i was the only one!
"How can we justify spending so much on destruction and so little on life?" Matthew Good

"The white dove is gone, the one world has come down hard, so why not share the pain of our problems, when all around are wrong ways, when all around is hurt, i'll roll up in an odd shape and wait, untill the tide has turned.....with anger, i'm dead weight, i'm anchored"- IME, God Rocket (Into the Heart of Las Vegas) ^ Some say this song is about a terrorists thoughts before 911

"Pray for the sheep" Matt Good
"But it's alright, take the world and make it yours again" Matt Good

I felt it in the wind, and i saw it in the sky, i thought it was the end, i thought it was the 4th of July.

"Hold on, hold on children, your mother and father are leaving, hold on, hold on children your best freind's parents are leaving, leaving,.......*AHHH*! " - Death From Above - Black History Month
Solidarity 9-6347
Posts: 1960
Joined: 3/13/2002, 6:14 pm
Location: Ann Barbor, MI
Contact:

Post by Solidarity 9-6347 »

from experience, definetly hold out on the band thing unless you want to be the singer/rythm guitarist and are able to find a more experienced player for lead guitar. especially if you have small and/or weak hands because it will probably take you longer than the average male to learn to play; barre chords will be a particular problem. you will get frustrated and calloused so don't expect to become a pro overnight, even if you play for hours every day. it takes time and patience. most people i know played for at least 2 years before joining a band, just keep that in mind. i know you want to start one now but you're only like 14 right? trust me, you have time. at least you're starting at a relatively young age.
<3 Mademoiselle Pamplemousse

~The world would be a better place if only more things were made out of statue~
Potato Girl
Posts: 153
Joined: 7/7/2002, 1:20 pm
Location: Toronto, Ont.

Post by Potato Girl »

InnocentDe wrote:
I hope this is goodbye wrote:.

That's when u lost me. lol. That's good advice, but I don't know anything about barre chords, let alone the switching of them, because I have very little music vocab. This is the girl who had to shake her guitar for about 15 minutes after dropping the pick in the soundhole again. lol. And used shoestrings for a strap ( which really hurts, especially since I just got outta pt for shoulder dislocation a while ago, and keep hyperextending it.) I'm getting a strap tomorrow, lol .thank god.


Barre chords are just how they sound, you use your index finger to 'barre' a fret and use the rest of your fingers to hold down the remaining notes to complete the chord. once you get the finger strenghth to use them it's easier then the other ways to play chords, instead of moving your whole hand you just have to move a finger or slide up/down the fretboard. you shouldn't worry about them right now, just learn the standard chord positions for now.

and as for tips right now, learn how to play real chords, powerchords are fine when they're in a song that you like but, they're pretty much usless if you are planning on learning guitar. powerchords can semi-help you though, because of the way you mostly play the thicker strings, but other then that they're not too necessary. another thing is how you mentioned how your fingers are too small, just try to keep you thumb low on the back of your fretboard, it keeps your fingers straighter and it makes your playing easier for fingerwork.

hope that helps, and good luck fellow guitaree (even if that's not a real word)!
*Vice Vice President of The Mazurite Mob*
Johnny
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Oskar Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
Posts: 31096
Joined: 8/21/2002, 5:35 pm
Location: Edmonton

Post by Johnny »

The F major Barre Chord

e|--1----|
b|--1----|
g|--2----|
d|--3----|
a|--3----|
e|--1----|
Last edited by Johnny on 7/26/2003, 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Professional Canadian.
User avatar
Sufjan Stevens
Oskar Winner: 2005
Oskar Winner: 2005
Posts: 6738
Joined: 3/17/2002, 12:25 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Post by Sufjan Stevens »

Easiest barre chord ever.
I faced death. I went in with my arms swinging. But I heard my own breath and had to face that I'm still living. I'm still flesh. I hold on to awful feelings. I'm not dead... My chest still draws breath. I hold it. I'm buoyant. There's no end.
User avatar
teelow
Posts: 858
Joined: 3/19/2002, 11:03 am
Location: Canada, Alberta

Post by teelow »

Easiest? I never thought one barre chord was tougher than another. Its all the same...just wait till the seventh chords start.. and then the fingerpicking...and then the fast picking...


or some other order... :mrgreen:
[glow=red]Typically you only need one fault.[/glow]
User avatar
Sufjan Stevens
Oskar Winner: 2005
Oskar Winner: 2005
Posts: 6738
Joined: 3/17/2002, 12:25 pm
Location: Detroit, MI

Post by Sufjan Stevens »

I don't bother with sevenths yet. Yikes.
I faced death. I went in with my arms swinging. But I heard my own breath and had to face that I'm still living. I'm still flesh. I hold on to awful feelings. I'm not dead... My chest still draws breath. I hold it. I'm buoyant. There's no end.
Potato Girl
Posts: 153
Joined: 7/7/2002, 1:20 pm
Location: Toronto, Ont.

Post by Potato Girl »

teelow wrote:Easiest? I never thought one barre chord was tougher than another. Its all the same...just wait till the seventh chords start.. and then the fingerpicking...and then the fast picking...


or some other order...:mrgreen:


what's hard about seventh chords?
*Vice Vice President of The Mazurite Mob*
User avatar
teelow
Posts: 858
Joined: 3/19/2002, 11:03 am
Location: Canada, Alberta

Post by teelow »

I never said they were hard...

But dont imply they are easy, because lots of people cant make power chords.
[glow=red]Typically you only need one fault.[/glow]
Potato Girl
Posts: 153
Joined: 7/7/2002, 1:20 pm
Location: Toronto, Ont.

Post by Potato Girl »

isn't a power chord a 5th?
*Vice Vice President of The Mazurite Mob*
Post Reply