ClumsyMonkey.net

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 lol

Well, first of all... hold off on the band. If you're just starting out, adding the pressure of bandmates will not help.

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.

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

tabs

PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE

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

How long have you been playing?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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)!

The F major Barre Chord

e|--1----|
b|--1----|
g|--2----|
d|--3----|
a|--3----|
e|--1----|

Easiest barre chord ever.

I don't bother with sevenths yet. Yikes.

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...

what's hard about seventh chords?

isn't a power chord a 5th?