Any experienced guitar players have advice on how to learn better?
I played very little in highschool and now, 15 years later, I have the urge to go back to it. I’ve been playing for an hour or so most days for the last month which I know isn’t a lot but lets be honest, it’s just for my own enjoyment, I have no illusions of being a middle aged rock star.
Anyway I was wondering if people had any advice, good resources, sheet music that isn’t garbage?
In my position would you go the self taught route or is it really important to have a tutor? I’m particularly concerned about picking up bad technique and then practicing that, I feel like that was a big part of why I gave up in the first place - fucking up the same things no matter how many times I did them because I learned them wrong.
Thanks all.
What do you want to play? That might make a big difference in terms of advice.
If you’re at all into folk music you might see if there are any regular jam sessions/jamborees in your area. I was taught to play orchestral instruments but more or less self taught a bunch of folk instruments by going to jams. You’ll run into people of all kinds of skill levels and can play in a low pressure setting where mistakes won’t draw a lot of attention. They’re often older folks too, so they appreciate the socializing and engagement in my experience.
Hey thanks, that’s good advice. I didn’t really consider looking for jams/social groups/that sort of thing. I will have to have a look and see what’s around, I do get social anxiety, especially when it comes to stuff like playing music, but if I can get over that I do like the idea a lot.
My main interest though is classic rock, when I think what I’d really like to be able to play it’s things like Dire Straits, CCR, Pink Floyd, etc. I have a pretty varied taste though and there’s plenty of folk revival, blues and even some country music I’d be interested in being able to play.
CCR is something you can do fairly soon after, some pink Floyd riffs are pretty simple, whole songs can be a thing depending on the song. Dire Straights is something to back burner for a good while. Mark Knoppler is a guitar legend and their stuff is fucking hard as hell.
As far as guitar advice goes, practice a LOT, playing with other people really helps and for bluesy stuff simple is often better.
Yeah I know two CCR songs and Mother by Pink Floyd (at least simplified versions) which are good for practice (lots of nice open chords). I tried to learn Money for Nothing back in the day and I couldn’t do two bars of it, of course I’ve come to find the tab I had was totally wrong, but regardless, Mark Knopfler is a fucking boss.
Actually that brings up one thing, how close to the original is good enough? Obviously there’s no right answer but it’s hard to draw the line because there are so many little techniques that give these songs their character and texture but if I had to learn all of them at once, I’d never play anything.
i’ll tell you a surprising amount of punk/rock songs are literally just power chords and some effects, and you can play them “correctly” with little effort. Justin Guitar (free) has a transcribing section where you go listen to a Blink-182 song and discover it’s literally three power chords or whatever. Of course it’s frustrating to be confined to a different genre, I like a lot of guitar-forward things that I can’t play at all. Personally I am satisfied with riffs 99% correct and chords mostly correct - fingering often doesn’t matter outside of like shoegaze. E.g. Rush’s Fly By Night has a very easy intro riff, seems like an easy target except for the solo.
However I’ve been having more fun playing with friends at a similar skill level. If we’re writing our own music, then I can write an “easy” riff that doesn’t move around the neck, simple rhythm parts, etc., and they are how the song is meant to be played rather than mutilating somebody else’s song that actually depends on the complicated stuff.
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
Yeah, I have noticed that. Unfortunately I don’t have any friends who play so playing, for example, just the rhythm by yourself is pretty bland. Unless it’s a more complex riff but then it’s above my skill level. I think one thing I need to do is get over my performance anxiety and find other people to play with, then even simple music can sound full and dynamic.
One example is Mother by Pink Floyd, I can play the whole rhythm just strumming the chords but they pick out individual notes within that strum pattern and add some pulls and hammers and it adds so much but technically it moves the difficulty up a lot.
This isn’t as dynamic as jamming, but you could also learn a DAW and record into it. Synth drums are surprisingly fun and you can assemble rhythm + lead + vocals in separate takes. Definitely recommend finding some local people to play with, it’s the only thing forcing me to get better
By DAW you mean like recording & mixing software right? I’ve played around with that stuff in the past and at least the computer side of things comes pretty easy to me, having a go at actually recording and arranging music does sound cool. Finding some real people definitely sounds like the best way though, you’re able to bounce things off them and have some fun socializing at the same time as getting better.