Is it tough to learn to play guitar?

CanadaKicksAss · Post by **CanadaKicksAss** » Sat May 24, 2003 1:25 pm

I'm thinking of renting an electric guitar, and learnin how to play it. But I cant read music, and have no musical knowlodge on any instrument...So how difficult do you think it would be to pick it up?

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Sat May 24, 2003 1:37 pm

It's really not too hard. I myself play, and enjoy it. Just focus on learning a few chords in the beginning, and learn to play a few songs. With TABs, it is insanely easy.

PsychoMistress · Post by **PsychoMistress** » Sat May 24, 2003 2:21 pm

I agree. Don't forget to get a pick too. Also, if you have soft hands - like me - than it is prolly going to hurt for a while from holding down the strings to change keys. When I first tried to learn, my fingers were turning red and had indentions in them from the strings. I'm a girl though and I have soft, small hands so it might not bother you.

Good Luck!

jebeebus · Post by **jebeebus** » Sat May 24, 2003 3:54 pm

I started messing around with one a few weeks ago and it's not too hard to learn some basic stuff. If you're good with memorizing the beats from a song, learning how to read tabs shouldn't be too hard. http://www.mxtabs.net is a good site. It would be better to learn how to read music though to play the exact beats of a song and stuff, good thing I took band in middle school.

F8 · Post by F8 » Sat May 24, 2003 3:57 pm

I've been playing guitar some 8+ years...it's not hard. That is, it's not hard to play it half-assed. To be good, you must invest lots of time, just like anything else. I currently play guitar in a band. You can check us out if you'd like: http://www.electricblueseuphoria.com

Safety in Nimbus · Post by **Safety in Nimbus** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:22 pm

If you have patience and a lot of free time then it's a good hobby. Don't expect to do anything complex like Metallica for a while though, start off w/ simple things like "Pennywise - Bro Hymm Tribute", "The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright". Expect to get calluses on your hands. Go the the guitar store and try out different guitars (get a cheap one since it'll be your first). I recomend learning on acoustic since it builds up your calluses faster and makes your fingers stronger but eh...you won't have distortion. Bass is my personal preferense since I hate doing chords -_-; (plus i like the longer neck)

CanadaKicksAss · Post by **CanadaKicksAss** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:38 pm

All right thanks for all the info everyone...I may go get a guitar next weekend, I can't wait to start playing!

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Sat May 24, 2003 8:01 pm

green day brainstew master that in a day

jebeebus · Post by **jebeebus** » Sat May 24, 2003 8:05 pm

lol, I remember figuring that one out at my friend's house in about 15 minutes.

mkjones · Post by **mkjones** » Sat May 24, 2003 8:27 pm

depends how good you wanna get...

i been playin bass gtr for over 10 years and norm gtr for about 5,,

obviusly im better on the bass

impetus · Post by **impetus** » Sat May 24, 2003 10:07 pm

I learned to play by basically getting tabs off the internet (actually they are often easier than playing the "right" way documented in official tab books).

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Sat May 24, 2003 10:11 pm

Sir Slash wrote:green day brainstew master that in a day

Just one powerchord.

7 - 5, 5 - 3, 3 - 1, 2 - 0

dude322mg · Post by **dude322mg** » Sat May 24, 2003 10:19 pm

hm... im just startin myself, go some nirvana songs and a great TAB site is http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/freshtabs.htm and a great site on learning how to understand tabs is http://www.nirvana-music.com/tabshelp.html Since i also just started im pretty bad but i can play some shlt, especially nirvana stuff, if i were u i'd go for some Nirvana songs. Some easy ass songs are...

Marigold
Polly
Come As You Are
The Man Who Sold The World

All nirvana songs there and also i'd suggest Greenday songs, especially the song called Brain Stew, it is fuckln insanely easy. it only sounds good when the amp is really high in volume though.

JuddWack · Post by **JuddWack** » Sat May 24, 2003 10:36 pm

Ive been playing for about 7 years. I say forget about renting one and just go out and buy it. Look for a used one, you'll get a better deal. And try to bring a friend who plays to check it out if it is used. And just use tabs. I say screw reading music. You will come to understand it after playing for awhile and thats good enough.

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Sun May 25, 2003 4:44 am

dude322mg wrote:if i were u i'd go for some Nirvana songs. Some easy ass songs are...
<snip>
The Man Who Sold The World

Thats actually a David Bowie song.

Post by **Specially Cork** » Sun May 25, 2003 5:22 am

I've been playing guitar for 6 years, and the difficulty depends on:

1) What you wanna do
2) How long you expect it to take to be able to play something decent

When i first started i got really annoyed, because something as simple as a chord transistion can seem pretty difficult. But, as with a lot of things repetition is the key. If you want to learn the theoretical side of the guitar (which may sound boring, but I seriously recommend it if you want to write you own stuff, which you will) a tutor would be the best way to go, they sell an hour of their time for a pretty decent price.
Web sites such as http://www.wholenote.com are also a great place to start and are full of useful tips and tabs. And tabluture is the way to go at first. http://www.mxtabs.net is anothe great place.

If you want to play stuff like skatey punk-rock, you could probably master the genre in a year and I would recommend this style for everybody that starts guitar. The chords are very simple, and you could have an easy blink 182 song sorted in your first month, which gives you a great sense of achivement, even if the band are crap.

Also don't forget a decent amp!

toastman · Post by **toastman** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:09 am

Actually, if you want to be _good_ and by good I mean insanely good. Get trained classically. Forget tabs, forget chords for now. Get yourself a teacher (either through school or private tutor) or pick up an honest-to-goodness book on learning how to play a guitar (and not playing songs). Most of the guitar legends were classically trained.

Although if you just want to play punk/metal/most rock, do whatever

Vlad Tepes · Post by **Vlad Tepes** » Sun May 25, 2003 9:41 am

toastman wrote:Actually, if you want to be _good_ and by good I mean insanely good. Get trained classically. Forget tabs, forget chords for now. Get yourself a teacher (either through school or private tutor) or pick up an honest-to-goodness book on learning how to play a guitar (and not playing songs). Most of the guitar legends were classically trained.

Although if you just want to play punk/metal/most rock, do whatever

Agreed. My brother plays classical guitar, and he can make a guitar do some amazing things. I used to think people like Mr. Edward Van Halen were good...then I heard someone play the classical song "Fouco" and I was like, "Eddie Van who?" But my brother's also in a punk band, so it's not like you're stuck playing classical if you learn classical.

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Sun May 25, 2003 10:27 am

Nyarlathotep wrote:
dude322mg wrote:if i were u i'd go for some Nirvana songs. Some easy ass songs are...
<snip>
The Man Who Sold The World

Thats actually a David Bowie song.

Yeah, and it was nirvana's best performance, sadly.

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Sun May 25, 2003 10:37 am

impetus wrote:I learned to play by basically getting tabs off the internet (actually they are often easier than playing the "right" way documented in official tab books).

They ARE easier, but don't sound the same. I have a the tab book for radiohead's ok computer, and it beats the sh1t out of the tabs I got off the internet.