starting to play guitar seriously

[MechDeus]

I'll pull this up from the depths so I can go all pointlessly LJ and shit.

About a day after I made my post in the haul thread about getting a guitar and lamenting how I hadn't gotten an amp yet and didn't have the cash for one, I came across a stereo->1/8 adapter I had randomly laying around my room from a pack of assorted adapters I had bought for something else. It dawned on me that I was stupid for not even considering using my PC as an amp in lieu of the real thing and quickly hooked that up. I'm still hoping to get an amp in April but it's no longer my top priority of something that needs to happen ASAP (btw, if anyone wants to suggest a good starter amp I'm all ears).

So I've been learning chords and little ditties, doing all the basics and just trying to get to a point where I can play something competently (I'm probably about halfway to having the beginning of Greensleeves to the point where people won't cringe at it). My biggest annoyance, naturally, is my fingers and how they aren't tough enough yet. The whole reason I'm even typing this is because all I want to do at the moment is practice the guitar, but I can't hold any of the strings at all because the tips of my fingers hurt so much for playing off and on for a few hours today. I don't feel like playing games, I'm not in the mood to go out, there's really nothing else I feel like doing at the moment but my hands won't let me. ARGH!

I also found out yesterday that I completely and totally suck at tuning. I tried for at least a half hour and each string sounded fine, but all of my chords were just pathetic and I somehow got it to about twice as bad as it was. I polished off God of War waiting for my roommate to come home so that he could tune it back to where it should be and today I picked up an electric tuner (I can't use a tuning fork yet), at some point I might try to learn how to tune it again but probably not soon.

So now that I've finished with a post that's to musicians as, "So I learned how to press X today and maybe tomorrow I can move on to both square and triangle!" is to TNL I think I'll go yell some more at my fingers to heal faster.

[Fe 26]

For an amp, Id try pawn shops. You can take a little notepad with you to write down model numbers and shit and see what the reviews are for an amp, and what it is really worth. I got my all-tube National for 65 at a pawn shop. I wouldn't get a tube amp however if you don't know shit about them. They can kill you. IF you do see one, buy it and give it to me. Or read up on it.

Tube amps are the best though. You get good tone for less money. The same priced used digital amp will sound like old poop. Tone is very important. Getting a good sound can make the difference in pushing forward and practicing, or giving up.

If you just want to practice you don’t need anything that distorts, in fact I would suggest staying away from heavy distortion. It is only going to hide your fuck ups. For practice use a really clean sounding amp, or an acoustic guitar so you can hear what you are doing for what it is.

Anyone found that holy grail of guitar books yet?

[Shakey]

Anyone found that holy grail of guitar books yet?

for what? I haven't seen many all encompassing ones. I've heard fret logic is amazing. The Guitar Gimore is an incredible resource for chords and scales, probably some other stuff in there, but I don't have a copy. For reading I've heard the Berklee books are good, althoough they don't do too much to force you to play strange rythms. I had some teachers that suggest I take sax reading excercises real slow for reading, I suppose it would really help technique, but I'm too lazy to learn to read well.

You'll learn a whole ton from just trying to learn your favorite songs. You can even make your own excercises out of stuff that's difficult and then look stuff up (like a particular scale or chord) when you need it. I never could absorb all that stuff at once.

[rectal_area]

Well, I started guitar about a month ago, and I'm just starting on my first song. I'm playing Welcome to the Machine. Pink Floyd hate aside, it's not that difficult of a song. It basically covers everything I need to work on, like changing chords and hitting the strings accurately. It really only has 3 different chords, so memorization isn't a problem.

I'm playing on the cheapest guitar my dad could buy, a Yamaha acoustic from Costco. The action is almost twice as high as some of the electrics I've seen, and the sound is fucking horrible. But honestly at this point whatever I play will sound like shit anyways. Surprisingly fingers stopped hurting after 3 weeks, but hand strength still needs some work. Any suggestions for an easy non-Greenday/Limp Bizkit song to learn?

[arjue]

Nirvana stuff is generally easy.

I got that bass a bit later than planned, a few weeks ago now, bcause I wasn't eligible for the loan I was applying for back then.



my god, its so fucking lovely. I still can't get over how nice it is to play.

I also got the bottom half of this when I got my bass.






I'm stocking up on good effect pedals atm, currently I only have 2 of any substance, a "big muff pi" distortion and "Holy Grail" Reverb, both by Electro-Harmonix. I'm hoping to get an anologue delay and something like a good chorus, then I should be set for a while. Also really want a bass Whammy, but they're very hard to get your hands on down here.


I've been making up shit like nothing recently, and it feels great. Can't eait to get some of it down.

[Razor Ramon]

If you want a good and easy song to practice, try Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. Helps to learn this song to practice chord changes. I also play One by Metallica although that's a bit harder especially near the end.

I'm getting way better at guitar. I can play One, Smoke on the Water, and Seek and Destroy. I'll probably pick up some AC/DC and Tool next.

[Gohron]

Any of you guitarist/bassists want to come play for a Death Metal band? I might pay you...

[Shakey]

no.

p.s. you should just learn to play guitar, if you aren't worried about soloing you could be playing death metal in under a year.

arjue: very very nice, man. you should get and envelope filter, they're the shit.

[Gohron]

no.

p.s. you should just learn to play guitar, if you aren't worried about soloing you could be playing death metal in under a year.

arjue: very very nice, man. you should get and envelope filter, they're the shit.

Yeah, that's my thinking...my pop is a pretty good guitar player and I'm learning right now just for the purpose of writing songs, although I may go farther with it. I am interested in soloing as well if I do indeed decide to take up second guitar in the band.

The only thing I've been concerned about and hesistant about is the fact of how hard it will be able to play while doing vocals. Singing isn't really my thing but I do death and black vocals fairly well but they take a hell of a lot of energy to put forth, my endurance is getting better but having to focus my breathing around some super fast picking on the guitar as well as some pretty hearty vocals (which at times can be hard enough, takes a hell of a toll on your stomach muscles). Any suggestions there?

[arjue]

Any of you guitarist/bassists want to come play for a Death Metal band? I might pay you...

make it an internet project and I'm in.