beginners motivaton

Sorry if I sound harsh but...

No one can motivate you except you.

You either want to learn how to play guitar or you don't.

If you want to learn, this is a great place to do it. Most all the members here are happy to share knowledge, experiences and tips.

When you decide, and I hope you decide to learn guitar becuase its a wonderful thing, you can count on a lot of help from this site.

i don't really have a story, but perhaps i can still help. even though you play an acoustic, you can still find some songs that just rock on an acoustic. Stuff like CCR's Bad Moon Risin' sounds killer. real uptempo and just kinda rocking. or Hey Hey what Can I Do, is a great sounding song by Led Zeppelin. you just have to realize that you need to make the most of what you have. Learning in an acoustic should be beneficial. it will help develop hand strength and it will teach you to play much cleaner. no distortion to hide behind. and the lessons here on GN are some of the best online lessons i have ever came across. the easy songs for beginners section from the main page has some great lessons on how to play songs that translate good to acoustic guitar. some good neil young tunes on there as well. his stuff is always fun to play.

all i can really say is if you want to do it, you will keep plugging away. practice will make you better. i remember when i could first start putting chords together and i could knock out Wish you were Here. it was a great feeling and a great confidence booster. same with the first time i could knock out the song Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. just the feeling you get when you can comfortably play a song is all worth it. the greatest feeling i nthe world.

good luck to you. if you have a question don't be afraid to ask

i taught myself how to play. At first, all I knew were basic chords (i didn't even know how to form a barre chord) and basic strumming. I almost gave up playing the guitar because i wasn't getting any better. and then i found guitarnoise. if it weren't for this site, i would have gave up. check out the beginner lessons. the first song i learned was wish you were here by pink floyd. and i just kept building from there. once you learned some of the cool songs in the beginner lesson forum, you'll most likely feel motivated to continue playing. and everyone is really helpful in the forums section (beginner ?'s). i've asked a lot of questions and there is always a person willing to lend a helpful hand.

I don't know how motivational this will be for anyone else, but hey, you asked. :D

When I was in college (over 25 years ago), I fell in love with the most amazing woman I'd ever met (then or now). She played guitar and that's what drew me to her. It really was a storybook romance. We wrote several songs together, she wrote the music and I the lyrics. She was just starting to teach me to play when she died suddenly. Long story short - I put the guitar down. I always intended to pick it up again, but I allowed life to take away the time I had for it.

I regretted not keeping up with the guitar all these years. But it wasn't until I watched my 2 year old grandson completely mesmerized by a guitar player that I finally picked it back up. I wanted to share that with him.

And now, he's 8 and we're taking lessons together. I can't wait till he gets to where we can jam together. I'm glad he pushed me into this, but I am sorry I missed all those years of playing.

That's a moving story.

We all have our own reasons for playing guitar. Yours is exceptional in my opinion. Thank you for sharing it.

Thanks for the kind words, Jbehar.

thanx 2 those who replyed i wont dash the guitar just yet. and the motivation story woz so movin thank u it really has helped

thank u :D jadiny

p.s ur all very kind :wink:

I'm a complete noob.. so I wanna offer some advice from a noob perspective. I think that lessons and drills are great things, but one of the best things you can do for yourself (or atleast it works for me) is to just put in a CD that you like and play along. Will you get all the notes right? Will it sound terrific? Nope.. it wont or atleast probly not but it will help you and you can build off of it. As time goes on you will get better and better at actually playing songs.

When I first got my guitar I was so frustrated by not being able to play anything. One night I put Green Day in and just played along. I just used simple power cords and while I probably sounded nothing like them that night.. I built off of it to atleast the point where my friends could recognise what I was playing.

I am still a noob.. but to me it is so satisfying and fun to just play.

Jim

thanks noob no thank you

whatever you can play on electric you can play on acoustic and blues sounds great on acoustic if you do it right. I think learning songs is a great motivator no matter what level because as you start you learn simple songs and as you progress you can learn more complex songs but you're always making music which is cool and you can see how all the things you're learning fit together in a song. You might want to find local bands playing too so you can see and talk to other musicians. They're usually cool about talking to newbies about what you might want to pick up. Remember...it's always all about fun.

THANK U GUYS AND GIRLS WHO REPLYED BIG HELP.

THANK YOU :D

I am 32 years old (today actually). When I was young, my father told me that "musical talent just didn't run in our family", etc., etc. I don't think he was trying to be mean but I ended up creating a mental block for myself thinking that I had no musical talent and that music would be out of my realm to understand.

A few years back, my wife's father was killed in a car accident. He was a talented guitarist with one of the best singing voices I have ever heard. Unfortunately, when he died so did his music and his guitar was packed away.
Similar to PappaJohn's story, a young boy (my son) changed my perspective. When my son was only one and a half years old, he was fascinated with music and in particular the guitar. So much so, that I bought him his first acoustic for Christmas before he was even two years old. He loved that guitar and would strum it and sing his own songs. It was great. What really hit home was I was watching a video tape of that Christmas morning and when he opened his guitar I heard one of our relatives say that maybe his uncle (who is in a band and a great guitarist) could teach him how to play. You may be a bit young to understand but although it was an innocent comment, to me it meant "you're Dad cannot teach you so you are going to have to go to someone else". It really hurt. However, instead of moping about it and saying "I can't do it". I picked up my deceased father-in-law's guitar and I started to learn how to play. It wasn't easy at first but my son was my inspiration and I pressed on. Eventually things got easier and then one day something clicked and I said to myself "I am really getting this!!". Playing was starting to come naturally and it actually started to become "easy". I started saying to myself "what is so hard about this?". I started playing songs for my son and he was so excited. He would get his guitar and try to play along (I think he even sounder better than I did when I first tried). And even though she has never said so, I know my wife was somewhat comforted to hear her father's guitar being played once again.

My best advice is to wipe all the negative thoughts from your head. Start to think about the positive things you like about the guitar and playing. Set a time everyday to play the guitar (I don't call it "practicing" because "playing" sounds more fun). Have fun with it. As the guys have said, try some lessons in the beginner section or look through the net for "easy chord files". That's what I do. Good luck.

Hey Jadiny,
What does being black have to do with anything?
Music is color blind :D
Anyway, I'm in a similar boat as you.
I've taken 2 lessons and still feel like I'm not getting anywhere.
All I do is practice chords in various combinations. And at times it gets boring.
I am getting ever so slightly better switching from chord to chord, but I guess I'm impatient.
I've noticed that certain chords sound great played one after the other.
For instance, Em to Am are awesome together and are very easy to switch one to the other. I've been doing this thing where I play 4 of each (down up down up) then switch to the other. You can try different timings and # of strokes. But the funny thing is, it sounds great to me. I know it's not a song, but it can be part of a song if you want it to be.
Play around with different combos of chords. Just pick 2 and play them all day long till you perfect the switching. Work other chords in when you feel comfy. Pretty soon, you'll hear some real nice chord combinations like I began to.
Please keep playing.
Nothing worthwhile is easy or quick, you know that.
It really is one of the best things you can do with your life.
And you'll always be able to amuse yourself or others even if you never get past merely playing chords.
However, I think once you get the hang of it, you'll play a lot more than just chords. And so will I!
Lenny

lenny i was just trying to make the point that none of my family play the instrument and are not into the music i am i'mjust joking . thanks for the advice and story guy from pei. thanks for the advice to lenny. yeh i'm trying to learn diff chord combo's so thanks. keep going it will be worth it .

good luck :D