Hey there,
I'm a beginner player, I've only been playing since Christmas, but man... its been some of the best times of my life just sitting there playing a guitar! Needless to say, I'm really enjoying it. But I seem to have hit a bit of a problem, I am a poor student, so I really don't have enough money for regular lessons and so I've been learning off websites and from a couple of books. Although this is useful, I find that I lack a structured approach and now that I'm starting to learn about intermediate stuff, I'm getting a bit frustrated at myself cause I seem to have hit a wall.
Just to give you an idea of where I am, I've learned:
Where to identify all the notes on the fret board,
All the basic open major, minor and seventh chords (Seventh major and minor too),
The 'E' and 'A' barre chord shapes
The major and penatonic scales, and a blues scale,
A variation of strum patterns,
A handful of basic songs,
Ive written a couple of my own songs too,
A little about alternate tunings and use of a capo,
Some basic chord theory (major triads and such),
How to read music (of course I'm very slow lol)
A little about key signatures (how to identify them on a staff, circle of fifths etc) and time signatures,
A little about quality and quantity of intervals,
Thats about all i know... its funny, it seems like I've learned so much and yet nothing at all
I was just wondering if anyone has any book/DVD recommendations that they have learned from, or any advice whatsoever would be nice, as I said I really can't afford lessons at the moment, BUT i do have a lot of time on my hands, would really like to know how to make the best of it :).
Thanks in advanced.
Nath
Hi Nathan. Welcome. You seem to have learned a tremendous amount in only 3 months. It sounds like you are really dedicated to learning the guitar. It might be a good idea to get together with some friends that also play. You can learn a lot by playing along with others.
Denny
Hey Nathan,
Playing an instrument is all about knowing how to create the sounds you want. When you hear a song that you like, just try to imitate the sounds with your guitar. Instead of running to a tab site when you want to learn a song (not saying that this is what you do), try to listen for the chord changes and pick up the movement of it. If you hear melodies in your head often, reach for the axe and try to play them.
This is an effective way to practice. You will improve your technical ability while simultaneously improving your ear and understanding of music as it relates to your instrument. Once you have an ear for music, the only thing limiting you is physical ability.
You've done quite well for only three months. Now it is time to put what you have learned thus far to use by making music. Learning guitar is a slow process. But, I know for sure that you are improving. You can always tell that you are getting better at something when you are struggling with it. If you are practicing something and it is not a struggle, you usually wont be getting any better at it.
Good luck.
At this time I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT...IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY -- A LOVE SUPREME --. John Coltrane
You're doing very, very well so far.
I suggest you find some songs that have some challenge to them and start filling out your repertoire. Work from music plus tablature and treat them as study problems.
I started learning a couple of pieces around New Years (Tomi Paldanius acoustic version of Livin' on a Prayer and Ulli Borgershausen's It Could Have Been) . Both seemed WAY above my abilities but both had good (free!) music plus tab so I could start very slowly. They both took me 6 weeks just to get to the point where they sounded something like the goals (playing very, very slowly in order to burn the exactly correct patterns into my neurons). I'll probably continue improving execution for the next 20 years. But any non-guitar playing friends who hear me will be amazed.
Learn some songs. After all, playing is about the music, not about whether you can do scales. You'll want/need to do scales as well but the goal is the music. Enjoy some time on the goal line.
Unimogbert
(indeterminate, er, intermediate fingerstyle acoustic)
