First Day of Guitar

i'd say so. guitar playing requires a whole different form of muscle movement and memory. the more you practice forming chords the more your hands will get used to forming them. as you develop call..(you know what i'm talking about) on your fingers they ill feel a little odd and depending on how long you play at a given time tend to get sore.

as far as playing a song goes...rythm is key. if you play a song like twinkle twinkle, or happy birthday (they may contain alot of the same notes) the rythm can throw everything off and give off a false impression of the song.

as far as advice, that is if you want it...

buy a metronome. great for helping keep time

buy a chord book. i enjoyed this book called Rythym Guitar. told you how to form chords. gave you strumming patterns and included a CD. good book actually.

and lastly, check out the easy songs for beginners sectio here at Guitar Noise. Mr. Hodge writes some excellent articles that are easy to understand, some include MP3's and you learn by playing songs that you probably already have heard. beats just strumming chords that you can't identify with a song.

hope everything works out for you. feel free to post up and ask questions that's what we all are here for

It's been so long ago I can't remember all the phases you'll go through when your first starting out. I will say you'll go through both physical and mental changes on your journey to becoming a guitarist. As time goes on and you practice regularly it will get easier even if it doesn't sound like it. Then one day you'll pick up your guitar and everything you play will sound so good you won't want to put it down.

That when you'll hear Quote: " All you want to do it play that guitar, you never spend anytime with me".

You won't say a word but you'll think.... "she's right".

Or

you'll say.."I'll be right there". 1/2hour later she'll come in and stand there tapping the foot and give you the look...LOL

Joe

Hi and welcome

first of all there will be bad days and really good ones as well , I am 42 years of age and started to learn to play last November . My fingers stopped hurting about 2 months ago and I am really learning alot from the wonderful people in here .

I have found not to be in too much of a hurry learning this wonderful instrument , take the time to take the time I have been told , in other words just make time to learn and do it at your own pace .

enjoy

Hilch

Hey Vegas,

Welcome to the club! Yes, everything you're going through is normal, just keep with it. With patience and practice your playing will improve. Hang in there. I've been playing for over 20 years, but still remember those first big hurdles you have to overcome. My 10 year old son started playing guitar about 9 months ago, and is to the point where he can play some songs very well now. His best one is "Boulavard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day. Don't give up, practice alittle each day, and you'll get it too.

check out the sticky titled "What you've learned about guitar (incuding my 800 days)" under the Beginner's Q&A forum. It contains a wealth of advises and experiences.

My foremarm on the left hand side is aching (from trying to stretch fingers).

You're working lots of very small muscles that probably haven't had to do anything like this kind of work ever, so they're going to complain a bit. I'm 40, started playing last November (I read hilch's post, sounds just like me...) and it's taken a while to get past sore arms and fingers.

It's a good idea to get into the habit of stretching your wrist and fingers, particularly on your fretboard hand for a couple minutes before you practice. And to start your practice sessions with easy warmups like doing scales or easy chords, rather than just sitting down and picking up right where you left off the last time you were practicing.

As a total beginner those muscles in your hands won't all be in harmony with each other - like a baby learning to walk. Sometimes they'll work against each other and other times they'll work harder than they need to because you're still developing fine motor control that's not totally there yet. In practical terms what this means is that after a few minutes of practicing the same thing over and over again it's easy to have those muscles get really tensed up. It's good to get into the habit of, every few minutes, taking a break for a moment to shake the tension out, do a little streching and get everything loose again.

If there were one piece of advice that I wish I'd been given the first day that I started playing guitar it's this: Be aware of muscle tension and always be learning to keep loose.

Good luck!

Thanks for the reassurances and good advice guys. :D
I have studied music a little bit when I was younger (took a few years of piano lessons when I was very young and played trumpet for 3 years in junior high school band). So some of this stuff is familiar to me. I understand how to read standard music notation and time signatures and key signatures and such and am teaching myself to read the tablature for guitar.

My main goal with learning guitar is that I would love to be able to listen to some of my favorite CDs and play along while I listen. I love music and even after I was no longer formally studying any instrument, I used to have a basic MIDI keyboard and would play around with it from time to time.

I have set a plan for myself to practice (at minimum) for 30 minutes when I get up in the mornings and for 30 minutes in the evening after work. And then I assume some days I will practice more (for example weekends not having to work, there is extra time available I can practice).

I was a little bit worried because the book that came with my guitar started off by explaining the names of the parts of a guitar. Then it explained how to count notes. Then it showed a chord chart. Then it said "Now lets play 'Can't Buy Me Love'" and I was like, "They have got to be kidding me!" because there was no way I could get my fingers to do anything even CLOSE to that yet. =)

Hello man!

Now then, I'm 46, so there!!! :P

You said:
I have set a plan for myself to practice (at minimum) for 30 minutes when I get up in the mornings and for 30 minutes in the evening after work. And then I assume some days I will practice more (for example weekends not having to work, there is extra time available I can practice).
...And I applaude you for it, BUT....... Rigid practise builds boredom and disillusionment. Beware!!!
Fun is the key.

HTH