Newbie Training Schedule

As a newbie to the site you may not have come across David Hodge yet. He says in one of his many highly useful articles:
For the new guitarist, life can be a case of sensory overload. There's so much to learn and so many different aspects of music and the guitar to explore that you just don't know what to do first.

This is exactly what you are describing. David recommends a teacher for anyone starting off. However, if for any reason you are not going to go for lessons immediately then the article has a lot of sound advice for you. Its somewhere on this site and is titled A Question of Balance.

Looking at the disciplined start you have made you definitely have the right approach, as whether you have a teacher or not you should go about your practising systematically.

Good luck, welcome and Happy New Year.

Ola

Hey,
welcome to guitarnoise and to starting guitar in and of itself.

You sound just like me when I was starting!!!!!!!

So far, your practice scedule seems good. Basics and chords are a good place to start.
Although I might suggest adding a few simple major scales to it. C major or G major would be good. Also if and when you're ready, you might want to start learning the actual notes of the fretboard, through flashcards or a beginer method book (or both) But don't overload yourself!!!!!!!

I would also suggest reading through the lessons here on guitarnoise, they're teriffic! Like he said, David Hodge's arricltes are really helpful.

Good Luck & Happying playing! :)

Step 2: I made nice colour print-outs of the 7 mayor chords and will be posting it against the wall.

What exactly do you mean with this? There are 12 major chords (A till G#) and plenty of different shapes. There are seven basic chords in a key, but they are not all major.

There's one thing you need to add to that list, preferably in big red letters at the top:

Relax, and enjoy the journey...

A schedule is good, that one looks just fine to be going on with, but you don't need to be a slave to it. Use it as a guide and see where the guitar takes you :)

Just a word of advice and observation that will echo what others have already written. This bit of advice comes from someone who has been playing guitar since I was 12 years old. I started playing in 1980, which means I have been playing pretty darn close to three decades. Okay, so here it is:

You will NEVER, EVER, EVER learn EVERYTHING about playing guitar (or music in general). Thinking you can "learn it all" is the surest way to guarantee that you quit out of frustration. It is a unbelievably large body of knowledge and skill to try to master it all, either right now or if you play for 100 years. AND, that is the great part about it! I am learning things and am interested in aspects of music now that I would never have been interested in 5 or 10 years ago. In 5 years I will be into things I can't imagine now. And thats what keeps it as interesting and exciting as a beginner learning their first open chords!

So, as a beginner just take it easy. Relax and enjoy whatever it is you are learning. There is no "right" thing to learn, in a particular order. Anything you learn can become a tool for you to use in your playing. With that said, if you can find a good teacher, he/she can move you along to your next goal faster than you can do it yourself.

Good luck & have fun!

I'd suggest adding an Exercise 4: Play!
It's great to have a plan and staying on it will help you in the long run, but remember it's called "playing guitar", so have some fun with it too. I don't know the order you have planned for learning your chords, but I'd recommend making the first three be ones that commonly go together like G, C and D or A, D and E, that way you can start playing some songs almost immediately. Just know that when you first start, you will butcher the song and your chord changes will be too slow to play along, but keep at it because it will come with time.

You can look at the Easy Song database and find several that use just those 3 chords. Off the top of my head I can think of...

Take It Easy (Eagles) - the verses are G, C and D. By the time you get those down, you can pick up Em and Am and play the chorus.
Wild Thing (Troggs and Hendrix version), Summertime Blues (Blue Cheer and Rush version), Louie Louie (Kingsmen), Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones) are all just A, D and E.

O NO! Don't tell me I got it all wrong - I thought the mayor chords were A, B, C, D, E, F and G :shock:
Anyway, doesn't matter, have to learn them all at some point.

OK, so much for my training schedule - played untill 01:00 this morning! My fingertips are on fire!!! I LOVE IT !!!! :P But, I must say, my strumming is already getting better, although I have some difficulty strumming with the pick(?). I find it easier and the sound much more gentle when strumming with my thumb. Is this acceptable, or do I HAVE to use the pick?

Thanks for all the feedback guys, great to have someone for support and advice. The general message I got from your feedback is that's it's about the love of music, playing the guitar, practise, practise, practise and PLAYING. That, I'll do.

I think I'm taking jwmartin's advice and consentrate on three common chords at a time, so that I'll have a song to practise on and keep the motivation high. Would you all agree with him on G,C, D and A,D,E?

Well, anyway, time to get ready for work :cry:

Thanks all.

OK, so much for my training schedule - played untill 01:00 this morning! My fingertips are on fire!!! I LOVE IT !!!! :P But, I must say, my strumming is already getting better, although I have some difficulty strumming with the pick(?). I find it easier and the sound much more gentle when strumming with my thumb. Is this acceptable, or do I HAVE to use the pick?

Play with your thumb if you feel more comfortable with it :wink: You don't have to use a pick and I know that many people here will say that is better to play with your thumb and your finger than with a pick.

If you have difficulty with the pick, maybe you just don't hold it the "right way". You can read this: http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/using-a-pick/page2.php

Personally, I played only with a pick, but learning some fingerpicking song, I'm getting more comfortable with my strumming hand and I tend to play more with my fingers.

But when I play fast solos, I find it easier to play with a pick.

just play the damn thing already!

How are you strumming with your hand? Plenty of people I know have their hand open and just use their thumb with constant tension, which works the first day but won't work much longer. It's bad for your hand and will severely limit you in what you can play.

So far (4 months of guitar) I've used a pick for strumming, Ignar.
If or when I do strum with the hand what's the proper technique?

HAVE FUN.

I admire your disciplined approach, as I was all over the place for a long while when starting.

At least once a week, throw away the regimented plan, sit down with nothing but you and your guitar and just take what you have learned and plain old messa round! Try to figure out the riff from Smoke on the Water or the melody of a cheesy pop tune. Sing TV theme songs in the style or Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Vedder or whoever. Practice making excrutiating guitar faces while playing a solo on one string!

Horse with No Name (the quintessential 2 chord song) was priceless - if you work your way thru parts 1 AND 2 then you can pretty much skip ahead to the section on beginner's blues...
I read thru Intro to Blues parts 1 and 2 and then learned Kansas City - which is 3 chords BTW - but then you will have learned enough about playing guitar to play blues at will. Some guitarists do nothing BUT play the blues, also the blues sound especially authentic 8) played slowly on a cheap guitar lol

I am a firm believer in learning songs right away. If a person simply practices scales or chords, they really can't understand how they work in a song. Plus learning can become rather boring and tedious to many. But when you learn a song you begin to understand how chords relate to each other, plus you get a sense of accomplishment. And you are having fun. :D

So in additon to practicing scales and chords (and hopefully sight-reading too), always spend a little time learning some EASY songs. Go to David Hodge's lessons on the home page and learn a few of the songs he has posted there, you are sure to know a few. It always helps if you know the song by ear to begin with. By the time you learn 3 or 4 songs you will have learned quite a few chords and developed some good techniques.

You must understand right from the beginning that guitar is something you are going to do the rest of your life if you are serious about playing it well. I made up my mind the very first day that I was going to play as long as I was able. That was about 35 years ago, and I have played nearly every single day since then. Just take your time and play as often as possible. The greatest secret to playing well is just to keep playing. I don't care what it is, if you keep practicing anything you will eventually get very good at it. And that is how guitar works too. :D

As far as using your thumb, there is no right or wrong to guitar, you can play anyway you want. It is good to both pick with a flatpick and fingerpick, so practice both. But many players play without a flatpick. Wes Montgomery played with his thumb and he was an awesome Jazz guitarist. Check out this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQRc959Sx1E

Just keep playing and you will get good.