[Sticky] --> Share things you've learned about guitar

Lots of good advice here. One of the things that I learned early on that has helped me tremendously is USE THAT PINKIE! reach with it, stretch it, barre with it, bend, slide, and vibrato with it.

Its' difficult at first, but well worth the effort to get it up to par with your other fingers.

Know I always just remind myself, it will happen soon enough. At first I had to persist just to form open chord shapes, then i had to practice for what seemed like forever to get a good change into any barre chords. Now I know that whatever is next will not be what makes me chuck the guitar away.

I have really enjoyed reading this thread! Thank you, everyone!

Fretzky

I think god is watching over this thread.

Awsome input guys.

Kido

in a 2'x16”x6” RokSak (read: giant male purse).

It's not a purse!... It's European!-

Sorry, I couldn't resist when I read that post.

ok i dont know if its been said but if not then here you go

* use alternate picking it will be more beneficial to you than you will ever know and will aloow you to play much faster

* ive always heard that you should take other guitarists ideas such as somehting they play and change it so that you get your own unique sound out of it. keep the general ideas the same but change the deatails.haha

*ive always found that if you concentrate on your emotions that you play catering to that emotion suck as if your sad alot of times ill concentrate on that and get really cool riffs from it.

well hope that was some help ive only been playing for about 9 months but poeple say it sounds like a couple years so id like to think id know a little bit of what im talking about, hopefully.

I'm new too, just started 3 months ago and im 14. I've been learning before I even had a guitar because an xpert guitarrist (my cousin) lived with me for the summer and taught me 24/7 every day for free! I learned so much! I already mastered the song "Sweet Child of Mine" in my first week! Cool right?

I'm young (14), so I'm hoping to go somewhere with my guitar in the future(if there is one). My brother has been playing since he was young I've been around him playing all my life, when he got a new guitar he gave me his old one (I belive its called Terminator by synsonics) when I was only 7. I never really had the pactience to try and learn, it just seemed out of my reach and so complicated to learn. Finally, when I was twelve I started skateboarding. Thats when I found my idol, Bam Cole Margera (this was waaaay before he was popular), and as some people know Bam has a love for music. Which made me listen to some more underground things and not just what I saw on mtv. I started likeing HIM, Slipknot, Turbonegro, Placebo and The International Noise Conspricy. I found metal better then all music, the heavier the better. Then I finally heard a song by The Cure and realized that theres alot more out there. I started likeing alternitive, and I listened to music everywhere I went. My girlfriend was in a band at the time and she played drums. Which made me want to play even more. Then I picked up my guitar and realized my mission on earth :wink: lol.

I had already learned how to read tabs from my brother so that made it easier and I knew a bit of regular music from playing the trumpet and drums. So in a few days I learned to play my first song- seven nation amry by The White Stripes. It wasn't much but enough to motivate me to keep on playing. This site is were I learnedalmost everything I know, so thank you :)

Kool story, I guess girls can be pretty provoking.

I have learned that you can listen to a song on CD and sing along and the song seems sooo slooow. Then you try and play along on the guitar and magically the same song speeds up to a frantic speed so you don't have time to make all the chord changes. Must be a new law of physics in here somewhere. :?

Hmmm, I think that's one of the first laws of playing guitar. I hear you on that one. I can barely spit out a couple of words before I mess up.

Yep, it's a great thread, I'll just repeat the point of the need for perserverence and to maintain a sense of enjoyment when the going gets tough :)

The first and most important thing i ever learned about guitars:

Classical guitars are more comfortable in the beginning.

Some people will argue with me on this, and too their full right.

Sure, the neck is 3 inches wide but
The reason for this statement is simple.
When youve been playing for a week, and chord changes are still a
hassle, and the only thing youve accomplished is to make your fingers
1 inch shorter, quitting seems like a good option :D

Nylon strings really are good for something. They aint razors. :wink:
And when you havent gotten them 'calluses yet,
its much much more forgiving :)

This is a great thread! I have one question tho...as a very very very new person to playing, until i can afford lessons, what is the best way to set up practice sessions for myself??? I am somewhat familiar with some basic theory, as i played piano and clarinet in highschool, but that was.....dang... that was about 13 or 14 years ago (that just hit like a ton of bricks...LMAO) all the suggestions i have found in the threads seem to be for those who are a little more familiar with the guitar than i am :D

thanx for any advice,
Tiffany

Thanks to all for the great advice!

I got my first guitar two weeks ago as a 30th birthday present. The Beginner's Lessons have been a great help, but it's the details that make the difference.

Now, if somebody could just point me to a good resource for re-stringing an electic guitar...