The problem with a list like this is that it assumes that all guitar players have the same goals, and that these are the basic steps needed to achieve those goals. But that most certainly is not the case.
I guess I will always be a beginner, by those criteria, because not only can I not sing and play at the same time, I have zero desire to do so. My family has zero desire for me to do so. Heck, my cats have zero desire for me to do so (although I think the dogs baying, the cats caterwauling, and me attempting to vocalize would make quite the barber shop quintet...and you would be hard-pressed to pick my voice out of that lineup. :shock: ).
I like the subjective definitions better. You are no longer a beginner when you think you are not.
I'm going to avoid using labels and strive for continual improvement. Who's with me?
I'm going to avoid using labels and strive for continual improvement. Who's with me?
Me, for one. Still learning something new every day, and that's after playing for over thirty years - although I've only really taken it seriously for about the last five.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Andreas Segovia said...in his eighties...that he's still not quite finished learning.
Wouldn't life be dull if we knew everything??? (Why bother, anyway...my three teen sons already KNOW everything!)
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
everyone is a beginner at least in some field. In a very strict definition, I would say that someone is no more a total beginner when he/she is able to play in time a song from start to finish without, but this does not mean so much.
I can decently play rhythm guitar in a band of friends (we started three months ago and now we're mainly into Motorhead and play also some Sex pistols, Kiss, alice cooper, ted nugent cover versions) but i consider myself no more than a semi-beginner for playing in a jam situation.
Matteo
when you can play stairway to heaven the you are no longer a beginner :D
when you can play stairway to heaven the you are no longer a beginner :D
Hmmmm - not so sure about that one, it's not tremendously difficult - anyone can learn one song parrot-fashion. I'd be more inclined to say when you can work out Stairway for yourself, you're no longer a beginner.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
when you can play stairway to heaven the you are no longer a beginner :D
Almost there then. As for the singing and playing, I cant even hum along to guitar hero.
While I still concider myself a beginner and will do for along time, one thing that makes me realise just how much I've learnt is when I can be discussing a new track with a friend or my teacher and I can be strumming away or playing the solo or something without having anything to look at in front of me. As said above, once you start working things out for yourself without tab or whatever, then you're probably not a beginner.
"Rock stars, is there anything they dont know?" - Homer Simpson
Everyone seems to agree that you stay a beginner forever because you keep learning something new.
I think that really there are different levels of beginner to me. I've been playing for a year coming towards the end of January, and I don't consider myself an entry level beginner anymore, and when I say that, I say that I've learned chords, some theory, and have a bit of understand of the fret-board.
I am a beginner in just about every respect after that though.
On an off topic, one thing that made me really happy over the holiday's is the fact that my 6 year old niece saw me playing guitar a few times, and wanted a guitar for Christmas to be able to "play like me", so my sister got her one of those first act guitars and wants me to teach her how to play some.
So I guess teaching someone else how to play falls into another category of beginner, as I've never even thought of that before.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
