More or less complete newbie guitar player that I am I went and bought the Tab versions of some favourite music of mine (Evanescence's 'Fallen' Album). Got the book, opened it and looked at it and pretty quickly shut it again realising that it was something for later (much later) down the road. I'm guessing I'm not the only person to have done this. I'd be interested in finding anything of theirs that I could /attempt/. I'm also a fan of Godsmack, I keep looking at their tab books too and telling myself that if I buy one the same thing will happen as did with 'Fallen'.
Is there any good way to learn some contemporary music now or do I stick with the classic stuff until I'm a more competent player? :)
OK... so im in noway a real skilled player... being im walking that road myself, but I did go through the same thing. I first started trying to play back in the late 70's early 80's. Well problem was my music of choice was a lot of the pregressive stuff of the time..[Yes, King Crisom, ELP, etc..] Rush, Zep, etc... For the most part REAL tough stuff to learn for a kid starting out. So I tryed, and never realy connected becouse I would get discurged. Well now that im older,and starting to learn agean, I have learned that there is a lot of other stuff out there that you CAN learn, and eaven though it might not be stuff you normaly listen to... it just might open your eyes to some stuff you never knew was out there, AND lean stuff also. Granted in todays world with the internet, and youtube it is a lot easer to learn these harder songs... But I think getting a few easy songs under your belt, will leave you better prepaird to learn the harder stuff. So poke around a bit. Scope out youtube for some older stuff you might like, ask some people in your life for song ideas.... You may be suprised how much you enjoy playing a song you never realy thought about before.
Paul B
I'm going to recommend the Glee books.
Don't send for the men in white coats just yet; there's method in the madness. There's a variety of music in the Glee books and it's all laid out in an easily digestible format. One of my students (aged 11) turned up with the volume with the red cover and we've played through Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) and Don't Stop Believing so far. The book also has music by Neil Diamond, Freddie Mercury, CCR and Amy Wino. The music is in standard notation plus Tab and there are good old chord boxes at the head of every tune.
There's nothing wrong with trying to work from a particular artist's work whilst you're learning so don't feel bad about the Evanescence book. I cut my electric guitar teeth on a book of the music of David Bowie, a lot of which I knew from hearing it on the radio; but then I could already read music so I had a fairly jet-propelled start.
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
I'm going to recommend the Glee books.
Don't send for the men in white coats just yet; there's method in the madness.
You can tell how out of touch with somethings I am. I read your reply and went 'huh? The whatbooks?' Whatever they are it seems that they might be worth looking into some time, then. I'm certainly open to new musical suggestions (perhaps I'll ask my father), that's how my tastes/interests often include things that make others give me a blank look ... remember going into a music store (HMV) once some years ago to see if they had the latest 'Nightwish' album, the look I got for that was actually more than blank (if such a think). They're a matal band from Finland. Mind you I got a similar reaction when asking for something by the Mediaeval Baebes (usually found in the Classical section). I started buying music from Amazon after that :P
My brothers and sisters were around 10 years older than me so I tended to like music that was a little older than I was. I really like Classic Rock. A lot of it ended up being from my generation but I "reverse engineered" alot of it. I would read about the current artists that I liked ane check out their influences. My son is 25 and he loves classic rock. He's not so much into what is out there right now.
I will say, if you can play what you like, even if it is just a few riffs here and there right now, you will learn faster because you like it and you know how it is supposed to sound.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Agree with what's posted above re. at least pecking away at what you really are drawn to. It does keep your interest up.
The flipside: music you may not necessarily want to listen to can be a lot of fun to play, so keep your ears open!
I've never owned a Tom Petty record, but when I got into guitar I was really fascinated by a bunch of their stuff.
Another great GN resource is the Beginner's Video thread, lots of great jumping off points in there:
Don
My brothers and sisters were around 10 years older than me so I tended to like music that was a little older than I was. I really like Classic Rock. A lot of it ended up being from my generation but I "reverse engineered" alot of it. I would read about the current artists that I liked ane check out their influences. My son is 25 and he loves classic rock. He's not so much into what is out there right now.
I will say, if you can play what you like, even if it is just a few riffs here and there right now, you will learn faster because you like it and you know how it is supposed to sound.
Same boat here. Im the youngest of 3, and spent my years hearing music that was big 5 to 10 years before my time. I also took the "step back" and started searching out the people that inspired the people I liked. And who inspired them, and them... etc.. Thats what got me pretty heavy in the blues world, and once I would stumble across a proformer I liked, I would search out others of that time, and who they were inspired by... then you jump foward to new people that were inspired by them in modern music... and work back agean... over time, you get a pretty big chunk of music you know and enjoy.
Paul B
Boulevard of broken dreams by greenday..... some basic chords and strumming in the verse..... the chorus is powerchords (or a barre chord if your super brave) but you can get through the verse I bet.
together we stand, divided we fall..........
