Learning

Hello all, I am new to the site and to guitars. Can anyone tell me how long they have been playing and how long it took them to learn. Also advice on learning would be appreciated.

Thank you!!!

[Jagstang666]

I've played for between 3 and 4 years and I'm still learning.

You'll learn stuff for the whole time you play guitar I think.

My advice-practice what will make you better, not just easy stuff that's fun to play.

[guitar_dude]

i've been playing for 11 years and still not playing like i want but in 6 months to a year you should start to get the hang of it

[zappatude]

Umm I've been playing since the ah err umm ehemm.... late 70's. There was no internet, instuctional CD's or videos. I was lucky in that I had an older brother that played. First thing is learn to tune the thing. I had a tuning fork, yes I said a tuning fork to help me tune my guitar. I took two lessons, what a bore. A couple of basics books and my record player and I was on my way. But anyway, here is my little piece of opinion. You really start learning how to play when you start playing with other musicians. My brother showed me a few things, 'Wish You Were Here', a couple of America tunes, etc... Learned some scales, practiced chord changes blah blah. That all needs to be done. But when you can finally jam with people and you start feeling safe enough to really let go and open up, give and take, thats making music.
So to answer your question, a couple of years it took for me to function as a guitarist in a group. "Horse With No Name" took me a couple of months. It all depends on what you want to do.

[dkitt]

Ahha! I still use a tuning fork!
I don't know wheather you are using acoustic or electric, but if its acoustic, I'd try and find one with a higher than average string height, and NO FRET BUZZ anywhere up and down the neck- you'll get a much better tone and enjoy playing so much more!

Pick 6 popular chords and practise changeing between them quickly while strumming - I wish I had learned that first, but I had just finished several years of classical playing and I didn't realize I needed a whole new skill set.

[dmt]

originally posted by zappatude...Umm I've been playing since the ah err umm ehemm.... late 70's. There was no internet, instuctional CD's or videos. I was lucky in that I had an older brother that played. First thing is learn to tune the thing. I had a tuning fork, yes I said a tuning fork to help me tune my guitar. I took two lessons, what a bore. A couple of basics books and my record player and I was on my way. But anyway, here is my little piece of opinion. You really start learning how to play when you start playing with other musicians. My brother showed me a few things, 'Wish You Were Here', a couple of America tunes, etc... Learned some scales, practiced chord changes blah blah. That all needs to be done. But when you can finally jam with people and you start feeling safe enough to really let go and open up, give and take, thats making music.
So to answer your question, a couple of years it took for me to function as a guitarist in a group. "Horse With No Name" took me a couple of months. It all depends on what you want to do.

What he said.

(except the "late 70's" part!)

I was actually jamming with other people within about six months of starting, but as I didn't know any scales yet, it was a pretty hit or miss affair as far as leads were concerned. I would just mess around over the progression until I found the notes that worked, and then I'd work those notes and reach for some others just by ear. If it was a progression that got played again, I'd already have a leg up on it. Most people don't have an endless bag full of progressions to whip out, so you can actually kind of get by if you have a strong idea in your mind of what you should be sounding like. However, hitting too many wrong notes and not being able to move freely around the fretboard eventually became too frustrating - so I bought a book and started learning the pentatonic scales. I already had the basics of jamming down, so as soon as I had the scales, I was off to the races!

But in an overall sense I still sucked. In a lot of ways, I still do! And there's always more to learn if you want.

After awhile though, it becomes more about "playing" than "learning". But there will always be times where you sit down and deliberately work on improving things.

[This message has been edited by dmt (edited February 26, 2004).]

[zappatude]

If I was starting today, I would pick up a cheap drum machine/beat box to use as a metronome.

[garytalley]

I've been a full-time professional guitar player since 1967. My father showed me 3 chords and I learned to play "You Are My Sunshine" in about 30 minutes.I was about 12 years old. I'd been a professional guitar player for years before I learned to read notation. Notice I didn't say "read MUSIC". You don't read music. You hear it. Don't let anybody tell you you have to learn to "read music" to play the guitar. You'll never be sorry you learned to play the guitar.Don't let anybody discourage you.Learn songs you like.Have fun. Make sure your strings are adjusted right so they're easy to press down.