Learning Guitar?

[ng316]

Hey y'all,
I was thinking about trying to learn guitar, so I'm looking around to see if there's anything decent out there. Anybody know of anything? So far, the best thing I've found is this -> http://guitar-u.com
Let me know.
Thanks!

[pignose]

This is slightly more than decent Justin Guitar

[pistolsteve]

I ran across this page a while back. Some decent stuff there, and a nice forum (scroll down and click on Jam Session for the forum):

http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/

Having said that, unless you're a heckuva lot more disciplined than me (which wouldn't be a tough feat to pull off), I don't think there's any substitute for one-on-one lessons with a good LIVE guitar teacher. I've played sporadically for years, but have progressed immensely in the last year after finding a good local teacher.

[MTguitar]

as pignose said,

justinguitar.com

the guy really has a good approach to teaching. I find myself preferring his lessons to others online. and his site has plenty of stuff to keep you going well up into the intermediate level

[irishtele]

I find ultimate-guitar.com to be good!
But you need to check out a couple of different versions of some songs because some are pretty bad!
Justinguitar is also good!!

[tele salivas]

what styles of music do you want to play? sometimes a specific jumping in point is a less daunting perspective than a whole mess of information thrown at you, assuming you know the basic 'cowboy chords' and can tune your instrument

[Tele Joe]

Originally Posted by tele salivas

what styles of music do you want to play? sometimes a specific jumping in point is a less daunting perspective than a whole mess of information thrown at you, assuming you know the basic 'cowboy chords' and can tune your instrument

I'd agree with this. If you understand some basic chords then having a spedific starting point it good. A lot of people learn blues first which is a good method because you'll start being able to make decent music fast. Also the blues stuff you learn can be applied to any genre such as country, rock, even metal.

A really good beginers book I like is called Beginning Electric Blues Guitar by David Hamburger. It's relatively inexpensive ($25) and comes with a dvd which also provides background tracks so you can jam along with a band. You can order the book online pretty much anywhere and it's also stocked in most Sam Ash and Guitar Center music shops. If you do end up getting the book send me a private message and i'll highlight some pages for you to look at. You certainly can follow the book from page 1 to the end but jumping around can help break up some of the more boring things.

[GiddyHitch]

Another vote for Justin Guitar here.

His lessons are clear, his videos are entertaining and informative, and his site is well organized. After using his Intermediate Practice Routine for the past month to help focus my practice time (instead of just noodling on crappy minor pentatonic lines like I used to), I have noticed a tremendous improvement in my playing. That reminds me, I should send him some money!

The lessons for Garageband also seem very good and well integrated with the capabilities of the program. Would have been nice to have something like that when I was first starting out on guitar.

Finally, Amazing Slow Downer or similar programs are godsends for beginners learning songs, even if they have the tab in front of them.

[Overseer]

Originally Posted by Tele Joe

A really good beginers book I like is called Beginning Electric Blues Guitar by David Hamburger. It's relatively inexpensive ($25) and comes with a dvd which also provides background tracks so you can jam along with a band. You can order the book online pretty much anywhere and it's also stocked in most Sam Ash and Guitar Center music shops. If you do end up getting the book send me a private message and i'll highlight some pages for you to look at. You certainly can follow the book from page 1 to the end but jumping around can help break up some of the more boring things.

cheers for the recommendation. ordered :)

dont think the DVD has been converted to PAL format for over here, so had to import that seperately.. so i'll end up with the book/cd and dvd!

i've already been using his book "acoustic guitar method" to supplement/supply a framework for me to learn against. (including the dvd version for that too!). i strongly recommend that book too, it certainly got me going, although i'm not familiar with a lot american roots songs (i'm getting there though) the explanations of simple things like fingerings etc from day 1 were very detailed. when in bookstores i browse looking at books for a similar detail level and have found nothing that is like it. hope the blues one is up to the same high standard!

(i have a steel string electro acoustic about to sell on ebay to make way for my first Tele, and still have a 3/4 size nylon classical acoustic which i actually progressed a lot more on)

my learning approach tends to be analysing 'what' the methods in books/online lessons are trying to teach me and then either following the practice exercise or try to find a familiar (which helps a lot) song to train up the particular thing.

I also tap up resources like justinguitar and look for individual song 'lessons' on youtube or even websites when supplementing practice with a song. as well as talking to , and even playing a little with friends who play, one even teaches so i'm lucky there.

It seems there is a relatively common 'route' to learning.. I tihnk the trick is understanding the path without getting bogged down (too much detail early on) or trying to run before you can walk.

I figure once i understand what i'm meant to be doing I then devise whatever way i can practice it best to add it to my practice routine. (and i tend not to move on to the next thing till i'm more than ready..)

I have two notebooks. One with my practice "songs" (or song fragments) in, and another i keep a learning diary in. Plus a clip folder for doodling and holding print-outs of tabs/lessons/info etc.
so if i'm slack at practice for a while i can refresh and pick up where i was easily. i hope that down the line i can point people at the resources that helped me too.

as far as aiming for a a 'style'... its gone rhythm wise for quite a while and ended up almost going towards fingerstyle but i really just need to work on the speed of chord changes without complicating it.

i want to start learning some basic blues stuff as well.. mix it up a bit.. :)