Member of the Month

PartyBullshiit
March, 2024

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Learning how to play guitar

profile picture
riddsicle
Posts: 684 - Karma: 264
So I recently started fooling around with my acoustic as well as getting some lessons here and there.

I'm far from being able to do basically anything haha but my latest accomplishment is memorizing basic chords like G, D, C, Am, Em, and F.

any tips/tricks as far as self teaching goes from anyone here who has been playing for awhile? Or better yet any good songs that are relatively easy to learn for beginners? right now I'm working on ripple and friend of the devil
Feb 16 2016 9:34PM
11 0
profile picture
LoathesRaisins
Posts: 3612 - Karma: 4,735
My brother has been learning guitar and is getting pretty decent. He just jams with friends and plays by himself a lot. He didn't really do any lessons, he just learns songs that he likes. He usually learns a new song every couple weeks. I hear having a decent guitar makes it a lot more enjoyable as well.
Feb 17 2016 2:45AM
0 0
profile picture
powderdrunkie
Posts: 2034 - Karma: 976
Learn some ween bud. Most of the stuff is simple.
Feb 17 2016 5:47AM
0 0
profile picture
nate1097
Posts: 361 - Karma: 524
Learn some fun little riffs, you can find some easy ones and they will help you get your fingers ready for the tougher stuff
Feb 17 2016 6:46AM
0 0
profile picture
WizardofWas
Posts: 224 - Karma: 348
A really good song to play that's moderately easy is House of the Rising Sun by The Animals
Feb 17 2016 11:13AM
0 0
profile picture
Dustin.
Posts: 13839 - Karma: 7,704
Play songs you like and learn them on Youtube. Youtube can get you very far these days.
Feb 17 2016 3:26PM
0 0
profile picture
J_Berg
Posts: 562 - Karma: 2,031
I've been playing for about 2.5 years, self taught, and I love it. Just practice a ton, it's so rewarding. If you watch some youtube videos, learn how to read tabs (its very easy), you'll be noodlin in no time. Learn chords first, open chords, then a barre chord or two, but really understand the concept behind barre chords, and it'll make a lot more sense when you go to play riffs.

Stay tuned
Feb 17 2016 3:28PM
1 0
profile picture
altie29
Posts: 168 - Karma: 562
don't just learn how to play all sorts of popular songs. that'll get you no where and you won't really know how to play. learn all the basic cords and scales to start. practice a lot. once you have the basics down you can start applying it to songs and start jamming to backing tracks and whatnot.
Feb 17 2016 5:14PM
0 0
profile picture
riddsicle
Posts: 684 - Karma: 264
yeah I've been watching alot of youtube stuff. Definitely takes time but even learning a couple new chords is a really good feeling
Feb 17 2016 5:27PM
0 0
profile picture
riddsicle
Posts: 684 - Karma: 264
powderdrunkieLearn some ween bud. Most of the stuff is simple.


I've been working on bananas and blow lol that's one of the first songs i looked up. very far from learning the solo but the rest is coming along nicely
Feb 17 2016 8:20PM
0 0
profile picture
conchetler
Posts: 280 - Karma: 609
like most other people have been saying, just play songs that you like, don't try to play songs that sound cool but you don't enjoy to play. learning to read tabs is also a really good thing to know, it opens up lots of doors.

once you have a pretty good grasp of basic chords (barre and open) learning the pentatonic scale is a good thing to know. if you can learn it up and down the fretboard you can solo/jam to nearly any song, which also opens up a whole new world to the guitar.

patience is a major key...itll take some time to get really good but it sounds like you've got a pretty good foundation to work off of so far. i've been playing for a little over 2.5 years myself and am self taught, and i absolutely love it. keep with it, it only gets more fun!
Feb 17 2016 10:52PM
0 0
profile picture
notspoicey
Posts: 1167 - Karma: 1,706
Find a song you like that has a good amount of chords, and make sure some of them are barre chords. Bonus points for finding a song with a simple riff on top of that.
Idk your music taste but these songs are really good for learning chord progressions and simple riffs. Have a look

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/the_shins/young_pilgrims_crd.htm

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/p/pixies/here_comes_your_man_tab.htm

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/r/real_estate/black_lake_tab.htm

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/simon_garfunkel/el_condor_pasa_ver4_tab.htm


these are a little harder but once your fingers get stronger it should be way easier

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/k/king_krule/easy_easy_ver3_tab.htm

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/thee_oh_sees/minotaur_tab.htm

Compared to reading sheets, tabs are super easy IMO. The number literally just means what fret to put your finger on.
Feb 17 2016 11:14PM
0 0
profile picture
riddsicle
Posts: 684 - Karma: 264
conchetlerlike most other people have been saying, just play songs that you like, don't try to play songs that sound cool but you don't enjoy to play. learning to read tabs is also a really good thing to know, it opens up lots of doors.

once you have a pretty good grasp of basic chords (barre and open) learning the pentatonic scale is a good thing to know. if you can learn it up and down the fretboard you can solo/jam to nearly any song, which also opens up a whole new world to the guitar.

patience is a major key...itll take some time to get really good but it sounds like you've got a pretty good foundation to work off of so far. i've been playing for a little over 2.5 years myself and am self taught, and i absolutely love it. keep with it, it only gets more fun!


I have somewhat of a list that i keep of songs i definitely want to learn that involve a bit of everything. Right now I'm working on down in a hole unplugged (alice in chains) simply because i fucking love that song even though it's half fingerpicked and probably too advanced for me at this point.

Lake of fire unplugged version is also on my dream list but i know kids that have been playing for 5+ years and have a hard time with that haha
Feb 17 2016 11:35PM
1 0
profile picture
FrenchFry
Posts: 969 - Karma: 3,432
I'm self taught through youtube, friends etc. Coming up on my 2 and half years now, But really only been playing seriously for a year, i play everyday for a couple hours and has it ever payed off. I can jam with anyone, play pretty much any song i want to learn, Just learned the 2nd solo in comfortably numb a few days ago. It's just practice and playing everyday. And since you know all the basic chords, start learning them all over the neck, like learn c in 2 different places, then move on to the next chord. and learn your power chords too, they can be difficult but they're super helpful!! and if you learn power chords you can pretty much play every nirvana song haha.
Feb 18 2016 2:57PM
2 0
profile picture
DanielPlainview
Posts: 391 - Karma: 1,708
pretty much all of my friends tried to play. i noticed a trend of kids taking lessons and giving up, but the ones who just watched videos of their favorite guitarists and fucked around for hours ended up getting pretty good.
Feb 19 2016 3:12PM
0 0
profile picture
smooticus
Posts: 1798 - Karma: 27
I have been playing a very long time. Getting better only takes time. It doesn't take lots of "practice". Just playing it, moving your fingers around and trying different picking/strumming patterns is what builds muscle memory and trains your ear.

My advice for starting out. Obviously look up tabs for any song you want to learn and give it a go. But when your not sure what to play, try learning different picking patterns, learn some travis picking, chord variations and scales.

I also really love diddling around in open tuning, once you figure out how the keys work, you can really just dance around the whole neck and it opens things up a ton.

If you have friends to play with, learn some 12 bar blues and pentatonic scales.
Feb 19 2016 4:26PM
1 0
profile picture
CabbyArrant
Posts: 779 - Karma: 4,120
riddsicleSo I recently started fooling around with my acoustic as well as getting some lessons here and there.

I'm far from being able to do basically anything haha but my latest accomplishment is memorizing basic chords like G, D, C, Am, Em, and F.

any tips/tricks as far as self teaching goes from anyone here who has been playing for awhile? Or better yet any good songs that are relatively easy to learn for beginners? right now I'm working on ripple and friend of the devil


After you get the basic chords you can start to do a lot of different things. When I started playing I learned the diminished augmented the minor and other various chords up and down the finger board. Next I moved on to different scales major minor pentatonic and blues scales. (Learning good pick technique is a must) By this point you should have learned to read tablature which isn't hard. Next just find songs to play which you should do throughout the process and lastly. Practice practice practice.
You only get better if you practice.

Any chili peppers song is usually fun to play even if you are only playing rhythm
Feb 20 2016 2:55PM
0 0
profile picture
Lbird
Posts: 401 - Karma: 2,188
I would say get your pentatonic scales down and learn the 12 bar blues, then boom you can jam with anyone.
Feb 21 2016 12:48AM
0 0
profile picture
fupaface
Posts: 810 - Karma: 449
Been playing for a while, and recently came across a channel on youtube called "now you shred". Their channel consists of backing tracks to solo over, a lot of jimi hendrix, pink floyd, and other great artists. A lot of their videos also show you scale patterns in different modes to give you an idea of what to play, anyone who plays should check it out.
Feb 21 2016 2:18AM
1 0
profile picture
stinky_cheese
Posts: 1215 - Karma: 5,118
this has already been said but https://www.ultimate-guitar.com is a really good resource for finding songs. you can really look up any song and most of the time there will be multiple versions of the song, as in easier ones with basic chords and then harder ones advanced chords

some easy songs, well if you're into the beatles and picking, blackbird is relatively easy. it'll take some practice but its a fun song that most people enjoy. idk most beatles songs are pretty easy and fun to play. those are the songs that i first learned and i still play them to this day

im not really a guitar expert but i love playing so feel free to pm me with any questions or anything haha i dunno
Feb 21 2016 2:29AM
0 0
profile picture
Bamjam
Posts: 200 - Karma: 129
Learn strum patterns. Practice scales, you'll thank yourself later.
Feb 21 2016 3:58AM
0 0
profile picture
TVRNTVPOOP
Posts: 619 - Karma: 3,583
I've been self teaching for 5 years. I wouldn't do it any other way. I think the best thing to do is have fun with it. Play songs that you like to listen to! Use tabs (ultimate guitar tabs) and YouTube. The first song I learned was the November Rain solo (which Is by no means a beginner song) and from there I just kept lovin that
Feb 21 2016 1:20PM
0 0
All times are Eastern (-4)