Hey guys. Just joined this great forum to hopefully pick up some tips to improve my guitar skills. I'm 19 and am a university student and have been playing for about 8 months (I learned by myself (is that a bd thing?))
Hello! Hi! Hey! Yello! Watsup?
Hey quiksilver welcome, you've come to the right place. Enjoy!
Hello! Hi! Hey! Yello! Watsup?....and welcome! ?
Welcome to the forum, sure you will learn allot.
Having a few theory lessons is never a bad idea.
Having a few theory lessons is never a bad idea.
Welcome ?
Self tuition is not bad per se, but it can result in bad technical habits that are hard to break later when they become a problem. Seek some tuition, even if it's only informal lessons from friends who can already play well.
What guitars and other kit do you have?
Self tuition is not bad per se, but it can result in bad technical habits that are hard to break later when they become a problem. Seek some tuition, even if it's only informal lessons from friends who can already play well.
What guitars and other kit do you have?
Hey welcome Quickie, I agree with Bob. My boy is now 9, has just started getting into playing guitar, but I got him a teacher. ...
Yep, tell us what guitar do you play, acoustic, electric?? ?
Yep, tell us what guitar do you play, acoustic, electric?? ?
Hi QS. Also taught myself whilst at university - still have the bad habits 20 plus years later!X-rated Bob wrote: Self tuition is not bad per se, but it can result in bad technical habits that are hard to break later when they become a problem. Seek some tuition, even if it's only informal lessons from friends who can already play well.
Welcome here - there's a lot to learn from the GFSA'ers. ?
Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Well I have an acoustic guitar : Yamaha C-45 which I have done most of my practising with, but just one month ago I scraped together everything I had and bough t me a Squier electric guitar! So now I mostly play with that (it's so much more comfortable for finger movement/placement) .
I like a little mixture of music - I love almost all greenday songs made before 2003, rise against, blink 182, paramore, 30 seconds to mars, metro station etc. but I also really like slow songs like Hero by Enrique Iglesias, I'm yours by Jason Mraz and so forth. I hate songs with bad/retarded lyrics (e.g Kesha - Tik Tok ) even though I dance to them all the time lol.
I have been to a few people that are experienced guitarists and they don't see anything wrong with the way I'm playing. Some youtube videos might have helped me evade some bad habits. Anyway, I love playing guitar and have learned a mammoth amount in 8 months. I can play and sing about 4 songs from start to finish and it is something I would really want to make a living out of - I've never dreamt of making it big of anything, until I actually discovered my long lost passion for music.
I think that's more of a proper introduction from my side ?
Oh and I will be playing and singing for my very first time in front of people at my sister's wedding, I'm hoping to put a video up here so u guys can give me some tips!
Cheerio!
I like a little mixture of music - I love almost all greenday songs made before 2003, rise against, blink 182, paramore, 30 seconds to mars, metro station etc. but I also really like slow songs like Hero by Enrique Iglesias, I'm yours by Jason Mraz and so forth. I hate songs with bad/retarded lyrics (e.g Kesha - Tik Tok ) even though I dance to them all the time lol.
I have been to a few people that are experienced guitarists and they don't see anything wrong with the way I'm playing. Some youtube videos might have helped me evade some bad habits. Anyway, I love playing guitar and have learned a mammoth amount in 8 months. I can play and sing about 4 songs from start to finish and it is something I would really want to make a living out of - I've never dreamt of making it big of anything, until I actually discovered my long lost passion for music.
I think that's more of a proper introduction from my side ?
Oh and I will be playing and singing for my very first time in front of people at my sister's wedding, I'm hoping to put a video up here so u guys can give me some tips!
Cheerio!
The C45 is a classical. Thus a pretty wide neck. The Squier will have a less wide neck and, probably, pretty light strings. Though I'm not sure that light electric strings will take a lot more physical effort than nylons. So probably it's the neck dimensions.quiksilver wrote: Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Well I have an acoustic guitar : Yamaha C-45 which I have done most of my practising with, but just one month ago I scraped together everything I had and bough t me a Squier electric guitar! So now I mostly play with that (it's so much more comfortable for finger movement/placement) .
How's your timing? If I started tapping my foot as you started a song would I be able to tap my foot all the way through without having to change anything? Timing is very important. If you play a couple of bum notes but maintain your timing there's a good chance nobody will notice, but if your timing is not constant then people will most certainly notice that.I have been to a few people that are experienced guitarists and they don't see anything wrong with the way I'm playing. Some youtube videos might have helped me evade some bad habits. Anyway, I love playing guitar and have learned a mammoth amount in 8 months. I can play and sing about 4 songs from start to finish
Most definitely the neck since I don't have big hands. I wasn't a fan of the nylon strings though, they kept making wierd buzzy sounds every now and then when I really got into playing. I still love playing acoustic, but I think I need to get the right guitar before I move back to it again. Any suggestions on a guitar that would fit me well?X-rated Bob wrote:
The C45 is a classical. Thus a pretty wide neck. The Squier will have a less wide neck and, probably, pretty light strings. Though I'm not sure that light electric strings will take a lot more physical effort than nylons. So probably it's the neck dimensions.
That's actually a very good point. I do sometimes do way too much of my own thing and mix the speed up a bit, but when I learned how to play Greenday - Time of your life for instance, I listened to the track and then followed the speed of the song to play it exactly the way they did. So yeah, I thinkI do think that might be a small problem for me, but I think if I really concentrate I can keep playing at a constant speed.How's your timing? If I started tapping my foot as you started a song would I be able to tap my foot all the way through without having to change anything? Timing is very important. If you play a couple of bum notes but maintain your timing there's a good chance nobody will notice, but if your timing is not constant then people will most certainly notice that.
Thanx bud!
This is entirely the wrong place to ask such open ended questions ?quiksilver wrote:Most definitely the neck since I don't have big hands. I wasn't a fan of the nylon strings though, they kept making wierd buzzy sounds every now and then when I really got into playing. I still love playing acoustic, but I think I need to get the right guitar before I move back to it again. Any suggestions on a guitar that would fit me well?X-rated Bob wrote:
The C45 is a classical. Thus a pretty wide neck. The Squier will have a less wide neck and, probably, pretty light strings. Though I'm not sure that light electric strings will take a lot more physical effort than nylons. So probably it's the neck dimensions.
Shop around. See what's out there. Try different shops and different makes and models. Then you start the game of balancing what you want with what you can afford. Don't be in a hurry. Try out what's in the shops and start to get an idea of the pros and cons of what's available.
Don't shy away from 2nd hand guitars. A 2nd hand guitar in good condition can give you more guitaring bang for your buck.
I have three good acoustics. Two of them were bought 2nd hand.
Welcome. Now, about that neck...
Hey welcome quicksilver. This is a really good place to pick up info. There's nothing wrong with being self-taught - especially if you play along with records and figure out what the people you admire are doing on them (wish I'd known that 15 years ago). Lessons can be a big help though, to shortcut the whole process. But ultimately, focused practise will get you good. Nothing else will.
This guy presents a lot of great, free lessons in a very clear and systematic way. I don't know what everyone else thinks of him, but I've found his stuff very useful in making some breakthroughs: http://www.justinguitar.com/
We talk about gear a lot here. Everyone loves guitar playing, so naturally we love all the stuff around it - especially the guitars themselves. But don't get the idea from all this that you need to go out and get yourself fancier gear at this point. All the gear amounts to about 2% of your sound. The other 98% is how well you play.
This guy presents a lot of great, free lessons in a very clear and systematic way. I don't know what everyone else thinks of him, but I've found his stuff very useful in making some breakthroughs: http://www.justinguitar.com/
We talk about gear a lot here. Everyone loves guitar playing, so naturally we love all the stuff around it - especially the guitars themselves. But don't get the idea from all this that you need to go out and get yourself fancier gear at this point. All the gear amounts to about 2% of your sound. The other 98% is how well you play.
Welcome!