Playing Guitar

[DXZeke]

Re: Playing Guitar

After having quite a few friends ask me for help on learing to play guitar the biggest thing i can say about Lesson is....

MOST Teachers are ego maniacs that more or less want to impress you instead of actually teach you.

I say... get Instruction DVDs and a Chord Book.
BE PATIENT!!! VERY PATIENT!!!! It takes at least 3 months before you really start to get "it" and can play some songs that you know or that you'll make. Learning to play any instrument isn't an instant gratification thing.

An acoustic guitar will pound the crap out of your fingers quicker and get you ready for everything else (electrics and 12 strings). Plus, like it was said above me, you'll hear the songs clean and without distortion. That way you learn to play cleaner and not sloppy, plus any roomates or anyone that lives in your house won't go isaine with an amp being on 10.


I see 2 schools of guitar players in general:

People that learn chords and write songs. (rythem mainly)
People that learn scales trying to blaze up the fretboard. (lead)
From my expierence most lead guitar players aren't as strong song writers as the rythem guitar players are. That's not saying that some lead guitar players aren't good at song writing, it's just mainly they are really good techically at playing the chords and songs put in front of them. it's just what i've expierenced and noticed.

PRACTICE EVERYDAY!!!

[Kramer5150]

Re: Playing Guitar

I've been playing over 23 years,also have been a teacher.
The most important thing I always told my students was NOT TO LEARN ON AN ACOUSTIC.
The reason I say this is it's very easy to get discouraged learning on an acoustic. The action (string height on fretboard) is generally higher than an electric making it harder than it has to be for a beginner.

I've had several students give up playing because their parents wouldn't get them an electric guitar.I tried to explain the ease of learning on an electric,but the parents thought the acoustic was "good enough"

My advice would be this,start on an electric & like others have said do NOT use any kind of distortion or gain as to "dirty the sound".
The last piece of advice (other than practice often) would be to not take lessons........the reason I say this is because you don't want to be shown "their" way of doing things do you?

The whole guitar playing experience can be wonderful and expressive,as long as you follow your own road,not what some teacher tells you.
This is coming from my experience as a teacher,I would tell my students to be original and innovative,but most important ...be yourself.

The main scales I would learn first are the major and the minor pentatonic,as most of your hard rock and metal are based out of the minor pentatonic. The last scale I would recommend would be the harmonic minor,for the reason mentioned above.

Good luck,and don't give up

[Brandwin]

Re: Playing Guitar

Good stuff..I thought about learning, just haven't taken a step ( I don't even own one) wouldn't mind learning how to play piano either. Piano is what I would eally want to play.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

Good stuff..I thought about learning, just haven't taken a step ( I don't even own one) wouldn't mind learning how to play piano either. Piano is what I would eally want to play.

It's pretty easy and simple. I haven't been able to teach anyone, but IMO I think all you need to learn on the piano is chord progressions and scales.

It's a pretty long process though, but if you got any questions feel free to ask.

I'm sure there are other great piano players on this forum too.

[Brandwin]

Re: Playing Guitar

Well, I can't afford a piano...learning on the keyboard is quite a bit different right?

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

Well, I can't afford a piano...learning on the keyboard is quite a bit different right?

Not really, it depends though because a weighted-key keyboard is much better IMO.

Some keyboards make for a better substitute for a piano, but they're usually at a hefty price. You really don't need all 88-keys if you're looking into one. Here I got a Standard Piano and a 61-key Roland Fantom and while some of the more advanced songs may require more than the 61-key spectrum, most of the time you'll be using those readily available in a 61-key spectrum keyboard.

If you're going to get a keyboard, choose wisely and don't rush your purchase. Try to get the best one you can (Yamaha, Roland, Korg, etc. and it doesn't need to be a workstation). All in all there really isn't much of a difference between a keyboard and piano... well except for the pedal which you'd have to buy seperately for a keyboard.

[DXZeke]

Re: Playing Guitar

Not really, it depends though because a weighted-key keyboard is much better IMO.

Some keyboards make for a better substitute for a piano, but they're usually at a hefty price. You really don't need all 88-keys if you're looking into one. Here I got a Standard Piano and a 61-key Roland Fantom and while some of the more advanced songs may require more than the 61-key spectrum, most of the time you'll be using those readily available in a 61-key spectrum keyboard.

If you're going to get a keyboard, choose wisely and don't rush your purchase. Try to get the best one you can (Yamaha, Roland, Korg, etc. and it doesn't need to be a workstation). All in all there really isn't much of a difference between a keyboard and piano... well except for the pedal which you'd have to buy seperately for a keyboard.

Rag,

I've got a Fantom X8!!!
This is nice to see a fellow Fantomer.
I ended up getting the drum and bass sound card (since I really wanted the higher end drums sounds). The Complete Orchestra Sound card.Then last the Ultimate Keys sound card. I've also got a Roland VS 2400 for recording. 4 guitars and I'm using Line 6 POD XT for amp modeling. The loudest it ever gets is me playing acoustic or singing.

Again, it's really cool to have a fellow Fantom User on OS.

[elicoleman]

Re: Playing Guitar

LOL, I wish I knew what you guys were talking about.

I have such a passion to play, but I honestly don't know anything about music.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

Rag,

I've got a Fantom X8!!!
This is nice to see a fellow Fantomer.
I ended up getting the drum and bass sound card (since I really wanted the higher end drums sounds). The Complete Orchestra Sound card.Then last the Ultimate Keys sound card. I've also got a Roland VS 2400 for recording. 4 guitars and I'm using Line 6 POD XT for amp modeling. The loudest it ever gets is me playing acoustic or singing.

Again, it's really cool to have a fellow Fantom User on OS.

I've owned the Line 6 POD several times (I keep returning it though because I'm looking to get the XT).

So far I only got one added expansion card to my X6 (World Orchestra), but my brother and I are looking to get another one.

He's been using it more than I have however.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

LOL, I wish I knew what you guys were talking about.

I have such a passion to play, but I honestly don't know anything about music.

The Roland Fantom is a workstation, along with the Yamaha Motif and the Korg Triton (workstations that all those music producers use). Workstations are keyboards with a little extra in them (I'm not that good at describing stuff).

[elicoleman]

Re: Playing Guitar

The Roland Fantom is a workstation, along with the Yamaha Motif and the Korg Triton (workstations that all those music producers use). Workstations are keyboards with a little extra in them (I'm not that good at describing stuff).

Have a picture of what one would look like?

I went to Target yesterday and messed around with a fancy keyboard, and it had like 400 different things to it. I played with that for about 30 minutes.

Here's a pic:

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

Have a picture of what one would look like?

I went to Target yesterday and messed around with a fancy keyboard, and it had like 400 different things to it. I played with that for about 30 minutes.

Here's a pic:

This is a Roland Fantom X6



A Yamaha Motif


And a Korg Triton


These things are loaded with a bunch of sounds, expansion slots, effects, etc. And again, they are costly (I managed to get my X6 when they had a sale in Guitar Center... 1/4th off the original price.)

Workstations are big investments though, you gotta have a the right tools and set up if you're going with one of these big boys. For example, it needs it's own stereo (a really good one too.) Then you gotta add expansions and mod some of the stuff if you'd like, then you gotta buy memory for them and all. That's just a few things for these workstations.

[elicoleman]

Re: Playing Guitar

How much would the one you have original go for?

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Playing Guitar

How much would the one you have original go for?

I think it's about $2000 for their original price on the X6's, but it was marked down to $1400 when I got mine.

[elicoleman]

Re: Playing Guitar

Dayummmm...And I thought the $300 for the Casio was expensive. :y4: