Acoustic Guitar

[Nemo128]

Any players here? I bought myself one because I've always wanted to learn but now I can afford to pursue all these interests I have.

Looking for good ways to learn without killing my income on private lessons. Any input is appreciated.

 

[jwenthold99]

I bought one about two years ago, and just got a dvd/book lesson package from borders for about $10. It taught me the basics, and I was able to figure out quite a bit. I do know some guys who play, and they were able to fill me in when I had questions. I am sure my technique needs work though, that would be the advantage of lessons, IMHO.

 

[jliedeka]

I'm mostly self-taught. I learned to play by learning songs. I would get a chord book that you can refer to and find fakes on the web. Sometimes you can find full tab, other times just lyrics with chords. If there are particular bands or artists you like, you can often find song books of their material either as chords or tab.

I can pick up most things by ear now but cheats are still a good time saver. I also found it got easier to learn stuff when I started using CDs rather than cassettes because of the pitch variance. I know nobody uses cassettes anymore but you may be able to hear more from a CD than a compressed file like MP3.

If you want to be able to sing also, I'd recommend learning the guitar part first so you can kind of put your hands on autopilot and concentrate on your voice. When I'm performing, I sort of dole out parts of my attention to guitar or voice depending on what is more demanding at the time.

Jim

 

[Nemo128]

No no, no singing. Just playing, and nothing crazy, just want to play slow blues type stuff. Just for my own therapy.

 

[highfigh]

Any players here? I bought myself one because I've always wanted to learn but now I can afford to pursue all these interests I have.

Looking for good ways to learn without killing my income on private lessons. Any input is appreciated.

Hal Leonard Music Publishing Co is the largest publisher in the world and they have many teaching method books, in different styles.

http://www.halleonard.com/promo/promo.do?promotion=45&subsiteid=7

One thing many people have been reluctant to mention is that training the ear is necessary, too. In order to learn by ear, the player needs to be able to hear the relationship between one note and another, multiple notes and chords. If you can listen to a song a few times and sing along with it, in tune, you're well on your way. If you can hear that someone is singing off-key, like Emmylou Harris often does (and listening to her kills me), it means you have a good sense of pitch.

Here's a link to some of them, from one of the guys who recently re-wrote the Guitar Method book:
http://gregkoch.ning.com/page/greg-kochs-instructional-dvds

The last one is all slow blues and should go into what makes blues different from other styles. You can buy them from his site, too and the prices aren't bad.


If you go to a good music store, they should have many of these books. Some include a CD or DVD, but you'll also see what they're about by paging through. Guitar Center carries them but you may be able to save by buying online.

 

[jwenthold99]

Hal Leonard Music Publishing Co is the largest publisher in the world and they have many teaching method books, in different styles.

http://www.halleonard.com/promo/promo.do?promotion=45&subsiteid=7

One thing many people have been reluctant to mention is that training the ear is necessary, too. In order to learn by ear, the player needs to be able to hear the relationship between one note and another, multiple notes and chords. If you can listen to a song a few times and sing along with it, in tune, you're well on your way. If you can hear that someone is singing off-key, like Emmylou Harris often does (and listening to her kills me), it means you have a good sense of pitch.

Here's a link to some of them, from one of the guys who recently re-wrote the Guitar Method book:
http://gregkoch.ning.com/page/greg-kochs-instructional-dvds

The last one is all slow blues and should go into what makes blues different from other styles. You can buy them from his site, too and the prices aren't bad.


If you go to a good music store, they should have many of these books. Some include a CD or DVD, but you'll also see what they're about by paging through. Guitar Center carries them but you may be able to save by buying online.

I agree completely... I had nearly twenty years of classical piano training, and I am sure that helped with picking up the guitar. I did have some ear training classes in college as well, and it does make a difference.

 

[Tarub]

This boy can teach you on acoustic or electric guitar.

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[jinjuku]

Been using a product called nplicity. You can drag and drop an MP3 on it and slow it down with out affecting pitch for starters.

The best $29 I spent.

 

[highfigh]

When I was taking lessons, I used to drive my teacher crazy when he'd have me sight-read. If we steamed on through, I would screw up at random places but when he's have me take it from the top, I would screw up in the same spot, which means I remembered it from the previous time. It wasn't hard for me to learn it and the parts weren't very difficult but I had stopped playing when I was 12 and after dropping trombone before 7th grade, there wasn't much reason for me to read music. I had already been learning by ear as soon as I started playing at 9 y.o. and after 12 years, learning by ear was much easier. It also helped when I got into jass/rock fusion, jazz and prog rock in the middle/late '70s, when I started taking lessons again. Having a good ear with no technique doesn't work very well and what I learned form him was technique. Learning Al DiMeola by ear became much easier once I had more technique.

After he had gone sufficiently crazy and I hadn't taken a lesson for a few months, I went back and noticed a huge difference in his playing. He told me that he had taken an ear training course at the local tech school, where he was playing in the TV station's orchestra. To give an idea of his level of expertise, he has a degree in music, taught on a constant basis and can sight read from flute and violin books, for fun.

That said, there are thousands of extremely successful musicians and stars who don't have a clue about music theory. The Greg Koch books are specifically for people to start playing without being made to play endless lists of bad songs (like the ones that led to me stopping for 3 years). He explains that what can be played in one position can be played anywhere on the neck, unlike the rube I took lessons from at first. I'm pretty sure that guy taught for beer money.

 

[Sheep]

I play, 6 and 12 string. What kind did you buy?

If you want to get up and running quick with some covers, I recommend this site.

www.ultimate-guitar.com

SheepStar

 

[highfigh]

I play, 6 and 12 string. What kind did you buy?

If you want to get up and running quick with some covers, I recommend this site.

www.ultimate-guitar.com

SheepStar

I went to that site and entered the name of a friend of mine (Greg Koch, who wrote some of the Hal Leonard books) and Ultimate Guitar has one of his songs. Here's what the person wrote about the song:

"After this it repeats the verses and the choruses and then goes into an insane solo. i'm workin on it, don't know it all yet, but i know it uses the A penatonic, hope this helps!!

 

[Sheep]

I went to that site and entered the name of a friend of mine (Greg Koch, who wrote some of the Hal Leonard books) and Ultimate Guitar has one of his songs. Here's what the person wrote about the song:

"After this it repeats the verses and the choruses and then goes into an insane solo. i'm workin on it, don't know it all yet, but i know it uses the A penatonic, hope this helps!!

That's why your supposed to use half your brain, and read the ratings scale next to each tab.

SheepStar

 

[yettitheman]

Greg Koch was/is (don't know at the moment) a Fender Clinician last time I saw him. Amazing guitarist.

Not to mention all the cool gear that he gets to play with.....

 

[highfigh]

Greg Koch was/is (don't know at the moment) a Fender Clinician last time I saw him. Amazing guitarist.

Not to mention all the cool gear that he gets to play with.....

Still is. He's doing 13 days in FLA in the next few weeks and some other SE cities. Still as disturbed as usual, too. He just got a '64 Vibrolux Reverb.

 

[Wafflesomd]

I'm studying classical at my college. I play a Yamaha FS720s.

The Yamaha F series are just insane for the price.

 

[Sheep]

I'm studying classical at my college. I play a Yamaha FS720s.

The Yamaha F series are just insane for the price.

I have the FG720-S12. Great guitar, but the strings don't like tuning down much. Need Elixirs.

SheepStar

 

[highfigh]

I have the FG720-S12. Great guitar, but the strings don't like tuning down much. Need Elixirs.

SheepStar

How far down- D? Most need heavier or at least a thicker core/thinner windings.

 

[jostenmeat]

I'm studying classical at my college. I play a Yamaha FS720s.

The Yamaha F series are just insane for the price.

Not that you can't learn certain things, but I'm sure you know that a steel string and classical/nylon are VERY different.

FWIW, some people have taken Yammy classicals, and either sanded off the thick finish, or even used a chisel!

All of the finest classicals in the world use french polish, which is super delicate and DOES come off, but they use it because it sounds the best, and lets the wood vibrate more freely. If you don't mind making your guitar ugly, it's something to consider, but I have to reiterate that I was specifically talking about classicals.

I've played one that was "chiseled" and it didn't make it still didn't sound as good as a multi-thousand dollar guitar, but I agree Yams make good values at the entry level, as does Takamine. Or at least they both used to.

 

[highfigh]

Not that you can't learn certain things, but I'm sure you know that a steel string and classical/nylon are VERY different.

FWIW, some people have taken Yammy classicals, and either sanded off the thick finish, or even used a chisel!

All of the finest classicals in the world use french polish, which is super delicate and DOES come off, but they use it because it sounds the best, and lets the wood vibrate more freely. If you don't mind making your guitar ugly, it's something to consider, but I have to reiterate that I was specifically talking about classicals.

I've played one that was "chiseled" and it didn't make it still didn't sound as good as a multi-thousand dollar guitar, but I agree Yams make good values at the entry level, as does Takamine. Or at least they both used to.

Wood selection and bracing is where a great instrument comes from, along with a minimal finish. One great thing about French Polishing is that it can be repaired if it wears off or is scuffed/scratched. Thick poly finishes can't be repaired as easily and it's definitely not going to be invisible.

 

[jliedeka]

I've owned a few Yamaha guitars. Their quality control is impeccable, even on the cheap stuff. I still have a really low end Yamaha classical guitar that I picked up for cheap used. I keep it at my office for when I need a break from coding. It doesn't sound as good as my Alvarez, which is still not a high end guitar, but it holds it's tuning very well.

I had a Yamaha 12-string for a while that was pretty decent. It was entry level with all plywood but still pretty good. I rigged up a clamp to hold a single coil pickup in the soundhole and used it to play open mics for a while.

My first ever guitar was a Yamaha electric, sort of a strat copy but with a heavier body and no vibrato bar. It was a pretty good guitar that didn't deserve the beating I put it through.

Jim