Learning the guitar

lisajane

I have been learning the guitar for the past 6 weeks. As crap as i am, im loving it. Though i cant seem to make anything i do sound like what its meant to be, even my own slow versions.
How long does it take to play anything decent and making it sound right?

Dord

lisajane wrote: »

How long does it take to play anything decent and making it sound right?

A lifetime.

It might be good to get a teacher to help. Otherwise you might pick up some bad habits.

NoQuarter

hi lisa, and welcome to a wonderful world of guitar playing!

it might take about another 6 weeks to be able to hear what its supposed to sound like! after that keep teaching yourself songs your listening to to inspire yourself on, the start is definitly the hardest part and 6 weeks in your over the worst of it so stick with it!

try www.guitarmasterclass.net as thats a great site for help.

while most people teach themselves and a teacher isnt necessary i would be very careful (as dord says) not to pick up bad habits because when you get to a point where your playin has to improve to be able to play a song, you cant because your playing with a bad habit!

the trap i fell into was to not play with up AND down strokes when picking at the start, then as i got better and wanted to play faster songs i couldnt because just using down strokes wouldnt allow for it so i had to basically relearn how to pick again! very frustrating! other that that use your pinky right from the start and youll already be at an advantage to a lot of players!

good luck!

Eoin Madsen

lisajane wrote: »

I have been learning the guitar for the past 6 weeks. As crap as i am, im loving it. Though i cant seem to make anything i do sound like what its meant to be, even my own slow versions.
How long does it take to play anything decent and making it sound right?

How long is a piece of string? :pac: Are you getting lessons? The sooner you do, the easier they'll be and the quicker you'll pick things up. Teaching yourself takes a lot longer to get you to the point of anything sounding close to how it's mean to, and the longer you teach yourself, the harder it becomes to benefit from lessons.

It really varies for everyone, but I think it took me about 3 months before I could strum something that sounded about right to me.

king-stew wrote: »

while most people teach themselves and a teacher isnt necessary

I would strongly disagree with that sentiment, tbh. None of the really competent players I've encountered professed to have taught themselves, and in seven years of engineering I have yet to come across a self-taught player who could play without some degree of loll in their timing, among other fairly common issues. I would say a teacher is absolutely necessary if you have any serious playing aspirations at all.

Alanstrainor

As said, a life time:rolleyes:
But it's true, i remember playing guitar for around the same amount of time you were, and desperately wanting to play wonder wall, and saying, the day i can play that i'll be happy. Of course, that day quickly came and went, you'll always have goals, that will grow as you progress.
Best of Luck.

kingaaa

Alanstrainor wrote: »

As said, a life time:rolleyes:
But it's true, i remember playing guitar for around the same amount of time you were, and desperately wanting to play wonder wall, and saying, the day i can play that i'll be happy. Of course, that day quickly came and went, you'll always have goals, that will grow as you progress.
Best of Luck.

If you dont want to take lessons try youtube. Just type in the song you want to learn and put the word "lesson" at the end of it.There are a lot of pro's who post video lessons on youtube but beware, there are also a lot of in-experienced players so if you do try it, check out a few of the videos first and if you find a good one check out the posters other videos. As for the theory end of things it all depends on your own grasp and comprehension of what you are being told on these video's. I would definitley recomend some lessons just for the theory end of things, so you get to understand scales and chords and playing in different keys.

Sergio

its a fantastic instrument the guitar so stick with it if you have a passion for it.
you need to work out your goals and what type of player you would like to become i.e just to be able to strum a few chords and sing or would you like to be a good electric player also?then you can make a plan and get a 'GOOD' teacher to guide you along.

theres so many teachers out there but not many that actually know how to teach properly.
Best of luck!

CianRyan

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

I would strongly disagree with that sentiment, tbh. None of the really competent players I've encountered professed to have taught themselves, and in seven years of engineering I have yet to come across a self-taught player who could play without some degree of loll in their timing, among other fairly common issues. I would say a teacher is absolutely necessary if you have any serious playing aspirations at all.

Jimmy page, Jimmy hendrix, kirk hammet?
They're all self thought, to the best of my knowlage.

I am self thought, after 3 years of playing, i tried lessons, and they did nothing for me, and if anything, put me off playing while i was taking them.
Lessons are NOT for every one, nothing is for every one, as every one is different.

And for me, the people i know that are self thought are generally a lot better than people who had taken lessons, and also from what iv seen, its the people that have taken lessons, who stop playing.
This is just my personal acount, but id doubt its much different across the board.

As for theory, advisble to learn it, i just bought a book, of the rudiments of music, and learnt it off.
I have pretty much forgotten it all now, but that has in no way effected my playing.

Thats my two cents.
Thing is though, you are going to get a lot of different people, telling you a lot of different things, there is no set in stone way of learning to play guitar, try what you will, and do what you think works best for you.

Alanstrainor

I would agree that lessons can be good for some, and in my early days of guitar, i did take a few, but i wouldn't go as far as to say they're essential. It does depend on the person, but almost all of my learning, was done by myself, mostly by listening non stop to blues, and granted i've picked up bad habits, but it works for me....i think?!?!

kingaaa

CianRyan wrote: »

Jimmy page, Jimmy hendrix, kirk hammet?
They're all self thought, to the best of my knowlage.

I am self thought, after 3 years of playing, i tried lessons, and they did nothing for me, and if anything, put me off playing while i was taking them.
Lessons are NOT for every one, nothing is for every one, as every one is different.

And for me, the people i know that are self thought are generally a lot better than people who had taken lessons, and also from what iv seen, its the people that have taken lessons, who stop playing.
This is just my personal acount, but id doubt its much different across the board.

As for theory, advisble to learn it, i just bought a book, of the rudiments of music, and learnt it off.
I have pretty much forgotten it all now, but that has in no way effected my playing.

Thats my two cents.
Thing is though, you are going to get a lot of different people, telling you a lot of different things, there is no set in stone way of learning to play guitar, try what you will, and do what you think works best for you.

Could'nt agree with you more, it all depends on how quick you pick things up and your comprehension of things.I would'nt be able to pick ANYTHING up from a book, I have to be phhysically shown how to do things.Basically, if your like me you probably could do with some lessons - on the other hand, if your like cian and pick things up fairly handy, you might manage it by yourself.

DeadSkin

I know it might sound obvious but make sure the guitar is tuned each time you pick it up.
Set yourself simple/easy targets at the start. It is frustrating when you wanna nail that favourite riff.
Patience, patience & more patience.
Pick a few of your favourite songs, I find that helped at the beginning.
I did find after a while[playing roughly 3 years now], I got a bit bored, so looked into doin' some scales and stuff.
If you find yourself gettin' pi$$ed off at any stage, put the guitar down and come back to it the next day.
Enjoy it

CianRyan

DeadSkin wrote: »

If you find yourself gettin' pi$$ed off at any stage, put the guitar down and come back to it the next day.
Enjoy it

+1 for the gold advice.

Pyr0

It might be a long while until your playing sounds as clean and perfect as some of the songs you're trying to learn or play sound, i've been playing 4 years and I still feel i'm not at the level I want to be. It takes time and patience but you'll get there soon enough

+1 on Deadskins advice, I've wanted to give up many times after bad days of playing and getting nothing right ! Just come back to it a few hours later !

Eoin Madsen

CianRyan wrote: »

Jimmy page, Jimmy hendrix, kirk hammet?
They're all self thought, to the best of my knowlage.

I haven't encountered these people or had conversations with them. And citing exceptions certainly doesn't make for a good argument.

I am self thought, after 3 years of playing, i tried lessons, and they did nothing for me, and if anything, put me off playing while i was taking them.
Lessons are NOT for every one, nothing is for every one, as every one is different.

Looking and mimicking is not the same as learning how something is done, and it's ridiculously arrogant to assume that you will arrive, entirely on your own, at techniques which developed after centuries of refinement and analysis. I don't mean to get personal here, but I would make a fair wager that if I heard your playing I wouldn't rate it as highly as you obviously do.

You can learn music theory out of a book. But a book cannot look at your playing and point out the things you're unconsciously doing that are limiting your ability.

At worst, a self-taught style could eventually lead to an RSI. At best, you'll just be a player who has needlessly thrown their odds of ever reaching their potential. I'm guilty of having self-taught myself a few things over the years, but irregardless of whether you think it worked for you or not, it's bad advice.

Sergio

CianRyan wrote: »

Jimmy page, Jimmy hendrix, kirk hammet?
They're all self thought, to the best of my knowlage.

I am self thought, after 3 years of playing, i tried lessons, and they did nothing for me, and if anything, put me off playing while i was taking them.
Lessons are NOT for every one, nothing is for every one, as every one is different.

And for me, the people i know that are self thought are generally a lot better than people who had taken lessons, and also from what iv seen, its the people that have taken lessons, who stop playing.
This is just my personal acount, but id doubt its much different across the board.

As for theory, advisble to learn it, i just bought a book, of the rudiments of music, and learnt it off.
I have pretty much forgotten it all now, but that has in no way effected my playing.

Thats my two cents.
Thing is though, you are going to get a lot of different people, telling you a lot of different things, there is no set in stone way of learning to play guitar, try what you will, and do what you think works best for you.

I agree that lessons isnt for everbody and some people can just pick things up quickly and have a certain amount of natural talent.
Your wrong about kirk Hammet though my friend,he spent alot of time with joe satriani in the 80,s learning alot of the theory side of things including the modes&harmony etc etc

Xavi6

I'd recommend a few lessons to begin with. If you find you can pick it up really easily then stop them and do it yourself. That's what I did.

Not everyone is massively talented music wise so lessons will at least give you an idea of where you're at.

nealmac

CianRyan wrote: »

Jimmy page, Jimmy hendrix, kirk hammet?
They're all self thought, to the best of my knowlage.

I am self thought, after 3 years of playing, i tried lessons, and they did nothing for me, and if anything, put me off playing while i was taking them.
Lessons are NOT for every one, nothing is for every one, as every one is different.

And for me, the people i know that are self thought are generally a lot better than people who had taken lessons, and also from what iv seen, its the people that have taken lessons, who stop playing.
This is just my personal acount, but id doubt its much different across the board.

As for theory, advisble to learn it, i just bought a book, of the rudiments of music, and learnt it off.
I have pretty much forgotten it all now, but that has in no way effected my playing.

Thats my two cents.
Thing is though, you are going to get a lot of different people, telling you a lot of different things, there is no set in stone way of learning to play guitar, try what you will, and do what you think works best for you.

I'm just being a picky bastard here, but Kirk Hammet was taught by Joe Satriani.

Teferi

CianRyan wrote: »

And for me, the people i know that are self thought are generally a lot better than people who had taken lessons, and also from what iv seen, its the people that have taken lessons, who stop playing.
This is just my personal acount, but id doubt its much different across the board.

I would disagree with you 100%. Out of all the people I know who play guitar, the ones who took or take lessons are far and away better guitarists then the ones who are self taught.

CianRyan

Colinboy wrote: »

Your wrong about kirk Hammet though my friend,he spent alot of time with joe satriani in the 80,s learning alot of the theory side of things including the modes&harmony etc etc

I stand corrected.

CianRyan

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

I

I don't mean to get personal here, but I would make a fair wager that if I heard your playing I wouldn't rate it as highly as you obviously do.

You can learn music theory out of a book. But a book cannot look at your playing and point out the things you're unconsciously doing that are limiting your ability.

I'd let you see me play, but i have no time for people that come across so rude tbh.

And on the book note, if i think there is anything wrong with something im playing, be it a part of a solo, or jut a straight forward chord progression, i'll spend as long as i need to correct myself.
Once you find what you're doing wrong, its not to hard to correct it, and with the help of the internet, you can look up, all the ussual bad habits players, new and old can come across.