Attention Guitar player..

Hort101

Iv been playing guitar properly since christmas. (I say properly because i played about 2 or 3 ours a week for while before i got my own guitar at christmas, which i didnt have mush interest and wasnt that good) Now im pretty much addicted :P and I know about 20 songs such as cannonball, fast car, the cave, wish you were her and time of your life. Considering iv only been playing since x mas when i got a new guitar, is this good or should i be knowing more.?

I play about half an hour a day on average. some pointers from expericeed people and a rating would be much appericated

rcaz

Moved from Music.

kevin65

Hort101 wrote: »

Iv been playing guitar properly since christmas. (I say properly because i played about 2 or 3 ours a week for while before i got my own guitar at christmas, which i didnt have mush interest and wasnt that good) Now im pretty much addicted :P and I know about 20 songs such as cannonball, fast car, the cave, wish you were her and time of your life. Considering iv only been playing since x mas when i got a new guitar, is this good or should i be knowing more.?

I play about half an hour a day on average. some pointers from expericeed people and a rating would be much appericated

It's as much about quality as quantity, you need to be satisfied that you are playing the tunes well.

martinedwards

it aint a competition!!!!

that sounds pretty good to me. I know folks who don't know ONE song all the way through after years of tinkering around with a guitar, and others who were gigging professionally within months of starting, though they had firm musical background before that.

have fun, and your next step should be playing along with other people.

it's AMAZING how much you'll improve when you play with others, even if they have a similar ability levels

Hort101

Very true about the quality.. i can play all the songs to their exact tune.. they all sound good to be honest, well, so people say anyway.. :P

Ok thats grand then its hard to get a lesson where they actually show you how much to play of each verse in each song and it catches me out because the lyrics are going on and im still on the same chords..

rcaz

I've been thinking about this a bit, one of the most valuable things I ever learned about playing guitar was to not think about it as playing the guitar. You're playing music, the guitar is just your tool that you use to play that music.

So don't necessarily look for guitar songs to learn - look for songs to learn on your guitar. Might sound odd but it's a big difference.

If we all just learn to play things on guitar, we'd all just be guitarists. But we want to be musicians.

Don't learn from guitar tab. Tab just tells you where to put your fingers, you should be learning what notes to play. You're not trying to learn how to put your hands in the right places, you want to be putting notes together the right way in interesting ways.

Have a go at learning songs that weren't originally played on guitar. Work out some piano songs or some electronic music on your guitar. Music like that will usually have different musical voices doing different things that all come together to make the overall thing. On a guitar you can play six notes at once, so why not make those six notes all important independently and then have them all come together?

It'd be great to pick up another instrument along the way too. Learn a keyboard instrument or a wind instrument or some percussion or something. Knowing about one instrument teaches you how to play that instrument. Knowing more than one instrument blows your perspective on music wide open.

Hort101

Well said How about learning the Banjo??

rcaz

Hort101 wrote: »

Well said How about learning the Banjo??

Sure, but that'd be quite similar to playing guitar. Get a keyboard or a saxophone or something.

Malice

rcaz wrote: »

Don't learn from guitar tab. Tab just tells you where to put your fingers

While I agree to an extent with the rest of your post, guitar tab doesn't tell you where to put your fingers, it tells you what notes to play, just like standard notation. See below for a screenshot from a post I made on a different thread:

Both of the notation types above are displaying a combination of D# and E notes and neither is saying you must use your index finger for this note or your ring finger for another.

I am of the opinion that guitar tab is a very useful tool that shouldn't be relied on to the detriment of others but at the same time should not be dismissed incorrectly.

Parkwaydrive

I taught myself to play guitar about 3 years ago and am now quite competent. When I was learning all I wanted to do was play as well as Matt Bellamy or play as well as my neighbour who had been playing for 18 years.

My best advice is to take it at your own pace, there is no competition.

There is no situation when you go to sleep being bad and wake up the morning after and you're the best in the world. It's a very gradual process and for me I still push myself to be better and I stress myself out a lot because of it.

However, looking back on when I started, I see the improvements very clearly now and I think you will too, if you stick at it.

Don't pressure yourself too much!!!

Mance Rayder

Playing guitar 14 years, gigging for about 10 of those. Some advice I can give is firstly to enjoy it! secondly to learn songs you love and even try to make your own! and finally when you feel you can no longer progress on your own at a rate that satisfies you (Took me about 8 years) find an amazing teacher. They exist! In Ireland we have an abundance of incredible guitar teachers.

Malice

CiscoStudent wrote: »

In Ireland we have an abundance of incredible guitar teachers.

Funnily enough I would say the opposite . I guess it depends on where you live.

Hort101

Im also teaching myself.. didnt go to anyone for lessons and i just learn the songs i wanna know off YouTube or some other video site.. Is it ok to do this, or is it the wrong approach??

Malice

Hort101 wrote: »

Im also teaching myself.. didnt go to anyone for lessons and i just learn the songs i wanna know off YouTube or some other video site.. Is it ok to do this, or is it the wrong approach??

Well the recommended approach is naturally going to be to find a good teacher and take advantage of their experience. Personally I've never taken a lesson in my life.

Monsieur Folie

Hort101 wrote: »

Im also teaching myself.. didnt go to anyone for lessons and i just learn the songs i wanna know off YouTube or some other video site.. Is it ok to do this, or is it the wrong approach??

I took lessons, but only because I was having trouble getting started on my own. My teacher gave me the motivation and the basic skills I needed, and I've since stopped going and have been teaching myself. If you ever find yourself stuck in a rut, wanting to progress but having trouble doing so, it might be a good idea to look into a teacher.

There is no 'wrong approach' though. It's whatever works for you. However, if you have any friends or relatives that have been playing guitar for a good while and know what they are talking about, there'd be no harm in getting some advice from them! If you don't think you need to go for lessons, then you don't have to!

If you're developing any bad habits that you may not have noticed, your friend/relative might see it and then you can nip it in the bud before it becomes a problem later down the road!

It sounds like you're progressing very fast though, well done! Don't worry so much about the quantity of songs you can play, make sure you set aside some time to work on learning new ideas and techniques, as well as new songs!

tomasrojo

Malice wrote: »

While I agree to an extent with the rest of your post, guitar tab doesn't tell you where to put your fingers, it tells you what notes to play, just like standard notation. See below for a screenshot from a post I made on a different thread:

Both of the notation types above are displaying a combination of D# and E notes and neither is saying you must use your index finger for this note or your ring finger for another.

I am of the opinion that guitar tab is a very useful tool that shouldn't be relied on to the detriment of others but at the same time should not be dismissed incorrectly.

D sharp and A, rather than E?

Your example indirectly highlight the problems with tab, though tab is useful, especially for beginners:

1. The tab contains no information about note duration. You have to read the standard notation to get that. If you have to start adding note duration notation to tab, you're halfway to standard notation anyway.

2. The tab may not be dictating which particular finger to use, but it is dictating which fret and which string to use; the beginner following the tab is also completely unaware of what note he or she is playing. It's better to give the pitch value and let the player decide where to play it, as standard notation does. At the same time, editorial suggestions of position are usually added with standard notation, and frequently suggestions for fingers to use on the fretting hand, and even occasionally suggestions for fingers to use on the plucking hand. If you don't like these suggestions, it's quite easy to write over them and modify them, since you don't have to move the note on the stave. Modifying tab can be messy, since you have to change the fret number and the string line it's on, and continue doing so on until the end of the sequence you wish to change.

The main disadvantage of standard notation for guitar music is obvious though: it takes a lot of practice to master it, since you have to learn where all the notes are. However, this is obviously a good thing if you're trying to master an instrument.

I do remember learning to read music on the guitar, and dreading the six-note chord in seventh position coming down the stave towards me!

Malice

tomasrojo wrote: »

D sharp and A, rather than E?

Yes, that's notation for a 5 string bass. In normal tuning the strings are G, D, A, E, B high to low. I suppose for clarity I could have used a more better screenshot but I was in work at the time and that was the easiest way of making my point about tab not describing finger position .

tomasrojo wrote:

1. The tab contains no information about note duration. You have to read the standard notation to get that. If you have to start adding note duration notation to tab, you're halfway to standard notation anyway.

While I agree that strictly speaking that is a drawback, I've never found it to be that much of a problem. If I'm trying to learn to play a song then I will generally be listening to it at the same time as reading the tab so note durations and time signatures will come naturally.

tomasrojo wrote:

2. The tab may not be dictating which particular finger to use, but it is dictating which fret and which string to use; the beginner following the tab is also completely unaware of what note he or she is playing.

I don't understand. How can they not know what note they are playing?

tomasrojo wrote:

It's better to give the pitch value and let the player decide where to play it, as standard notation does.

But tab isn't fixed like it's been engraved on a stone tablet or something. It's perfectly possible to move things around if required. I'm sure we've all been in the situation of having to modify or extend a badly-written tab off the Internet.

tomasrojo wrote:

Modifying tab can be messy, since you have to change the fret number and the string line it's on, and continue doing so on until the end of the sequence you wish to change.

It doesn't have to be that messey. Using Guitar Pro for example you can highlight sections and use Alt with Up or Down to shift up or down a string and Shift with + or - to move up and down a semi-tone. Of course if you're just using Notepad or something the write tab then it's definitely going to be a pain .

Monsieur Folie

tomasrojo wrote: »

Modifying tab can be messy, since you have to change the fret number and the string line it's on, and continue doing so on until the end of the sequence you wish to change.

Not really. At first it can be difficult, but if you've been playing for a while you become familiar with the fretboard and know exactly how many frets you need to move to get the same note on a different string!

Sheet music is much too daunting for a beginner, especially if they've no grounding in music theory. While I agree that it would be beneficial to be able to read sheet music and apply it to guitar, it's a lot of hassle for the beginner, who just wants to get playing! If they are interested further down the road, the option to learn more is always there.

I don't get why people condemn tabs. They are extremely useful and have the guitar a much more accessible instrument!

Most people can get the rhythm by ear, but struggle with the pitch of the note. Tabs provide the note, but not the rhythm. If you are the kind of person that likes to sight read music that you've never heard before, the chances are that you are also the kind of person who prefers sheet music and therefore there won't be a problem.

Learning with tabs is not going to doom the person to being a beginner forever. Those who are interested in learning more will learn more and those that aren't are perfectly entitled to continue jamming along to their favourite bands songs in their bedroom, and there's nothing wrong with that!

tomasrojo

Fair points. The inflexibility of tab I'm referring to is really for people downloading ASCII tabs, not Guitar Pro files or the like.

I don't understand. How can they not know what note they are playing?

Because the instruction: "fourth fret on the fifth string" contains no direct information about pitch value.

Similarly, a chord written in tab requires you to visualise the fretboard to name the chord. Any trained musician, on the other hand, can look at guitar music in standard notation and see what's going on instantly. And apart from the vertical, in the horizontal you can see the rise and fall of phrases in standard notation, which don't come across at all on tab.


I'm not condemning tab at all. Tab has a long and distinguished ancestry: lute music was written on a form of tablature. That doesn't mean that standard notation isn't better, despite its steeper learning curve. Though I don't think either of you are arguing that tab is better.

Malice

tomasrojo wrote: »

Because the instruction: "fourth fret on the fifth string" contains no direct information about pitch value.

I suppose that's true but I would hope that whatever tab I was reading would have tuning information on it so I'd know if 3rd fret bottom string on a six string guitar is meant to be G or F# or whatever.

tomasrojo wrote:

I don't think either of you are arguing that tab is better.

I'm not anyway. I'm of the opinion that tab can be a useful guide to a song, certainly has it's drawbacks but isn't as bad as some people make out.

tomasrojo

Malice wrote: »

I'm of the opinion that tab can be a useful guide to a song, certainly has it's drawbacks but isn't as bad as some people make out.

Very well put.