How did you learn to play guitar?

Beekay

I just wanted to know how people here started playing.
did you just pick it up and started movin your fingers
or did you use a book or get lessons.
Also what was your first guitar and how did you get.

I got my first(and only) guitar for free when doing my transition year work experience.it was a black B.C. Rich warlock with an amp, 650 euros worth.

Con9903

I thought myself with a chord book I found in my house, then with the internet. Never had a lesson in my life

feylya

Heard Devil's Dance.
Picked up a guitar. Got tabs. Learned.
No lessons (yet)
2nd hand Epiphone Strat.

comfortablynumb

Saw "albatross" on vh1 classic smooth as it was then.
Parents bought me a yamaha electric.
Learned how to read tab.
Learned smoke on the water and eventually learned how to play albatross.

disgruntled

I started on an acoustic and after a while moved on to electrics, I tried the self taught approach for a couple of years but didn't really progress much. I got tabs of the net and learnt a couple of songs, that kind of thing but my technique and theory really sucked. I felt that my playing was really limited so about a year or so ago I decided to go and get some lessons. I really regret not doing this long ago, its a lot easier to learn things the right way first time than to unlearn a bunch of bad habits. I know theory can seem boring but its really essential if you want to progress past strumming a few chords.

feylya

disgruntled wrote:

I know theory can seem boring but its really essential if you want to progress past strumming a few chords.

Not necessairily. I can do more than strum a few chords and I know jack about theory.

Creamy Goodness

thought myself, i know a few chords and read tabs etc but if you ask me what's a scale i'll draw a blank face.

i started playing when i was 13 (6 years ago) and have continued from there...

disgruntled

Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but for me I found that without at least some knowledge of scales, how chords are put together and that kind of thing, I was really limiting myself. I was able to play loads of stuff but I didnt have a clue how it was put together, it was like playing by numbers or something and when it came to writing stuff I found it really frustrating.

D!ve^Bomb!

self taught, just loved music.. was in the shower one day listenin to gnr and decided i wanted to play that... so the brother let me borrow his strat, i asked a friend to print off some tabs(i didn't have the net at the time) and i learned sweet child o mine..

Serbian

disgruntled wrote:

Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but for me I found that without at least some knowledge of scales, how chords are put together and that kind of thing, I was really limiting myself. I was able to play loads of stuff but I didnt have a clue how it was put together, it was like playing by numbers or something and when it came to writing stuff I found it really frustrating.

Have to agree with Disgruntled's post there. I was introduced to the guitar by a guy a went to school with, who has gone on to form a successful rock band (bastard), and then I just learnt through tabs and the internet.

Mr. CooL ICE

Im a bassist, but i learned bass cos i really wanted to be in a band. I had gotten piano lessons when i was 10, so i knew a little bit of theory going into it, but never goit bass lessons. Until a year ago, i never bothered learning scales, but i decided i needed to cos i find it really hard to write music with some level of depth to it without knowing about music.

But the 2 guitarists in my band are very contrasting. Theres one who never got lessons, just took it up and started learning from tabs (mainly metallica, and not much else), and the other was trained for a few years and knows a lot of theory aswell as learning stuff from a wide variety of guitarists. The former is very limited in what he can play and what he writes, and cant write a solo for nuts, but can play covers very easily, whereas the other can riff and solo like a madbastard, and usually have to correct the theoretical mistakes made by the other guitarist.

irlirishkev

I'm self taught. Used to borrow me brother's guitar when I was younger. Think I was about 10 or 11. Played rhythm for a few years before realising you could do things above the 3rd fret!

Bought myself a Silver Series Fender Squier after a couple of years, and played non-stop for a few years more..

I'm sh*t hot now.. and have been for a lonnng time

K.

NotMe

I started two and a half years ago. I just decided to buy an electric guitar out of the blue. I didn't know anything about guitars. I bought a book "K.I.S.S. - Guide To Playing Guitar" and learned the basic chords and then I downloaded some tabs and learned them.
Then I learned some theory and scales but I never practiced them so while I know what notes are in a C chord or how to play a melodic minor scale I can't put the knowledge to use. I'm after getting lazy. For the first year I played a bit every day and kept learning new stuff. Now I play maybe once a week and usually just songs that I already know. I need to get motivated again.

Phil_321

I used to get Total Guitar or Guitar Techniques every month for about 2 years. Learned the main scales and played along with cd's now and again. Read up on lots of exercises and tips on the net.
My guitar is in getting repaired at the moment, it's actually done but I can't afford to pay at the moment, can't wait to get going on it again.

NeMiSiS

Listen,play,repeat. Could not tell ya what the chords are or what the scales are but can figure em out in a weird kinda numbering in my own head.. like. Ten years on, suits me fine.
Tom

wilkins

Go to www.ultimate-guitar.com and print off the lessons for beginners, like how to read tabs. Very user friendly.

disgruntled

Another great site for this kind of stuff is ibreathemusic.com