Learning to play guitar - some questions for Guitar Geeks

[AlexRS]

Hello,

If you don't care about the background story please skip to actual questions i would appreciate any help or direction I can get.

Story: I turned 27 years old on Nov 9th. My girlfriend got me a guitar... This was a surprise gift. I've always been somewhat interested in music, but never really did anything about it. I atttended about 2 months of musical school (with focus on piano) when I was around 2nd or 3rd grade. It never went far because I had no motivation. Although they did say I had good ear or good pitch hearing or whatever that ability is called (there is only one word for it in Russian - not sure if it means absolute pitch or relative pitch). Anyways, so we have been going to a lot of concerts lately (Tom Petty was AWSOME btw) and I have been getting more and more interested about playing guitar. The thing is, I understand it is a big commitement. I do not think my g/f does tho - otherwise she wouldn't have gotten me the guitar

Here is where I am right now. I really want to play. However, I am not just trying to butcher some catchy tunes. I actually want to learn how to play, with the music theory and all. I want to be able to hear something and know how to reproduce the sound with my guitar. I want to be able to play things straight from my head. I want to be able to play from notes. I understand this is a large commitement and I do not know what the future holds. I do not want to be like: "I will spend years and years to get really good" and then drop it in a week. I do want to learn, but I am also realistic about what it takes. Anyways. One step at a time.

Questions:

1) Am I too old for this? It seems vast majority of musicians start early. Can I still develop necessary motor and other skills?

2) Are there any particular areas I should focus on? I do not care about playing any particular song. I want to focus on things that will give me ability to play any song. Being a complete noob at this, I decided that first thing would be to develop proper motor skills in the left hand. I have been practicing the left hand, just moving my fingers from chord to chord. I am not looking for a shortcut, but I figure there are several key skills that must be developed to make progress. Things like agility of the fingers, etc. I want to hit thos areas in force.

3) There is a switch on my guitar between Treble/Lead/In Between. What is that? Also, what's the diff between Lead and Rhythm? Does lead pluck one string at a time (mostly) while Rhythm plays chords?

4) There are 2 sound pickup thingies on the guitar, and separate Gain and Volume levels for each. What difference does that make?

5) What resources should I turn to? Books, lessons, videos? Again, my goal is to progress as quickly as possible. I could care less about being able to play any particular song.

6) What kind of progress should I realistically expect? What are some milestones to look forward to? If I work hard, where would I be in a month, 3 months, a year?

Please offer any comments or suggestions! It is really strange to jump into something like this at 27... so any kind of advice is greatly appreciated!

[MonkeySkin]

Just practice and have fun man. It doesn't matter what age you are... You could do a search for some guitar tabs of your favorite songs and practice to play those. I know you said you don't just want to be able to play some catchy tunes, but it would be a fun way to learn for you at first. There's no right or wrong way when it comes to art, so just have fun man and stop worry so dam much.

[DeanCollins]

Take lessons, that'll will measure your committment.

[rebornempowered]

In my humble opinion start out by learning the notes on the strings and learning basic chords. Once you know that stuff everything else comes relatively easy over time.

I have met people who started out learning to play songs from tab books and they never get motivate to learn how to REALLY play.

I had a guitar student once who just couldn't get it through his head that he needed to know what he was playing not just know how to play. He didn't take lessons from me (or anyone else for that matter) for very long. He just sat at home playing Metallica songs along with their CD's.

[AlexRS]

Thanks for your responses! I am not worried, just trying to figure where to start and what to do. Focusing on specific songs is exactly what I am trying to avoid... I do not want to be that Metallica guy

When playing songs you practice skills, right? Playing songs is what supposed to make it fun and give you motivation, all while you are practicing. I think I will make faster progress by focusing on actual skills rather than songs. Progress is what makes it fun in my case

[Taylor 36]

Questions:

1) Am I too old for this? It seems vast majority of musicians start early. Can I still develop necessary motor and other skills?!

No, as long as you can still count time in your head and move your wrists and fingers you'll never be too old.

2) Are there any particular areas I should focus on? I do not care about playing any particular song. I want to focus on things that will give me ability to play any song. Being a complete noob at this, I decided that first thing would be to develop proper motor skills in the left hand. I have been practicing the left hand, just moving my fingers from chord to chord. I am not looking for a shortcut, but I figure there are several key skills that must be developed to make progress. Things like agility of the fingers, etc. I want to hit thos areas in force.!

Agility helps, but building up your caluses will help tremendously. The more you actually play, this will happen. It will also increase your agility. Work on bar chords. They really help build the caluses and your fingers to get stretched out and more flexible.

3) There is a switch on my guitar between Treble/Lead/In Between. What is that? Also, what's the diff between Lead and Rhythm? Does lead pluck one string at a time (mostly) while Rhythm plays chords?!

Yes, that is the basic difference between lead and rhythm. Lead plays more melodic and harmonic phrases and tones, while rhythm follows the basic form of the song. Those switches (depending on your actually pickup types) will either just change the tone of your guitar and/or boost the signal.

4) There are 2 sound pickup thingies on the guitar, and separate Gain and Volume levels for each. What difference does that make?!

Each pickup has it's own defined style and tone. Mixing the volume and gain of each allows you to come up with a tone that you like.

5) What resources should I turn to? Books, lessons, videos? Again, my goal is to progress as quickly as possible. I could care less about being able to play any particular song.!

I would say any or all. For me, I got a book and just started hanging out with other guitarists to pickup things from them. What ever works best for you.

6) What kind of progress should I realistically expect? What are some milestones to look forward to? If I work hard, where would I be in a month, 3 months, a year?!

Everyone is different. It all just depends on your work ethic and natural skill. Don't get discouraged. Just keep working on it and you will surprise yourself how quick stuff will start to work for you.

[/QUOTE]

[Art Monk Fan]

Repitition is the key. You need to train your left hand how to form the chords and how to change from one to the next, and nothing short of hours of repitition will do it.

They once asked Eddie Van Halen if he was popular in high school becuase of his guitar skills. He answered no, becuase he spent all his time locked in his room learning how to play.

[codeorama]

Questions:

1) Am I too old for this? It seems vast majority of musicians start early. Can I still develop necessary motor and other skills?

2) Are there any particular areas I should focus on? I do not care about playing any particular song. I want to focus on things that will give me ability to play any song. Being a complete noob at this, I decided that first thing would be to develop proper motor skills in the left hand. I have been practicing the left hand, just moving my fingers from chord to chord. I am not looking for a shortcut, but I figure there are several key skills that must be developed to make progress. Things like agility of the fingers, etc. I want to hit thos areas in force.

3) There is a switch on my guitar between Treble/Lead/In Between. What is that? Also, what's the diff between Lead and Rhythm? Does lead pluck one string at a time (mostly) while Rhythm plays chords?

4) There are 2 sound pickup thingies on the guitar, and separate Gain and Volume levels for each. What difference does that make?

5) What resources should I turn to? Books, lessons, videos? Again, my goal is to progress as quickly as possible. I could care less about being able to play any particular song.

6) What kind of progress should I realistically expect? What are some milestones to look forward to? If I work hard, where would I be in a month, 3 months, a year?

Please offer any comments or suggestions! It is really strange to jump into something like this at 27... so any kind of advice is greatly appreciated!

1) NO, you are never too old. I started at 19 and some would say that is too old.

2) Focus on everthing in small incriments. Work on chords at times, work on finger independance another, focus on your right hand picking another time.
For chords, start with the basic open chords first and get your hand strenght down. It will get easier fast. Your hand may hurt at first but after a day or two, you will adjust quickly.
For finger independance, start on the low E string, index finger at the first fret, middle finger at the second, ring finger at the third and pinky a the fourth. Pick each note one at a time, placing the next finger down after each note, then after the pinky, move the index finger to the A string and do the same etc...
For right hand exercizes, focus on picking each note accurately and in rhythm (get a 10 dollar metronome).

3) The "Lead" pick up is the one closest to the bridge, farthest from the neck. It has a brighter sound. The "Rhythm" pick up is the front pick up or the one closest to the neck. It has a darker sound. There are no "rules" when it comes to sounds, it's what you like. If you are trying to duplicate others, then here's some examples... Early Van Halen is mostly the Lead or bridge pick up, alot of Jimi Hendrix is the Rhythm or Neck Pick up.
In terms of playing, Lead usually means solo's or individual melody lines while rhythm usually means a strummed chord or riff of individial notes that is the back bone of a song. In this case and example of a Lead would be Eddie Van Halen's solo on Panama while a rhythm example would be the chord progression/riff being played on Panama while Roth is singing.

4) If you have 4 knobs, that means you have a volume knob and a tone knob for each pick up. The volume knob reduces or raises the volume (and changes the tone depending on your amp) and the Tone Knob filters off the trebel frequencies. If you put the tone knob on "0", it will have a very dark muddy sound where as if you put it on "10", it will be brighter.

5) Definately take at least one lesson. They can instruct you how to hold the guitar more efficiently and how to read tab. When you learn to read tab, you will open a huge door. Buy a few guitar magazines like Guitar World.

6) Progress depends on how much you actually play. IMO, play in short sessions. I tend to learn more if I practice 4 times for an hour rather than an hour straight.

Good luck, guitar playing is fun.

[AlexRS]

Great, thanks a lot!

I did get 2 free lessons as a gift, but figured I'd need some time to get used to the guitar first. I have been reading a lot about it and practicing because that will help me take the most out of those lessons... Might as well learn whatever I can on my own before going there.

For now the plan is to develop motor skills for switching basic chords and geting those caluses... learning the music theory, practicing locating notes on the guitar and reading the notation, hopefully developing the ability to look at guitar and see the piano (where all the notes are oh-so-neatly arranged)

Very excited about all this! Thanks again.

[Joe Sick]

Just learn to play "Every Rose has its Thorn." The ladies love that song.