Help from a more EXPERIENCED guitar player?

Question

All right...i just started playing guitar. I want to know what to learn to become good at it. Chords? Scales? Music theory?

Should i learn to read music? And for soloing....isnt a solo based off a scale? If you have been playing a while....any advice, tips, or anything else is appericiated.

Thanks!! :)

Answer 1

i think chords are the most important so you should start that way, then scales and when you learn scales try the basic theory it is very easy, ask a friend that you know who plays guitar quite good to help you and give you some lesson, or go find a teacher.

yes a solo is based on the notes of a scale but usually a solo is something fast or with feeling so for now forget about it.

if you have some lesson you'll waste less time i mean you'll rich your points faster  of corse guitar is a thing that takes a lots of dedication, love and time to practice.

sometimes those boring exercises that teacher tells you to do are most important than play the songs that you like, but it depends why you want to play guitar :)

Answer 2

Here are some resources (not that I'm that good):

Start with basic chords, E,G,C,D. Toss in a few power chords and then ALSO practice the pentatonic scales.

I like this site a lot:

http://www.guitarnoise.com

http://www.wholenote.com/

I don't like the way this site displays the scales, but it's got some good info and suggestions for practice:

http://www.myguitarsolo.com/schedule.htm

I bought this book to learn some theory and was pleased with it, though I bought it sooner than he recommends:

http://www.guitar-music-theory.com/

I believe a combination of chords and learning the pentatonic scale will give you the most satisfaction the soonest.  Watch the _patterns_ of the pentatonic scale - they are actually used all over the fretboard when soloing - which you will eventually want to do a little of, or perhaps a lot.  

I feel that reading about fretboard theory has helped me to understand playing quite a bit.  I seem to be able to make up little impromptu riffs and things that people will listen to without cringing. :)

I think two good first songs are "Hurt" or "Wish You Were Here".

I am of the opinion that learning music reading is not needed - at least not until you can hit the strings well and frequently.  You can purchase books full of tabluature that help you to understand - and then also "Fake books" which help you "cheat" your way through songs you don't know - and the fake books are kind enough to simply print the chord name above the musical notation.

There's a series called "guitar white pages" that have _piles_ of accurate tabs - however - many of them are geared toward exact reproduction of the songs - which often times is not possible if you play by yourself - and you'll have to improvise with the information provided to make the song sound good.

Also!!!  Use a METRONOME!!  It helps, really!  ;)

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Scales and chords, yes, just keep practicing, but whatever you do, and this is really important, NEVER, NEVER EVER listen to music before you practice. NEVER compare yourself to an experienced player, and NEVER get discouraged when you realize all the work you put into learning wasn't good enough to make you as good as that guy. Once you get discouraged, once you hear what the pros can do, you'll fall into a deep, deep pit of doom from which return is unlikly. You won't be good for a while unless you're a freakin' genius, and that is the most important thing you have to avoid realizing.

Answer 4

Get all your chords down then start working on scales. A good song to learn as a beginner is Iron Man that was my first song.

Answer 5

Learn chords first, its a lot more satisfying because you just need to learn a couple chords and then you can play a lot of songs. If you want to learn scales you should start of with the Pentatonic Scales. But the most important and blatantly obvious thing is just to practice a lot and you should start noticing improvement in no time.