I want to learn how to play the guitar, but it seems impossible!?

Question

I have a really nice Ibanez guitar, an electronic tuner, picks, and a book with all of the chords in it. I also play the clarinet, so I'm not sure if that would conflict or not. I've tried playing chords, but I find it's impossible to remember them and to switch to another chord. Help!

PS, My step dad plays guitar, but he taught himself and has no chord names memorized, etc.

Answer 1

It may SEEM impossible, but it's most definitely NOT. :-)

I'm not sure how good you are at clarinet, but think about your progress in that and how you memorized the notes and fingerings for them. It took time but eventually you got them with practice right?

The same goes for guitar: it takes time to memorize and be able to switch chords smoothly and easily. Don't expect to be good overnight. It's all hard work.

Just having a chord book isn't going to do much, so here's a link to a beginner's guitar guide:

http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/inde...

Start with the first link and there's everything you need. :-D But note that it talks about taking private lessons, which is the best investment your parents (and you) can make to learn guitar (or any instrument).

Answer 2

MILLIONS of people play the guitar.  So obviously it's not impossible.

Begin with three chords.  That's all you need for a lot of songs.  Most people start with C, F and G, but F is kind of hard so you could start with A, D and E, or D, G, and A.  Learn those chords, learn some songs, then introduce more chords as you go along.

Look at the clarinet. It's got a range of what, 3 octaves?  I think so. So that's 36 notes you know at sight.  You look at the note and your fingers go down automatically, you don't even have to think about it.  Including some notes way above the staff, like three or four ledger lines above the staff, and you don't have to stop and count them (I do!).  So that shows what you are capable of learning.

So just take it slow and easy.  You can do it.

Answer 3

It's not as simple as it looks, most accomplished guitar players have dedicated their lives or a good portion to music. Playing takes practice, persistence, and patience if you have these qualities you'll have no problems. Learn your D, C, & G open chords, repeatedly play these three chords in this order untill you have them sounding clean, start very slow and concentrate on making the chords sound good, you will slowly bring the chord changes up to a good tempo after you have learned this. Practice daily and don't sweat the aggravation of it not coming together overnight, in a couple or more weeks you'll notice your starting to put it together, you will be inspired at this point to continue with your learning. check out www.justinguitar.com beginning lessons

Answer 4

I play electric guitar and let me tell you it is not easy at first. All you can do is take it slow. I will tell you what my instructor tells me to do. He tells me to strum each cord slowly 4 times then switch to the next cord. This will help train your fingers to learn the chords. Also get index cards and put the chords on the cards. to do this draw six lines going down the card. The you put dots for each place the fingers need to go. And each line across on the index card makes a is a different fret so it is very handy. My instructor tells me to set the chords up 2 by 2 and go through each one slowly. Make sure your fingers are in the right spot. If you practice 30min- 1 hour a day you will get better and better. The more you practice the better you will get. If you want any chords email me at [e-mail]. I take lessons i i will be a good resource to give chords to you. Just practise and you will improve

Answer 5

I started learning in school when I was younger, I still play.

I would get a book that teaches you the individual notes. It will help when it comes to chords. Then you'll have an idea of where the notes are in that chord like C-E-G. Also, the beginer books have exercises that will help you learn to play the chords and switch back and forth. They usually teach you the chords that most guitar players use.

You say you have a big book of chords. Some of those might not be used so often. A lot of guitar players use a capo to change the key, and use the same position for chords.

The Chords used the most are C,F,G,G7,Em,D,Am.

C usually switches to G or G7. You can have a simple exercise like this:

(each slash is one strum)

  C. . . . . . . . . . G. . . . C. . . . .G7. . . C

ll / / / /  l  / / / /  l  / / / /  l  / / / /  l / / / /  l  / / / / ll

You just have to do stuff like that a lot and you're fingers will eventually start to learn. It's all about muscle memory.

But, I do highly recommend getting a beginner guitar book. The excerises might seem stupidly simple, but if you go through each one a few times a day, you'll learn in no time. It's all about reppition.

Oh, and if you want to build calusses, I heard that if you put rubbing alcohol on your fingers it will cause some to form. That will help a lot with the pain.