I want to start learning how to play guitar.....?

Question

what is the best way for me to start?

what chords are the easiest to play?

what is the best book for me to learn how to read chords and play from?

should i take lessons, or learn to play from a book on my own?

any other advice is appreciated.. thanks!

Answer 1

buy a cheap guitar but make sure its not broken. then go to http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.p... and learn the a chord the c chord the d chord the e and e minor chord and learn the g chord. you can get one or two books for beginner and learn from that but teachers are way more effective if you find a good one.

Answer 2

OK Finally, a question I can answer! Ok, obviously, to start you need a guitar (I'm 13 and have been playing since Febuary 08, just to get this out of the way, so I know where you are coming from). I don't know alot about guitars in the range of purchasing one, but I don't recommend getting one that is super expensive. just grab something basic. I'm gunna start catagorizing...

-Equipment

   -Guitar (duh)/      first figure out what kind you want to go with. An electric guitar is first that comes to mind to most when thinking about ROCK STAR and stuff. But actually, electrics have, even unplugged, a very distorted sound and the notes kind of blend together, making it harder to hear. Acostic guitars have a more clear pitch and altogether great sound. They do have electric acoustics too, but they are more expensive. Do some internet reaserch on a guitar that's "right for you", lol.

   -Amp/     Not good at amps either, but dont get a super expensive one. Mine is very simple. Amps only for electric and electric acoustic, of course.

   -Tuner/     Unless you plan on tuning by ear (pretty much impossible) you'll need a tuner. I have two - a clip on and a plug in. If you get an electic or electric acoustic (henceforth known as EA), you'll need a cord too, which will come with your amp. Clip ons are simple tuners that clip onto the end of your guitar and rely on vibrations and sound to tune your guitar. Mine is "The Intellitouch PT-2 Tuner *insert trademark symbol here*". it works reasonably well, but compared to my plug in it SUCKS. Plug ins are easy. Plug one end of your cord into the guitar and the other into the tuner. press the on button and tune. they take the sound directly from the pickups on your guitar for an extremely acurate tuning. but only for electric and EA guitars. good ones can go from $20-30, but try not to get anything too expensive. dont go over $30 unless you MUST.

   -Capo/     A capo isn't nessisary. They clip on your guitar and hold down 6 strings in a row... as in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. fret of your strings. like if you want to do a bar chord (hard to do for beginners. its when you hold down your first finger on all 6 strings and then use your other fingers to hold down other frets). dont get the cheap ones, cuz they suck. mine was between $15-25, i dont remember. but its made of metal... either that or superhard plastic that resembles metal. anyway, capo's arn't necessary, but my mom insisted I get one, so yea.

   -Picks/     picks. obvious. unless you are like softer music that SUCKS, and you can use your fingers. but i say use picks. i use Medium gadge picks. thin picks DO NOT USE, and thinck picks are for like metal and heavy metal. you can use them, but they make you strum harder. which can break your strings. picks are generally like a few cents. not to bad, but you need ALOT. my mom just bought me like 100 picks online. no exaggeration. I guess you could say that she is very supportive of my playing.

   -Strings/     OK HERE WE GO! no WAY you can play without these! they come with the guitar, but you need good strings. here's what I use. "Ernie Ball Super Slinkys" I know, funny name. but they are REALLY GOOD. they come in a bright pink package. here are some tips on your strings. change your strings every 3-4 months (and also, when your strings are out, dust off your guitar. you have NO IDEA how dusty a guitar can get in 3-4 months). If just ONE STRING breaks, you must change ALL of your strings. When stringing your guitar, tighten the 3 strings closest to you counter-clockwise and the other three clockwise. trust me. any other questions just post another or contact me spicificly. i got ya covered.

   -other/     your hands will get SO TIRED if they aren't strong. to strengthen your fingers, I have 2 methods. 1: when you aren't playing,  if your watching TV, take out your guitar and just make a chord but ONLY press down the frets. keep them held. it starts to hurt after awhile, but keep it held. the pain means it's working! 2: get those hand squeezer thingies. the things where you squeeze them and it works out your hands. I dont know how else to explain them or what they are called. my overly supportive mother bought them for me.

Equipment over!!! or is it? you wanted to know about chord books, right? i don't know spicific books, but most chord books are good. I don't know what my book is called, as I dont have it with me. but its very good, you just gotta know how to read it.

-Chords

ok here come the chords that I know that are easy. look them up, because I figure if you dont own a guitar then you wont know what the heck im talking about when I throw a bunch of numbers and positions at you. "m" means minor. "Maj." means major. there are more, but they are harder, so we stick with major and minor.

-Em

-E Maj.

-Am

-A Maj.

Those are all I can think of that are easy... except this one with a really really long and complicated name, and all that one is is you strum all the strings without holding any frets. Also, go to this site: "www.chordbook.com" it's excellent.

Ok, now regular advice on what u actually asked. I answered the first question... 2nd... third... AH! Lessons, right, right. Mk, I take lessons. Yes, take lessons and do NOT read from a book, because that SUCKS and it will be so hard. its most importent to find someone who is really patient with you. and also, no offense to the older people out there, but try someone who is younger. this is because you can become like, friends and stuff. my teacher is in college. he has a MySpace and an AIM and contacts me through e-mail, and I'm pretty sure older people won't have that. dont go for really expensive lessons either, because those are the super strict impatient people. the ones who are less expensive are the more laid back type. and dont worry about unprofessionalism either - if they can play, they can give you the basic course. after that, you can look for more serious lessons. also, most music stores offer lessons, and my local store offers lessons that are only a tiny bit more expensive than my college dude lessons, so its a pretty good deal. of course, incorperate gas prices, but if you are REALLY serious about this guitar stuff, it should all be worth it. and you BETTER be serious, because I literally just spent and hour running around my house collecting all of my guitar stuff and typing this up while trying to ignore my dad who is trying to get me to play Scrabble with him. either you be serious or I help someone else who reads this. either way im ok with it. thank you for your time, LOL. good luck, and ROCK ON, as they say. *cough*

Answer 3

Here's my advice.

Two choices

1) Put on a record and learn everything by ear.

or option

2)Find some stuff online, NO tablature. You don't even necessarily have to read sheet music, although it helps when you see a score.

Once you've got some rudiments down, proceed with step 1.

No method can teach you how to pick apart a song and figure it out nearly instantly. Experience is valued over theory in my book. You can learn some theory once you've progressed far enough with your auditory skills.

Answer 4

i wouldnt start off with lessons.i started with learning chords.i would suggest to starting out with the chords:d,g,c,d,and then work your way up.you wouldnt believe how many songs you can play with those four chords.if you like ac/dc then go for those four chords.you can learn just about any acdc song with those chords.

Answer 5

The best way to start is simply buying a cheap guitar. It doesnt have to look the best, it doesnt have to sound the best, if it makes music, it will work. (i dont mean buy a guitar thats broken in half)

Theres alot of chords, but you would probably want to learn the basic chords first. You can google these, for example g, c,

theres no real best book, i myself prefer the internet because theres millllllllions of websites about this

if you can afford it, and if your able to, i would suggest taking lessons. you CAN teach yourself, as i did for a year.. but it helps alot to have someone in real life telling you what you did wrong and its also cool to watch them shred it up :)

basically just get a guitar and look up things on google like begginer guitar or things like that. also if you want to learn whole songs, or even just start with little fragments. heres some good ones..

i learned smoke on the water first.. just the main riff.. just type in "smoke on the water tabs" on google and you should find some websites. a tab is an easy way to read music for guitar. figure out how to read tabs, and then you can learn any song you can imagine.

sorry thats so long lol but hope i helped alittle

Answer 6

First, buy a guitar. I suggest starting on acoustic then if you want, move up to electric. The only reason I say start on acoustic is because you have to press the strings down harder, and that'll help you build calluses just a tad bit quicker.

All of the basic chords are easy to play, but when you're a complete beginner, they'll be really frustrating to master.

Take lessons! :-) You won't regret it and you'll learn faster and progress much further with an actual person/professional than with inanimate objects and pictures. Do a bit of searching at your music stores: majority do offer lessons. You can use books (Teach Yourself Visually Guitar) and the web (cyberfret.com), as references in addition to lessons, but don't rely on them alone.

Other tips:

-Try and practice everyday for 15 minutes at least

-If you have to look for another guitar teacher since you're not seeing any progress with your current one, do so. You want to get your money's worth, which could be in the $100 or close to it.

-Have fun! It can be frustrating at times but it's all part of the learning process.