Learning guitar: Advice/Tips.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by AcGold

what kind of strat is that?

Stratocaster HSS I believe. It's got a humbucker.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Okay, then I present my next question; Where do I find that special guitar cable that plugs into the Xbox 360? I have Rocksmith, and yet to try it, then when I moved that cable disappeared.

If there was somewhere local to pick one up for a decent price, I'd probably grab one and try it out.

Wal-Mart used to carry them separately but not anymore it appears.

I could use a second one for two-player mode.

[Obsidian]

There will be pain when your first doing some of the more awkward chords. You have to work through that. When you have enough of a feel for it that you can play songs you like to play without even looking at the frets, that's when your actually getting somewhere. I suppose it also depends on how in touch you are with your musical side. People who aren't quite as passionate I see typically just give up after a while and don't get back into it. Um and also don't learn just for the sake of learning classic rock solos or smoke on the water. If not then you're golden.

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Stratocaster HSS I believe. It's got a humbucker.

Kind of...It's based off of that but it is really a "Frankenstrat" built with original and re-issue parts. The humbucker is a Seymour Duncan JD pickup.

[troutman]

My winter project - to build a guitar kit:



https://guitarkitworld.com/product/g...sg-guitar-kit/

I want to paint it green.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Okay, then I present my next question; Where do I find that special guitar cable that plugs into the Xbox 360? I have Rocksmith, and yet to try it, then when I moved that cable disappeared.

If there was somewhere local to pick one up for a decent price, I'd probably grab one and try it out.

They are 29.99 at the source. Could probably get one cheaper on amazon or ebay. I believe rocksmith is available on xbox one as well.

[badradio]

I haven't played in a few years so I picked up Rocksmith 2014 for the PS4... wow... Wish I had this when I was a teenager learning the ropes. So much fun, only bad part is my fingers hurt like hell from playing so much. It is also great for visual learners like me. Can't recommend it enough!

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by troutman

My winter project - to build a guitar kit:



https://guitarkitworld.com/product/g...sg-guitar-kit/

I want to paint it green.

A great experience and I highly recommend you doing it. A couple years ago when my vision was down I acquired all the parts to build my favourite strat that fender use to have in production. The process taught me a lot about setting up a guitar correctly... really pushed me past the fear of tinkering with my guitars in fear I might do something wrong.

The only thing I wonder about is the link you provided... They may be amazing, I have know clue and this is the first I have seen of them. But you may do an amazing job assembling this guitar but how good your end result is has a big deal with the material you're working with

Although I have never dealt with these guys I have heard non stop rave reviews about their parts http://www.warmoth.com/ Maybe a few dollars more, but a much greater investment of your time in my opinion.

Good luck, and let use know how it turns out

[troutman]

Thanks - the kit didn't cost much, so I thought it was a good first kit. If I succeed I will up the difficulty and quality.

[V]

Man, I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I started playing about 10 months ago, and it has come and gone, but I've been pretty consistent with playing most of the time. That justinguitar link is awesome. I stumbled onto it about 2 weeks ago when I was trying to learn pentatonic scales. I wish I had found it when I started.

[The_Penguin]

I've been playing off and on since '76 (get off my lawn!)
Was just getting back into it with Rocksmith, and some stuff happened and put it down again 2 years ago. Now that winter is here in force I'll have to dust off the guitars ( at least 2 of the 6) and start again.
Just noticed that Poison's "Nothing but a good time" is available for Rocksmith, maybe that'll motivate me a bit. Love the guitar in that song.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by troutman

Thanks - the kit didn't cost much, so I thought it was a good first kit. If I succeed I will up the difficulty and quality.

Precision Guitar Kits

These guys make great kits and have a really solid joint for set necks. I have a feeling that will be my next guitar.

[pope04]

I started lessons in September and know EXACTLY how the original poster feels. My transitions from chord to chord are still pretty shaky. I try to practice every day, and I feel I'm improving slowly. I used to lay down my chords left to right, but my teacher suggested I start forming my chords top to bottom as this will buy you a split second if you are strumming top to bottom (low E to high E). I agree with an earlier poster, there's lots of help available on youtube. As well, the library is full of guitar books.

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by pope04

I started lessons in September and know EXACTLY how the original poster feels. My transitions from chord to chord are still pretty shaky. I try to practice every day, and I feel I'm improving slowly. I used to lay down my chords left to right, but my teacher suggested I start forming my chords top to bottom as this will buy you a split second if you are strumming top to bottom (low E to high E). I agree with an earlier poster, there's lots of help available on youtube. As well, the library is full of guitar books.

Say you are doing a chord progression D-G-F-E-A and you can't do the F to E but can do the other part of the progression, don't do the D,G and A every time just do F-E over and over repeatedly. It there's a part of a song you can't get practice that part only so you concentrate the time on the parts you can't play so you rapidly accelerate your improvement. A dead note is not a muted note, a dead note is rattly crappy sound that's like a thunk.

If a progression takes 10 seconds to play but you play only two chords over and over and it takes 2 seconds it's 5 times faster improvement. I always messed up F to E for the longest time then spent 30 minutes to fix it, if you play a chord and there are dead notes it's being played wrong. Most people play chords with dead notes and don't pay attention to playing correctly and adjust by adding distortion.

[normtwofinger]

I cheat with F to E. Having your fingers in a barred chord position for F, just slide down one fret and your index finger will be doing nothing, but the other fingers will be forming the E chord.

[rbochan]

Originally Posted by troutman

My winter project - to build a guitar kit:



https://guitarkitworld.com/product/g...sg-guitar-kit/

I want to paint it green.

Your world frightens and confuses me.

An SG should be neck-through. That's the beauty of them.

[Delthefunky]

Bar chords are super important too I think, especially when your learning. Personally I prefer the sound of them over open chords in most cases. I think if you start with just the "E pattern" and the "A pattern" and learn the major/minor of each, that's pretty much enough to play any song. Next things is to definitely learn the major/minor 7th chords. There's not much difference between any of the patterns. Then you can start to learn how to use bar chords with the other patterns. It will also introduce you to using the rest of the fret board, and you'll become aware of where root notes are and all that. The cool thing about the guitar is you can apply the same pattern all over the place, just like the piano. It's mostly just recognizing patterns. Hope you guys are having fun!.

Oh, and something I found too, if your playing an electric, and just learning, turn the gain up on your amp. It sounds all grungy, and lots of people don't like that, but it covers pretty much all of your mistakes, and you'll suddenly feel like a rock star. Just some motivation to keep playing. When you get better you can go for a more clean sound if you want.

[AcGold]

I'd say the opposite, turn the gain down and listen for mistakes. Don't hide mistakes, hunt them down and eliminate them. Turn the gain up once you can play a song cleanly.

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

I cheat with F to E. Having your fingers in a barred chord position for F, just slide down one fret and your index finger will be doing nothing, but the other fingers will be forming the E chord.

Interesting, I like to switch from E to A a lot so I'm not sure if that'll work. Will experiment. The G# in the key of Am really sounds good in the end of a phrase.

[Delthefunky]

I agree, but a lot of people just quit because they think they don't sound good. Anything that keeps you playing is the best thing. Mistakes just work their way out over time. My 2 cents anyway.

[AcGold]

Many people do struggle with motivation which is natural, there's not much reward for a long time. Just for fun it's cool to use high sustain and high gain with a little echo and teach people to do some basic finger tapping. That's the easiest way to sound like a rockstar with little experience.