Teaching yourself Guitar?

[Jayson]

Go to Guitar Works, and buy a lesson book... That's how i learned...

[SwitchBlade]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ pick your favorite song and start playing or use the lessons.

Copy and paste the link.

[TKRIS]

Full disclosure: I'm a fucking terrible guitar player. Part of the problem is that I only play sporadically (I'll play every day-ish for a month, then not touch the guitar for 2 months, then play for 2 weeks, etc), and part of the problem is that I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever.

With that in mind, weigh this advice accordingly:

1.) Get a good metronome. This will be the best $20 you spend. I got faster and more accurate in 3 weeks of practicing with a metronome than I was after spending months and months toiling away on my own.

2.) Scales and shit are boring, but good technique is vital. Passable technique might get you to the point of not being complete shit, but then you're stuck. Put in the time and run through scales and forms and drills properly, with conservativation of movement (I'm brutal for lifting my pinky like the fucking queen sipping on tea), accuracy and timing being important. Don't worry about speed. Speed will come from good technique and playing as fast as you can accurately play. Trying to play faster will make you sloppier and slower.

Running through scales and drills with a metronome is boring, but make it a part of the routine. It's way more frustrating to run over parts for hours and hours, never quite getting it right, than it is to drill for 25 minutes a day, and then be able to play the parts reasonably well after only going over them a few times. Developping a good foundation will save you time and frustration, even though it seems a bit tedious.

Links:
http://www.markweinguitarlessons.com/
http://lessons.mikedodge.com/

[spikerS]

I taught myself how to play. I bought a cheap guitar, and went on the net to learn chords and fingering. just did the basic chords, and to be honest, i still can't play a b chord. however, there are lots of songs that don't have B in them.

once you learn the chords, just do google searches for chords to your favorite song.

i love this bar chords for example, and use cheat sheets.

[Inzane]

Originally posted by TKRIS
Full disclosure: I'm a fucking terrible guitar player. Part of the problem is that I only play sporadically (I'll play every day-ish for a month, then not touch the guitar for 2 months, then play for 2 weeks, etc), and part of the problem is that I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever.

With that in mind, weigh this advice accordingly:

1.) Get a good metronome. This will be the best $20 you spend. I got faster and more accurate in 3 weeks of practicing with a metronome than I was after spending months and months toiling away on my own.

2.) Scales and shit are boring, but good technique is vital. Passable technique might get you to the point of not being complete shit, but then you're stuck. Put in the time and run through scales and forms and drills properly, with conservativation of movement (I'm brutal for lifting my pinky like the fucking queen sipping on tea), accuracy and timing being important. Don't worry about speed. Speed will come from good technique and playing as fast as you can accurately play. Trying to play faster will make you sloppier and slower.

Running through scales and drills with a metronome is boring, but make it a part of the routine. It's way more frustrating to run over parts for hours and hours, never quite getting it right, than it is to drill for 25 minutes a day, and then be able to play the parts reasonably well after only going over them a few times. Developping a good foundation will save you time and frustration, even though it seems a bit tedious.

Links:
http://www.markweinguitarlessons.com/
http://lessons.mikedodge.com/

Thanks for your brutal honesty and advice. I'm at the beginner-mediocre level where I can still benefit from a few of your suggestions.
(eg. I actually bought a good metronome a while back, but have yet to incorporate it into my practicing so far... d'oh!).

[b_t]

Originally posted by Inzane


Thanks for your brutal honesty and advice. I'm at the beginner-mediocre level where I can still benefit from a few of your suggestions.
(eg. I actually bought a good metronome a while back, but have yet to incorporate it into my practicing so far... d'oh!).

Metronome practicing is horrid but is very valuable... learning how to tap a steady beat with your foot and playing in time with that is the next step. Do it!
You don't need to use scalar exercises with the metronome either. I'll play actual songs or passages from them just so it isn't quite as boring, for instance, instead of running through four scale positions I'll play the first eight bars of We Bow In Its Aura by Veil of Maya instead.
edit: Use Guitar Pro as your metronome, actually - its a good way to get a feel for how quarter/eight/sixteenths work, triplets, dotted 8s, all that type of thing. Download Guitar Pro 5 from a torrent, up in the middle of the top bar you'll see the tempo with a multiplier next to that. You can slow down the song to 50%, 75%, all that type of thing. You get a metronome click as well as a MIDI version of the song playing, so you can tell right away if you are playing out of tune or out of time. Way better than sitting there playing along to a robot going "one two three four" or even worse, just clicking D: