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Oren, do you plan on playing it at all? Or do you just want it to be decoration?

When it comes to guitars, you’ll often find a $150 look much like a $3000+ guitar. It’s not always the look of it, because you can fake a good looking guitar, but it’s more of the brand. If you own a Gibson guitar, you’ll be the coolest person around… but only if people know about guitars, otherwise you could get away with having a really bad-ass looking $200 dollar guitar. Just scratch off the name so it doesn’t say Ion or something like that.

Acoustic guitars are just as good looking as electric guitars. Get a dark finished wooden acoustic ;)

I plan on trying to play it… which knowing myself would conclude in 2 hours of terrible noise and then I’ll give up and won’t touch it again for a few months.

Yeah, I’m not looking for brand names… is it mostly the name or is it quality too? In terms of sounds mostly I guess…

Name = Quality normally… at least at first you’ll find it difficult to really tell the difference. If you’re going to try to play it, start with an acoustic. Less hassle. Better natural sound. Electrics are good for rifts and power bars, and those are advanced stuff. To get that really good rock feel to a electric you need a amp and most likely a few pedals for distortion if you don’t throw down 300 bucks on a good amp. You can get a nice acoustic guitar for $200 and it wont be total crap. I suggest checking out Long & McQuade in Toronto. They have a good selection of acoustics.

I would suggest a good acoustic-electric guitar. This option will be around the same price of an acoustic, but it has built in pickups and sometimes even a built in tuner. This gives you great flexibility and the option of purchasing an amp later on, or just playing it acoustically. As lechuck said, the brand is very important and I would suggest something by Fender, Ibanez or Yamaha (or if you’ve got the cash, get an Ovation…those things are purrdy). Good luck with your search!

Thanks for the advice.

The acoustic-electric guitar seems like a great compromise. What does it sound like?

And any advice on how to start learning? My friends say you can just start with a few booklets or DVDs and teach yourself… but since I really know nothing should I start out with a tutor right away? I don’t know, I’ll just see how it goes I guess…

I’m personally not a fan of the acoustic-electric. Stick with one or the other. I suppose that is up to the person though.

As for starting out. Start with learning your basic chords: D, A, E, G, C, D minor, E minor, A minor. Once you can pull those off, try the dreaded F chord. Once you can pull those off, you’ll find jumping into songs pretty easy. For example, the intro chords to Sweet Home Alabama is a set of variations of the D chord.

My first guitar was a black Yamaha E Series, it got me through many years and I still have it to this day, I believe it was $280 brand new. A few years after the electric I got a Seagull S6 acoustic, I also still have that guitar today, it’s totally awesome but you really have to hammer on it compared to the electric.

I would say that, for learning, an electric is probably a bit easier; you don’t need to push the strings down on the frets as hard which removes an element of difficulty. Learning to play guitar is like learning any other involved thing, it will be overwhelming at first, but keep at it and I’m sure you will find it to be a very relaxing and rewarding hobby.

Another avenue you may want to consider is bass, I really enjoy playing bass especially when I’m jamming with people. Bass can be just as involved as playing a guitar and the two definitely go hand in hand.

Don’t totally rule out professional lessons, you can really get a good head start by having a veteran help you get some of the basics under your belt and it will save you a lot of frustration during those initial steps.

Good news, I got a guitar!

It’s a Yamaha acoustic one, black and looks really nice. It was also pretty inexpensive, which is great. Here’s a picture of it (I think):

It took me a couple of days to figure out how the left hand works (I didn’t know you have to press it really hard and right on the line thingy), but now I can almost make some normal sounds with it, and a couple of half-chords.

Any suggestions for really easy songs that I can try and learn right away without any theory or anything? Just so that I can show off something before I start getting serious, if I ever do. I may get some actual lessons if I have the time… for now, Youtube videos are actually more helpful than I thought at first.

Chords (strumming) for Sweet Home Alabama:

D (2), C9 (2), G (4)

Repeat! That is a good started. I really can’t say how important it is to learn your chords before anything else. If you can play a G chord easily, your ready to move on. Plus a lot of great songs use a set of 6 chords.

BTW, I just broke my low E string on Friday, and I’m not happy about it! * steam *

@lechuck: Breaking strings eh! You’re hardcore.

I’m learning chords right now too, and have to say it’s a little tough pressing them all down equally so you don’t get that muffled twangy sound. I know I need to get back at practicing when my fingertips start to feel normal again! Does anyone know of common chord progressions in songs? Preferably easy-to-play ones?

Hotel California: Bmi, F#, A, E, G, D, Emi

Should I Stay or Should I Go: D, G, F, A

F chord is a toughy though.

Are there any songs you can play without chords? Like, just using one string at a time? Wouldn’t those be easier to start off with?

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes is a pretty straight-forward single note at a time tune you can play. This is a bass tab but you could totally play it on your guitar.

Wicked! Guitar is fun!

Do the song in phrases, and once you’ve got each phrase down, you can put them together, piece by piece. Just a suggestion, but it may not work for you; everyone is different.

Thanks BassPlayer, it may actually work, I’ve noticed that I can do portions of the song if they’re similar (like I won’t get confused during the chorus, but when it’s over things fall apart). Working on each segment individually can help, I’ll try that next time.

To come back to the topic of chords, which chords do you like best in terms of simplicity?

I found A and G pretty easy, D and E aren’t too bad, same as E minor and A minor, but C is killing me. I can’t keep my fingers on one string only when they’re far apart… but I’ll keep trying. I haven’t attempted B and F yet, they seem weird.

In terms of sound, I find D pretty smooth, and A, but I don’t like E as much.

Overall though I enjoy playing simple tabs better than chords. I can even pull off a couple of solos if they’re not too tough. It’s great.

This is just awesome!

Can someone please tell me if there are any lessons on how to play the guitar? Also, I guess there should be a beginners guide to choosing guitars.

In case there are none, as of now, I think I can make ‘em :)...and I promise not to do too bad a job. Also, I am open to collaborating with some of you, in case that can work out.

For those who are wondering – I have been “trying” to play the guitar for quite some time now. I have a Yamaha F series (F 210 actually). For quite some time, I have been fantasizing about buying a Gibson Les Paul for myself. I mostly strum along and sing.

Actually I think that what would work for people would be a list of songs, arranged in an order of increasing difficulty – exhaustive enough to cover a broad expanse of tastes.

Could someone give me a few more ideas/suggestions?

Oh, and by the way, though the guitar is totally awesome, it is also the most frustrating thing to play. So, when you get stuck somewhere (which you definitely will, despite your talent, etc), remember 3 words – “Endure And Overcome”.

Chandra- basic guitar lessons would be more than awesome! I could use some for sure, though we don’t have at the moment. You can even post some videos if you have any. And a list of songs by difficulty would really be helpful for me, since I’m trying to find easy ones. I’d really appreciate this sort of list, and any other tips.

I can’t comment whether the guitar is any more frustrating than other instruments, since I don’t play anything else (although it’s much more complicated than singing, I can say that). My system is- if you get stuck, fake it and just make a few sounds that aren’t really the song but they’re good enough. Enduring and overcoming would be better for serious players, but if it’s just for fun, don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy playing.

I am working on it. Will have some lesson up in some time.

And yeah – you are right about the “endure” and “overcome” bit :)

In the mean while, why not check out a kid called Sungha Jung on youtube? Specifically, the video for “while my guitar gently weeps” (arrangemet by eric schoenberg) I guess it will be inspiring :)

I’ll look the video up. Thanks for the contribution!

Hey everyone.

Does anybody have guitar tuning tricks? I just play around with the strings until they sound alright, but I’m pretty sure my guitar is totally out of tune now. I don’t really know how to tune it, or what should any of the strings sound like… the lower ones are way off for sure, but the higher ones sound fine.

Any tips for me?

Using your ear to tune gets better with practice. There are some online guitar tuners to help you out with the pitch, or you can use a piano…I also try to leave my guitar in a room with a steady temperature. Temperature changes tend to distort the tuning of instruments such as the guitar.

Just make sure you get the starting string’s note on pitch, so that way the rest will follow consistently with that string. I generally do this to tune my guitar: I match the pitch at the fifth fret on the previous string before it. This goes for all the strings, except the second string – for that one you use the fourth fret. If you play both strings at the same time, it should produce the same pitch. Just be careful because it’s easy to think they’re tuned when they’re not. When you play both strings, sometimes you can hear a slight “twang” in the frequency – this is a good indication that it’s not completely in tune. It’s hard to be precise, but it’s definitely worth it. Hope that makes sense. :)

@lucyinthesky: Good call, I lost my tuner a while back so I just use my computer to generate the required notes and match them with the guitar. It works just as good, maybe even better.

Thanks for the tips… I’ve tried out the 5-fret thing, but sadly the first string I used was way out of tune, and they’re all in tune which each other but I’m suspecting that none of them is actually in tune with what they should be, if that makes any sense.

Carsten- how do you use a computer to generate the right note? I would use a piano, but I don’t really have one (which is why I bought a guitar in the first place- less hassle to carry around).

Here are some online guitar tuners you might find helpful?

http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner/
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/onlinetuner.html

These are exactly what I was looking for, thanks a lot! Now I’ll have to practice my ears and my guitar will be tuned by the end of the week… unless I break one of the strings…

Looks like lucyinthesky beat me to it, good stuff!

It looks like my guitar is about to celebrate her 9-month anniversary soon!

Just as an update, I snapped a string last weekend (my g-string, feel free to make any jokes you’d like). I went to have it restringed at this cool place I found up near where I live, and they also tuned it for me. Turns out I had my guitar tuned ridiculously high. The guy couldn’t believe my high E string didn’t snap too, it was insanely out of tune. It’s all better now, and I’ve been playing every day this week so it should keep in tune for a while.

I also bought a strap, so I’m not confined to sitting while playing anymore. It’s great actually, so much spacial freedom!

Sweet! Congrats on your anniversary. I guess over time you’ll develop a better tuning ear, that’s how it is for me.

www.ultimate-guitar.com has a great collection of songs, either with chords or with tabs. You could probably also take up some flamenco or spanish guitar, I find it’s really fun to practice and it impresses people than regular guitar playing. There are some great lessons on YouTube by the user “csybu” for this. Learning new strumming patterns and stuff can make your playing sound better too! :)