learning guitar

Am 52 and decided to teach myself the guitar, started last xmas when someone at work got me a pink guitar for a laff, since then i have bought another two,

i have very little support off my wife who cringes everytime i pick it up , though i do think i'm improving slightly   today i am learning house of the rising sun

Anyone else in this unique forum play or learning to play,

my dream is setting off into the sunset with my Swing and guitar on my back hohoho

Post a video on youtube and people can tell you where you are going wrong!

Cheers,

Hey Goofy, stick with it if you are enjoying it and your wife will get used to it. I picked up a guitar last year after not playing for about 16 - 17 years. My wife thought I had gone nuts. Then I joined this band and I am in the videos playing the guitar www.60sretro.co.uk Now I'm trying to learn to sing and that has my wife cringing - but for better or worse, they have signed up to the deal!

If you can meet up with like minded people and play together that will bring you on quicker as will having a decent guitar to learn on.

Just enjoy it, we only get one trip round the bay!

There are 7,488 Guitar chords!

There is also a book called "7,488 guitar chords" and its a great reference.

In many cases there are several ways to finger the same chords.

As you get beyond the easy ones, it is invaluable because you can find ways of fingering them that are the easiest for you.

On the good side, there are a lot of rock standards that use only 3-5 basic chords so you can have a large repertoire with very little knowledge.

Many songs by The Eagles, The Knack, & America, fall into these categories.

Status Quo only had two chords and they couldn't play the second one at live gigs because they had to be shown where to place their fingers!

Cheers,

paul.delo451 wrote:

Just enjoy it, we only get one trip round the bay!

 Paul, it's great to see someone playing the "good stuff". Go for it Gooffy.  

Cheers Guys

Fred i will be posting nothing on youtube for a while m8 ha

prob know and can play 12 chords whilst strumming, difficult bit now is getting the strumming pattern to suit the song and changing chords is now a lot easier strumming.

Trying to finger pick a bit now, now that is difficult:( 

When someone organises the forum meet up i shall bring along my Geetarrr  

Damn, I'm busy that day!

Cheers,

tarmacburner2 wrote:

Status Quo only had two chords and they couldn't play the second one at live gigs because they had to be shown where to place their fingers!

Cheers,

Is this the same Status Quo who have sold approximately 128 million records worldwide, who opened Live Aid at Wembley in 1985 with ”Rockin' All Over The World", and have had 60 UK Chart hits?

Meldrew wrote:

tarmacburner2 wrote:

Status Quo only had two chords and they couldn't play the second one at live gigs because they had to be shown where to place their fingers!

Cheers,

Is this the same Status Quo who have sold approximately 128 million records worldwide, who opened Live Aid at Wembley in 1985 with ”Rockin' All Over The World", and have had 60 UK Chart hits?

Just imagine if they played the second cord they would have sold twice as that.   

BTW Punk bands played less chords than that and they still sold millions.  

yammer wrote:

Meldrew wrote:

tarmacburner2 wrote:

Status Quo only had two chords and they couldn't play the second one at live gigs because they had to be shown where to place their fingers!

Cheers,

Is this the same Status Quo who have sold approximately 128 million records worldwide, who opened Live Aid at Wembley in 1985 with ”Rockin' All Over The World", and have had 60 UK Chart hits?

Just imagine if they played the second cord they would have sold twice as that.   

Really, aren't you and tarmacburner2 aware that the long running rumour is that the Quo only know three cords not two. in fact the band acknowledged the joke in 2007 by releasing an album titled "In Search of the Fourth Cord".

goofy,
I have been playing since 1962 and have enjoyed many years of music....House of the Rising Sun was my first try at lead (solo) playing....all I can say is music (as art) is in the eye of the beholder.
If you find enjoyment out of playing (by all means) continue, however, one must find a happy medium with the wife ,may be....teach her as well? or....(as my wife and I did), get her a Bass guitar.
Good luck

"house of the rising sun" EXCELLENT CHOICE !
That was my first song ever....

Here is how you learn your chords.

Can you play the chords F, D and a Bb ?
Move that up two frets. You now have a G an E and a C
Keep going up the neck and count.
You know can play every single Major chord that you will ever need.

FUN FACT: You know the C major chord ? Guess where that comes from? Play a D major and go down two frets. You will end up with a bunch a fingers outside the neck. Find any C E and G notes. Touch them. Any combination of the notes C E and G including open strings (1,3,5 of a major scale) is part of the major chord... on any instrument

Now, do the same with minor chords. Play the chords Fm, Dm and a Bbm. Go up and down.
Now you can play all the minor chords you will ever need.

If you want to get all "scientific"   about it. Learn about the root of a chord on the guitar. For example. If you know the name of the notes on the E string, when you play F chord, the root of that chord is on the first string. so if you follow the notes up and down and name them... you get yourself a chord. You go to the 5th fret on the first string.. you got the note A, play the F major or minor had position and you got yourself A major or A minor chord.

Play "La Bamba" from F than from D and than from Bb.
Move up a fret at the time. You can now play that song from any key.

Learn one single blues song  ?  you can play half of all the blues songs in existence.

Practice "Stand By Me" from the key of F, D and Bb. Now you should be able to strum literally hundreds of songs.

Like scales shmels. How about first position on the guitar. 4 fingers, each with it's own fret. Start counting + E string + Pick down 1 finger , up 2,  down 3,  up 4. Go to the next string. Play that  for about 20 minutes until your fingers feel like burning. Start again next day. Now mixed them up. Play twice each note. Up and down... three times... and so on.

Learn at least the major scale. Play down, up each note.
This should keep you busy for about a month if you practice 1 hour per day.

Playing an instrument is like body building. It has to do with muscle memory to. The more time you spend with it, the better.

Have fun and most of all remember the "KISS" ... as in "Keep It Simple Sir"

'Bout that singing : here is THE key to your future success. Singing is about hearing but most of all remembering how it feels to sing correctly. You may have for sing to somebody to tell you what part sounds well, or record yourself, then build exercises with that. If your voice sound good when you say Maaaa or Meeee or Moooo, remember how it feals and bring in other vowels and make them sound the same. Sky is the limit.

Peace out !

think i will take up the drums ha,
lot to take in there m8, going to have to try understanding keys and moving up frets an so forth gulp
Pastor
only thing my wife will be getting is a divorce heehee

gooffy wrote:

think i will take up the drums ha,
lot to take in there m8, going to have to try understanding keys and moving up frets an so forth gulp
Pastor
only thing my wife will be getting is a divorce heehee

Or a set of second hand earplugs! (Far cheaper than a divorce, and you still have someone to clean and cook).
 

Cheers,

LN, you completly lost me m8  

Lost me at 'Multi Quote'  

Cheers,

gooffy wrote:

LN, you completly lost me m8   

Chord = more than one note played at the same time. Hopefully making a pleasant harmony!

Fret = little metal bars on the long thing that sticks out of the curved boxy bit with the hole in the front!


Wait until he talks about second inversion triads and plagal cadences! "Amen".

got the fret an chord bit thats easy  its the other bit where you can play same chords futher down the fret ''sigh''

gooffy wrote:

got the fret an chord bit thats easy  its the other bit where you can play same chords futher down the fret ''sigh''

Chords, frets , strumming.......who cares? What's the story on the "pink guitar" or geetar as we like to say?        

pink geetar has a string missin but is really cool, got it for a xmas laff as i was harpin on about learning the geetar, a learned ma A,D AN G on that pinky Geetar  

geetar lonesome just now as good riding weather here in the border country

I got a guitar as a teenager and learned the riff from "Born to be Wild"
Stopped there since it was the perfect riff and perfect song
Never liked to practice anyways just wanted to look cool and impress the girls
Wasn't very successful at either of those enterprises so I got a motorcycle.

http://www.webguitartabs.com/

Is a pretty cool tablature site that i use, it even has youtube videos on top for each song so you can hear what you are "suppose" to be playing...lol

I use this one m8

http://www.chordie.com/?filter=

Have you got to join that site Som, waas wandering if there was more choice

cheers

gooffy wrote:

its the other bit where you can play same chords futher down the fret ''sigh''

Yep that's the same weirdness you get on a piano,the wife was trying to explain it to me a couple of weeks ago (without success  ),all the keys go in blocks of FGABC  

Have a look & be as confused as me ....... http://www.thebestsolver.com/complete-chord-piano-organ-or-keyboard.html/piano-chord

It's called an "octave"! The interval between one note and another whose frequency (pitch) is half, or double the original.

Haven't you watched "The Sound of Music"?     Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc., (= C, D, E, F, in a C Major scale) back to Do (C), but an octave higher (or lower if you go the other way).

Ahhhhh,Octave,that's the kiddie,it's been many,many years since I was in music lessons at school,Sound of Music was the first film I saw at a cinema,thanks for both the memory jogs

Mrs.Bern has taken to learning the piano to give her an indoor interest during the bad weather after she retires early next year

I once read about a bloke who paid £50 to a dodgy mail-order firm in London for a video that promised nuns, children, goats, and Nazi uniforms, and he got sent The Sound of Music.  

Ha Bern i will stick with the guitar, watched sound of music but i cant play that de ray me bit Colin
ye gonna have to try a bit harder to convince me  

I'd take up the piano if I were you. At least all of the notes are laid out in front of you. All you have to do is press the keys....in the right order!

With a guitar, you have to pluck the correct string with one hand, having stopped it in the required place with the other.

Two things at once!    Can you do that?    

Seriously, "tinkering" with a piano will help you learn about keys, intervals, chords and harmony.

In the next lesson we'll look at "equal temperament".

SIGH:roll: 

SIGH
gooffy, sometimes you need to put a space between or before emotions. I try to use the preview button when I use emotions. I don't mean to criticize just help.

model28a wrote:

SIGH
gooffy, sometimes you need to put a space between or before emotions. I try to use the preview button when I use emotions. I don't mean to criticize just help.

 I always put space between my emotions and sometimes between my emoticons. Oh, I don't mean to criticize.  

Oh I see I didn't use the c.  Never to old to learn.

hee hee
still learning

I am 65 and would love to play the gitar but have decided to learn the harmonica instead.
I will never forget as a kid watching Johnny Puleo and his harmonica gang.
johnnypuleo.com
Call me in 20 years and and I should at least know the notes.:lol!: 

nice one johnd me thinks geetar will be a wee bit easier  

Put your middle finger to good use for start  and look up open tuning. It doesn't get easier than that. Learn chords and chords families / songs first otherwise you may become overwhelmed.

FYI

1st grade music theory: NOTES / Major Scale
If you sing: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
If play instrument: C D E F G A B C
Nashville pickers use numbers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The reason why a piano has black and white keys is because of whole steps or small steps.
Cover up the white keys only and leave the black and white part expose. Find the note C. From C to D is a full step, that means that there is a C# in between. The only two places that are half steps is between E and F and B and C. That means that there is no E# or Fb, E# is already F. or B# or Cb. B# is already C naturally. That is why there are no black keys between those notes.

C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C
As stupid and confusing it sounds, if you go backwards you don't use the # sign anymore, you have to use flats."b" flatten the sound (no is not the letter b, is just the closest symbol on the keyboard) "#" sharpen the sound,

C, B, Bb, A, Ab, G, Gb, F, E, Eb, D, Db,C

Chords:
"C" = C Major chord sounds happy
"Cm" = C minor sounds sad

Major Chords/ Happy sounding chords ( La Bamba = all major chords)
Take the notes 1,3,5 from any scale on any instrument in any combination 3,5,1 or 5,3,1 or 5,1,3 and you are playing a C Major. Why is is still called C major ...because of the 1. One is the first note / root that gives the name of that scale or chord.

Minor chords/ sad sounding chords (most chords from House of the rising sun)
Take 1, 3b, 5. That is the only difference between a major and a minor chord. One note. That b stands for flat which means you have to play that third note on step lower than the major one. Now take those three notes and mix them up and you get a minor chord.

Let's talk about open tuning guitar.
There are many open tuning option. Where you tune your guitar in a chord. Like an open D or G or E. That means that you have 6 strings but you repeat only three notes. If you play a G open string that means if you move your finger one fret higher you get G#, next A, A# and so on.


So. You want to work out your fingers. 4 frets / 4 fingers. Right hand plays up and down with the pick. One note down next note up. No open strings. Start on the fat string first finger. After you are done going up and down move over to the second fret.

4 frets 4 fingers. First finger on the 2nd fret, no open strings. down up down up.....speed up in about 1 week. Play for 30 min non stop. You will hurt. Hurt is good. It will go away.

Later on do that with a major scale.

Johnd the harmonica sounds good to me now  

LN, I got some of that the rest was way over my head m8

gooffy wrote:

way over my head

I warned you!

Colin B wrote:

Wait until he talks about second inversion triads.

 

 I did not ask for a PHD in music! all I wanted to do was seguest, that I wanted to learn the mouth harp.
You my fiend are a master of that field and only wish I had 1/4 of the understanding and appreciation that you have.:not worthy:

Thank you for the kind words. I hope you find the energy and the inspiration to keep on playing and never give up. You are welcome to PM me with questions any time.

LN left a pm for you