Any Guitar Players Out There?

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BVilleggiante

BVilleggiante

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Apr 7, 2007
Got my five year old daughter a kids, three string, electric guitar for xmas. She's really been wanting to learn how to play. I've been thinking of buying myself a starter electric guitar and learning with her. I'm curious, about how long on average does it take to at least not absolutely hate what you're playing? I'm not looking to become a rockstar but I don't want to be playing 6 months from now and feeling like I can't put two cords together either.
 
BVilleggiante said:
Got my five year old daughter a kids, three string, electric guitar for xmas. She's really been wanting to learn how to play. I've been thinking of buying myself a starter electric guitar and learning with her. I'm curious, about how long on average does it take to at least not absolutely hate what you're playing? I'm not looking to become a rockstar but I don't want to be playing 6 months from now and feeling like I can't put two cords together either.
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I’ve played the guitar since I was 15, was probably young enough to pick it up easy enough.

My old man started playing in his late 40s, he’s never progressed beyond playing the chords to a few songs but that’s all he really wanted to do.

I’d say it really comes down to how much time you can give it, I’d say a good 30 mins or so most nights and you’ll be grand 👍
 
Zab said:
I’ve played the guitar since I was 15, was probably young enough to pick it up easy enough.

My old man started playing in his late 40s, he’s never progressed beyond playing the chords to a few songs but that’s all he really wanted to do.

I’d say it really comes down to how much time you can give it, I’d say a good 30 mins or so most nights and you’ll be grand 👍
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And honestly, that's probably about what I'm looking to put into it myself is a good 20-30 minutes a night as that is pretty much what I have most days. I'll be 40 in March so seems like a good time to pickup a new hobby and have some fun.
 
BVilleggiante said:
And honestly, that's probably about what I'm looking to put into it myself is a good 20-30 minutes a night as that is pretty much what I have most days. I'll be 40 in March so seems like a good time to pickup a new hobby and have some fun.
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Ideal! It’s a great hobby once you get past the initially annoyance at yourself stage. I’d recommend learning a couple of three chord songs, there’s plenty quality ones out there!
 
I'd say it depends what you're looking to play. It'll take you time to strengthen your fingers, get used to changing chord shapes and building muscle memory. Best app you can probably download is Ultimate Guitar - it'll give you the songs to play along to with the tabs to learn in simple number form. If you're an Indie Cindy/into Punk you could easily be playing well within 6 months but you need to practise. 30 minutes - 1hr a day I'd say. Build a playlist of songs you'd like to play. It might surprise you some are not actually as difficult as they might sound.
 
Zab said:
Ideal! It’s a great hobby once you get past the initially annoyance at yourself stage. I’d recommend learning a couple of three chord songs, there’s plenty quality ones out there!
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With the ramp up of Covid, I'll probably try and get an in person lesson here and there. But incase everything locks down again to the 10th degree...do you happen to have any good YouTube video lessons you've come across?
 
MSG_07 said:
I'd say it depends what you're looking to play. It'll take you time to strengthen your fingers, get used to changing chord shapes and building muscle memory. Best app you can probably download is Ultimate Guitar - it'll give you the songs to play along to with the tabs to learn in simple number form. If you're an Indie Cindy/into Punk you could easily be playing well within 6 months but you need to practise. 30 minutes - 1hr a day I'd say. Build a playlist of songs you'd like to play. It might surprise you some are not actually as difficult as they might sound.
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I'm kinda leaning towards blues? But I won't really know until I give it a go and find my rhythm I guess. Thank you for the app suggestion! I'm going to download it and check it out.
 
BVilleggiante said:
With the ramp up of Covid, I'll probably try and get an in person lesson here and there. But incase everything locks down again to the 10th degree...do you happen to have any good YouTube video lessons you've come across?
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I got maybe two or three lessons when I first started, guy showed me the basics and I just took it on myself from there. I’ve done a bit of teaching but it’s hard!

Haven’t ever used any YouTube videos, what I found worked for me was playing along to backing tracks.

MSG_07 said:
I'd say it depends what you're looking to play. It'll take you time to strengthen your fingers, get used to changing chord shapes and building muscle memory. Best app you can probably download is Ultimate Guitar - it'll give you the songs to play along to with the tabs to learn in simple number form. If you're an Indie Cindy/into Punk you could easily be playing well within 6 months but you need to practise. 30 minutes - 1hr a day I'd say. Build a playlist of songs you'd like to play. It might surprise you some are not actually as difficult as they might sound.
Click to expand...

I’ll second Ultimate Guitar - brilliant app.
 
Zab said:
I got maybe two or three lessons when I first started, guy showed me the basics and I just took it on myself from there. I’ve done a bit of teaching but it’s hard!

Haven’t ever used any YouTube videos, what I found worked for me was playing along to backing tracks.



I’ll second Ultimate Guitar - brilliant app.
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Might download that and have another bash on the cheapo fender type guitar we bought as a decoration for our hall :22:
 
My 7 year old son is getting an electric 3/4 size fender for Christmas.

He’s got an acoustic guitar, and been doing lessons for about 6 months. He’s into it, practises most days and can change cords and play songs.

Teacher is really good - she was like, what song do you want to learn Cameron? and they just jumped right into wonderwall.

My dad plays so they play together when they can. I’very never played but I quite fancy the idea. Maybe this year.

It’s all just practise I think. And a bit of expert guidance on practise.
 
I'd go along with what most are saying.If you can give it half an hour a day you should be fine.I went to night school but I guess that's out. I've got Electric Guitar-Beginner's Guide' comes out on Neumann and Gable comes with a CD rom a tutorial with 66 tracks.Once you've got 3 chords down you can become Status Quo or the Ramones.A 3 string guitar has me stumped though?
 
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My son plays all manner of stringed things and other instruments. He's the annoying wee fucker that can just pick up play anything after not very long.

As an example, having played guitar for a while (age 16 or 17) he wanted a banjo. I found myself a real banjo player and asked him about getting a decent one and then I bought it. I gave him this banjo in the pub and the expert gave him a couple of tips. It couldn't have been 15 minutes later the two of them are at doing that tune where they're trying to out do each other. The expert was right impressed!

Anyway my granddaughter (5) has shown signs of wanting to play like Uncle Boo, who in turn has insisted she gets a real guitar and that's Christmas sorted!
 
I've been learning for nigh on 40 years, it never ends! Which is a GOOD thing.

YouTube is a treasure for a young 40 year old :) Just search for 'tutorial' + the kind of stuff you want to learn.

You can start and stop and go back and review, YT is great for that. And SEE on screen what thee teacher is doing with them fingers. Oo-er.

Top tip: toughen up your fingertips a couple of days b4 first practise and lose all friends and family for a week by dipping your fingertops in a bowl of vinegar. It works and you can thank me when the guff wears off!

Good bluegrass learning available on YT too if you fancy a bit of country picking, good luck. Hope your daughter gets (into) it :)
 
Be prepared for a few breaks in practice.
The tips of your fingers will be in tatters with simply pushing on the strings.
Persevere.
 
HaarlemShuffler said:
I've been learning for nigh on 40 years, it never ends! Which is a GOOD thing.

YouTube is a treasure for a young 40 year old :) Just search for 'tutorial' + the kind of stuff you want to learn.

You can start and stop and go back and review, YT is great for that. And SEE on screen what thee teacher is doing with them fingers. Oo-er.

Top tip: toughen up your fingertips a couple of days b4 first practise and lose all friends and family for a week by dipping your fingertops in a bowl of vinegar. It works and you can thank me when the guff wears off!

Good bluegrass learning available on YT too if you fancy a bit of country picking, good luck. Hope your daughter gets (into) it :)
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Huh!
YouTube.

What's wrong with Bert Weedons 'Play guitar in a day'.
Showing my age.....
 
I've had my guitar for about 15 years and never really got beyond 4 chords and some very simple tunes.

As most of the guys are saying you have to dedicate time to it. Unfortunately I'm always up to something and seldom sit down and practice.

I've found YouTube tutorials OK, but you needs to get to grips with some basic chords first (imo obviously)
 
When I got sacked from Guns and Roses and they gave that *&*^ Slash my job I gave up playing the guitar. Only kidding… I packed in.
 
Fender Play app is pretty decent, good mix of covering the basics plus getting started on some tunes. It's always 50% off so don't read too much into that but you get 14 days to trial it before being billed.

Caveat I got it when first lockdown started and guitar is still mostly an ornament in the corner. I think that's me rather than the app though.

try.fender.com

Fender Play | Guitar Lessons by Fender

Learn to play guitar with Fender Play’s easy, bite-sized lessons, featuring 100s of your favorite songs for acoustic and electric guitar.
try.fender.com try.fender.com
 
sockyboy said:
I've had my guitar for about 15 years and never really got beyond 4 chords and some very simple tunes.

As most of the guys are saying you have to dedicate time to it. Unfortunately I'm always up to something and seldom sit down and practice.

I've found YouTube tutorials OK, but you needs to get to grips with some basic chords first (imo obviously)
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Learning an instrument is something best done as a young person.
As you get older people are more inclined to chuck it when the going gets tough.
If you're satisfied with some acoustic singalong jobs then it's possible to get some enjoyment.
If you're the masochistic type, listen to Albert Lee.
Hes guaranteed to have you take up the kazoo....
 
I used to play the guitar a lot when I was in my teens and early twenties.
Went to guitar lessons for a while, but there is only so much you can be taught.
Scales, chords and such....but much is down to improvisation.

I'd like to go back playing again...my nephew is a good guitarist, so I might start some jamming with him.
I was no Jimmy Page, but I loved playing the acoustic and electric guitar.
 
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Played - but not to a high standard - since I was 15. Self-taught on a crappy massive steel-strung jumbo acoustic. Go through periods where I don't play for months or even years, recently moved house and was without TV or broadband for 3 weeks so picked it up again. Fingertips are nicely hardened again!

Would echo the suggestions of getting the Ultimate Guitar app once you have learned some chords, well worth it. Also "GuitarTuna" for tuning the guitar is a great wee app. Don't be afraid to try certain songs which on the face of it might sound daunting but are actually pretty easy and sound great! Hotel California and Stairway to Heaven are mainly composed of some pretty easy chords played arpeggio style. Also Blackbird is an easy one to learn and sounds fantastic.
 
Been playing electric since I was 9, was rubbish for a few months obviously and what kept me interested in the beginning was getting lessons for an hour once a week, just from a guy we knew in the area not the formal kind of academic ones like for piano etc. I'd recommend anyone to get lessons for at least a couple of months to begin with no matter what age you are, you'll be a lot better 6 months from now than if you just try and learn off youtube. Don't get me wrong, youtube is good but you don't get someone looking at how you play specifically and telling you exactly what you need to be practicing to improve before the next lesson
 
BVilleggiante said:
Just want to thank everyone for the replies here. I went looking at some beginner Fender Stratocaster's yesterday. About $250 here in the US and a price I'm willing to pay to see if this is something I like.
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Can’t go wrong with a Fender Stratocaster, I bought one 15 years ago it’s still going strong.
Telecasters are great too, I had one for a couple of years but sold it. I’ve got a Gibson Les Paul as well, brilliant guitar but heavy so probably not ideal for learning with.
 
Zab said:
Can’t go wrong with a Fender Stratocaster, I bought one 15 years ago it’s still going strong.
Telecasters are great too, I had one for a couple of years but sold it. I’ve got a Gibson Les Paul as well, brilliant guitar but heavy so probably not ideal for learning with.
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They hold their value really well too, I got a Mexican Strat in 1996 at a cost of about £250, sold it exactly 20 years later on Gumtree for the same price. Now have an alpine white Gibson Les Paul Studio. Acoustic-wise I have a Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat, had it for about 8 years now and it's the mutt's nuts!

preview.jpg
 
Cabbageman said:
Been playing electric since I was 9, was rubbish for a few months obviously and what kept me interested in the beginning was getting lessons for an hour once a week, just from a guy we knew in the area not the formal kind of academic ones like for piano etc. I'd recommend anyone to get lessons for at least a couple of months to begin with no matter what age you are, you'll be a lot better 6 months from now than if you just try and learn off youtube. Don't get me wrong, youtube is good but you don't get someone looking at how you play specifically and telling you exactly what you need to be practicing to improve before the next lesson
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I think I'm going to try that in the new year too. I think it would help motivate me to practice on top of the reasons you mention. Don't want to be turning up to a lesson still as pish as the week before!
 
Zab said:
Can’t go wrong with a Fender Stratocaster, I bought one 15 years ago it’s still going strong.
Telecasters are great too, I had one for a couple of years but sold it. I’ve got a Gibson Les Paul as well, brilliant guitar but heavy so probably not ideal for learning with.
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Depends what kind of guitar ormusic you are attracted to.

The Telecaster is like a sparkly waterfall, light-stringed (usually) and easy on the fingers. Used to great effect in the last few decades by African bands, where it produces beautiful cascading riffs often to counterpoint a vocalist in a kind of 'question and answer' style, great for songs with one main theme.

Strats are rougher and tougher, with a thicker sound and usually heavir strings. They suit blues and rock, chunky riffs or endless onanic solos 🙄 but have a deep textured sound, great for heavy rock.

So... you pays your money....

All imo of course.
 
HaarlemShuffler said:
Depends what kind of guitar ormusic you are attracted to.

The Telecaster is like a sparkly waterfall, light-stringed (usually) and easy on the fingers. Used to great effect in the last few decades by African bands, where it produces beautiful cascading riffs often to counterpoint a vocalist in a kind of 'question and answer' style, great for songs with one main theme.

Strats are rougher and tougher, with a thicker sound and usually heavir strings. They suit blues and rock, chunky riffs or endless onanic solos 🙄 but have a deep textured sound, great for heavy rock.

So... you pays your money....

All imo of course.
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I agree with that to a point, certainly the telecaster generally creates much nicer clean tones, while a Stratocaster has more bite to it and is probably a better all rounder.

That said there’s so much more to it when it comes to the over tone and sound of a guitar… you can use different gauges of strings on any guitar, and things like the type of pickups and wood that the body is made out of have a massive impact of the overall tone.
 
I've been playing guitar for almost 30 years. Got first guitar with my very first wage as a 16 year old apprentice which back then was a whole weeks wage. I can't even remember the name but it was from a secondhand store in Leith and cost me £55. On the same day i got a Doors TAB book from Varsity music shop. For the next few months i lost countless amounts of skin on my left fingertips from trying to finger the chords for Light My Fire. Eventually within the space of a year i had a sound vocabulary of both open and barre chords. I was also lucky that quite a few mates played and were considerably better than i.

I am now 46 and everyday is a school day with the guitar. I stopped learning scales and modes and all that other music theory stuff which many will argue you don't need to know. It certainly won't do you any harm knowing a number of scales in various positions of the neck. The most important factor is that you have fun playing. There is thousands of free videos on youtube now for learning whatever you want to learn. In terms of guitars try not to get bogged down by this brand or that brand. Your best bet is to go into a store with a budget in mind and try a few different styles and see what best fits. If you are starting out i wouldn't pay anymore than £300. For that you can pick up a cracking bit of kit particularly if you go secondhand. The 'Vintage V6 Icon Series' for instance is amazing value for the money and plays like a far more expensive branded strat.

Listen to as many styles, genres and artists and enjoy your journey. Some of my favourite guitarists to date are Derek Trucks, Guthrie Govan and John Martyn. I'll leave you with a performance of Derek Trucks who is renowned as one of the best slide players in the business being told by B.B King that his playing is the best he has ever heard !!!

If you wanted a few lessons and pointers just message me and we can work something out.


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Rocky said:
Fender Play app is pretty decent, good mix of covering the basics plus getting started on some tunes. It's always 50% off so don't read too much into that but you get 14 days to trial it before being billed.

Caveat I got it when first lockdown started and guitar is still mostly an ornament in the corner. I think that's me rather than the app though.

try.fender.com

Fender Play | Guitar Lessons by Fender

Learn to play guitar with Fender Play’s easy, bite-sized lessons, featuring 100s of your favorite songs for acoustic and electric guitar.
try.fender.com try.fender.com
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I notice Guitar Guitar are doing 3 months free
 
Hibee Kev said:
They hold their value really well too, I got a Mexican Strat in 1996 at a cost of about £250, sold it exactly 20 years later on Gumtree for the same price. Now have an alpine white Gibson Les Paul Studio. Acoustic-wise I have a Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat, had it for about 8 years now and it's the mutt's nuts!

preview.jpg
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That a nice guitar.
What's the action like on it?
I have an entry level yamaha f-340 which I want to upgrade from.
 
Jack K said:
That a nice guitar.
What's the action like on it?
I have an entry level yamaha f-340 which I want to upgrade from.
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Yamaha’s are perfect entry level guitars. I’d say the action is low-to-medium. You can sometimes pick up one for just under £300 if you shop around, not cheap but over half a grand cheaper than a Martin or a Taylor and just as good IMO 👍🏻
 
Hibee Kev said:
Yamaha’s are perfect entry level guitars. I’d say the action is low-to-medium. You can sometimes pick up one for just under £300 if you shop around, not cheap but over half a grand cheaper than a Martin or a Taylor and just as good IMO 👍🏻
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The Yamaha is decent but obviously the only way you can put it out cheaply is to compromise.
So you are looking at an all laminate body, cheap machine heads which have to be tuned more often than I would like expecially after extended use of a capo. There is no pick up on it. But all that said it plays well.
I have a Gibson SG electric guitar, very much like the one being played by Derek Trucks at the end of post 35 above, but always end up just grabbing the acoustic and hacking through songs on an online guitar tab site. I have no talent but i love being able to even badly play through almost any song.
It would be great to have a better sounding acoustic that played easier but as it is the action of the Yamaha has given me strong and hard fingers.
 
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