Here is an article I found recently with some tips for the beginning guitarist!

http://www.recordingarts.co.uk/post/34175496540

What do you think? How did you start learning guitar?

Back when I was starting out on guitar,I very rarely sat down and played along with the record but listened to each and every little nuance of a song until I knew it well enough to attempt it without having to reference the record.This method really took massive concentration but it also highly developed my ear for music so I could decypher chords by breaking down each separate note and many times people have tried to stump my tuning by ear compared to tuning with a tuner and I've always come out being spot on the notes.Hendrix songs-needless to say-were an incredible challenge as he used the most unorthodox chord arrangements of any artist I've heard before or since but after years of training my ears to disect chords and notes it wasn't an impossible challenge but it was incredibly difficult.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I would say that in my 8 years of playing, taking lessons is bar NONE the most important. Yeah, listening to songs has worked, but there are technical nuances that I find would be very difficult to learn a piece that way.

If you haven't had lessons yet, I would look into it!

After playing professionally since I was 15 in 1969 I doubt that there's much that lessons would benefit me.Playing and jamming with literally hundreds of other musicians can really help build up ones bag of tricks too.I found that my way albeit very unorthodox,worked very well for me but it may not work at all for others.

BTW I have also given lessons over the years and several of my students have gone on to record and become very successful musicians.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Aside from scouring our local Hastings bookseller for anything and everything I can find on sale or BOGO, youtube has been second and my subscription to GuitarTricks has been number one. I have tried some of the truly "Free" sight but never got what I felt was "All" the information to make some things connect. I am almost 43 and learning when I have the time to practice and study. i can pick up a book and read some thoery here and there. But i can get a high quality lesson on my computer at my convenience. Play back what i don't get until I get it. Go backwards to a past lesson, forwards to something I just want to see what's ahead or move laterally among the various styles. I am dedicated to learning the blues because I solidly believe that is the root technique that is the gateway to all other styles. I like my classic rock, texas style and country. My internet lesson service of choice provides it all for less than one single face to face real life lesson. I could take a lesson or even 2 every day, seven days a week and what would that cost IRL? It's a very meager $15 a month.

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I believe that Jimi, Stevie, Jeff, Robert, Hubert, Les, Leo and the "Duck" are all looking down on Joe B. saying "Holy smokes that dude got some stuff going on!"

Check out the cause:
http://crossroadsguitarfestival.com/

How about all of the above? The internet helped me greatly when I first started playing (and it still does), I collect books with music lessons in them like they're going out of style, jamming with other musicians is a great way to learn too. But the thing that helped me the most, where books and videos sometimes fell short, is having a real live person in front of you helping you and correcting you in real time. Yes they're pricey, but 100% worth it IMO. I started teaching lessons as a substitute teacher at a guitar store two years ago and now I have about five students of my own. It's really fun to see kids who had never touched a guitar, much less played one a few months before progress to the point where they're playing real songs now and having fun.

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I started out when I was 14 when a friend just randomly gave me a guitar. Had no idea what I was doing, so just sat in my bedroom, listened to songs over and over, and tried to work out just how the hell to make my fingers create roughly the same noise.

I'd possibly have learned quicker by taking lessons or reading books (no internet back then!), but it forced me to develop a good ear - something I'm very thankful for, as it's made me a decent wodge of cash over the years in sessions and last minute emergency stand in gigs, as I've got a bit of a reputation around here as the person you call when you need a guitarist who can pick things up quickly.

Of course, I learned all the theory along the way from books, etc, once I worked out that I actually enjoyed what I was doing and wanted to go deeper. I often wonder how my playing would have turned out if I'd had access to the internet back then!

Playing with as many people as you can is always a massive help. Even better if they're better than you, as you can pick up all sorts of hints from watching them.

Where is the option for prodigy?

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I agree with the all of the Above...How about just play..practice..practice some more..and most importantly have some FUN!
I also am glad I took lessons..I never did for decades of acoustic and in less than a year I can not believe how many new things I have learned from taking Electric lessons that I use on both.

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

When I was just starting out, in 1964, there was me, an empty bedroom and Mel Bay Guitar Book # 1. But as I progressed I mostly learned by ear as I couldn't afford lessons and there weren't many people teaching guitar back then anyway. It wasn't long before I was playing out live and working most everything up by ear, figuring out the chords and the leads on my own. I still do.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Cool article thanks for the link, welcome to the Forum d2n009.
I chose lessons, as I feel that was the key to my being comfortable with a guitar in my hands.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Yeah, I never took full on guitar lessons 1 to 1, except for way way back in highschool. Except she was more of a piano player, so it was mostly reading sheet music. She wasn't a guitarist at all, but it was valuable lesson to read the music if I can still read it very slowly.

All of the options are ways that can work. Different people respond better to different learning methods. One theory of learning (Fleming) states that there are 3 different types of learners; visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic. It's not to say that you can't learn by all methods it's just that one will tend to work better for you than the others. Some people can easily pick things up just by listening, for others watching works best and still others learn best buy doing.

It is very helpful to know what kind of learner you are. Just think about the things that come easily to you and ask yourself, how did you learn/figure them out? I'm an primarily an auditory learner. When I read or write something I say the words in my head and I had no idea that not everybody does this.

A good teacher can provide each of these methods and tailor the lessons to your needs and goals.

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'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

I wish I could have more than one choice. I've been learning with a combination of online lessons and DVD lessons. Also there's some cool apps out there, especially the free ones with the Marty Swchartz(sp?) guy.

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

another vote for lessons, I don't think you can really beat 1-on-1 instruction

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