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Yes Randy, this is the only beginner forum. Where are you at with learning to play the guitar? If you let us know what you do know it will help us to give you some suggestions. Do you play any chords, do you use 1 finger to play chords, do you play bar chords, do you know the notes on the lowest 6th string?
Joe
The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge -
Hi Randy, glad you’re here! In addition to telling us a bit more about yourself and your current knowledge, check out the Essential Theory course that Brian has put together. In it he starts at the beginning of musical concepts and guitar, explaining the foundation of what you need to know to get a good handle on the weekly lessons. You can find the course through the top menu: My Account > My Courses > Essential Theory.
Enjoy the learning journey and keep asking questions here. It helps all of us!
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Bill Cosby (it’s OK to talk about him) had an opening line for his standup comedy routine on his life story which went: “I started off as a child”. The crowd considered it funny because it was such a statement of the obvious. And when it comes to guitar, every one of us can say “I started off as a beginner”. Every beginning guitar student has been welcomed here on the forum, because we’re nice people and we want to help our fellow students learn. Just ask anything any time, and we’ll be glad to help.
Sunjamr Steve
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It would also help to know your goals. Do you want to learn how to strum songs? Do you want to learn how to play lead? Do you want to learn to play only for yourself or the public? Do you want to learn theory? Anything will help us help you!
Joe
The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge -
I updated my profile. I only half-assed it the first time. I read a little music, but I’m lazy. I’d rather watch and listen and learn that way. I’ve had pretty good luck with that. I’d like to find alternative ways to make chords or note variations without stretching my fingers so far. I don’t have very large hands so bar chord and stretching my pinky and forefinger from the 2 nd to the 5th fret is a little challenging to me. I think I finally understand what this site is about. But I haven’t seen great examples of improvising. In other words, how can I take this weeks lesson and apply it to a popular cover or another song in the same key. I don’t have the smarts for that. I have learned 5 or 6 of the tunes on the sight. But I pick and choose the ones that appeal to me most. I tend to gravitate to the Blues, but I’d like to learn some alternate picking for bluegrass. That may be beyond the scope of this site. Hope that helps. Like I said, I updated my Bio if that helps.
thanks for any tips that aren’t too heavily weighted on theory and technical terminology.thanks, Randy
Randy P
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Some of us love music theory, and some of us hate it. I never go out of my way to learn it, but somehow over time I have accidentally learned more than I expected. It was an effortless process, since those little theory tidbits are fed to us in small doses within almost every ActiveMelody lesson. As for bar chords and complex chords, you really don’t need them, so just say no. We have learned that most pro guitarists don’t use bar chords during performances, because it’s too hard on the fingers. Same with long reach chords. There’s always an easier alternative.
If you want to hear some of the AM members’ improv, start listening to the submissions for the Monthly Challenges. There you will find that some of us are terrible at improv (but nobody cares) and some of us are quite good at improv. It’s also worth noting that there are very few singers among us members. So you won’t hear a lot of talk about “songs” and how to create fill licks for them. Instead, it’s more about putting on a jam track and just playing what comes into your head. If nothing comes into your head, then that’s why you can’t play improv. So your first mission should be to put on a jamtrack and see if you can just hum an improv melody to it. Like BB King said, “If you can’t hum it, you can’t play it.”
Sunjamr Steve
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Hi,
My name is Andy and I have been a full member for about 6 months and I’m still not sure where to start!
I have been playing fingerstyle tunes (attempting) for about 50 years and have never used a pick.My approach has always been to get the tab and work on a piece for Months or sometimes years with some success,
so the idea of improvising and jamming with a pick is very new to me and I simply do not know where to start.I love the blues and can play a little fingerstyle, but would love to learn some electric blues improv. However I don’t
own an electric guitar and have never played one.I’m beginning to think I am the wrong place and should give up and just keep playing fingerstyle tunes from tab.
Help!!
Andy
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I use a 0.73 up to 0.88 pick, but you should try a bunch of different sizes. Honestly, I googled how to use a pick on guitar and waded through a slew of video’s watching the various techniques and experimented with them. My middle, ring, and little finger used to splay outward as I strum and pick, but I have switched over to Brian’s style of picking (fingers curled in) after trying it for a while. I realized, I liked it better, so it’s all about experimenting and finding what works for you.
The pick gives you more volume on the notes IMHO. In the beginning I really attacked the strings way to aggressively and found out much later that using a much more gentle attack and motion with the picking hand gave me much better results. Think economy of motion and using dynamics to make your playing more musical.
As far as improvising, start with any melody you can dream up that fits the key of the jam track. If you don’t know your scales well, just call up an interactive scale and display it on screen to work with initially. I use this site: https://muted.io/guitar-scales/
I’m also a big believer in learning that circle of 5ths to make up your own chord progressions and use it to decipher existing music you like to listen to.
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