Questions from a rookie?

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

I'm a rookie, so I was wondering what advice you more experienced players may be able to give. Here are a few Questions to begin with.

1. I'm a busy person. How long and how often should I practice?
2. Which cords should I start with?
3. I'm a lefty. Do you have any advice that a righty may not find as useful?

[jazzrat]

Howdy, Do you play left or right handed?
I'm a lefty also but I learned righthanded.
How much you practice and what chords you start with are really dependent on where you want to go with your playing. If you are playing for your own enjoyment at home that's a different story than if you are trying to play at church as fast as possible.

In either case I would suggest setting some goals of where you want to be in a year. Find a teacher or much more advanced player to help you
set realistic expectations and a program to achieve them.
At a minimum there are some great videos out now for beginners.
In addition to practice begin listening in earnest...to everything and in detail to the style you want to learn.
Paul Baloche has a good Praise and Worship style video that might help at some point.
Above all ...do not give up. If you get stuck...ask questions...find the answer. Most guitarists I know love sharing if you are respectful of their time.
All the best...let us know how you do

[Teleguy]

I have found it helpful to leave a guitar out (safely) where I can strum it a few times when I walk into that room, etc.
It allows me to quickly "burnish in" whatever I've been working on that's new.
Many short sessions a day have been more helpful to me than drilling. I'm just not wired right for drilling.
Different personalities may do better with formal sessions and goals, but I find myself just noodling (which helps too, but it's not a fast track for me).

I also like those play along CD's, etc.

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

Jazzrat, I'm a lefty too. :cool: I'll keep what both of you have said in mind.

[stephen]

Another helpful thing is to get a chord chart, and a scales/modes chart. When I practice, I work on technique: proper placement of my fingers, and my strumming/picking. I'm not a fast picker, or shredder by any means, so I utilize technique to be as dynamic as possible, and to find the voicing thats right for me within the group.

Another thing is, if you find a song, or a progression that is just plain fun too you, well, have fun with it! Experiment with it, and see if you can expand upon it.

Also, if you get to a point where you feel like your stuck in a rut, try playing with other guitarist's, that are playing at a more advanced level than you are: for some reason, it seems to help elevate your game, playing with someone that is better than yourself. And there is the option of getting some one-on-one lessons (most guitar shops have at least one teacher, or can refer you to one), and can be a great benefit.

[reverbbb]

These basic chords are "open" chords. That means that they are configured at the top of the neck and often have some open strings in the chord. The most common chords that you should learn are in this order:

G D C E A

The B and the F chords are a bit more challanging at first. However, there are some short cuts to these chords that make them easier to learn.

When you think of an Eagles song, you generally hear many of their songs start out in the key of G. G is the root chord (also known as the I (one) chord). Then C is the chord played in the IV (4th) structure. Then the D is the V (5th) structure. Hence, the songs are mainly composed of a I, IV, V theme. This I, IV, V theme is used in about 80% of all western civilized music. The thing that might change is the rhythm or the order that they are played.

This is a very important concept to understand. Once you learn that concept and apply it to all the chords, you are well on your way to jamming with other folks and playing most songs that you hear.

Now knowing this, here are the main chords that you will want to learn and will cover a magnitude of songs (these are all listed in the order of I, IV, V):

G C D

D G A

A D E

C F G

E A B

Except for the last two, these are all easy open chords. Eventually, you want to learn the short-cuts to the B & F chords. Notice, that I left out the B & F chords as starting chords. That is because they require chords that are flatted or sharped to complete the I, IV, V structure.

I would focus on these chords to get started. The next step is to learn the minor variation of these chords - in most cases they are simpler. For a song that has minor chords thrown in the middle somewhere, they are generally using the minor vi (6th) or minor ii (2nd). This is diving a little deeper into the theory. But just know that in a I, IV, V structure in the key of G, then Em is the vi chord while Am is the ii chord. These two chords will show up often in Chris Tomlin type songs.

Good luck. Learn the chords shapes with determination. After a while, you will need to work on the swinging motion of your strumming hand (called the rhythm or strum). This can be the next big huddle that takes some getting use to.

[SAguitar]

I'm kinda Bi, dextrous that is, don't get me wrong here! I'm mainly left-handed, but when I first started learning guitar, I tried it both ways for awhile, and decided to play it like a righty. It just seemed that the really tricky stuff happens with the hand on the fretboard, and since my left hand is better with intricate stuff, that's the way I went.

I work better with lots of little sessions too. But I only have part of each evening to work on whatever I'm currently learnin', so I'll go out to the garage and funk around awhile every night for usually an hour or so. I'm a slow learner, so it takes me longer to achieve things.

[kewlpack]

Learn your chord shapes and every place you can play each chord on the neck.

Learn the various phrasings/fingerings of the chord. This will help you later when you begin to play lead lines (solos and melodies).

Learn your major, minor, pentatonic and blues scales - and how they relate to chords, intervals and each other.

Go to the links section on this site and visit the guitar lesson websites we've listed there. You'll find a huge library of help there.

Oh one last thing - always play along with a metronome or drum track - slowly at first, then work your way up to tempo... this will help you perfect your skills.

[BigJim]

I'm a Lefy too. I play right handed, moslty because that was the way I thought you were suposed to hold the guitar. I dond't know that you could flip it over and switch the string around. And at the time I was learning noone in my world played that way (I didn't know who Jimi Hendrix was and Kurt Kobaine wasn't born yet). So that was just the way I leared to play. Looking back I think that I probably would have still played that way because I had the dexterity in my left hand to finger cords. When learing I would do what feels most comfortable to you.

Learn chords first as mention above. Also it helps (at least it did for me) to learn the tuning and notes of each string, as well as the notes on the fretboard. This will help later on as you progress because you will then gain an understanding of how chord shapes are formed and how to move chords around on the fretboard for differnet voiceings.

As Reverbbb said learn C A D G E chords first (The "Cadge" system). Most chords are formed from these basic chord forms. A B chord is formed from a "Barred" A chord and an F is formed from a barred E chord. The cadge system allows you to play a C chord in different forms all the way up the kneck.


So I would say learn chords fist, scales, and most of all play with others. Get an instructor if you can. Ask lots of questions. And play as much as you can.

Oh, and most important of all....Have Fun. I was once told that if something seems too hard or too fast and impossible to play, that only means your just not ready to play it yet. I think that is true. Stuff I thought I would never be able to do now comes pretty easily for me.

Good Luck and God Bless,
Jim

[SAguitar]

Oh, and most important of all....Have Fun. I was once told that if something seems too hard or too fast and impossible to play, that only means your just not ready to play it yet. I think that is true. Stuff I thought I would never be able to do now comes pretty easily for me.

That's a lesson it took me years to learn! I remember listening to stuff and thinkin' I would never ever be able to get close to that. Then I saw this video of Chick Corea and some flaming guitarist playing together and trading these incredible leads. I watched them and thought, "It's easy for them." And then it hit me (Duh!), it had to be easy for them, they couldn't play anything that was too hard for them to play either. They were just light years above me. Those guys had practiced and practiced until more difficult stuff became doable, and then later became easy. And that's how you progress. I guess it's a fairly simple concept, but for me, at that time, it was a breakthrough moment, a revelation, and I've never forgotten it. :cool: