learning to play the guitar...

[RJD]

I learned on a cheap knockoff SG , rebuilt repainted, sorted the electrics out it it was still swell dodgy.

Doesnt matter, a good player will make a bad guitar sound superb, any old ropy acoustic that stays in tune and the frets are ok will be fine to learn on, you wil find if you ever move onto something better it'll be like a breath of fresh air!

Always found buying a new guitar made me play more, used to sleep with my Les Paul...

[garbarrage]

agree definitely that the guitar you have will be more than sufficient for the moment... bought my first decent acoustic about 3 years ago after nearly 20 years playing...

but nothing quite like the sound of a really good guitar...

right now tho its about learning the basics... best thing is to just get into it... someone commited to their playing will always sound better than a half hearted attempt... so no matter how bad you may think it sounds.. give it socks!!!

[tomcat360]

I've been playing for 7 ands still plucking my 100 dollar starter acoustic. Got an electric in there too though

[isaluteyou]

I've been playing for 7 ands still plucking my 100 dollar starter acoustic. Got an electric in there too though

Yep i still got my original acoustic which is a DIA that has been to travelled with me to 3 continants, was the starter guitar for 3 people that i know of, pluss is probably 40+ years old and has a buggered neck and sounds like poo but i'll never get rid of it

[thaya]

i still think it's probably me that's the problem rather than the guitar but i guess i wont know till i try another one.

anyway, i have a new problem

for some strange reason, the last few days, when i press two of my fingers on the strings, my fingers sort of buckle at the end joint and flip up backwards (almost in a v-shape!) meaning i can't play properly!

do you think this is to do with being double jointed? what can i do about it? it's really annoying that when i press my fingers down they give way and snap backwards!!! i don't have a clue why they've started doing this all of a sudden, but it's even interfering with typing too. grrrrrrrrr!

[tomcat360]

Instead of pushing out, push straight down (perpindicular) to the fret board.

[phillwilson]

hi dude, hows it going?

if you find your fingers buckling, look at where your thumb is on the neck, if you move your thumb a little more clockwise around the neck towards the back of the neck as you look at it, your fingers will be in a better position and you will have to put less presure on the strings to stop them buzzing, this in turn and in time will sort your fingers out....i had it for about a month so dont give up if it doesnt happen right away.

phill

[isaluteyou]

echo the above but it also might be that you are pressing too hard most guitars dont require such hard pressure unless you playing with heavy strings or the action on the guitar is out of wack. A light touch is much better (as long as the note/chord sounds thats fine)

Ive known a few double jointed guitarists can actually be a benefit for those long classical stretches

[garbarrage]

as above.. sounds like your thumb isn't in the right place... cursed with a double jointed thumb which makes that a bit difficult but found my own way over the years....
... easy to get overwhelmed at first and think you may not be able to do it, but after a while it will surprise you how little pressure it takes to fret a note without buzzing...
little off the point but had a friend stand in as a capo over the weekend (forgot mine or couldn't be bothered going out to the car in the rain to get it).... did an extended version of a traditional irish tune 6 minutes of pain for my mate lol.... fair play tho, he held on throught the whole song!!

[isaluteyou]

little off the point but had a friend stand in as a capo over the weekend

That is very hard to do but often nescesary - case in point playing hotel california the acoustic version with two guitarists will require one to play the capod positions on the 7th for the picking that is if you want to maintain the song exact. You cant just play a capo as you have to switch to lead at some point

[thaya]

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

that's the noise of what you all said going way over my head

i'm still not entirely clear where i should be putting my thumb... i didn't even realise it would make a difference

totally off the point myself but i just got a phonecall 10mins ago from Josh in the states and i'm soooooooooooooooooooo happy he told me he'll get me back to hawaii somehow... i just need to get better and raise some $$$. sounds simple when i think of it like that! who knows, maybe next year. where there's a will there's a way.

[essex sucks]

man thats insane getting someone to be your capo bet that is fleshin' hard

[isaluteyou]

i'm still not entirely clear where i should be putting my thumb... i didn't even realise it would make a difference

Wherever its comfotable and allows you to fret correctly. Theres no "this is he only way" as everyones hands are different Dont worry too much your fingers will grow brains of their own in time figurativy speaking of course i'll try and do a short vid just to give an example - doing one anyway as a few people are requesting the tab/vid for a funnky litle number

man thats insane getting someone to be your capo bet that is fleshin' hard

Yep to the point that if the song calls for it i will usually find an alternate position which is what i did with hotel clifornia as doing it live is real hairy and breaks your wrist

[essex sucks]

i think i will just make sure my capo is pack all the time as i do now

[garbarrage]

man thats insane getting someone to be your capo bet that is fleshin' hard

was well funny tho... gave a particularly good performance so he reckoned it was worth it... he was in so much pain he didn't realise i played through it twice lol...

i just need to get better and raise some $$$. sounds simple when i think of it like that! who knows, maybe next year. where there's a will there's a way.

... try busking... easy tax-free cash... don't even have to be good once you give it socks. most people don't even pay all that much attention to buskers... think of it as getting paid to practice....

as for the position of the thumb... isaluteyou is right to a point... but if your thumb is lower at the back of the neck your fingers will be straighter on the strings which should help stop them bending back.. above all else it shouldn't be forced and as natural as possible.

[thaya]

erm, my skills on the guitar are the equivalent of nursery school!!!! Not quite ready for busking but a good idea if i ever improve... might have to give the guitar back to its owner next weekend hoping they will let me keep it a little bit longer though.

[garbarrage]

learn a couple of songs and just go out and blast em out... doesn't matter if you're no good.. noone listens to buskers anyway.. probably depends on where you are i suppose though. large contingent of buskers where i live some of them making as much as €150 a day... some of them are totally rubbish... just brass necked and don't give a s***.
good way to meet other musicians... best way to get good is to play with people better than you..

[thaya]

thanks for the tips.

i have another question....

I've learnt the chords and the lyrics to REM everybody hurts (so I can wallow in self pity for a bit ) but when I play it, it just sounds too cheerful It needs to sound more depressing! i think it's cuz i'm strumming the chords, whereas when i listen to the song i think he picks the chords. how do i do this and know which strings to pick????

[isaluteyou]

yikes been a loong time since i played that but if memory serves me right it goes something like

-------2----------2------------3-----------3----------------------------------
-----3--3-------3--3--------0--0-------0----0--------------------------------
---2------2---2------2----0------0---0--------0------------------------------
-0----------0------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------3-----------3-----------------------------------------

Basically just D & G thn it does a little bass walk down and hits Em.

Everybody hurts is a great song for beginer picking. Most picking styles like that always start off with the root bass not so the D chord its the D string played in open position for G its the bass E played in 3rd. E would be bass E played open. Etc etc etc......... learn th eguitar kneck and alll the notes and then in regards to this song just copy the above picking style for the rest of the chords. I think theres an A in there somewhere as well

[isaluteyou]

just remembered the bass walk

E --3--2--0------ (bass e string)
and that leads into Em same style of pick done on G - thats all i can remember without listeneing to the song

hope it helps