Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric335
The Epiphone sounds great, and i definitely recommend it. When you buy an acoustic guitar, remember to buy the following:
1)Strap (to go over shoulder so you can walk and play. I used to pace around and play the same riff until i got it right)
2)Some picks, i prefer the sharpest possible, some people use rounded ones, others use only their fingers, and even some weirdos use picks on each finger 
3)Wax/spray/cleaner/towel (Its very soothing to clean your guitar, helps me calm down after a stressful day at school)
4)Guitar Stand
5)String Winder and extra set of strings (I prefer to change my own strings. Honestly a 30 minute job at the most )
Thats exactly what i did, but i wouldnt say its the best way to start.... I played on my own for a while, got a few guitars-for-dummies type books, and mixed in some of my music (heavy rock). Eventually i got an instructor, but i wasnt terribly interesting in what he had to teach. I kick myself now for not trying harder when it came to scales/chords. Very important basics, even with heavy rock music.
My goal of trying to emulate my favorite guitarist (Synyster Gates) was how i started off. I played in drop-d tuning just as much as standard tuning (drop-d is kind of a metal-style tuning). If money is tight, learn the basics on your own, and try your best with books/videos/forums. If you can afford it, having a guitar-instructor start you off right is probably the best bet. I wish i had a proper education. My instructor was... an interesting guy |
Awesome, thank you. I think I may try to teach myself what I can at first. It seems like there is quite of bit of information available online. Might as well take advantage of it. Eventually, I will most likely get an instructor. I know I will hit a ceiling where I can't teach myself more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gearcraft
in my experience, there's two ways to approach this.
1.) you can memorize songs by looking at tabs and learning it that way. you can hire an instructor, watch videos, or teach yourself.
2.) you can study some music theory and understand chord structures, scales, and progressions. once you learn enough of this, you can listen to may songs and figure it out pretty easily (rhythm-wise if you are a beginner). songs revolve around big chunks of common progression or pattern of chords specific to its scale or family of chords.
i find the second option to be more rewarding just because once i have learned why things are the way they are i didn't have to look online to find chords as often.
once you get your guitar post on this thread or shoot me a PM and ill point you to a direction that i think will help you learn faster. i have a lot of things that i can share that i wish someone taught me instead of me spending years trying to figure things out myself.
go to a guitar store and try out a lot of them. get one that is comfortable to play and easy to handle.
things to watch for are the size of the fret compared to your hand and fingers and how high the action is (the strings from the fretboard).
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I may do a combination of the two. There are lot of things that I don't know about music theory, so I will be doing some studying.
I will definitely shoot you a PM when I get my guitar. I'm probably gonna pick it up after finals week (first week in December). I'm gonna go to the guitar store today and take a look around. Thanks for the advice!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric335
Very important, and i almost forgot. Although the action can be adjusted, to a degree.
I agree with everything he said. Im not expert by any means, but nobody replied to you, so i felt the need to share everything i have learned over the last 3 or 4 years  |
Haha you don't have to be an expert. You're more experienced than I am so any information is valuable. Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterSkiMask
I had the same thoughts, I graduated 10 years ago, my starter guitar still collects dust.
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I've had plenty of those types of hobbies. But you never know until you try.