Learning guitar

[The Lone Gunman]

OK all you slashers and shreaders.

I have taken the plunge and purchased a Squire Strat and Line6 amp and associated connectors.
I went to my local shop and tried a few for "feel" and the nice man played a couple for me to give me an idea of sound and what the various knobs and switches did.

My intention is only to play for my pleasure ie strum along to favourite tracks. Mostly rock and blues. I have no intention of joining a band or getting up on stage.

I now need some advice on good sources of learning. Where do I start?

[pzz76077]

OK all you slashers and shreaders.

I have taken the plunge and purchased a Squire Strat and Line6 amp and associated connectors.
I went to my local shop and tried a few for "feel" and the nice man played a couple for me to give me an idea of sound and what the various knobs and switches did.

My intention is only to play for my pleasure ie strum along to favourite tracks. Mostly rock and blues. I have no intention of joining a band or getting up on stage.

I now need some advice on good sources of learning. Where do I start?

Somewhere like this http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/- I found tabs easier than anything else when I started. You should find all of your favorites here.

Above all keep practicing!

PZZ

[voodooflux]

Never used it myself, but the Line6 GuitarPort has some features geared towards tuition and jamming along to backing tracks, and a large online library of resources. Might be worth a look - it's pretty inexpensive from what I remember, although you might need to take a subscription to access some of the online material.

Other than that just grab some tabs as PZZ suggests and play along to some tracks.

[BlasterBates]

I would recommend taking lessons, perhaps buy an acoustic guitar and take it to night school.

[The Lone Gunman]

I would recommend taking lessons, perhaps buy an acoustic guitar and take it to night school.

I have considered lessons, but I live in a country where I am not good at the language. I dont want to sign up long term as I often move on.
I do have lots of time to practice though.

I will look for lessons, but was hoping for a bit of help from you lot.

There must be a sub set of chords etc that will give a good basis.
Some of you must have tips on strumming, not sounded some strings and other sneaky skills.

[NotAllThere]

Various easy chord combos:

Am, Em, B7

A, E, B7 - the basis of twelve bar blues - throw in an Am and an E7 for colour.

G, D, C - plays most rock and roll. Add some suspended fourths.

Knocking on Heaven's Door:

Intro: G D Am G D C

G D Am
Mama, take this badge off of me
G D C
I can't use it anymore.
It's gettin' dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door.

G D Am
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
G D C
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

etc.

I taught these basics to some kids in a Russian orphanage (where I do my charidee work, but don't like to talk about it). They picked it up really quickly, and started teaching the other kids.

[RichardCranium]

"My intention is only to play for my pleasure ie strum along to favourite tracks" - aha. You start with the right spirit.

At the other end of the suggestions, is Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo. A remarkable, potentially life-changing, book. I was given a copy and thought it was a joke; it most certainly is not.

There's more info at dinky linky.

[NotAllThere]

"My intention is only to play for my pleasure ie strum along to favourite tracks" - aha. You start with the right spirit.
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Definitely. I hang around from time to time with some professional rock musicians - they all say "you just need to play well enough to please yourself". When I told one guy who's been in the business for years - you play like it sounds like in my head when I play - he took that as a compliment.

[thelace]

"My intention is only to play for my pleasure ie strum along to favourite tracks" - aha. You start with the right spirit.

At the other end of the suggestions, is Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo. A remarkable, potentially life-changing, book. I was given a copy and thought it was a joke; it most certainly is not.

There's more info at dinky linky.

Bert Weedon's "play in a day" was good enough for the Beetles (and me ).

Learn four or five chords then learn a few songs using just those chords (as mentioned above, the tab sites are a good place to find songs and their chords, look for ones with the chords you can do). When you're comfortable with those, learn another chord and look for some more tabs.

You will learn "quicker" playing songs you like, however you'll learn "better" playing ones you don't necessarily like but that push you.

[ace00]

You can use guitar tab?

All your favorite songs here: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/