guitar NEWB thread

Well, you could try to either
1) play fingerstyle
2) skip TWO strings xx1111

you don't have to skip the string at all. that would be hard! just mute it. much easier.

btw just to gloss n/a's post above re the F chord: the full barre is 133211 but the xx3211 you're playing is also technically a complete F and has a long and honorable tradition. the "baby barre" you're playing on the E and B strings is sort of one of the guitar player's early rites of passage.

this is a little ~advanced~ but if you take any two or three strings of any of those barres it will sound like something familiar.

xx333x = a major triad with root on the 5.

xxx211 = major chord, root 3

xxx321 = minor chord, root 1

xx321x = major chord, root 1

you can move these around anywhere

ha that is what I was figuring out yesterday

I can't play anything in rhythm yet. Switching between chords is a 3-10 second "um okay my fingers go here no wait HERE dammit press harder ow my fingers" ordeal.

haha, yes. i'm reliving this frustration. i decided to really start teaching myself finger style stuff by learning bert jansch's version of angie and it's those first days of learning cowboy chords all over again.

"okay, these two fingers here at the same time, alright then this bass note with my thumb while hammering on th--AAGGGH why is that note muting when i...?!"
*forgets place in song even, though i've spent all afternoon on four seconds of music*
*HURLS GUITAR AT CAT*

cowboy chords?

you know, those chords which, when you finally get them to sound, make you leap up and shout "YEE-HAW" while tossing your ten-gallon hat in the air

I thought it meant those chords that are so frustrating that you want to shot something?

haha, it's just another term for open chords. i prefer the DJP definition

full F chord is 133211, it's basically the E chord with everything pushed up a fret, but yeah it's a lot harder to play because you have a make a barre

I don't! Wherever i can avoid playing barre chords I do, instead I use my thumb to hold down the lowest string (btw Dan I am not recommending you learn to play the guitar this way)

you have to have pretty big hands to do that, seems like it would also inhibit mobility of your fretting hand but i guess whatever works for you!

don't worry, my hands are barely large enough for me to do open chords, let alone utilize that type of barre cheat

btw up until I started actually teaching myself how to play the guitar I just KNEW that it was "bar" chords because you had to use a finger to make a bar across the neck

ha well i think barre is just french for bar

you have to have pretty big hands to do that

I don't though. Having a thin neck helps... on the guitar that is, obviously.

Dan, didn't they ever need you at least once to sing at the ballet?
http://rainonsunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/bar.jpg

ha nope

Ich spreche Deutsch, Franzoesich ist fuer Maedchen

I don't though. Having a thin neck helps... on the guitar that is, obviously.

― Too Busy Thinking About Mr. Abie (Tom D.), Thursday, July 5, 2012 10:57 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i have pretty small hands and can do this tho it depens on what is demanded of the rest of my fingers, setup of the guitar etc

what i mean to say a lotta times ppl will say things like 'you can't play this unless...' and it's sometimes can be a false zapper of ambition. lots of stuff you think you could never do you probably can, just really takes practice. for ages i thought it was impossible for me to use my thumb that way!

"what i mean to say is that..."

rushing on my way out the door to class here lol...

It's how I learned to play, I don't know what gave me the idea, other than the fact that friggin' barre chords were hurting my hands

i know hendrix did the thumb thing but he was hendrix so you know

Hands like shovels

I'm sitting here listing to old Banshees stuff like "Into the Light" and going "holy fucking shit, how did he even do that" which is semi-disheartening because one of the main reasons I wanted a guitar was so I could learn how to play "Night Shift" (btw, did you know that apparently no one on the entire internet knows how "Night Shift" goes?)

So I've decided to start with acoustic now, mainly because of $$$. What should I be looking for in such a purchase? I want something that looks good so I will want to play it

once again, i recommend the mccabe's rental program. super-low cost of entry, you can buy it if you like it minus the very reasonable rental cost. alongside the crazy high-end stuff they have a really impressive range of low-cost acoustics and set them up in-house so they play and sound their best.

they like beginners and want people to learn to play and enjoy guitar. super nice and not condescending and will get you set up right.

http://www.mccabes.com/rentalpolicy.html

full disclosure i don't work for mccabe's but I did get started on a mccabe's rental.

it's semi pathetic how many takes I'm having to do just to get a simple riff recorded for my AC comp song, I am not used to this

okay lol

I have identified a place where I want to take lessons but I now am not sure I have time in my schedule for them

on the plus side, I can now play the main riff from "Never Let Me Down Again" and can almost reliably play barre chords (well, F and B); I can also play "Mother" really arrhythmically and slowly (G-C-G-C-G-C-D-C-G, F-C-F-C-F-C-G-D-C-D-C-D-C-G)

I am looking forward to the painful unlearning of all of the terrible habits I have created for myself

still no teacher, but I did spend some time over Thanksgiving going over some things with natlawdp that led to:

a) me losing my fear of the fretboard past fret 5
b) me getting better at barres
c) the most important thing at all and the justification of my acquisition of a guitar; I found a sensible tab for the bass line to "Night Shift" by Siouxsie and the Banshees and, from that and combining a) and b), was able to extrapolate a rudimentary rhythm guitar part for the song, when means OMFG I CAN PLAY "NIGHT SHIFT", I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY
d) fuck the mothers, kill the others

welp, I emailed a potential teacher whose name I've had for a year thanks to being super embarrassed about dragging my feet on the root 5 barre chords thread

let's see what happens

Glad we could be of help.

And people say shame isn't a good motivator.

Seriously, this is the most important part about guitar playing

c) the most important thing at all and the justification of my acquisition of a guitar; I found a sensible tab for the bass line to "Night Shift" by Siouxsie and the Banshees and, from that and combining a) and b), was able to extrapolate a rudimentary rhythm guitar part for the song, when means OMFG I CAN PLAY "NIGHT SHIFT", I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY

in the meanwhile, occupy yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe
http://www.justinguitar.com/

Have any of you played around with Rocksmith? I can kind of play "Boys Don't Cry" now :-D

I haven't, I'm guessing it's kinda lead guitar focused? Would like to try but suspect it'd end up being an expensive underused gimmick.

It covers both guitar and bass; the guitar parts can be lead, chords or a combo depending on the song.

i'm gonna hold out for ROCKSMITH FINGERSTYLE.

speaking of which can i just give a shoutout to trying out different picks in the early stages? its kind of amazing how big a difference they can make once you have at least a basic familiarity with the instrument, and how much the wrong one can hold you back. pro-tip: it is not necessarily easier to hold on to a larger pick, despite that being a little counterintuitive.

wait, there are different picks...?

I mean, I know about the ones that slide over your fingers etc but I guess I never noticed that guitar picks come in different sizes? (and really why would I notice, considering I never actually owned a guitar before last year)

oh yeah, different sizes, different thicknesses, different materials, all of which change the way you hold the pick, the attack it has, etc. I am a big fan of the max-grip dunlop jazz III.

also different shapes to the point of the pick as well.

i should say max grip jazz III nylon. its the red one.

that is a very fancy name for a pick

i am a fancy guy

maybe I will go to Daddy's Junky Music and buy a bunch of random picks, see which ones I like

I'll be sad if I can't find a Pilot Inspektor Jazz Hands Infinity pick tho

different sizes, different shapes, different thicknesses

i usually use these but sometimes go to 1.0 for acoustic and keep a bunch of random ones around to change things up

http://www.jimdunlop.com/images/products/UltexStandard73-5.5.png

I should see what mine are, as far as I can tell they are "generic blue picks"

some day i will find the dude that invented the "hey with this shitty tool you can make a pick out of any old crap lying around your house" thing and kick the shit out of him.

this is the only pick i use

http://www.buriedtreasurefossils.com/images_Chile/images_C_GW_XL/C1206-P.jpg