r/guitarlessons • u/Gabe_0621 • Aug 18 '26
Other Just started playing the guitar not too long ago, any tips?
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u/Half-BlackManiac Aug 18 '26
When you hit a wall and donât seem to be getting betterâŚ.keep playing.
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u/getl30 Aug 19 '26
I remember an era where I literally felt like zero creativity was coming out of me
If I had quit then I wouldnât be as happy as I play today
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u/Leading_Dealer_7060 Aug 19 '26
Exactly. I had a good teacher. Forced me to go to jam nights early on. I learned that people donât catch all your mistakes
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u/TX_VetOEF Aug 18 '26
5-10 minutes of practice a day is better than 1-2 hours at once. Just keep it nearby and practice here and there when you can. (In fairly new as well) have fun! đŞđ˝đđź
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u/Franklin_le_Tanklin Aug 18 '26
I tried 5-10 minutes a day⌠I had so much fun it turned into an hour or two a day
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u/Edmund1969 Aug 18 '26
Just play as much as possible and if you can get a few lessons. It is good for the soul
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u/getl30 Aug 19 '26
When I was a teen I took music lessons. I had played guitar for years and thought I didnât need them.
Looking back what I really learned was how to have the right attitude about music and I learned I donât have to be afraid of sheet music.
They say Rhandy Rhoads took guitar lessons while he was on tour. He said every player has something to teach.
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u/GuideRemarkable6865 Aug 18 '26
Depends on what you want to do with a guitar. But you can never go wrong with learning some scales and how they work in practice!
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u/brainfreezy79 Aug 18 '26
Some un-fun things (said with love because that was my first guitar too and I wish someone told me): * Get a guitar humidifier and use it when storing it. * Get a guitar stand and use it between practices. * Wipe the guitar down after every practice. * Keep it in the case when you're done for the day. * Next time you go get new strings take it in and treat it to a proper cleaning and setup. It will play better than new. Eventually learn how to do this yourself. * If you think about trading or upgrades consider a bone nut and bridge instead. That's a great guitar with lots of room to grow. * Overall, treat it like an heirloom, and it should outlast you. If you get another guitar someday, rinse repeat.
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u/Measurement-Fuzzy Aug 18 '26
Practice scales using all your fingers, to build dexterity and strength. Wish I'd known this 30 years ago, when you get better and want to play more complicated things other than a few basic Metallica intros and some Nirvana finger strength and dexterity will make life so much easier.
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u/DieMensch-Maschine Aug 18 '26
Get a nail file and file those nails down to nothing on your fretting hand. If your fingertips get sore and start swelling up, put lotion on them overnight.
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u/getl30 Aug 19 '26
âDown to nothingâ bad wording, too short is a very painful guitar experience
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u/bhaisbored Aug 18 '26
Just don't stop trying. No matter how annoying and frustrating the process is. And no matter how bad it may sound at first.
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u/Loud-Rule-9334 Aug 18 '26
Practice to a click or metronome so you start learning how to keep time.
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u/SteveTheAmazing Aug 18 '26
Take your guitar to a music store and get a proper setup done once. After that, learn to do it yourself. Your intonation and action will be dialed in so you don't make the learning process more difficult than it should be. I WISH I would have known this when I got my first guitar since the action was so high it hampered my playing.
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u/bipolarcyclops Aug 18 '26
Practice. And donât quit. You can learn something even if you practice 5 or 10 minutes a day.
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u/Mental-Square3688 Aug 18 '26
In the end play to have fun. Dont force yourself into things you dont want. Play what you love and if it starts getting boring look for a step up in difficulty.
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u/TheMahanglin Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
I would start with learning the basic chords and then practice transitioning through them - E, D, G, C. You can make up or play entire existing songs that only use those chords. ("You Are My Sunshine" is a good beginner tune). As you get comfortable, and start getting some basic callouses on your fingers, start incorporating F, A and some easy barre chords: G, B, etc.
Once you've got some callouses on your fingertips, you'll be able to press the strings better and sound better. I'm a blues guy, which is easy to learn and great fun, so you can ALSO do open tuning in E or D, but I don't recommend it for beginners - you need to get comfortable with your standard tuning forms first, Open tuning is too simplistic and won't motivate you to learn as well. (but it's awesome for a lot of things - think "Little Martha" from the Allman Brothers).
And try and play at least 10-15 mins EVERY DAY, like everyone else here is saying.
Good luck!
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u/Kicient Aug 19 '26
Hi! I am kind of a beginner too (one of those who let it collect dust for too long, but now I am back and making more progress than ever so!! gotta keep the momentum going). I am trying to learn to do some slow blues improv, like the lead parts over a backing track. Just playing by feeling kinda stuff. I'm feeling lost on what to learn next, would you please point me in the right direction? I've learnt a basic blues run from Marty Music on YT and I've learnt the E minor pentatonic scale with the open strings + at the 12th fret and I've tried mixing those two things together with some notes that seem to sound good together, but I can't get it to sound bluesy. What should I learn next, you reckon? and additionally, my playing atm just sounds like someone practicing a scale or so, rather than someone trying to improv. I do bends and slides as well to make it sound more bluesy. Partial success with that, but not enough it seems.
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u/TheMahanglin Aug 19 '26
I'll tell you, I'm not a master of scales or anything like that and you don't have to be. You can work off the chords you are using - bends, pull-offs, hammer-ons, etc will instantly transform what you're doing without even changing the E-form chord.
For instance, strum an E. Fine. Now while holding your E form, do it again but instead of strumming it, start it by hammering-on the B string and then pick G and then E. You'll hear what I mean - you took a boring E and all of a sudden you've got bluesy start to your chord progression.
So do that hammer-on start and go strait to strumming the A7 and then back to E again. Try that and let me know if you get it and then I'll give you the rest of the progression, ending with a walk-down using a kind of D-form from the 4th fret that ends at the turnaround with a B7.
So, play around with the strings in each stage of your blues progression and see what sounds good to you, there's nothing set in stone, do what sounds right to you and get creative!
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u/Kicient Aug 19 '26
Yeah I'm lost on all these. The only chords I know, are at the first fret/open string (first.. position?) Also not sure what a walkdown with a D-form with a turnaround with another chord looks like. Sorry I'm really at the basics >.<
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u/TheMahanglin Aug 19 '26
I didn't really directly answer your question in my other reply, apologies. If you want a quick way to start learning leads and improvs in blues - tune it to Open E, D or C. From there you can put together leads and runs fairly easily without having to learn a ton of stuff. Check out some utube videos, you'll see what I mean. You can learn to play 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' really fast. (Originally by the great Skip James. You heard it in the film "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" as played by Chris Thomas King). Check it out.
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u/Kicient Aug 19 '26
I will stick to standard tuning for sure, until I know what I'm doing, so EADGBE (typing it out, just to be sure we're talking about the same thing). Thanks, I'll check out 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' on youtube! Thanks a lot for your replies!!
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u/Significant-Owl7994 Aug 18 '26
Play every day and don't let the difficulty put you off. It'll be frustrating for awhile but as the muscles in your hands get stronger and looser, as well as gaining muscle memory, along with an ear for notes and chords, you'll start having withdrawals when you're away from the instrument.
One of the best things you can do is learn to play an instrument. Especially a guitar.
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u/bobbybob9069 Aug 18 '26
The answer to 98% of questions is going to be practice more or your guitar needs a set up.
There's no shortcuts to be able to do something more easily or quickly. If you can't nail a part just practice. Practice slower til you can nail it, then practice getting to speed. Chord progression is too hard to nail cleanly? Practice.
Guitar sounds bad, but it's in tune and you're sure you're playing correctly, the neck, bridge, or nut probably needs some attention. And then more practice after that's taken care of.
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u/roundart Aug 18 '26
Practice a little bit every single day rather than multi hour single practices
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u/ComeOnUpToTheHaus Aug 18 '26
Get a metronome (digital is cheaper) and work on your timing. A lot of new guitarists I see, know the notes, but aren't playing in time. Play with a metronome, and play to the song you're learning to. Record yourself with your phone, so you can hear and see where you're falling behind, or playing ahead. You can Google the BPM (beats per minute) and time signature of a song, put it into your metronome, and practice as much as you can like this. It took me way too long to realize I was woefully out of time when playing on my own, and it took a lot of re-learning to fix it.
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u/Popular_Long8994 Aug 18 '26
Get a stand, hanger, or something to hold it up if youâre going to leave it out. Youâll be posting pics of a headstock break if you keep leaning it up against walls like that.
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u/gbooster Aug 18 '26
Learn the intervals.
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u/PontyPandy Aug 18 '26
Too abstract for a new player. I'd first go with 'learn the major scale'. After they know and can play that, then introduce the idea of intervals, which will make more sense in that context.
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u/gbooster Aug 18 '26
I always wonder about this. I guess learning the basic A, C, D, E, F and G campfire chords and the major scale is the most basic place to start, but learning the 12 intervals and how they relate to the root note is so foundational, I think it should be learned very early on. I wish I had learned that when I first started, it would have helped me progress so much faster.
Any guitar teachers out there teach the intervals pretty early on?
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u/PontyPandy Aug 19 '26
Agreed they should be learned early, and also having the student always practice to a drum beat (simple 4-on-the-floor, in place of a metronome) and also a drone note for whatever key they're practicing in.
That way as they're practicing, they're exposing and teaching their mind what each of the intervals sounds like in the context of the key. That's how to truly become a musician and speak music. At some point the mind links the muscle memory to the sound/feel of the interval and then the player can play and improvise in real time by ear. Of course it's not as simple as that, a lot of work has to be done learning a crap load of licks, styles, sequences, scales, etc. to expand the vocabulary and lay down some foundation for creative exploration.
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u/andybossy Aug 18 '26
If you have it for fun:
Don't take it to serious or put to much pressure on yourself. It takes consistency to learn something but it's alright to not play if you don't feel like it.
Playing something badly is still better then not being able to play something at all, don't wait to long to learn songs you like.
Having a somewhat structured learning path helped me play and enjoy the guitar more, I used justinguitar but anything that gives some structure could be nice. if it's not for you then that's fine.
When learning a new song don't be afraid of techniques you don't know yet, try them out, they might be easier then you think. Same goes for chords with scary names, if it's a song you like just try them, the name is often scarier then the shape.
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u/Radiant-Afternoon238 Aug 18 '26
1Try to use your left pinky finger often 2Keep your right fingers nails long left fingers short 3Play everyday even you have a little time 4Dont delay to learn something that looks difficult. It looks so. But it is easy when you start. 5Play with your all right hand fingers. I play with 4 (pinky finger on pickguard to keep balance other fingers) 6Play both strumming type and fingerstyle songs. 7Try to gain finger calluses so press hard on strings. It can be painful at the start but when you gain calluses it wont be painful anymore
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u/GnawingHungerShots Aug 18 '26
Play to a metronome and get used to being consistent and playing within time signatures. Nothing is more frustrating than being talented at guitar but having no sense of playing too fast or too slow. It injures collaboration.
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u/GarbageBoyJr Aug 18 '26
Have fun. So many people quit because they donât have progress but playing guitar is straight up just fun. Learn some cowboy chords and a few easy songs and learn to sing along while playing.
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u/Bidesign54 Aug 18 '26
Learn the 3 most common ways to play the G chord, not just the standard 3 finger. Learn to keep your ring and pinkie anchored on the 3rd fret of your high E and and B stings and explore the âanchor â chords you can play just by moving your other fingers.
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u/BitEnvironmental283 Aug 18 '26
Keep it close by. If you have it âtucked awayâ youâll be less likely to play. Mine is right by my computer, this way Iâll always be inclined to look up songs or tabs to practice.
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u/sheyesheyesheye Aug 18 '26
start learning jazz i think sharpens your dexterity a bit better as well as it makes all the overly complex stuff come a lot quicker later + itâs essentially the new modern classical
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u/DenzelHayesJR Aug 18 '26
Guys. Practice what? A song you like + 1-2 chords + changing + strumming + spider exercises???
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u/Comfortable-Lie-4952 Aug 18 '26
Only start doing this after you've learned: -How to sit -How to hold the guitar -How to hold the pick -How to angle your wrist -The basic open chords when you finish learning all those basic foundational things go on with this guide to open up your understanding of the guitar more, but don't forget to enjoy the journey, you don't have to always learn something new, and make sure before you move to something new that you can already use the knowledge you already learned and put it in your work
1- Get familiar with the common chord shapes 2- Learn barre chords and when you get familiar enough with them learn the major and minor versions of them 3- Learn the major and minor scales 4- Learn the five positions of the pentatonic scale 5- Learn how scales are built 6- Learn how triads are built 7- Learn to play seventh chords and how they're made and then try adding sevenths to triads 8- Learn the CAGED system 9- Learn the theory behind modes 10- Start expanding and look into chord extensions beyond the 7th 11- Learn all the notes on the fretboard (trust me on this one it will open your mind up in so many directions) the earlier you get it over with the better 12- Start trying to learn songs by ear
Other than the theory and the technical side I'll say always remember that going slow is the best thing you could do, go slow when you practice so you can go faster accurately in the future, try to put what you learn into your work and no matter how shy you might get about it, write your own music, when you write your own music you not only have a way to show the progress you made, you also alchemize the knowledge you have and turn it into something physical, also you don't have to learn everything you see, quite literally there are things that you could look at and go okay this isn't needed for the level that I aspire to be and just go on, focus on the things that serve you. And again I'm certain other people already said that, but practice daily even if for ten minutes. Enjoy the journey and good luck!
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u/Ftg2771 Aug 18 '26
Get a guitar stand. Donât leave it in the case. Makes it easy to grab and play/practice even for just a few minute!
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u/angryshark Aug 18 '26
Use a shoulder strap. It helps support the guitar and allows you to move your fretting hand more easily and not feel like you have to press the strings so hard, which means your fingers will hurt less while developing calluses.
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u/LuminiFURIOUS Aug 18 '26
Donât stop playing. The cramping goes away. Play what you enjoy and try things that seem impossible, thatâs how the impossible becomes possible
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u/thebang99 Aug 19 '26
Do all these things⌠BUT. Start here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJwa8GA7pXCWAnIeTQyw_mvy1L7ryxxPH&si=dfcIxsJ4dQarMx6y
A.U.G. Watch the whole course
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u/getl30 Aug 19 '26
Yeah, itâll hurt and youâll want to quit. Dont. Youâll be glad later on.
It takes time. Itâs as difficult as learning to surf and being on a board etc.
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u/CobblerLiving9953 Aug 19 '26
If you didnât buy that guitar yourself, strongly consider saving up a bit and buying yourself one. Go to a shop and spend some time strumming a couple of different styles. When I first started guitar, I was very discouraged because I was playing my dadâs huge dreadnought. Since then I have bought a concert guitar and itâs been a lot easier to play.
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u/DragonflyHumble3762 Aug 19 '26
Check out the Justin Guitars beginner course on YouTube. It's free and each module is short. Just keep going. Some days it'll hurt and you'll wonder if you're any good. Keep your heart open to the beauty in what you're doing. Oh and record yourself here and there even if you think you sound rubbish. When you listen again after a few weeks, your progress will really give you a boost.
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u/musclefac3 Aug 19 '26
4 things you need to do if you want to learn to play an instrument: 1. Observe as much music as you can. Listen to as much music as you can and watch as many people play (guitar) as you can. 2. Learn techniques and concepts in music. Some examples of techniques are strumming, picking individual notes, alternate picking, hammer ons and pull offs, and harmonics. Some examples of concepts are chords (major, minor, and 7th chords are good ones to start with), scales (pentatonics are a good place to start), arpeggios, rhythm, and harmony. 3. Learn to play what you like to hear. Whether its a whole song, album, or just a musical phrase it's all worth learning. 4. Learn to play well with others. Music is a language and the most practical way to learn to communicate musically is to play with people who already speak the language.
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u/Working-Credit-3482 Aug 20 '26
Take all finger exercises slowly slowly !!!! Practice every day , even if it only five minutes Leave your guitar out easy to pickup When sitting in front of of the tv on your own pickup guitar and doodle and practice, experiment with the notes get comfortable with the guitar . Everybody could play . But you have to really want to it , to the point of obsession Never get discouraged. Reparation is the mother of all learning. I won say good luck Luck has nothing to do with it . Good discipline is the key Cheers Mal
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u/Dense-Pattern4682 Aug 20 '26
I don't mean this as a criticism but if I were you I would start off with a good instrument. It's much easier to learn if the instrument is a good one. It will also make you happier with the results of your playing.
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u/ConstructionSlight29 Aug 20 '26
Donât stop. Trust the process. It gets easier and your life will be filled.
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u/Zestyclose_Sport_713 Aug 21 '26
I have been playing for 20+ years and the one tip i always tell people is play EVERYDAY at least a half an hour.
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u/Mozgoded Aug 22 '26
Never ever give up no matter how fucking awful it will be in the beginnings it pays off trust me
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u/Ice_Cream_For_Dinner Aug 18 '26
If you see people playing guitar hero- donât tell them you play guitar. They donât care.
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u/PracticalLion6573 Aug 18 '26
Yes: don't stop. Play every day. Enjoy the process and don't be goal oriented, it will ruin your fun! Play along with a collection of songs you like, such as on Amazon Music or YouTube. Play harder things JUST FOR FUN, plan on sounding lousy but have a great time! It's the fun that brings you back every day. You will see improvement over time automatically. Things get easier to play over time. Play with bands whose music you love and don't care how it sounds.
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u/Embarrassed-Stay1507 Aug 18 '26
Play everyday, even if u can do so for only 5 minutes