Bought my first guitar and amp

Duane

Duane

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Broke down and bought my first guitar and amp after wanting to learn how to play for years. I ended up with a really nice used PRS SE 24 and Yamaha THR10 amp.

I know we have some guitar players on the board. Does anyone have any tips for starting out?

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TheDude

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Make sure you can tune it. Learn Chords first then scales. Be prepared to have a stair step learning curve. Dont get frustrated on clunking chords for the first month, once you get it you can jump throurgh 80% of songs no problem.

Economy of motion is key. Dont lift your fingers far off the string when switching chards/notes dont get in the habit of big elbow strumming use your wrist (good habit to eventually pick notes and melody out of chords).

Start with open G, Cadd9 and D chords and dont move your ring finger from the 2nd string 3rd fret. Get that down and you can do 1million rock, metal ballads, country songs (sweet home ala, time of your life,)
 
YosemiteSam

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Congrats man!

Be careful, it can quickly become an addiction! (and an expensive one at that!) I started with one, now I have seven!
 
YosemiteSam

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TheDude said:
Im going to light a fire under you. I have 19. Now you can tell the wife you need 12 more becasue of some idiot on the computer.

You're welcome;)
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If I didn't have other also expensive hobbies, I would probably be close! (Astronomy, Astrophotography, Winemaking, Electronics, and ham radio)
 
JohnnyTheFox

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A few things worth mentioning...
Start out slow using proper form and be sure to use upstrokes and downstrokes both.
Learn where every note is on the guitar.
Learn basic scales and chords, as well as how they fit together.
As someone mentioned above economy of motion helps as well, this includes your fretting hand as well as your picking hand.
And don't forget someone famous once said, there are no rules if it sounds good it is good.
 
YosemiteSam

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JohnnyTheFox said:
A few things worth mentioning...
Start out slow using proper form and be sure to use upstrokes and downstrokes both.
Learn where every note is on the guitar.
Learn basic scales and chords, as well as how they fit together.
As someone mentioned above economy of motion helps as well, this includes your fretting hand as well as your picking hand.
And don't forget someone famous once said, there are no rules if it sounds good it is good.
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This is good.

One other things that I'm going to say. When you first start out. Practice practice practice. Once you can play, just enjoy yourself and play 85% of the time, and only practice 15% of the time. If all you ever do is practice, you will sound robotic and end up with terrible timing. Music is about feeling and if you are overly focused, you can let the feel of what you're playing come out.

That 15% of practice can be working on new techniques, or learning new songs. New songs will teach you new techniques. Playing different styles will do the same thing. Then you can make those styles all your own.
 
YosemiteSam

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Rockport said:
The first 2 are crazy expensive. I went to the McDonalds Observatory a few weeks ago. Those telescopes are insanely expensive.
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Yeah, The McDonald Observatory is awesome. I used to know a guy that worked (volunteer) there. (he still may, just haven't talk to him in a long time) My telescopes aren't anywhere near as large as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, but I've got several thousand dollars invested between telescopes, mounts, and CCD cameras with filters and guiders. @jobberone used to do Astronomy and Astrophotography also.
 
JohnnyTheFox

JohnnyTheFox

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Also want to mention something that hasn't been mentioned yet, back in the day if you wanted to learn something it was either by ear, a teacher or hanging out with friends exchanging riffs. Even tab was pretty rare. YouTube has a ton of informative videos on learning the guitar/etc.
 
Them

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...All good advice...I might add...a good starting foundation is important...from tuning, to timing, to rhythm...You might check some online lessons (Wish I had that in my days of playing.) I checked out a cat name Tony Polecastro. Seems like someone who makes it easier to learn....your prerogative...
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Rockport

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YosemiteSam said:
Yeah, The McDonald Observatory is awesome. I used to know a guy that worked (volunteer) there. (he still may, just haven't talk to him in a long time) My telescopes aren't anywhere near as large as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, but I've got several thousand dollars invested between telescopes, mounts, and CCD cameras with filters and guiders. @jobberone used to do Astronomy and Astrophotography also.
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I’d be more into the Astrophotography. I’m an amateur photographer and got some good shots of the Milkey Way while I was there. Never seen so many stars before.
 
Reverend Conehead

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Duane said:
Broke down and bought my first guitar and amp after wanting to learn how to play for years. I ended up with a really nice used PRS SE 24 and Yamaha THR10 amp.

I know we have some guitar players on the board. Does anyone have any tips for starting out?

​
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Very nice! Congrats, man. Enjoy your new set up.
 
nobody

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Lots of great advice here. You might also consider getting an acoustic that you can lug around for those times you can practice but it's not practical to drag an electric guitar and amp around.
 
Vtwin

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Pick it up whenever you get the chance even if it's only for five minutes.

Relax and don't get discouraged. You'll find that no matter how frustrated and discouraged you were when you put it down it will come that much easier the next time you pick it up.

Take it slow at first and focus on accurately fretting the chords and notes. The speed will come with repetition.

Have fun. Play around with what you've learned and do your own thing. Like has been already said, you can make a lot of music with three chords and a simple minor pentatonic scale.

Jam with more experienced players if you have the opportunity. That alone was a huge help to me in applying what I had learned on my own.
 
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