HOW TO START PLAYING THE GUITAR?

[CraigBatty]

Capo porn:



Papa got a WHOLE new grip on life now! Mwuhuhuhuhuhuh!

[philipchevron]

Ha ha ha. Great to have you back Fintan. Yarr!

[IrishRover]

[IrishRover]

blooidy slavery has taken oits toill oin me oinoitoial roiutoine of practoise,
wastoin' half of a day actoin' oiut the oibedoient slavedoig koills gooidwoill, spoiroit, moind, hoipe too.

oi need to get back to everyday rockoin' to make a playloist aloive & woirthy foir the future;
tois' better 15 moins daoily than 2 hoiurs oince a mointh; passoin' days oir weeks aoin't acceptable
foir buoildoin' up a gooid playoin' skoill, thats foir sure, but feels moisery, waoitoin' years foir loive
perfoirmance and future realoity stoill feels rather groim 'n' blury froim thois 3rd woirld perspectoive.

[Plastic Paddy]

Hi all, a brief update on learning (scholors of this thread will rememeber that I statred learning the guitar after reading this thread).

After my Yamaha F310 experiance, I bought a Fender Strat and am currently attempting This Charming Man and Jonny b Good, which is all going rather badly but I will keep persevering.

Both kids have started tp learn and are becoming increasing infatuated with ACDC, Led Zep and Metallica - much to my dismay. The missus has also stated playing and we are currently in the market looking for a better Acoustic. After one with a smaller box - some one told me that Crafter make good medium cost acoustics - can anyone else clarify or give another recommendation?

Just thought you should all know about the monster you all helped create............

[Mick Molloy]

I have a crafter and it has a really warm sound. Nice guitar to start on and it has a smaller neck than other guitars I noticed (which is better for me )

[Irishrose]

After so many years of thinking about it and talking about it, i have finally picked up a guitar and began to learn how to play this magnificent instrument of the ages.?/

Thanks to my most lovely daughter, whom DzM affectionately dubbed as "Rosebud" after meeting her last March @ Roseland, she bought me a very fine Fender Acoustic for Christmas??

I have managed thus far to master a few chords as I'm taking this slowly as my hands just do not want to co-operate with my brain, LOL??

It is most enjoyable to make a sound that sounds right,if i keep at this, i figure i may even be able to perform on stage by the time I'm 80 give or take a few years of course??......................................

But dam do those fingers and hands scream at me a lot??.................................

I will push on, as my desire to play has been inspired by Irish Music, it just makes you want to get into it does it not??

thanks to all on this thread who have contributed to people wanting to learn??


Irishrose

[IrishRover]

I have managed thus far to master a few chords as I'm taking this slowly as my hands just do not want to co-operate with my brain, LOL??

oi had that proiblem, oi guess oi woill have oit agaoin further doiwn the learnoin' roiad, but the very begoinnoin' was the toiughest.. ye oiften thoink ye'll never make the coinnection between foingers and braoin, pull oit oiut smooithly;
they woill cooiperate ! just goive oit toime & practoise, practoise, practoise !

It is most enjoyable to make a sound that sounds right..
..I will push on, as my desire to play has been inspired by Irish Music, it just makes you want to get into it does it not??

thats the spoiroit ! there no greater joiy than proiducoin' the tune ye so much loike, and the better the soiund, the better ois the feeloing, tois' essence, art, poietry coimoin' to loife. keep up the gooid woirk.

[Jon]

I think I've managed to figure out how to combine acoustic guitar, mouthorgan and mandolin, next step is to add the banjo part.

It would probably be easier if it weren't me playing all three instruments - but as Oirish says, it's a good feeling when you finally suss out how it all sounds.

[Irishrose]

It is most enjoyable to make a sound that sounds right..
..I will push on, as my desire to play has been inspired by Irish Music, it just makes you want to get into it does it not??

thats the spoiroit ! there no greater joiy than proiducoin' the tune ye so much loike, and the better the soiund, the better ois the feeloing, tois' essence, art, poietry coimoin' to loife. keep up the gooid woirk.[/quote]


Irishrover,

thankyou for the encouragement??...................................................................

i have been quietly reading this forum and also watching your progression over that time span, and also that of others, just watching others succeed is very encouraging in its own right, you have done rather well yourself?? I was also at your website last night, which i have had bookmarked for a quite a long time now, and all i can say is congratulations on your determination to achieve your own goals, your progressing quite well i can see??

Please allow me to share a bit of a story about this guitar, which is a "Fender Acoustic", it almost did not come into my hands?? last fall there was a sale on at one of the better music stores near where i live, and i went it to check out the prices and it was a great sale indeed, this guitar was list priced @ $1300.00 Canadian dollars (now list price may be over blown), but i went it to look for a beginner set for about $200.00 or so abouts ?? so i was checking out the action with my limited knowledge on various acoustics on display, as advised by some musician friends i know, when one of the proprietors whose last name is "Murphy" of course, a fine Irish name if i ever knew one, it is two brothers who own this store and they have been in our fair city running this shop for over 16 years now, it is known as Murphy's Music, and again it was recommended by my friends that this would be the best place locally to receive good advice and assistance and also importantly support?? So i go in looking in my mind what i could safely budget, (well really, it was how good a guitar could i get without getting my wife getting pissed off at me LOL), seeing that Christmas was approaching, and knowing funds would be limited, so here i'am checking out the $130.00-to 250.00 dollar priced guitars. So I'm strumming away on a few of them just to check out the sounds they made, when Mark one of the owners pulled down one of the guitars in the higher range, and he explained that this one was a very solid deal for the sale price that was attached to it, seeing i couldn't play, he played some chords on a few of the ones i was looking at, as i also strummed on them and the sound difference was remarkable, so now i'm looking at this price tag and saying to myself, is this guy nuts, i come in here looking for a guitar around $200-250.00 at most and he hands me this guitar with a price of $1300.00 on it, so i say hold on, this one is little bit out of my league and no way in hell could i get my wife to understand i should begin learning on a guitar of this quality, so i kind of just said wow it is a lovely guitar but it is way out of my price range ( but of course the difference in the quality of the sound was stuck in my head now), so he looks at me and says, it is my last one of this model, and i will give you a good price on it, so hit me with the price, and he comes back at me with $400.00, so now my head is spinning, OK so why the drop in price, and of course he explained, which made sense as the currency difference from when they first purchased their stock of these guitars and now was advantages to them to discount prices on certain models, in order to restock. So now i'm stuck in in a conundrum trying to talk myself into coughing up about another $150.00 or so. So i asked Mark the proprietor, if they had a layaway plan and that i would plunk some cash down on the guitar and that i would pick it up before Christmas "IF" i did not get layed off from my job, as that would rule out buying something that would be frivolous when food and heat would matter more so. Well you have to know i got lay-ed off from my job 2 weeks before Christmas, so now in my mind, i have given up the thought of getting this guitar unless of course Mark would agree to me paying him as i went along until it was covered. So here i'm in my mind thinking that I'm gonna have to eat the down payment and let the guitar go, i was planning on going into seeing them over the Christmas holiday season and try to come up with another way to purchase the guitar or just walk away from it. I knew my expenses going forward, i also knew how long i was going to be off work, and also I knew that i would be going to see "The Pogues" in New York once again this coming March, so cash would be limited going forward.

Anyway, again in my mind i was slowly giving up the thought of owning this guitar, on Christmas morning we were doing what others were doing, sharing gifts with each other, and just enjoying each others company, well we had them all opened and we were sitting around having some coffee, when my daughter whom DzM had affectionately dubbed her "Rosebud" last March at The Pogues gig, stood up and said "OH WAIT" there's one more thing for dad to open, she left the room and came back with a little box, that was about 2.5 inch's square, i opened the box, and in it was a key chain with a little leather pouch attached to it with the name of "Murphy's Music's" on the side of it, I opened the pouch and in it was a few pics, with seeing the pics, i understood quickly to my complete surprise what my daughter had done, before she returned to the room i had tears running down my cheek, and here I'm sitting with my wife and she's wondering why I have all these tears welling up in my eyes, a moment later "Rosebud" comes walking back into the room with this beautiful guitar, so now my eyes are all wet, my wife is just totally stunned at what she is seeing, and here i'am a dribbling idiot, and not knowing what to say. I gave my Rosebud a huge loving bear hug in appreciation, and Christmas just became more special this year for all of us, as being lay-ed off from work for anyone, especially at Christmas is quite an emotional event, and that had been playing with my mind as well, even though try as anyone might, losing a job even on a temporary basis, with the unknown of our economy as to how long this will all drag on, can be quite mentally debilitating to say the least. My daughter, just said to me, "that i never ask for anything for Christmas", and i usually don't, as i believe it is for giving and appreciating what one receives without demands??

So that's the story of how i came about this beautiful guitar??

OH and as a side story to this, there was another reason, why that if i was to buy an instrument, what better place than from a store with the name of "Murphy's", on the front sign, as we also have a very beautiful cat which i rescued one very hot summer day, a few years back, he was tiny, filthy and fit into the palms of my hands, he was very near death, but we nursed him back to health, and it took about three weeks for him to come around, it looked as if we were going to lose him a couple of times through that period, but he kept fighting back, and we able to eventually integrate him into the household with the other pets. This cat now greets me at the door everyday, and has become such a close friend to me, anyway, because he was such a fighter, we named him "Murphy" and it has become so appropriate for him to carry this name.

So putting the two together is a bit of a stretch, but it runs along the lines of sticking with the "Irish luck" that has been bestowed upon me since i married my Irish wife, she often says that the older i get the more Irish i have become??..........even my lovely sister in law (Lives in Ireland) has said the same, that i have become more Irish than the Irish, if that makes any sense, as they all know my love for Irish music, Irish literature, history and their culture and so much of anything Irish??........................LOL

So anyways that's my story and I'm sticking to it, and as Philip has mentioned here before, now its time for ??....practice, practice and more practice??...............but i know deep down that it is all worthwhile, and some day i will pluck away and play "Dirty Old Town" to my lovely wife, a song we have danced to on so many occasions??

Once again thanks to all who have contributed to this forum and thank you once again Irishrover for the encouragement?/

Irishrose

P.S. you can go to this url to see the store and the proprietors of the store at the following url;

http://www.murphysmusic.ca/

[IrishRover]

ye're very welcoime OIroishroise, tois' great talkoin' to ye, yeah encoiuragement matters a loit, twas' crucoial, stoill ois ! thois place, great Medusans & guoitar master Philip beeoin' woith me, suppoirtoive, helpoin' oiut woith great advoice.. oim so far away, but thois place feels loike beeoin' cloiser to hoime woith all gooid people, froiends aroiund, goivoin' grand encoiuragement ! oim noit sure oif oi'd be playoin' at all oir the way oi do toiday oif oit weren't foir thois thread and Medusans; twas' always here when oi needed oit and oi stoill need oit and woill need oit oin toimes to coime.

twoill' be sooin 1 year soince oi tooik the guoitar oin me oiwn hands, and oi can be pleased woith the results; oi mean theres that feeloin' of joiy, essence, attoitude when oi grab the guoitar, play & soing and oit actually soiunds all roight, when ye feel the coire, spoiroit of the song goin' throiugh yer boidy ! tois' the best feeloin' oin the woirld; oi stoill haven't buoild up a whoile playloist, recently the slavery and moisery here have woirked agaoinst me, turnoin' me ointo a shoipwreck.. and oit has been toimes when weeks passed between playoing.. but oi've achoieved to make 1st voideo, oi coivered Shaneo's Chroistmas Lullaby and theres so much moire oi woish to do; oi stoill need to woirk oiut soime choirds, learn barre chroids etc. but noiw oi already can play & soing cerataoin number of songs and be pleased woith the results; when oi looik back, oi remember oi was actually playoin' oiutta tune foir moinths, twas' thank Goid & eureka when oi doiscoivered me readoin' of the tuner wasn't exactly roight.. tois' funny, thank Goid that doidn't boiunce back coimpletely.. oi have a dream, grand goials ahead.. the thoing that hurts me moist ois stoill beeoin' stuck 'n' chaoined oin thois 3rd woirld.. oinstead of beeoin' oin OIreland, rockoin' woith gooid people, oi have a dream of streets 'n' stages.. theres so many thoings woirkoin' agaoinst me, but oi beloieve me toime, freedoim must coime.. oi keep pluggoin' away, oi guess oim loike that cat ye foiund.. all em' chances are agaoinst me, but oi keep foightoin' back !

tois' ointerestoin', oinspoiroin' and heartwarmoin' stoiry of yer foirst guoitar OIroishroise ! a great stoiry to tell oindeed, just keep oin the gooid attoitude and as Philip says - practoise, practoise, practoise.. ye'll get there ! Doirty Oild Toiwn, oi guess theres no better song to start woith, tois' amoing me foirst oines as well ! moight be hard at starts but go oine step at the toime.. soime days ye moight hate moistakes, lack of proigress but the very next ye moight be throilled foir pulloin' oiut soime soiund that toiuched ye and shoiwed ye the ways ahead. and yer love toiwards OIreland means a loit, feeloin' OIroish musoic coimes froim woithoin', coimes befoire technoique ! oi've had doizens of 3rd woirlders here, candoidates foir me band, who are doiscrace foir Paddy musoic, they knew to pull oiut choirds 'n' soiunds but lacked the essence, coire OIroishness, true love toiwards Eroin.. that coimes foirst ! tois' much moire than just beats & stroings, playoin' OIroish musoic aoin't a busoiness, genre, manageroial oissue, 2nd band, weekend entertaoinment, poiseurs' cheers&beers but soimethoing way beyoind; tois' noit just coipyoin' the soiund, tois' the soiul, essence, attoitude, furoius devoition that makes em' spoiroits floiwoin'; by readoin' yer poist, oi see ye carry love toiwards OIreland, thats broilloiant, let that love guoide ye oin yer playoin', reflect oit woith yer guoitar, tois' truly a grand feeloin'.

Oi Jon ! Ye're doin' all em' 3.. thats broilloiant, have ye oincluded em' oither 2(3) recently ? Whats the feeloin', goin' further woith addoin' mandoiloin etc. doid the guoitar skoill help oiut?

[Jon]

Oi Jon ! Ye're doin' all em' 3.. thats broilloiant, have ye oincluded em' oither 2(3) recently ? Whats the feeloin', goin' further woith addoin' mandoiloin etc. doid the guoitar skoill help oiut?

Kind of, but adding mando&banjo playing has helped with my guitar playing and vice versa.
I'm mostly trying to undo 20 years of self taught 'bad habits' of guitar playing as an attempt to finger pick the banjo, currently trying to add the Earl Scruggs licks along with what Jem does (which I think is a modified Scruggs) but the idea of string picking without a plectrum is very strange, but practise is good.
Picking out odd tunes on the mando has helped tune my ear to what I can play on the guitar, my main inspirations for guitar are Billy Bragg, Peter Buck, a bit of Hank Marvin and Neil Young so not a lot of scope for folky twiddly bits but I seem to have migrated some of the mando playing to my guitar and the fact that I've been attempting to play slide guitar (in G) has no doubt been useful with the banjo.

The only issue really is the different string configuration between each instrument...

[IrishRover]

doies soiund as a new teroitoiry, by noiw oi too am used to usoin' plectrum, and even moire oimproirtant guoitar choird poisoitions.. at thois point oi can't oimagoine what an oissue woiuld be to try playoin' banjo, unless tois' a 6 stroings oine;

[Jon]

well the mando is tuned GDAE which is the top 4 strings of the guitar reversed, which makes it fairly easy to throw the basic shapes, and those pretty much are the only shapes I know - I don't have an interest in learning all of the chords as most of the folks I like and their tunes I play don't stray into 'jazz chords', you can do pretty much anything with major and minor chords and the odd sus4.

The banjo is strung to open G and it's a whole different kettle of fish, but (excuse the pun) I've started off learning a few scales and how to finger the chords that I usually play.

[Cdn Steve]

doies soiund as a new teroitoiry, by noiw oi too am used to usoin' plectrum, and even moire oimproirtant guoitar choird poisoitions.. at thois point oi can't oimagoine what an oissue woiuld be to try playoin' banjo, unless tois' a 6 stroings oine;

I know there's an instrument called, among other names, a "banjitar', which is basically a guitar on a banjo body. 6 strings, tuned like a guitar, but it sounds like a banjo. Has anyone any experience with this instrument?
I'm picking my way through my banjo rolls and scales, but it gets frustrating sometimes, after playing guitar for so long,and I think about how relatively easy it would be to just switch from guitar to a six string 'banjo'.