I just got my first guitar today and have been messing around for a while and learning basic stuff, and I was wondering from some Wieners who play guitar. How long does it take with some decent lessons and the like before you are able to play some good stuff, as in songs people know and the like? I've heard it said that learning guitar is like an exponential curve.... wondering how true that is.
Rorschach: "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."
Depends on your teacher. My first teacher wanted to start from the very beginning, and was big on music theory. My second teacher's style was to start off with chords, so he'd show part of a song and then teach how to do something as soon as it came up.
Also, a tip: If you want to get good fast, well, practicing a lot is of course important, but remember that it's quality over quantity. In other words, what and how well you practice is more important than how long you do so.
I have no idea if that was any help or not. In any case, good luck, and most importantly, have fun with the axe!
Seriously, just study those chords like a mofo. After that, it's not actually that hard to play. And this is coming from somebody who's all thumbs. I'm no Jimmy Page or anything, but I can hold my own.
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Try Chromatic stuff all across the fretboard, back and forth. Then, move that up and down the neck. Don't worry about sounding good, this is just about placing your fretting hand in a position where you will be able to cover alot of area without having to move your hand.
Doing this strengthens your fingers and gets you familiar with what each note feels like on each finger.
Yeah, you can't emphasize practice enough. I didn't really practice very much (barely, actually), and in about eight years (daaaamn), I can't say I'm as good as I should be. I keep on getting hung up on it. >_<
Step 1 - Take your guitar and smash it over your own head. Then you will be rock and roll enough to try and play a guitar.
Step 2 - Just starting rubbing your hands all over the strings with the distortion on. Then you will be good enough to play in most cover bands.
Step 3 - Every once in a while, try actually using your right hand to pluck or pick the strings. Then you will be good enough to be in Kelly Osbourne's backup band (if you're hot).
Step 4 - Learn your blues scales and practice them daily. Then you can pretend to marry your pretend sister, dress like a fairy and start a buzz band called the Green Swirls...or something like that. You can get rich this way, although any admission to being rich OR wanting to be rich will automatically RUING your street cred and thus your money-making abillities.
"Dammit Parts Unknown you made my inbox is overflow." - Net Hack Slasher
as a guy who never took lessons from an official teacher (i had the benefit of having a couple of friends who played to watch and learn from), i would heavily reccomend going to olga.net to get some of their lessons. they have a wide array of stuff, which should help you along as a supplement to your lessons.
and basically, it all depends on what music you like when it comes to playing songs; i'm a huge nirvana fan, and because of their mostly easy songs (lots of bar chords, etc.)i was able to play their songs within weeks of starting.
Thanks for the replies. NOW I can start to actually play as my friend helping me tune my guitar an hour after I posted the first post BROKE my strings. Doh! And I had to wait till today to fix them, so now I can start to learn, thanks again, some of those websites help.
Rorschach: "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."