Learning to play guitar

[waters44]

Like a load of other middle aged white men i've bought an acoustic guitar and want to learn to play. I'm addicted to screens / social media and I want something worthwhile to focus on!

So does anyone here have any recommendations of best way to learn? My instinct is to watch Youtube tutorials of songs and repeat, but would you recommend something else? Are there good books or anything like that? I'm not in a position to pay for actual lessons yet but maybe next year

[King Coconut]

I started off learning 3 or 4 chords. If you can play D, G, C and A you'll already be able to play along with hundreds of songs or just jam away on your todd. Once you're comfortable switching between those chords you can start adding chords depending on whatever songs you're interested in learning.

[The Gaffer]

17 minutes ago, King Coconut said:

I started off learning 3 or 4 chords. If you can play D, G, C and A you'll already be able to play along with hundreds of songs or just jam away on your todd. Once you're comfortable switching between those chords you can start adding chords depending on whatever songs you're interested in learning.

Yeah this is the way. 

I wouldn't even bother with videos, even the good ones blast through things and you'll find yourself rewinding them back trying to copy their exact movements in endless "Wait, what did they do?" moments. 

Get a handy, chonky resolution chart of all the basic chords and save it to your phone/make it your desktop wallpaper or whatever and you'll have them down in a matter of weeks. Then the world's your oyster for simply Googling "______ chords" and seeing if all the songs you love singing in the shower are playable. Most of them probably are, it's a great way to learn and you'll also discover which bands are awkward bastards who use tricky tuning and loads of bar chords! 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Gay as FOOK

[Chest Rockwell]

I did the same earlier this year and also have been struggling to find a good path / routine for learning because there's so much to get my head around I'm not sure where to start. 

I did what coco suggests and learned those basic chords first and practiced transitioning between them with different strumming patterns. And now I've started to learn some other chords and throw those in to the mix to start building it up incrementally. 

At the same time I also wanted to learn some lead as its a different skill so I got familiar with some basic scale patterns. Starting with pentatonic as it's the easiest. Once you know some of those your can also noodle over music you're listening to which is fun. I think I've been building some bad habits with my picking though, so I'm trying to learn to be much more deliberate with that 

Now when i do it I'm making myself also say the notes out loud in an attempt to learn the fretboard. That bit is not going that well tbh. My memory is hot garbage. 

 

Edit: sorry, missed the but where you said acoustic. Not sure the lead bit is a applicable to what you're after in that case. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Chest Rockwell

[cobra_gordo]

I've been playing guitar for about 25 years so happy to answer any questions. I could never afford lessons either and taught myself over the course of the summer holidays when I was 13 on a guitar I found in a skip.

The first thing I suggest to anybody getting a guitar, particularly acoustic, is to change the strings asap to something very light, 10's ideally. From my experience the biggest thing that seems to make people put that lovely new guitar under the bed or in a cupboard, never to be touched again, is that it bloody hurts initially. Acoustic guitar strings are quite a bit thicker and heavier than electric guitar strings which makes fretting notes a little more difficult for a beginner, which means it doesn't always sound great and then you get disheartened. Couple that with acoustic necks generally being thicker than electric guitar necks and the bodies being bigger it really can be challenging. If you can afford to buy a cheap electric guitar the thinner strings, neck and body may be more forgiving to learn on and then transfer that t the acoustic.

As others have said, Youtube is a fantastic resource. You'll find a lot of songs can be tackled by only knowing three or four chords. If you search for "easy 3 chord guitar songs" or "easy 4 chord guitar songs" you'll get plenty of results. This one was one of the top results and is really clear and well explained.

My last bit of advice might feel a bit extreme but it helped me no end when I was first starting out: learn where every note is on the fretboard. I'm not talking about learning the note names or anything but to familiarise yourself with what every fret position sounds like. Start on the first fret on the lowest string and literally play each note all the way up the neck. Then switch to the next string and do the same and repeat for all 6 strings. If you ever get in to playing solos, improvisation, barre chords or slide playing you'll have that knowledge locked away but it's priceless for learning songs by ear.

It's a good warm-up exercise too if you use all four fingers on your fretting hand. Start with 1st finger on the 1st fret, then 2nd finger on the 2nd fret, third finger on the 3rd, pinky on the 4th and then back to 1st finger on the 5th fret etc etc. It helps build some dexterity too which is invaluable for playing tricky chords.

Edited October 3, 2023 by cobra_gordo

[waters44]

Thank you all so much! That's amazing and a really good place to start. Much appreciated! I will keep you updated with my progress

[LCJ]

It’s always good if you can afford a few lessons from a grade 8 pro but who can also teach well. Tends to be expensive though but it’s still worth doing as they can point out what you’re doing right and wrong etc..

I often find Justin Sandercoe’s videos quite helpful. Yousician is also quite a fun learning tool if you’re happy to pay the monthly subscription and it’s far cheaper than guitar lessons in person. If you try the lessons on there and stick to it, you will improve. Maybe your local college does a guitar beginners or intermediate course as an evening class? That’s how I started ten years ago.

[TibBo]

I'd go one step easier... if you are a complete beginner, learn how to do a power chord.
Basically your hand stays in the same position/shape, and you play a simplified version of the chord depending on what fret your hand is on.
You can play a simplified version of any song using power chords, so I would recommend picking your favourite song and learning how to play along with it using power chords.
The confidence from being able to play something you enjoy so quickly will help to keep your enthusiasm up and thrive to learn more things.

I find that the reason most people give-up on guitar is because the learning-curve is steep initially if you jump straight into open chords, your hands are too weak to hold the shapes, and the songs you are taught are usually traditional standards that it is hard to get particularly excited about.  Learn a song you enjoy first and annoy everyone in your house playing that over and over for a few weeks.

Happy to help if you want to give it a try

[Statto]

Currently learning to play myself and finding some success after a few previously aborted attempts, and the advice I'd offer/back up what's been offered before is:

- For me, getting actual lessons has been a big help in providing structure & accountability, but I get that's not necessarily right for everyone

- I'd very much echo finding a couple of simple versions of songs you know & like once you have a few chords under your belt, it's really empowering to be able to play a recognisable singalong version of something you love after just a few weeks. For me it was Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd (just C, G, Am over and over and over again). As a non-player (even one who was singing in bands) I'd always assumed that every song must be mega complex with loads of chords, the reality is quite different! Here's a bunch of good examples:

 

[Keith Houchen]

Just to echo what others have said, once you have played a simple enough song that you know well, the confidence just lifts. You’ll recognise chord progressions in the same songs (4 chords of doom) but that first one you get right? Priceless

I was trying to teach a mate how to play and started him with Blink 182 - All The Small Things. His face when he played the first chord was one of sheer delight. 

[cobra_gordo]

Power chords are a great shout, they're really satisfying and for what we play (shouty metal) I'm using them more often than traditional open chords anyway.

[Browser Brady]

Fantastic idea for a thread lads . 
 

I actually took lessons in 1999 and literally havn’t played since about 2001.

 

i spotted my old acoustic in my Dad’s the other day and thought how it would be nice to pick it up again. 
 

Some great suggestions.

[SuperBacon]

My 10yo picked up the acoustic no issue. She had two lessons at school before the funding was pulled (by my own organisation I might add!) but basically taught herself through YouTube and just practice. She's pretty much mastered it, even writes her own songs.

But she has massively struggled with her electric and is now becoming disinterested more and more, especially now she plays football quite regularly.

Any hints or tips anyone has about the transition between the two would be great.

I get the feeling she doesn't like the fact that she sounds great on the acoustic and quite frankly, a bit shit on the electric and we really want her to stick to it.

[cobra_gordo]

40 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

My 10yo picked up the acoustic no issue. She had two lessons at school before the funding was pulled (by my own organisation I might add!) but basically taught herself through YouTube and just practice. She's pretty much mastered it, even writes her own songs.

But she has massively struggled with her electric and is now becoming disinterested more and more, especially now she plays football quite regularly.

Any hints or tips anyone has about the transition between the two would be great.

I get the feeling she doesn't like the fact that she sounds great on the acoustic and quite frankly, a bit shit on the electric and we really want her to stick to it.

That's so bizarre because I and a bunch of people I know that started on electric felt the same when switching to acoustic. It's two different disciplines, little things like fretting, picking, hand position have a massive effect. What guitar/ amp is it out of interest? When I was first starting as a kid I thought I sounded like shit until I got a decent amp.

[SuperBacon]

5 minutes ago, cobra_gordo said:

That's so bizarre because I and a bunch of people I know that started on electric felt the same when switching to acoustic. It's two different disciplines, little things like fretting, picking, hand position have a massive effect. What guitar/ amp is it out of interest? When I was first starting as a kid I thought I sounded like shit until I got a decent amp.

Can't remember off the top of my head, but I think it's a Third Avenue one. Not splashing out on a Marshall, she's 10!