Your Journey to Becoming a Guitarist
 

Alright. So I have left the drums aside for now (since I don't have a kit) and have picked up the guitar. So far I have progressed decently but I don't find playing fun (I do like the idea of playing the guitar and being very good at it, but this is irrelevant). I just hope it becomes more fun as I learn more, so far I feel the more I learn, the more bored I become.It could just be personal taste but I just want to hear if any of you went through the same thing I'm going through. If not, maybe I should pack things up and leave it to you pros lol. I was hoping you could share your journey with us.

I got real bored initially too. You learning electric/lead licks or acoustic/chords?

I'm playing chords on a crappy Ovation guitar. I'm not learning lead licks or anything like that (but I would love to). Maybe this could be the problem. Did you find you become more interested once you became better? I should point out that I took up the guitar with excitement and kept that excitement until I started learning how to play simple songs.

for me, when i first started to play, i was obsessed. any free moment i had, literally, ANY free moment i had, i practiced and played. i did that for over a year. after that i got up the courage to find other people to jam with, and sought out people who were better than me. i spent all my spare $$ on gear, except for a fri nite pizza and a small bag of weed. if you're bored, i would take that as a sign to move on to what excites you. life is short. don't be bored.

I agree with cheezyridr, though I got past the boredom phase after listening to more acoustic musicians. I wanted to play their songs, so I would print out the chords and practice until I had it down. It became pretty fun once I had a few under my belt I could play.

Edit - I did learn Led Zeppelin riffs before much songs. Then I learned the infamous guitarist newbie song-Stairway to Heaven-and then went to bar chords after that.

Damn right. Glad we have people like you to remind us...I need to make some changes in my situation

ABSOLUTELY!

to the OP - don't stick to playing what you already know. how would you improve?

when i started learning i went right for the most ridiculous stuff i could get my hands on with the expectation to 'fail'. hendrix's 'little wing' was the 2nd song i tried learning. it's NOT a beginner's tune and it kicked my ass all over the place - until the solo. i could nail that wonderfully simple lead line without much hassle and it encouraged me to keep going for more.

after trying that song for a few weeks going back to 'simpler' tunes that had given me problems earlier on i found myself breezing through some of their more 'complicated' passages.

i think the attitude that one needs to be 'better' before they're able to progress is ultimately self-defeating and worthless. if you want to play lead lines then start playing lead lines, if you want to play complex songs instead of 3 chord stum-a-longs then do it up. there's no checklist out there that you have to hit X amount of milestones in order to be good enough to level up.

If you're just not enjoying it, then maybe it's not for you. I played piano for years before I decided to teach myself guitar. As soon as I started learning I progressed really quickly and practices heaps and heaps every day until I became better and better at it. Now I feel I've reached a certain knowledge in playing guitar that it has become really enjoyable to play. Keep practicing and trying to learn new things, and maybe you'll begin to enjoy it more. But don't force yourself to learn it if you find other instruments more enjoyable for you!

Get inspired! Go see some amazing musicians play a show. listen to some simple songs that inspire you emotionally. That has always helped me. Playing music is supposed to be creative and fun if it's neither for you your either worrying too much about "getting good" and not enough about enjoying yourself or maybe the guitar isn't your thing. I've played guitar for a long time and it's been an uphill battle all the way, but when I sit down at a piano (an instrument I've had very little experience playing) I'm so enthralled that I don't worry about how good I am.

I started playing when I was a child, but never really devoted myself to learning the standard way. I never even desired to play other people's songs. I wanted to create my own.
So when I started self-teaching and figuring out different ways to do things on the guitar, I was eventually able to start writing my own songs.
I picked up on a lot of instruments along the way, stayed on drums for many years, but eventually started playing acoustic and learning fingerstyle and playing in open tunings.
My electric has been collecting dust since then.

To this day, in the over 20 years of hands-on music instrumentation experience I have, I have not learned a single song of someone else's (beyond jamming originals or band practice), nor have I the inclination to do so.
And I think I do pretty well for myself.
Never lost motivation yet.

I've gotten interesting replies from everyone, thanks a lot! So the overall message I've gotten is:

1. I could be bored because I'm not learning interesting/complicated stuff that I want to play.

2. I could be bored because I'm worrying too much about being good rather than enjoying it.

3. The guitar is not for me and I should stick to the drums.

My goal now is to find the cause of this lack of interest, which is harder than it sounds. I don't want to assume I'm not interested because of reason 3 (since I might be able to recapture that interest after playing for awhile). I don't want to give up the guitar and realize that I would have enjoyed it had I stuck with it.

You trying to learn from books, a friend, a teacher...or just making stuff up and thrashing around?

I suggest asking one of your friends who plays to show you some shortcuts, patterns and licks from music that you like...but I'm sure you've already had that idea.

If you already know a few chords, go to the library and find a "Fake Book" It's a book of hundreds of songs that shows chords and a simple single note lead line. You'll see/learn lots of new chords and how they fit together to make music.
That way you're learning songs that you like instead of tedious exercises.

Good luck.

no offense intended but based on just about everything else you've posted on this site i think this is it.

your first instruments thread was pretty much a big whine about not getting enough attention/appreciation as a drummer from your peers. do you actually want to play the guitar or are you just trying to get a little piece of the attention you think the other guys in your band were getting?

again i don't mean to be insulting or anything, it's just how you come across in your posts. it's like you're looking for someone to answer a question only you can figure out - why do you want to play music? what is music to you?

i had been playing guitar for over 7 years before i ever felt comfortable calling myself a musician. took me a few more years after that to finally be able to define what i call music in a way that the people i jam with could understand (and either get in line or get out of the way). there's no quick answer that someone is just going to type out and put everything in its right place.

^ This.

As a musician, even before I was good enough to call myself anything but a kid who fiddles with instruments, I KNEW it was what I was meant to do and I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that I would never let the musician in me die.
It was never really a matter of motivation for me. That part was automatic.
It was more about finding new inspiration that led me to see things differently and by virtue of that, allowing me to expand my creativity.

Hi, Sam-Y,
I agree that 1 and 2 above may be the answer, and yet it is also possible that right now guitar just isn't the instrument that grabs your attention (like the drums do), and if this is the case it doesn't mean you can't take it up again later if you do decide to put the guitar down now.

I agree with others that it is wise to take you where your interests lead, so that practicing your instrument feels like liberation rather than constraint. I played clarinet from 5th grade to 12th grade, and practiced many hours, did well in competitions, etc., but I never really *loved* playing. It often felt like a chore to practice. Sometimes I watched TV while I practiced to make it more exciting, and after high school I rarely picked up the clarinet again! Perhaps I was playing it more to feel accomplished and follow through with a choice I made in 5th grade (to play the clarinet), than to experience playing the instrument primarily as a way of expressing myself musically.

In contrast, the electric guitar rivets my attention. I'd play for hours if I could. Like others, I recommend you practice playing what you want to play. For example, if you want to play rock music and you haven't learned power and barre chords, I recommend those since then you can play lots of songs right away. In my case, I prefer to make up songs and try to come up with my own fingerings/chords. I've enjoyed playing "Steady as She Goes" by the Raconteurs after downloading the TABs (and playing along with their YouTube video so I feel like I'm part of the band!), but that's the only song I've played so far that was created by someone else (besides Home on the Range and some other simple folk tunes).

I would like to be able to play other people's guitar songs in theory, but in practice my interests take me elsewhere (I like to make up my own songs), and so I do what I like. When I play the guitar, I really feel like I'm *playing.* It is fun, like a game; playing makes me feel much more alive. My goal isn't to become an expert but to have fun making music that *I* like.

Sam-Y, what do you feel your musical goals are? Answering this will probably help you figure out what guitar-playing means to you and whether it is an instrument you want to continue with right now, like Mr Dave said. I wouldn't want you to end up doing what I did with the clarinet: spend thousands of hours with an instrument making music that really doesn't move you. I somewhat regret the time I spent on the clarinet. I don't regret my time with the guitar at all: when I practice guitar, time flies by quickly and seems to stretch out deliciously long at the same time.

--Erica

You all make good points. I got to stop thinking externally and start doing what I want to be doing.

Mr. Dave, you hurt my feelings in the process but you said it best. I guess I'm trying to have someone decide for me indirectly which is stupid. I got me some thinking to do people.

sorry dude but sometimes people need a little tough love. at least you're able to recognize that the intention was not to hurt your feelings but to be direct on the issue. :thumb:

No I completely understand man. Thanks. You think you could help me learn Let It Die by the Foo Fighters Mr. Dave? I can't hold the notes properly and I got some questions regarding tabs.

well ive been playing for maybe 2 1/2 years now, and i havent found any jam buddies yet, but it was alot like that for me for the first year and a half, then i had a HUGE downtime... maybe a month, when i just didnt want to, but the *i want to go play guitar now!* comes in waves. during the down times i try to play at least 15 mins. -> 1/2 hour every day. thats helps me get back when i get pumped up again =P

so i would say play a little bit each day so you dont lose skill while your waiting for interest to return

i'll see what i can do.

this is the tab i'm looking at - seems about right. Let It Die Tab by Foo Fighters

for the first bit you're only moving a mash up of the open G and C chord shapes the notes on the high E are played with your ring finger, the B string is your index and the others are handled by your middle finger. there is a bit of a tricky bit but if you take it slow it's not that bad.

so the two main 'chords' up to the first chorus are:

e--8---5------
B--6---3------
G--0---0------
D--8---5------
A-------------
E-------------

notice how the relative spacing between the notes stays the same, that way you don't have to move the fingers on the top two strings much.

the middle 'tricky' bit is where your middle finger takes control

chord 1********tricky*****chord 2
e||-----8----- --------- -----5------||
B||-------6--- --------- -------3----||
G||---------0- --0---0-- -0-------0--||
D||--/8------- ----7---5 ---5--------||
A||----------- 8-------- ------------||
E||----------- ---------- ----------||

hold the first chord shape when you start the tricky bit as you want those notes to keep ringing. by the time you're hitting the note at the 7th fret they should be dying out to the point where you can relax your fingers (and silence the notes). the end of the tricky bit allows you to move your hand down the neck two frets and get in position so that you can be ready to let the high notes ring out from chord 2.

the chorus sticks to the open C shape but you change frets when you alternate between playing the high notes and low notes pairings (either skipping strings between B and D or alternating between A and D).

the open C shape is in full effect again for the bridge only this time you add a little extra pizazz on the high E with your little finger.

the power chords and pedal point breakdown seem pretty straight forward.

hope this helps, the only way to nail the acoustic bit in this song is practice. incidentally that chord shape is only missing the bass note octave on the low E to be the same one Hendrix used for the intro to 'Castles Made of Sand'.

Sweet. Thanks Mr. Dave. That part with the middle finger is really tricky. Also, when I'm holding the D string with my third finger, I find it difficult to pluck the open G string as it gets caught. Do you recommend I wrap my thumb around the upper neck of the guitar or just place it right in the middle of the neck in a pushing position? Is my question confusing? lol

no worries.

i guess i should have been more clear with the fingering of those chord shapes. i wouldn't be using my 3rd finger on the D string, only on the high E. the D (and A) string action is all with my middle finger, the offensive one haha. your index finger takes care of the notes on the B string.

as for the thumb question, that's a matter of personal preference and comfort. myself, i'm a hendrix disciple with big hands, so i'm all about wrapping my thumb around the neck. technically this is HORRIBLE posture, and could potentially contribute to issues down the road depending on the overall position of my hands and wrists when playing. for me, wrapping the thumb is comfortable, but it really depends on what you're playing.

if you EVER start feeling cramps or a burning sensation in your wrist or in the tendons in the top part of your hand STOP PLAYING IMMEDIATELY. take a little break, stretch and shake your hand, loosen up the muscles and get the blood flowing again then CHANGE your posture. even a slight change can make a noticeable difference.

Thanks man. Now regarding the the fingers used, how do I know which fingers should be used when reading tabs? If it's on the 8th fret, shouldn't I use my third and fourth fingers since I'm holding two string on that fret?

i would bar both strings with my pinky. in other words, i would use just on finger for both strings, but if you havent learned to bar yet, then you can use whatever two fingers get you there fastest and most accurate. however if your not pressed to hit it really fast, (ie. if there is silence before the note) and you have time to move your whole hand i would use the first and second finger, so its easiest to hold down the frets and not buzz.

That's interesting, I never considered that. My fingers aren't fast and accurate enough yet and I am little pressed for time. SoI could I save time using my pinky? Is there a correct way of holding strings or is it just personal preference? The guy teaching the instructional video was using his third and pinky finger but that's only one opinion.

i would have to see the tab but i think that third and pinky should work from what im hearing. and yeah, generally you can use anything you want. heck, you could use ur nose if you learned it that way