HellCell

Simple question, how would you start? How much money would it cost? And does age affect learning curve?

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http://www.last.fm/user/deannewb

Chula Vista

What kind of music do you want to be able to play someday? Acoustic or electric? How much quality time could you devote to practicing each day or week?

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

EPOCH6

Age doesn't matter. Determination and practise matters.

Fortunately guitar manufacturers make it a very easy hobby to approach, there is something available in all price ranges from $100 to $5000 or more, cheapest starting at $100 for a guitar and practice amp (Robson is a common starter brand). For a first guitar you should probably consider a Fender Squier, that's the classic option, it'll probably cost you around a $150. I'd commit to spending $200 for a guitar / practice amp if you want something that'll get you through the learning curve somewhat smoothly without frustrating you out of the hobby.

Better, if you have a friend that plays, ask if you can borrow one of their guitars to learn. If they've been playing a while chances are it will be of higher quality and will make things easier on you. The difference in price points among guitars typically relates directly to build quality and hardware quality. More expensive guitars have more professional finishes that allow your hand to move along the neck much more easily, the fretboard will feel smoother and less sticky allowing for easier chord movement, the guitar will stay in tune longer, and of course sound nicer due to higher quality pickups. But if that's not an option don't be discouraged, starter guitars work fine for their purpose.

Judging by your Last FM you're going to be aiming for metal / rock styles. This means you'll want to start out by learning how to read guitar tablature, Google and YouTube are your friend. If you're going to try and learn on your own without a teacher I recommend the following order of steps:

- Tuning your guitar / note names along the neck in standard tuning
- Reading & writing tablature
- Basic chords: D, G, Em, C
- Basic 12-bar blues & finger exercises
- Learning and transcribing basic rock songs

YouTube is an endless resource for learning guitar on your own, just try to keep focused on a particular order of lessons, don't jump around to learning random techniques here and there, avoid videos called "How 2 solo". Once you've got a feel for your guitar and your fingers are starting to feel comfortable along the neck search up some YouTube tutorials on playing basic rock songs like Sunshine Of Your Love, or Paranoid, or Smoke On the Water, or Seven Nation Army. Even if you don't care for the artists, it's about teaching your fingers how to move, and pop songs are always the simplest to learn.

Force yourself to learn the basics first, make sure you can play those basic songs perfectly, then you can move forward and start learning to play along with songs you really like. Skipping steps and refusing to learn the basics first is the fastest way to get discouraged and drop the hobby. Pace yourself, take it slowly. Come back to this thread with any questions and I'll gladly help, I'm sure Plankton and Chula will be happy to help too.

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Plankton

My only advise... be bold. That. Is what makes a guitar player.

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Mister Mushroom

Adding onto this, if you're willing to buy a used guitar odds are you can get a Squier stratocaster for roughly anywhere between $40-$70. I'd recommend going to a brick'n'mortar store for it though and just running your hand up and down the neck or randomly playing notes. I didn't do this when purchasing my first guitar and kind of regret it.

There's also sites like Rondo Music that sell good instruments for cheap prices and odds are you can get a good Strat/Tele/Les Paul style guitar for a cheap price.

Of course what kind of guitar you should get all depends on your personal preferences in aesthetics, feel and what music you wish to play.

Also if you're a fan of video games you might want to pickup a copy of Rocksmith/Rocksmith 2014. It really helped me adjust to the guitar. If you do this, however, DO NOT only play with Rocksmith. Practice outside of it or playing guitar will become just a game for you and you'll find yourself unable to play without it.

I practiced about 50% of the time with Rocksmith and 50% of the time without it, gradually lowering the amount of time using Rocksmith as I progress. Now I'm at around 25% of the time using it and 75% not.

Last bit of advice would be to not ignore music theory. It just makes things so much easier, even if you only know basic music theory. Learn the fretboard as soon as you possibly can.

Carpe Mortem

I'm learning for the first time myself and kinda finding that the facts of it are simple memorization. Its the training of your fingers that's a bitch, and improvement on that can only come with practice. Don't give up.

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Moss

There is definitely rote memorization but it does not have to be boring. Learning Pentatonics for example is way more fun if you throw on pretty much any blues based classic rock song and play along paying attention to what they are doing. throw on some Trower and play until the patterns start to make sense. Thats what i did.

Carpe Mortem

Think I'm gonna try to learn bridge of sighs next, speaking of trower

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Black Francis

Befriend somebody who plays guitar.

i had the good fortune of having a friend who taught me how to play and used to lent me his acoustic guitar so i could practice.

Some practical advice would be to pick a simple song you like and start learning it by either reading its tabs or by learning it by ear. idk how to read music so i learned to do it by ear.

there's many ways to learn all you need is dedication & interest.

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"Hey Kids you got to meet the MIGHTY PIXIES!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRbCtIgW3A

Chula Vista

How long have you been playing?

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”