Beginner guitar player, advice, experiences, opinions wanted

catfish billy · 12-21-2015, 08:41 AM

Not sure if this is the sort of forum for this, but I'd like to know..

How many of you are blues guitarists, or play the blues at all?

I'm self taught, and currently still self teaching with the help of Marty and other YouTube tutors as well as a few friends of mine. They aren't big on blues, mostly rock music and singer songwriter stuff.

So my main question is, for a beginner, are there any good resources for self teaching acoustic blues? Free references are a priority but I am welcome to all information.

For some background I can "read" tabs but haven't reached the point where I can play along with a tab in a timely manner. I haven't mastered barre chords either... I currently try to practice one thing at a time. For instance I have just mastered basic chord changes so I can get the chords for a song and play along. I've got most basic chords down.. The open cowboy chords and the obvious 7 chords (A, E, D, G, C, and B7). I've been practicing lately on finger style and experimenting picking out notes in the chords.

So I've realized I said more than I expected. But anyways,

What should I be practicing as an aspiring blues player and where can I find the information online to assist me?

Also any opinions or comments on beginners and playing you feel I should know or look into. Maybe ways certain excercises helped you, your beginner stories, etc.

Thanks!

SatoshiNak · 12-21-2015, 11:15 AM

It seems like you've got a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses, I'd scour the lessons on premierguitar, guitar world, and the guitarhabits sites for lessons that'll be beneficial to you. Their forum is atrocious, but ultimateguitar has a huge tab database - so does songster, build your practice around the lessons you find online and in magazines, books, etc. and work on songs and just keep at it. When I first started playing many years ago it was the old Mel Bay guitar book and whatever you could glean from magazines, now a beginner can do pretty well teaching himself without an instructor, it is just a matter of being honest with yourself regarding your ability and formulating a solid practice routine.

mr.mick · 01-18-2016, 07:54 PM

a good bit of advice i got when starting was not to look at what you were doing as 'practising' or 'learning' but rather as 'playing' 'jamming' 'rocking'. i know it sounds corny but it's about the message in there which is that one minute of practice that you want to do is more valuable than one hour of practice that you're not enjoying. that definitely rings true for me

12-21-2015, 08:41 AM	#1 (permalink)
catfish billy Groupie Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 2	Beginner guitar player, advice, experiences, opinions wanted Not sure if this is the sort of forum for this, but I'd like to know.. How many of you are blues guitarists, or play the blues at all? I'm self taught, and currently still self teaching with the help of Marty and other YouTube tutors as well as a few friends of mine. They aren't big on blues, mostly rock music and singer songwriter stuff. So my main question is, for a beginner, are there any good resources for self teaching acoustic blues? Free references are a priority but I am welcome to all information. For some background I can "read" tabs but haven't reached the point where I can play along with a tab in a timely manner. I haven't mastered barre chords either... I currently try to practice one thing at a time. For instance I have just mastered basic chord changes so I can get the chords for a song and play along. I've got most basic chords down.. The open cowboy chords and the obvious 7 chords (A, E, D, G, C, and B7). I've been practicing lately on finger style and experimenting picking out notes in the chords. So I've realized I said more than I expected. But anyways, What should I be practicing as an aspiring blues player and where can I find the information online to assist me? Also any opinions or comments on beginners and playing you feel I should know or look into. Maybe ways certain excercises helped you, your beginner stories, etc. Thanks!

12-21-2015, 11:15 AM	#2 (permalink)
SatoshiNak Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 51	It seems like you've got a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses, I'd scour the lessons on premierguitar, guitar world, and the guitarhabits sites for lessons that'll be beneficial to you. Their forum is atrocious, but ultimateguitar has a huge tab database - so does songster, build your practice around the lessons you find online and in magazines, books, etc. and work on songs and just keep at it. When I first started playing many years ago it was the old Mel Bay guitar book and whatever you could glean from magazines, now a beginner can do pretty well teaching himself without an instructor, it is just a matter of being honest with yourself regarding your ability and formulating a solid practice routine.

01-18-2016, 07:54 PM	#3 (permalink)
mr.mick Groupie Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 6	a good bit of advice i got when starting was not to look at what you were doing as 'practising' or 'learning' but rather as 'playing' 'jamming' 'rocking'. i know it sounds corny but it's about the message in there which is that one minute of practice that you want to do is more valuable than one hour of practice that you're not enjoying. that definitely rings true for me