| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 6/7/2007 1:04:19 PM | My parents bought me my first guitar. A few years later I bought my self a pretty Yamaha six string. A few months later I got myself a classical. Then I saw this beauty of a cut- away A/E and I knew I had to have it, so I went into the store and picked it up to make sure it would feel right - ya know what I mean. She was a beauty.
A few of my friends played and my brother played in a band that had a really big following.
Well, now that my brother died (an asthma attack - he died in the ambulance), his ancient Hohner electric and his Les Paul are mine.
Both those guitars need some work, but I'll keep them 'cause they were my brother's.
I play for me. I don't plan on playing in a band or jamming with a bunch of others. I am a music fanatic. I keep on teaching myself more and more theory and I keep on playing. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 10/25/2007 4:56:15 PM |
Stretch! Stretch your fingers and hands (and wrists) before and after playing. Make sure that you're not squeezing TOO HARD. That can lead to trouble with your playing style as well as causing pain. Eric Clapton gives this advice: Soak your fingers in surgical spirits (rubbing alchohol-rubifacient) for ten minutes a day. He, apparently, does this religiously.
It's only temporary. All guitarists remember those lovely first days (typically made worse on cheap guitars) where bleeding fingers ruled the day.
I once freaked out a non-guitarist friend of mine (when we were discussing this topic) by taking a sewing needle and asking him to push it against my fingertip. He hesitated , and complied with my request. I told him to keep pressing harder, until he almost went white and passed out.
It's also not a bad thing to use something like an emery board (or sandpaper) to smooth out any irregular callous formation. That will make your tone better.
It really shouldn't take a lot of pressure (once you are past the early starter stage) to hold down the string properly to the fret. If it does take a lot of effort, it's probably due to a cheap guitar, improper strings, or the action not being set up properly.
I'm a believer in heavier strings, but sometimes a lighter gauge at the start makes things a bit easier. Once you get the ability, you can increase the gauge as you progress . | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/17/2007 10:55:43 PM | | I was a teen 15 in 1989 , I wanted to be Famous lol....that fad soon left , cuz my heart wasn't into it , plus the fact my house burned down and lost the guitar didnt help :|...lol...but thats another story, but not till 17 yrs later did I get an urge to play again, I don't know what happened , just went with the urge on day and went and bought one. I'm glad I did , It has been one off my fav things to do lately and my heart and soul is into it, thats what matters, I cant seem to put it down :D | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/19/2007 12:26:47 AM | Well I was about 6 yrs old watching Ed Sullivan back in the day. I saw these Rockers on the show and they started trashing their equipment and at that point I was in love this is what I wanted to do. I was convinced that I could already play. My neighbor another 6 yr old called me out on a lie. I'm telling him I play guitar so he went in the house and brought his fathers axe outside. Needless to say I didn't even know how to hold a guitar, I was the fool. so I begged my mother to buy me a guitar and that christmas she borrowed money and bought this plastic Emenee guitar and I started playing and creating songs. and as for that neighbor, I ended up teaching him to play and inspired several other friends to start jamming. I'm 51 still teaching Jazz, R&B,pop, house, light rock,gospel,smooth jazz and the blues. The End.  | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/19/2007 12:46:12 AM | i quit smoking and needed something to do with my hands so my roomie at the time taught me the basic chords to keep me busy and the rest is history.
i learn by playing... and playing... and playing. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/19/2007 2:27:20 AM | I practically lived in front of our huge console record player as a teenager. Soaking up all that Zep, Rush, Who, Queen, Yes, and Floyd made me want to pick up the guitar.
I can remember getting all excited that I could play parts of my favorite Who tracks and I rushed down to the music store and I bought up tons of tablature.
Jimmy Page was my main idol and I practiced "Over the Hills and Far Away" for hours and hours until I got it right... or close to right. (I didn't realize he played a 12 string on that track)
Then I discovered that Pagey used a few different tunings... that opened up a whole new world. Rain Song still blows me away.
Still play for pleasure.... nowadays, more like Ry Cooder. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/21/2007 9:41:26 PM | I got my first guitar as a christmas gift in 1963. Went to a place called Domans Musicland in Elyria Ohio for lessons. The teacher played a green colored Gretch Country Gentleman, and boy I thought that guitar was the coolest thing I ever saw. Not even sure if the place is still there. Im in Florida now.
Ricky Nelson and Elvis ruled the day. In 1964 the Beatles debut on Ed Sullivan took place, and after this the British invasion followed with the Stones, Dave Clark 5, Animals etc. Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary and the folk movement took place. Woodstock was in 1969 with Hendrix, Alvin Lee, Johnny Winter and so many other influential artists. There were so many groundbreaking artists back then. Those people wrote the book. I can still remember the day that I first heard Stevie Ray. Everyone wanted to play guitar.
Over the years my interest has waxed and waned a few times, and have dabbled in all kids of music, but over the past 6 years or so I have been playing consistantly. I own an American Strat, Martin Classical, Gibson ES-175 and just bought a nice Taylor 914. I can hardly set that Taylor down. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/21/2007 10:41:09 PM | I started playing in 1997... A friend of mine had recieved an electric guitar for his birthday and he could hardly put it down. He let me mess with it a bit and he taught me a few basic chords, power chords, etc. I was totally hooked. Two days later, my parents and I took a trip to British Columbia to see my grandmother. She had this amazing classical guitar that she gave me when my parents told her I wanted to learn to play. When we got home, I signed up for lessons at Ellery Music Studio in Saskatoon... I was learning to play Nirvana, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins and Megadeth on this big classical guitar... *laughs* Loved every second of it though.
About two months later, my parents picked me up a black and white 95 Fender Strat and a little practice amp. Shortly after that, I quit lessons and taught myself. I still hung out and jammed with my former teacher quite a bit though. Ellery closed down a few month ago though and I haven't heard from him since.
Now, I own an Ibanez AX-7221 seven string, an Ibanez V7 acoustic, a little Cort six string, a Hamer "Explorer" and an Ibanez Soundgear four string bass, as well as a Pearl/Sabian drum kit and a Privia PX-110 keyboard. I still have my grandmother's classical and the Fender. Even if I lost both my arms, I would never get rid of those first two guitars, especially the classical. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 11/22/2007 3:27:00 AM | some tips for anyone who finds their fingers hurting while learning guitar...
..use a capostrano(capo for short)...put it on 2nd or third fret...will bring strings closer +therefore easier to press down on ....if you want to keep it in pitch with the chord shapes +songs you know...simply tune down to where you were before.
learn on a spanish guitar(classical)...easier on the fingers+you can then graduate to steel strings....besides ,you might find you can get what you need from a classical+stay with it....
when buying a steelstrung acoustic,get the best you can afford
dont overdo the length of time you practise... | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 12/5/2007 12:30:05 PM | I started playing 7 years ago and writing my own music. I taught myself to play online with sites like guitartabs.cc and ultimate-guitar.com, learning metallica, zepplin's stairway to heaven, alot of 80's and country in my first couple of months....right now, I'm in the process of learning Dragonforce's Through the Fire and Flames , Heart's Barracuda, Pat Benatar's Hit me with your best shot...all from guitar hero 3.....It's coming through very well, and I'm loving getting into my 8th year at the end of this month :)  | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 12/11/2007 8:00:36 AM | | I started playing because I was into Elvis. My parents bought me a cheap acoustic and later an Ibanez electric. I started taking lessons but the teacher was a jazz guitarist and I wanted to rock! At one point, I quit the lessons, bought a blues book (I was into BB King), and played along to some blues records I had. Eventually, I started playing along to AC/DC records; Judas Priest; Black Sabbath. I don't play too much anymore, but I made good use of the tab books / magazines that are out there. | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 12/29/2007 5:33:41 AM | The Beatles!....I'm hearing them again...with new ears!...finally cracked the intro of 'If I Fell'.....+what a great intro!....they just had a way with songs that was theirs only...
Heard a demo of John Lennon strumming+doing his vocal harmony line for this song...mesmerising!
It's good to know also they used acoustic guitars on a lot of their early stuff.
good to read your post! | |
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| How did you start playing the electic/acoustic guitar?
Posted: 12/29/2007 11:02:20 AM | I started when I was 10. My father played and I wanted to be like him. We play together sometimes now, so I'm glad I started.
As far as learning materials go, I always go back to "Solo Guitar" by Frank Noad for the basics. the Guitar Grimoire series are some of the best reference books for scales and excercises. Tabs found online are usually wrong, and make it difficult to get a sense of a song if you haven't heard it before. I stick to musical notation where I can. | |
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