Acoustic guitar...?

Bridget

I am trying to teach myself to play the acoustic guitar. I have a tutorial book and have found several online resources to help me, but I was wondering if there is any advice you could give me as a beginner. Is there anything you wish you'd known when you first started playing? Thanks.

Answer
As a guitar teacher my number one thing I try to keep telling my students is to have fun. Don't be afraid to try new stuff. If the book gives you a scale or something to practice...don't just practice it exactly the way it's written. Mess around with it, try to make a little song...or something like...but above all else...HAVE FUN!

Practice shouldn't be like homework.

And another thing I would suggest is to have a goal you're working towards...find a song you really want to know how to play, and work on learning it. The more you incorporate the stuff you're learning into the stuff you want to learn you will get much better, and have a lot more fun.

Hope that helps :-)

Beginner acoustic guitars?

Q. doing a little christmas shopping and I was wondering what some good beginner acoustic guitar brands are? I'm trying to find one for less then a $100 considering its a beginner guitar. Also the person is about 6 feet tall, is there a certian size guitar to get them or is it universal?
thanks so much!

Answer
Buy a guitar from a guitar store and nowhere else. Not from the internet and not from a big box store like Walmart or Best Buy. You will spend more but you will get a guitar that's good enough to not hold you back. Cheap $100 guitars tend to quickly go out of tune and often have poor intonation. Spend a little more and get a lot better.

Acoustic guitars come in a variety of shapes and sizes from the smallest (called Parlor) to the largest (called Jumbo). Also at the very large end of the scale is the size called dreadnought, which is by far the most popular size. Many people buy it and later regret it, as it's quite uncomfortable for most people to play for any length of time. At least try a smaller guitar before you buy a dread like everyone else.

Good luck.

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Really good video for Acoustic Guitar Beginners?

Abrahim D

ok so I want to get a video that teaches me how to learn about the acoustic guitar the cords symbols everything, I don't know what video I should get can you guys help me out... thanks :D

Answer
Musician's Friend has a 3-DVD set that teaches literally everything you'd learn from years of private lessons. It starts with the very basics (names and functions of guitar parts, tuning, etc.), moves into chords and scales, has lessons on reading tablature, and eventually teaches how to write complicated riffs and solos. I bought the DVD set after having played guitar professionally for more than 20 years and can't believe how comprehensive and helpful it is. The set costs $40, compared to about $20 for a single half-hour lesson. I'll post a link to the set, as well as the electric set because that one has more reviews. They're both produced by the same company and feature the same teacher, though, so the reviews of the electric one will give you a good idea about the quality of the DVD program.

http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rock-House-Learn-Rock-Acoustic-Guitar-Beginner-Intermediate-and-Hands-of-Steel-DVD-Package?sku=942720
http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rock-House-Learn-Rock-Guitar-Beginner-Intermediate-and-Advanced-3DVD-package?sku=942719 (just so you can read the reviews)

Guitar lessons?

Mrdude

Iam looking at at taking guitar lessons. If I wana mess with anelectric guitar someday do I still learn acoustic first?

Answer
Hi, Matt- I've been playing and teaching on the side for 20+ years, so I'm going to give you some of the basic truths of learning the guitar:

First, learn to play the music you like to listen to. If you like folk, start with an acoustic. If you want to rock, get a good basic electric- almost any of the 'starter kits' will work by Fender, Ibanez, etc.

1- Start with a live instructor- learn the basics from a real human-not a DVD. Nothing beats the give-and-take with a teacher. You don't have to go to the local music store once a week- I've had students trade lawnmowing and babysitting for lessons. You can also find someone in the neighborhood or at school who plays-make an informal arrangement to help you get started.

2-Once you know the basics, find another player at about your skill level- share the music/tab/chords for a song or two. Get familiar with the material, and meet for a jam session- you'll improve much faster than if you were doing it alone. Record your jam sessions to see what you can do better next time. Remember this-Humans are social animals, and music is a social activity- I can t stress this enough. If you stay in your room and prcatice alone, you'll lose interest and won't go very far.

Good Luck!

P.S A good guitar magazine designed for beginners is Play Guitar!
www.playguitarmagazine.com

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Acoustic guitar and instructional guide for beginners?

Selena

What is a good acoustic guitar for beginners? I'm 19 years old and have wanted to learn how to play the acoustic guitar for years, so what is good for a beginner? Also, do you know of any good books, or dvds that can teach you to play because I cannot afford lessons. One more thing, I don't have a lot of money to spend on the guitar, but I don't wanna a crappy one either. I have about $130 to spend on the guitar.

Answer
With that much money, there's not gonna be much available to you. I think the best choice is to get a starter pack. Test play them if you can (just make sure it's not terrible... broken, or what have you). You don't need to know how to play to test, just make sure it's what you think a guitar should be,

Usually starter packs will come with some sort of instruction. I know the Ibanez ones do.

As for instruction, you can find great free instruction on the web. There is a guy named Justin Sandercoe on Youtube who has all sorts of video lessons for free, starting with beginners and moving up to advanced.


Good luck!

Guitar For Beginners.......?

Kartik

Can I Start With An Elec.Guitar Or Is First Started With An Acoustic?
How Do I Learn The Basics Without Any Music Classes If I Use The Internet?
Where Can I Learn The Basics If I Am Mainly Interested In Heavy Metal?

Answer
Hey :D
I am currently in almost the exact same position as you, except that I've already bought my guitar. I got an electric and ignored everyone's advice about buying an acoustic first. I really love it. =]
I got a cheap guitar, that came with an amp and all that, and it even came with a dvd, with some instruction, but I basically only use it for the chords =P
I would suggest with starting by learning how to read tabs and the names of the strings.
Names of the strings:
From left to right, its
Low E
A
D
G
B
High E
But you might also hear people refer to them as
6
5
4
3
2
1
In that same order. The thickest one is Low E and/or 6 and the thinnest is High E and/or 1
What I mean by left to right is that if you lift your guitar up vertically, then that's the order you'll see.
Next, learn how to read tabs.
I'd reccomend to ge there --v
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnDbS0tHzoErXfA1IQWSxMjpFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20090630175135AAON5Ev

Now, once you got that down, try some easy songs. An extremly easy song, which I learned in minutes, was Smoke On The Water. (Another, semi, easy one is Sweet Home Alabama bgy Lynard Skynard)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lJ1SM9zuvQ&feature=PlayList&p=CDE344D3DC2C545C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31
(Not the video I learned it from but I can't find the one I learned it off of =P)

You can also try looking up some of your favourite songs (I, personally, am currently learning Enterlude by The Killers, ExitLude by The Killers, and A Certain Romance by The Arctic Monkeys.)
Just go to Ulitimate-Guitar.com and search for the tablature that you want. =]
I hope I helped you some =P
Ta ta for now xD

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Guitar amplifier settings?

NE1-469

I got a 15 watt Marshall amp and I was just wondering what style of music each setting is used for? They are: Gain, Bass, Contour, and Treble. I know what gain is mainly, used for more hard rock songs if you want distortion. High bass if you want to play metal. Not sure about contour and treble though. Also, which settings will allow me to get the best acoustic sound? Thanks.

Answer
Hmm. Well, I just played one of these at Guitar Center the other day, so I have a pretty good idea what it can do.

Gain = distortion. Bass = low end. Contour = mid scoop or boost. Treble = ... well, treble. The high end frequencies.

This particular amp doesn't have a lot of gain, I easily dimed it and didn't think it was overly crazy, though normally I wouldn't turn it up that high. More gain = more distortion. Usually too much gain = fuzz, static, noise, and less clarity, but this amp doesn't seem to have enough to really suffer there.

You don't actually need a ton of bass to play metal... in all actuality, lower bass is generally better if you're playing in a band or recording. For solo stuff, umm, whatever.

The Contour knob is a little weird with Marshall amps. If you turn it to the left, it boosts your mids, if you turn it to the right, it cuts 'em. So, left for a more classic sound, right for a more modern sound.


Anyways, my general distortion amp settings are:

Bass 5-6, Contour 6-8, Treble 7-8, Gain 7-8

With this particular amp, these settings will certainly have to be tweaked to sound good for your guitar, etc. Its also worth noting that EQ settings can be different depending on volume - at high volumes you don't want to be pushing a lot of bass, since its easy to get a lot of mud, but you will usually have to tweak the treble when you turn the volume up/down.

To get a passable acoustic tone

Bass 4-5 Mids/Contour 5-7 Treble 6-8 (no gain on clean channel, right?)

Its rough getting an acoustic tone with just an amp - its a little easier with some EQ, and much easier with an acoustic simulator pedal, but in the end, its hard to get a great acoustic sound with anything but an acoustic.

For this amp in particular, to get the closest thing to a modern metal tone that you can get:

Bass 5-6 Mids/Contour 6-8 Treble 6-8 Gain 10


If you're jamming with friends, in general you'll want to lower your bass and gain by 1-3 notches, and move your contour 1-3 notches to the left.

You'll notice I gave a lot of ranges... it really depends on your guitar. What works for my LTD basswood body with high-output Seymour Duncan pickups and onboard preamp won't necessarily work well for you, in other words.

Good luck!


Saul

How to EQ acoustic guitar?

T

I am recording 2 guitar tracks only. Acoustic rhythm guitar and lead acoustic guitar. The mids and highs sound good (though open to advice there also. I am trying to cut the lows with a low shelf as generally they are way too prominent. Is there a general guideline for this in an eq? I am trying a low shelf that cuts 4db clear up to 300 mhz at a q of .9 Can you help me learn to use this eq better? Thanks.
I meant 300 hz
How about a simple 4 db cut up to 300 hz and a 3 db boost at 5khz to add presence? Thx
Hi Gene,

Yes, I am using compression. After the eq, i assume is correct? I am not good with compression either. I have a 4 bandwidth compressor. My hunch is that I want the four frequency sections to have a threshold set that gives them all equal compression, pretty much. For example, though my low end threshold may need to be set lower than my high end threshold, during song playback, the lows and highs both get about 3db max of compression. Sound about right?

Answer
You're fine cutting at 300 Hz. Just use your ears and judge how it fits in with the overall track, not how it sounds on its own. Are you using compression? It helps a lot in subtle ways.

Cheers!

Yeah, rolling off about 4 db or so at around 300 Hz sounds about right. You don't have any bass guitar or bass drum to clash with, so you may not have to roll off too much bottom end. You might try a little bump at around 1.5 k for some punch. You're probably okay with a little boost at around 5 k for sparkle, too, especially since you're only recording 2 acoustic guitars and it won't get in the way of anything else. Bottom line, if it sounds good with little or no EQ, then don't add it just because you can. Your compression settings seem about right, too. Unless you're going for a particular processed sound, the less you use of anything the better. It sounds like you know what you're doing, at least on paper. You using a condenser mike to mike your guitar?

Hope this helps.

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Whats the cheapest Gibson Acoustic Guitar?

Ali

One that wont break out on me. I want a cheap one (around 100$?) thats good for beginners. Its for my 12-year old sister, so I dont want it to be huge.

Id also like it if it had the sunburst color, but yeah. Id like a cheap one, that wont die in a second, reliable, all that kind of stuff. Help=love

Answer
The cheapest Gibson guitar is the Songmaker at around $1000. They put their name on the Maestro, but as others have rightly pointed out, they are complete junk and not worth the money. Epiphone is a Gibson's licensed clone and they make guitars similar to actual Gibsons at a much lower price. The DR100 is the cheapest Epiphone acoustic at around $100 and is much better than the Maestro but still not a very good guitar for a beginner. Epiphones (and Gibsons) have fat necks and are harder for beginners with smaller hands to play. I think you'd be much better off spending your $100 on a Takamine Jasmine like this one:
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Jasmine-by-Takamine-S34C-NEX-Cutaway-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=516458
You won't find any guitar with a solid top for $100 and the Takamine Jasmine is a very decent laminate top guitar that plays pretty nice for that low price. Sure, it would be better to spend $200 to get a Yamaha FG700S with a solid spruce top, but if $100 is your limit, the Takamine Jasmine is your best bet. You won't get a real Gibson for that and you should avoid those horrible cheap Maestro and First Act guitars like the plague. I've had students come to me already having bought those guitars and they are just horrid.

Where can I buy a cheap acoustic guitar?

EDEN P

I'm trying to find a cheap acoustic guitar around 100-200 dollars, thats good quality and will last me a long time, until I can afford to buy a another better one.
Its for a beginner

Answer
Cheap guitars can be found anywhere. Finding an inexpensively-priced instrument of good quality is much more difficult.

Start visiting guitar websites to research good instruments in your price range then you will have a nice starting point to find a guitar that will suit your needs. Talk with other guitar players and ask their advice also. Most will have their favorite brand but you can learn much from their experiences with first guitars.
"Cheap" guitars are more difficult to play and don't hold their tune. These problems may sour your enthusiasm for learning to play.

I paid less than $200 for a lightly used Washburn D-12 acoustic/electric at Music-Go-Round. This is a nice entry level instrument and is a good player.

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Do you know any free, online, easy to understand acoustic guitar lessons for beginners?

bobsagetpe

Yeah what that said. Thanks!

Answer
There are a bunch out there, but they're often low quality and can be hard to follow. If you want to teach yourself, I would recommend that you pick up this book:

http://www.amazon.ca/Leonard-Guitar-Method-Easy-Use/dp/0634047019/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279863421&sr=8-1

Free guitar lessons for beginners?

PrettyInPu

Im 15 and I want to learn acoustic guitar as a new hobby, but i really don't want to pay for lessons. Is there any GOOD websites that i can learn from?
bare in mind im a complete beginner :)

Answer
Try these, the beginner lessons are all free:
http://theguitarlesson.com/guitar-lessons/Basic%20Lessons

All the best
Tom

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FREE Online Acoustic Guitar Lesson For Beginners?

theekaseyy

Anyone know of any good online sites for free Acoustic Guitar lessons? I am a beginner... sooo.... Any sites for beginners would be good. Thanks!

Answer
Try cyberfret.com. Practice some of their beginner guitar lessons, chords, etc., every day for an hour or two, until you feel comfortable and confident enough with your chords and finger placements. Listen to tones and learn to recognize chords by their sound, then practice with songs you hear and like. The key is practice, practice, practice. By learning proper ways and tones of chords, and then moving towards simple songs you like, you will be able to recognize your own style more and get a feel of (1) the proper way to play chords and (2) your own methods of playing. Once you get a handle on this, seek out others to jam with, because that will keep you motivated to play more, and will allow you to learn from others as well.

Where could i go to learn to play acoustic guitar online for free?

(:

I've had my guitar for a while but just never actually bothered to learn to play it and now i really want to learn but i dont have enough money for lessons so i was just gonna try to learn online, where could i go?

Answer
PluckandPlayGuitar has free video based lessons for absolute beginners and assume you know nothing or close to nothing.

It takes you step by step through the basic guitar chords one by one. There's also lesson on guitar scales, techniques and some easy songs to play.

http://www.pluckandplayguitar.com/

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Where to buy a cheap Left-handed acoustic guitar?

Sammy

I just need one to learn on. I bought a left-handed electric guitar and have been trying to teach myself...but it just isn't working out. I want to take lessons but with an acoustic because I heard it is better to learn on one, (and I'd like to have one just to mess around with too).

Is this a good choice (from my local music store)

http://www.bertrandsmusic.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_4_5&products_id=87464

Please don't try to convince me to buy a right handed guitar, I just can't do it (have tried). And will the instructors be able to teach me since they are probably right handed players?
I'm very small (5'4 110 lbs).
Im 15 yrs/old.

Answer
First off, welcome to the world of guitars. Now down to business:

I'd honestly say learning on an electric (which is what I did) is A LOT better than acoustic because it will be easier to do chord changes, and you won't be as tired as you would on an acoustic. That's just my advice that is.

But, if you want to stick with an acoustic, I would really stress not getting a dreadnought guitar because dreadnought guitars are very big in size, and especially when your learning, it's not the best thing to get. I would recommend this one:

http://www.bertrandsmusic.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_4_5&products_id=89560

It's a very similar shape, but it's only 3/4 of the size of a full size dreadnought, and it's very cheap.

Although it would be very useful, being right handed has more advantages than left handed (i.e. 75% of guitars are right handed), and I'm going to try to convince you because I believe that you should comfortable with how you play. Maybe when you get really good, you can try playing right handed. I can play right and left myself, but I started left handed.

It doesn't matter about what hand the teacher uses to play guitar. Any teacher who plays right or left can easily teach you how to play guitar. It's just that they have to mirror what they do.

Anyway, take my advice about the guitar, you'll thank me later.

Hope this helped.

Cheap Student Acoustic Guitars?

Brooke

I want a student acoustic guitar. I don't want a big one, like the full one, maybe a 1/2 or 3/4. i just want to teach myself, or take lessons. And I want a cheap one. Like about 50 bucks. or less. I'm broke, lol, my parents won't pay I'm sure. So you guys know any places near North Normandie? Email me if you know a place or if you want to give me any other info. Thanks! or just answer the question! THANK YOU!

Answer
You have a couple of options.

Unless you're a small person, you'll probably have issues with a 1/2 sized guitar. Some of these are made for kids, more commonly they're made for travel. You can find very nice small guitars, but the sound is always going to suffer versus the full thing.

With that said, you don't have to buy the full-sized Dreadnought, either. Look for a "parlor" guitar or, as you say, a 3/4 size, which is still going feel like a full sized design, but a bit smaller overall.

As for cheap... I wouldn't recommend going overly cheap. It's not simply that you'll get lower quality sound (though you might), but that you may have technical problems with it, which will keep you from playing the guitar.. and the most important thing you can do to learn is practice, practice, practice. I play at least an hour every day.

There are three things I'd do to find a guitar bargain. One is to look at some of the "beginner" models put out by reputable guitar makers. These will be no-frills guitars, but they're of a decent enough quality to get you into learning, and there's little risk.

A bit more risk is the idea of buying a used guitar. You can look at the local classified, on-line resources like eBay or Craigslist, flea markets, yard sales, etc. There are plenty of people who buy a nice guitar, don't play for some years, and finally decide they just want to be rid of it. The risk is of course that there's something wrong with the guitar that you wouldn't notice, or that you buy an off-brand that's really no bargain.

A big help would be if you have a friend who's an experienced player to drag along if you go shopping locally, or to look over something you find on-line. I'm not saying that all off-brands are bad guitars, just that some are really cheap, and without holding it and playing it, I can't tell the difference. If it says "Martin" or "Taylor" or "Gibson" or "Fender" or something similar on it (and assuming it's not a Chinese knock-off), I'm pretty confident there's at least a base level of quality.

A word about eBay... if you look on eBay, you'll find any number of guitars selling for $20, $30, etc. Most of these are "novelty" guitars... they're very cheaply made, not really something you'd want to play. If you spend this little, you're very likely to buy a guitar that will work against you in the learning process (I'll have to admit here I learned on a Martin D-15... about $1300 MSRP.. and I'm still playing it today). The number 1 warning is that there's no brand-name listed.

In fact, if you can, borrow one for a month, get a beginner's book (assuming you don't play at all right now), and just play as long as you can every day (it may not be a hour... you have to put in some time to develop thick calluses and kill off those pesky nerves on the fingertips of your fretting hand). At that point, you'll at least have some idea of what you like and don't like, which will help you make a better decision about the guitar... and that's particularly important if you can't afford even one bad buy. Another option is to buy from a local store that offers a liberal return policy.

Here are a couple of buying guides, which might also help:
http://guitar.about.com/od/commonbeginnerquestions/a/to_buy_guitar.htm
http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/BuyingGuitars.htm
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/guitar/guitar.html
http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Buy_a_Guitar

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