I recently got an acoustic guitar and am trying to learn. What is the "proper" way to learn, or how would it be taught in a school setting?
I took piano in school a number of years ago and learned in a very structured way: >practice scales >practice arpeggios >practice simple sight reading exercises (like Bartok) >slowly build a repertoire starting with easy songs without complex phrasing/voices/finger techniques When learning songs: >learn one hand first and learn it very very well using metronome and cutting no corners >learn 1 - a few measures at a time then add the left hand >practice with metronome often so pieces actually sound solid
Is this sort of formula applicable to guitar as well? So far, I've been approaching guitar with this sort of formula... quality over learning songs too hard for me with poor rhythm like many amateurs on youtube play.
I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. I've been playing scales and chords for a few weeks now (about every other day) and have been focusing on making the sound really good. I have sight read some tabs from an app. I'm worried that I'm skipping stuff that people who learn in class would do. Am I on the right path?
listen to a song and play it. are people really this stiff about learning?
Tyler Brown
Not everyone is a musical savant who can listen then "just play it bro". So many of the amateur players on youtube (and in person) that I've heard play out of rhythm. Yet people still say "wow you're sooooo gooood hahahha!".
Jackson Miller
Take the same approach with how you learned piano, except do it with guitar. Being familiar with piano can help transition to guitar
Robert Thomas
Cool, thanks. And yeah, a lot of the theory is coming in handy.
Tyler Torres
>strumming a couple chords is easy to impress normies. You have to prove yourself to other guitarists. One understands talent and the other is amazed you can make a sound out of a guitar
Jacob Thompson
Yes, that's why I'm asking if I'm learning the right way. I don't want to play buzzy notes out of rhythm. And just adding more practice to get rid of it is not preferable to using a good learning method right off the bat. I want to be able to eventually play difficult metal and classical guitar songs/pieces at a high level and be able to play with nuanced phrasing like I learned to do with piano.
Dylan Edwards
It greatly depends on the guitar and I don't think you should be learning scales etc on an acoustic especially if it's a steel string. Nylon string thin neck would be ok if you can get it. If not then a child's size nylon will have a thin neck but basically fewer and smaller frets. However you can of course learn scales etc however you want but I think it should depend on the kind of music youre hearing that does this on an acoustic. There may not be much. I'd focus on chords and stuff like voicing as I think its called.
Kayden Flores
justinguitar.com seriously the best free lessons on the internet
Ryan Kelly
I strongly recommend choosing between the two and if you have a nylon string wide neck classical guitar then I think the decision has already been made. If you have a steel string then I don't think it should be either. All guitars are not equal especially for beginners. Different types are for different styles.
Jonathan Perez
Just learn scales and arpeggios. Chords are easy and don’t require lots of practice.
Sebastian Sanders
I'm self-taught (for what it's worth), but I found that an important part I left out for years was taking some time at the end of each practice session just to explore creatively. That's how I developed my ear and eventually learned to improvise. Try playing the same thing in different positions on the neck. I eventually made myself learn to improvise by sliding up and down the neck on only a couple of strings, and that helped me get a feel for the course motor skills aspect of it. You may already have a solid grasp on the creative aspects of music making, but I think it's good to involve that part of your brain as a part of every practice routine, even if you're just modifying the song you just learned and working out musical "what if..." scenarios. Change a riff up, substitute some chords, etc.
I think you're probably taking the right approach otherwise. Best to take it slow and get it right the first time, but don't be afraid to have a little fun either.
James Campbell
Dawg if you are trying to impress normies you can literally play fucking wonder wall and they will be impressed
my advice is avoid self-teaching, try to practise with others as much as you can
Benjamin Hall
From my understanding especily if you want to play metal, arpeggios are basically just for sweep picking which is I think one of the last if not literally the very last thing to learn because it is so insanely difficult. It's basically playing a scale so insanely fast that you literally don't even need to pick the strings but just sweep them. That's how I was instructed, what I confirmed with professionals, and just from my experience with arpeggios and sweep picking.
Alexander Bailey
Classicalfags get mind fucked by their musical education unfortunately
William Morris
Get rocksmith.
Jacob Collins
Yes actually. Classical fags are ultra rigid and I went through that. It's actually super stressful and I got burnt out and stopped playing entirely after school.
HOWEVER OP should get an instructor at least for one or two lessons so he can learn proper posture/technique
Purchase the Parkening Method Vol 1. Start learning classical guitar, that book is all about training your right hand technique.
Leo Lopez
If he even has a classical guitar. Then yes as I understood ultra nerdy stuff like posture is important for that style. My instructor had his gay little foot stool and everything. I adore nylon strings but man do I hate classical guitars.
Brandon Moore
Thank you. I've been watching some of his fingerstyle stuff. That's something I was wondering about. I've got a steel string acoustic. Guess I'll learn rock and pop first... Will keep in mind, thanks. Sounds like great advice. Thank you! Thanks homie, but I love being able to make music for myself. It's a great feeling to be able to play something nice. I hope that software is compatible with windows xp?? My grandson just upgraded my computer! ;^) I was thinking about paying for a lesson or two. Worth it? I guess I'll put off learning those. So far it's just been scales and no arpeggios. It's worth it to get a lesson or two, huh? saved
Joseph Jenkins
totally agree with this user. giving yourself time to just mess around and get a feel for what you think sounds good and what it feels and looks like
also some great exercises you should try out
>set a metronome to say like 60bpm >play each note of each fret going up to the 12th fret and back down >say each note name out loud as you play >sharps as you go up, flats as you come back down >gradually speed up once you find yourself comfortable on each string this one is great just to know exactly what notes youre playing anywhere on the neck. i find that beginners and even intermediates can be pretty shakey on this just because standard tuning isn't always immediately obvious
another great one is to play scales is 6ths >1 to 6 >2 to 7 >3 to 8 etc make sure that each note is able to ring out, and try to eliminate finger noise as much as you can. use this more as a meditation. you'll find that your tone will improve enormously.
good luck user
Jonathan Rodriguez
Here you go bro, a recording just for you so can learn it by ear bro :^) vocaroo.com/1kaRBj3BovEb
Keep in mind that everything is played on one guitar.
Joseph Rivera
also the things you learn should facilitate what you like to hear. so if you like listening delta blues you probably dont need to learn spanish guitar and vice versa
Cooper Hernandez
Instead of lessons I think you should spend your money on another guitar since you said you want to play metal.
Hudson Brooks
Delta blues has a lot of fingerstyle technique. I can't see any way learning proper classical right hand technique doesn't benefit the playing and learning thereof. All styles of music have their own vernacular, but for any sort of fingerstyle playing it helps to have classical training as the basis and then move out as to avoid inefficient right hand technique.
Nathan Bell
Makes sense. I plan to first learn: general acoustic rock/singer-songwriter stuff -> buy either classical guitar to do spanish stuff and arabic (oud-like) stuff along with classical, or electric guitar and learn metal. I'd rather get the basics down for now, and I think that acoustic is versatile enough to learn a bunch before I buy an electric (or classical guitar for that matter...).
Adam Nguyen
>set a metronome to say like 60bpm >play each note of each fret going up to the 12th fret and back down >say each note name out loud as you play >sharps as you go up, flats as you come back down >gradually speed up once you find yourself comfortable on each string
Strongly disagree with this in the most extreme terms but to each their own. They need to be practicising scale period. And that does not include the chromatic scale. And one of the many things different from the piano is that from my experience we can't just set the metronome to anything. Major scale yes. Pentatonic no. Speed is achieved in completely different ways. Ways that don't exist on the piano like hammer ons etc which are not conducive to the metronome. Unlike the major scale.
Ayden Sanders
>Instead of lessons I think you should spend your money on another guitar this is absolutely atrocious advice
Ryder Ramirez
>acoustic is versatile >a steel string no less Oh I am laffin
Nathaniel Johnson
>And one of the many things different from the piano is that from my experience we can't just set the metronome to anything. Major scale yes. Pentatonic no. Speed is achieved in completely different ways. Ways that don't exist on the piano like hammer ons etc which are not conducive to the metronome. Unlike the major scale. sorry to be so blunt but that's retarded bro
Adrian Hall
The elevated left is to move the neck higher. A positive angle facilitates the left hand better. You never once thought about why we do things and instead decided you didn't like it. It's no wonder you failed faggot.
Jack Rodriguez
No thats how it works. Major scale is super straight forward to increase speed. Pentatonic is not.
Joshua Rodriguez
Oh my god I said the word gay. Go fuck yourself cunt. With your gay little foot stool.
Henry Richardson
Yeah and it's still gay as shit
Cameron James
that doesn't mean you can't set a metronome to it
Lucas Cooper
Not sure what you mean. There's not that fundamental a difference between the two. You can do either with legato or alternate picking
James Fisher
>says something retarded and ignorant >doubles down Bitter failures. You didn't learn from your lessons because you fucking sucked and now you blame the instructor.
Robert Carter
Yeah but that's not the way practicing it and getting better works. At all. It does with the major scale. To an extreme degree. Pentatonic scale speed is about learning tricks based around hammer ons and pull offs etc. Tricks that are absolutely hard as shit to get really fast. Major scale just takes pure determination, practice with a metronome, etc.
Zachary Myers
it's more about attaching muscle memory to notes and being able to play any fret on the guitar and be able to call out what note it is you're playing
it's a very different skill set from knowing scale shapes and understanding the difference between lydian and locrian, both in how they look and how they sound
also I think your point of there being a difference in using a met between piano/guitar is ultimately an arbitrary one. when I said to set the met to 60bpm, that was also an arbitrary number because it could be too fast or too slow depending on where user is at. the truth is that being able to play something perfectly at 50bpm is way better than playing horribly at 140bpm. Get it perfect going slow, one note per beat, and once you can play without mistakes than bump it up 5bpm more. This is more than common and useful for every instrument.
Camden Ramirez
Wut, no. It's a huge fundamental difference. 2 notes per string with pentatonic vs 3 notes with major. It changes the entire dynamic of achieving speed.
