Advice for learning guitar please

[lone soldier 10]

Hello all. I'm just starting out playing the guitar and wanting some info. I have an acoustic and electric but find the electric easier to play. Is it best to start on electric or acoustic as I love the acoustic more but find the fretboard is a little bigger than the electric and I get pain in my hand after a few minutes, especially when trying to play barre chordes. Also what are spannish guitars like with the nylon strings, do they sound similar to acoustics when strumming ? Thanks for any info.

[Treeman893 10]

Hi lone soldier, I have two acoustics and two electrics and enjoy playing all of them. If the electric is easier to learn on use that. The pain in the hand is just your muscles building up, that will go away with practice. When your hand starts to hurt switch to learning the notes on the fretboard.

 

Mick

[TheReplicant 10]

Hey lone soldier.

 

Acoustics are a little harder to learn on, but if you stick to them then you'll find it easier to move between acoustics and electrics in future. Learning on an electric is a little easier on your fingers at first but you'll not be able to smoothly go to an acoustic in future.

 

There's not a right or wrong way though. For what it's worth, I learnt on acoustic.

 

If you're just starting out, though, I'd lay off the barre chords for the first few months. Just get your open chords sounding good and your changes smooth. That's far more important right now.

[9TrackMusic 10]

Hi there, as Replicant has already said, you will find it easier to move to electric if you have played acoustic for a while due to the extra strength needed to hold acoustic chords and the higher action of the guitar (distance between the strings and the neck). Saying that I always teach newcomers to the guitar on electric first as I don't want them put off by the difficulty of acoustic.

 

As far as Spanish/Flamenco guitars go they are sort of in a different category altogether as they are better for classical or fingerstyle players. Strumming them isn't quite the same as a regular steel string acoustic and although you see lots of school kids learning on them, ironically they usually have the highest action of them all! But yes the nylon strings mean they are much easier on the fingers to start with.

 

If you're getting pain, stop and come back later. Little and often is the key. The best thing is to mix and match guitars, and keep having fun with it!

 

If you would like to enquire about guitar tuition, or know someone who might do, give me a shout on the links below

 

Cheers

 

Jack

[Spacebadger 10]

No pain, no gain. Whatever you play, pain generally means you're on the right track, blood means you're really on track. This is in all seriousness, I used to sit and play along with albums for hours at a time until my fingers were ragged. You don't get clean barre chords with soft, podgy civilian hands - you need deformed and calloused muso claws!

 

Playing a low action electric (especially with wimpy light strings) through highly distorted or compressed amps/headphone things is a crap way to start off in my opinion, yet so many people do so. The more you can make your strings ring the better tone and separation you'll get all down the line. I do know how hard it seems, but 'easier doesn't always mean better' is a good ethos to bear in mind as you learn. Most importantly, play whatever you've got as much as you can. Don't get too hung up about what type of guitar you should be playing, it's all good.

[Turnip1959 10]

Sound advice badger!!

[csd1 10]

When learning it's so easy to be put off by a guitar with heavy gauge strings. The good news is don't worry - most of the guitarists that defined classic rock and blues tones were using light gauge strings !

 

Chuck Berry - 7 or 8 gauge banjo strings.

BB King - 8 gauge

Jimmy Page - 8

Early Jeff Beck - 8

Early Van Halen - 8 or 9

Hendrix - 9

Billy Gibbons - 7 or 8

Albert King - 8

[FinaleGuitar 10]

Hi!

 

My advice to you would be to learn on an acoustic first- although it's a little more difficult it'll build up your muscle strength much more quickly and make your life easier in the long run. However, make sure that your guitar is set up correctly as an overly high action will make your life unnecessarily difficult and put you off practicing. If you're not sure whether your guitar is set up correctly I offer full guitar setups for £15 and can have a glance to see whether any changes need making for free. Just send me a pm! I never understand why students who do not want to learn classical start on classical guitars as the nylon strings bend about under your fingers and make life difficult so it's probably wise to stick to a standard steel stringed geetar for now.

 

Good luck and give me a message if you'd like a free lesson! (http://www.finaleguitar.co.uk)

 

Nye

[csd1 10]

Starting on a classical guitar has several advantages - lower string tension makes fretting easier, lower maintenance (no truss rod to worry about), cheaper to buy (it doesn't have to be built to withstand the stresses inherent in a steel strung acoustic) and is more tolerant of a less than perfect set-up.

 

It might be generally referred to as a 'classical' guitar but you aren't duty-bound to play classical music on it In fact we really need to forget about musical instruments being associated (and limited) to any particular genre - for example the sax was produced initially as an orchestral instrument but look at it's importance in the development of Jazz, Rock 'n' Roll and Pop music.

 

If anyone might doubt what these nylon strung acoustics are capable of, check out Van Halen's 'Spanish Fly' or Jerry Reed's 'Guitar Man'.

Edited September 9, 2014 by csd1

[jwhmilne 10]

Start learning without a pick

[Firemansam 10]

Start learning without a pick

 

Why ????????????

[Joeycrew 10]

Don't concern yourself learning difficult chords , sharps and flats . . you'll hardly ever use them . . 90% of songs are written using basic chords.

I would suggest you learn the chords D A G C Am Em to start with.

Don't worry about bare chords either you can also stick your thumb around the neck or play less strings.

Good Luck keep at it . .