beginners guitar player thread

Tom Tom

Here is a few nice "easy" ones to try out
                       
I remember when I started playing I bought an electric guitar and it came with a tutorial vhs free.

It always made me smile how far off the mark it was.

It did: this is G and this is C and this is D and that means playing this scale, so you can now do this....
                               
I know these are comedy, but actually show with only a few chords you can play loads of songs.

                                                                OK not easy, insanely hard!

reevesy

yeah theres a few of those 'stacks of songs with only 4 chords' vids on youtube

so much for taking a break from new songs....had a few bashes of van morrisons brown eyed girl

...and got corner shops brim full of asha rhythm section sorted...stumbled upon that today....funny I always remember seeing them on later with jools Holland thinking it looked a good one to strum on acoustic

....got the  strumming off pretty quickly which surprised me !

Tom Tom

Don't have a well done button, so have a medal instead

reevesy

...putting my sarcasm detector to one side for a minute
....as it might be faulty !

have noticed my top E string tends to sound a lot more prominent above the rest...have really noticed it with 'that's entertainment' by the Jam...capo on 3rd.....and in particular when playing green days time of your life.

tuning is fine and the guitar is only a couple of months old so I'm assuming its down to my playing technique?....strumming too hard ?

everything sounds fine ..though obviously a bit more muted...when strumming without a pick.

TheBrownBandito

Green Day might be you strumming a little too hard, but it would be sacrilege not to strum hard for That's Entertainment!

I use a lighter pick when playing that song, I wouldn't go above a 46.

When learning I remember consciously aiming at the A string when strumming. As my arm got more comfortable with it, I found I was catching the E string just "enough". Your certainly better missing it than snagging it, that is for sure! Perhaps not the orthodox way to improve your accuracy but it worked for me.

Keep practising and don't hold back on That's Entertainment. It doesn't work if you aren't playing it with attitude.

reevesy

thanks...
still use a light pick.....
...perhaps its something else that comes with practice

RBZ5416

Do you really mean top E (thin) or the bottom E at the top of the guitar? Either way there's a few sound level apps for smart phones if you have one. You could use one of those to gauge single string volumes against each other. If single strings don't sound significantly out of balance maybe your angle of attack isn't parallel. If you have the guitar tipped slightly back so you can see the strings, that could lead to the pick going deeper into the top E.

Could also be an intonation issue causing the string to be slightly out of tune up the neck. That could make it appear prominent.

You could also try reducing the amount of pick that's showing.

Dony

What type of strings do you recommend for a 13 yr old beginner to have, steel or nylon?

My son got a mid sized acoustic guitar for Christmas a couple of years ago and gave up when one of the (steel) strings broke. He wants to take it up again so I need to replace the broken string, but a couple of people have suggested I have them all replaced with nylon strings.

RBZ5416

Guitars are built to either take nylon or steel strings & it's not normally a good idea to try to switch. It would be better to either put a lighter gauge steel string on or just buy another guitar built for nylon strings. The standard "light" string gauge for a steel strung acoustic is usually 12. That is the thinnest string is 12/1000" in diameter & despite the "light" designation, they're anything but for a novice. You could maybe try a set of electric 10s?  

A trip to your local music store with both the guitar & son would be my recommendation.

TheBrownBandito

I recommend these and normally go for 11's.

They are much more comfortable under the fingers which I feel is the most important thing to keep youngsters interested in practicing. I bought my 12 year old daughter a particularly cheap Crafter under pressure from my wife with regard to style and cost (something I would never, ever recommend anybody do - I'm not sure why I succumbed) and she gave up lessons extremely quickly. When she came back begging to get another guitar, I picked up a LAG acoustic for around £300. They come ready strung with Elixir Nanoweb acoustic strings and she now never puts it down, in her words because her fingers don't hurt as much. They really are worth every penny of the extra cost and last for ages.

I have the blue Elixirs on my electric aswell and have never managed to snap a string on either.