Joined: 11 Jan 2011 Netherlands Lessons: 10 Karma

Using this Site for beginners by E.Koreman 25 Jan 2011 Views: 19970

If you have no clue what to read or look for (next) I'd kindly suggest you read about music first, or maybe you should take lessons from a teacher. There is no path of topics or web pages or books to read to become a guitar player. Every single topic has bits and pieces that may add to your knowledge and understanding, even if you consider yourself a rather skilled and experienced player. Learning never stops really. As a beginner you can learn from advanced topics, as an advanced player you can learn from beginner topics.

If you don't want lessons, trial and error is a good start. Go play on your guitar. Do anything. Try to make sound, figure out what works and what not. And why. Look on the internet for people who came across the same things as you. By the time you get a little bit familiar with your instrument and music you'll know what to look for and where to find it.

I've posted a few quick'n'dirty sheets with very basic stuff. To learn music you must understand that 'we' have 12 semitones in one octave, that we 'mostly' use seven of them, call that a scale but sometimes a mode, that those 7 notes relate to each other as intervals, that there are several types of intervals, that intervals always have inversions, that chords are built in two virtual octaves, that a chord is/may be many chords at once depending on what root you pick, that you play a piece of music over a root note and a scale, that there is a "circle of 5ths" which is very important for gazillion reasons, and that you have to think in patterns rater then complex figures and weird mathematics.

Yet I haven't even touched the guitar really. Where to put your fingers, ways to stroke a string, how to hold a guitar, how to tune it, how to replace strings, how you will develop muscles and skin on your fingers because of playing, which will change things, how you develop your ears, which also will change things. Very important stuff too. If you can't tune your guitar your game is over. If you are focusing on the wrong things or handle your instrument in the wrong way learning may become very difficult.

Becoming a guitar player takes effort, interaction with your instrument, accepting to make error after error and #fail in an endless loop, the guts to continue and a lot of creativity. The creativity to find things out for yourself is very important. Guitar playing is not about sequencing notes but to show things you've found out and ask the right questions. You did ask an excellent question. The answer is 'you'. ;-)

Play that guitar like you're one of the best in the world -no joke, mindset is important- and read as much as you can. Not only here but anywhere. Try to understand what is said and always be aware that the obvious is not always that obvious. You may get certain points on any topic but completely miss the really important points. Also be aware that people sometimes make mistakes and forget things. Eventually you are the judge. Try to write tutorials and sheets yourself on things you already know. You will get to things you are not certain of and do some research. It's always an excellent way to test your knowledge.