learning to play a guitar

[inferius]

Ok after playing guitar hero and rockband I figured "Hey maybe i could somehow learn to play these songs" on a real guitar... I know its probably really hard but I was wondering if there was a way to learn quickly instead of going to lessons for like 3 years before being able to play freakin smoke on the water! I also want to start a band with my friends as one is currently learning to play the drums so I figure why not get a guitar, learn, play till I die?

What im asking really is... Can I learn to play a guitar well without going to lessons forever? If thats unrealistic please just tell me I would rather not sift through your spam and hate then just read over a nice answer



EDIT: after looking at this i realized its probably in the wrong section but I dont think i can move it

SORRY

[Shredder87]

Takes tons of practice to even play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" if you're starting off. Your hand just won't have the cordination to play most of those songs, as most of them, like Sweet Child o' Mine uses the economic picking technique, pretty advanced. If you're serious about playing guitar, do it, you're not going to regret it, just stick with it. You're just not going to be able to shred without TONS of practice.

[inferius]

thank you... Well im gonna start learning the damn chords and stuff tomorrow! Screw teachers im just gonna print off some instructions and practice till its night!

[Shredder87]

It's all good. Many years ago a wise (drunk) man told me that all you needed to play guitar was the power chord. I haven't forgetten since. I'd suggest work with chords E, A minor, C, D, and G, along with the power chord. just to get your fingers used to positioning, then move on up.

[inferius]

You sir are going to be a very good friend! I thank you for your valued advice

[tombrady]

I just started probably a month ago and I started with playing Tool...not only are they my favorite band, but they are just flat out easy to play on the guitar...you can still learn the very basic coordination and build finger strength even by playing very easy power chords and riffs.

I think it's a good way to build confidence...if you are able to play something and recognize it you'll keep at it...i play an hour or so every day when I'm not at class and I can definitely already see vast improvements and you still build up your fingers...Zeppelin riffs are also good practice for a beginner...Black Dog is great practice for moving your fingers across multiple strings.

So if you can find a band you like that has some easier songs, I guarantee you'd stick with it more if you heard something you like...I certainly am.

[Shredder87]

I'm just trying to give some guidance on guitar to a future shredder. Any questions man just hit me up. I'll be glad to awnser any questions.
GT Shredder87

[inferius]

I thank you guys for your very useful information and would like to meet you guys on RockBand someday

[OutlawMcgraw]

some help for u would be get some tablature. that helps for learning songs but you will need some tutoring unless you can play by ear which is hard but im able to do it. also start with some metallica intros like nothing else matters and one. pretty simple. Another thing Smells like teen spirit is very hard to start and try to play as sson as you get your axe. so try some simple songs and build up to it. btw, smoke on the water is wayyyyy simple.

[inferius]

i know its simple but it seems my friend who has taken guitar lessons for a year or so, it seems like thats all he can really do... I dont want to do that I want to be ok at it in a year

[The_Little_Buster]

I'm self-taught and have been playing for about 6 years now. I would suggest if you're going to go the self-taught route that you learn to play your chords then.
Playing a full chord properly will be a bit more difficult than playing a power-chord and will help your hand to adjusting to stretching across the fret-board.

Pick some of your favorite songs that sound easy and look up the chords to them and just play along to them. Pretty soon you'll build your rhythm and accuracy and will be able to nail power-chords pretty easy and will be able to learn to integrate different techniques into your playing like palm-mutes, economy picking, and pick scraping as well as throwing in single notes into the mix.

Or if you can handle learning chords just fine try dividing the workload in half with practicing hammer ons and pull offs as well by just trying the technique. Doesn't have to be anything specific, just try doing it along the fretboard so you can get used to the technique and being able to do it properly, once you feel you can do it with ease move onto learning scales that would best suit the type of music you wish to play.

[Bukkethead]

You're doing the exact same thing I did two years ago. The Guitar Hero loading screen told me, "at some point, you should probably think about buying a real guitar." So I did.

A couple things to keep in mind;

1) You don't need lessons, but unless you're the next Slash, you will develop some bad habits and technique... if only because you don't know any better. I taught myself to pick, and I thought I was pretty good at it. Fast, at least. Then an instructor watched me play and commented, "watching you do that makes my hand cramp up." He showed me how to hold the pick properly and now I'm doing worlds better.

2) Unless your favorite band is The Ramones, you probably won't be able to just grab some sheet music off the 'net/out of a book and slog through it until you learn the song. Every song I tried to learn at the beginning of my music "career" had at least one passage, fingering, etc. that was just too difficult for me to do. (You mentioned Smoke on the Water? the solo will block you.)

3) If you want to sound competent really quickly, learn power chords and the pentatonic scale.

4) Learn TAB. Get a copy of Power Tab (www.power-tab.net (http://www.power-tab.net)) and make copious use of the Play feature. TAB allows you to play a song without learning to read music, but you will still need to learn how to understand note durations (quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.) as many songs have rhythm parts that are more complicated than they sound, and usually aren't as audible on the recording as they need to be in order for you to learn them. You won't need to be able to read notes on a staff, but you will need to be able to read the rhythm patterns, rests, and repeat/directional markers.

Good luck! It's a really, really rewarding experience once you get the hang of it - and I don't have anywhere near the skills most musicians have.