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que522 wrote:yu217171 wrote:I bought a book, 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Acoustic Guitar Songs', and started learning my first song: Good Riddance (Time of your life) by Green Day. Try that and let me know how it goes.
blatio wrote:I just bought an acoustic and am teaching myself to play. I have many sites and dvd's showing chord progressions, but can anyone suggest an easy song or two for a beginner to start out with? Thanks.
Barry
I got the Negative vote from a few about leaning that song first. The picking on that song can get a tad confusing, and the chord changes they said are a little beyond beginner. >< It didn't stop me from continuing playing what I knew and starting to learn more of the song.
Fortunately for me, the book describes the picking pattern quite nicely and it picked it up relatively quickly.
I bought a book, 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Acoustic Guitar Songs', and started learning my first song: Good Riddance (Time of your life) by Green Day. Try that and let me know how it goes.
blatio wrote:I just bought an acoustic and am teaching myself to play. I have many sites and dvd's showing chord progressions, but can anyone suggest an easy song or two for a beginner to start out with? Thanks.
Barry
Thanks for the advice. Quick question about strumming though. What is the difference between strumming up vs strumming down? Does it change the tone of the song? Why can't I use all downstrokes? Is it because I wouldn't be able to meet the tempo? Thanks again.
NELA wrote:Keep everything as simple as possible. There are thousands of songs out there with only 2 or 3 chords. Listen to the "beat" of the song and try to count to the "tempo". To me a 4/4 time is easier to play than a 3/4 time but that is just me. Most songs in 4/4 timing has a count of
1....2....&....3....&....4....&....1. Use a "down" strum on the number counts and a "up" strum on the "&" and you will soon be playing the song. Just be sure to listen to the song and understand the beat before you start playing. You can download songs from this site that show the chords and I find it's best to read from this while listening to the CD as it helps you see where the chord changes occur. Once you listen and learn the song your ears will come into play more. Stick with songs in "G", "C" and "D" or "A", "D" and "E" or "D", "G" and "A" progressions for now. Just by using these 3 chord progressions and learning a few minor and 7th chords you will be on top of playing a wide varity of songs. As far as quick changes between chords - that will come in time as your "Muscle Memory" develops. Another thing that will help is to use a metronome. Start out somewhere about 40 to 60 beats per minute and as you improve speed up. Just hang in there.
Nela
That's a great idea! Although, I do not have any tape recorder, I can probably record it on the computer. Thanks!
dguyton wrote:If you really want to measure your progress, get yourself a cheap tape recorder and tape a few of your practice sessions. Do that once a month. In six months, go back and listen to the tapes. If you keep practicing each and every day, I guarantee you will hear the improvement.
I guess you're right. It's actually quite ironic isn't it? We try to learn something new to "escape" but we tend to lean towards the familiar (hence the spreadsheets hehe). I've been practicing the opening 6 bars of "Good Riddance (Time of your life)" by Green Day and I can play along with the CD so I am making some progress. I purchased a book called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Acoustic Guitar Songs" and it contains the sheet music so I can visualize the rhythm better. It's so much easier than trying to listen by ear. My goal is to learn the entire song by the end of March. Hopefully that is not too optimistic 
Thanks for all the words of great advice.
Kahuna wrote:Yu,
I couldn't agree with you more. I too, work in the computer field, and we tend to get too analytical about everything we do. No fear, however. It's good to be organized, but letting go is the main reason for playing an instrument in the first place. Once you can let go of the "mechanical" aspect in playing, you'll start to allow your creative side to shine.
The Neil Young's song is a good one to practice with. I would suggest, also, that you get yourself a metronome and practice strumming to the same beat timing as the song (but without playing the song.) This will help you work your timing and chord changes. Once you're more comfortable with one speed on the metronome, try increasing it a few beats per minute (BPM). This will help you with quicker chord changes accuracy and speed.
Like the others here have said, practice at least 30 minutes a day for a few days. Then take one day break, and then practice again. This will help reinforce habits, but not burn you out. Hope this helps.
Thanks so much for everyone's replies and encouraging words. I guess being a computer programmer, I over analyze things just based on my profession. I try not to play free-form too much, otherwise I won't be able to measure my progress but at the same time that's probably why my progress is slow. My short term goals are to be able to play and sing a song or two. I was trying to learn Neil's Young's, Heart of Gold (http://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=90) but I could not perform the chord progressions fast enough, which is what prompted me to structure my practices the way I have.
I used to play through a book, Guitar Method 1 by Aaron Stang but it got overly repetitive because I used to replay and replay the exercises in there. I'll keep plugging away and hopefully I'll get it. At least I've built up callouses now and the pain has started receeding
Hi everyone,
I just started playing guitar and I would like some help with a practice routine.
Let me outline my current routine.
I have learned a few chords (A, C, D, E, G) and here's what I do to practice them.
I have a spreadsheet with one chord progression: Say C --> D. I record the number of times I can switch between them in one minute and then two minutes. I then record the times I can switch between them (C to D = 1 progression) and I do this for 1 week. I then move to the next one C --> E for instance.
I find my progress is really slow. I also find that I cannot hammer down on any chord. What I mean by this is: I must put one finger down on the string/fret, then my next finger and then my last finger and not simulatenously. I have trouble putting all three fingers in the proper position at the same instance. Is this normal? It's quite frustrating at the moment and was hoping if anyone has any tips on how to practice or to speed up my progress?
Thanks in advance!
yu217171
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