A beginner with few problems (Page 1 of 2)

Hi Leo D
Welcome to Chordie
I would suggest you buy a tuner as being off just a touch will sound like a mile.They are fairly cheap to buy now a days
You could have excellent pitch and that is why it sounds off.
Barre chords will depend on you and the guitar you are playing.The harder the guitar plays the more effort you have to put into it.No such thing as a time table for this as it's an individual thing.
It sounds to me like your guitar needs to be brought to the guitar hospital for a check up.I would advise this as it will take away from the frustrations and make playing that much more enjoyable.Maybe that is why you are having a hard time tuning it also.
As for artists....You got good taste and there are lots of chordies here that will point you in the right direction.
Hope it helps

KAP54

get a tuner .... why waste good playing time trying to tune when no one else does ? tune up and play !

Hey Leo You say you have been playing for only a few months,Don't be hard on yourself if you cant tune by ear right away.I know lots of players that are real good and have a hard time tuning.You'll pick it up when you pick it up.Have fun with it and it'll come to you,after you got your guitar serviced.
KAP54

For practicing bar chords: I started with the standard shapes and then worked my way into the more complex ones. For example: start with F and B (you'll sometimes hear them referred to as the E and A shaped chords) and maybe B minor. When you master these 3 shapes you're well on your way.
F = 133211 B = 113331 B Minor = 113321. sliding these shapes down the fret board will give you many chords. ex: F slide up 2 gives you G slide up 2 more gives you A, etc.
There are many posts regarding this topic I highly recommend using the search feature to find and read them. People a lot more qualified then me have posted their wisdom.
The time (and finger pain) spent learning these shapes will pay off. If you want to be even a mediocre player you'll have to have bar chords under your belt. bar chords will make you a better musician and open up new ways of playing.
Keep at it.

I've always used a pitch pipe.  I prefer it.  Generally I can get the pitch pipe out and tune each string quickly and I'm good to go.  I also have good pitch.  But, there are some days where I just have trouble getting each string right.  I don't know why that is.

Thanks everybody again,

Im now quite good at switching between open chords and when I played on friends electric guitar I was also able to play barre chords clearly. The acoustic is, however, another story and looks like its gonna be a long long time till Ill be able to play them clearly.

I have one more question, this one about strumming. I basically use two rhythms when playing songs: the first one is simple: bass-chord, bass-chord etc. used mainly for simple folk songs and then the second one: DOWN, DOWN UP, UP DOWN UP that I use on pretty much anything else. Can you suggest other patterns or a source where I can find them?

hi leo,
guess we have the same problem....
I learned how to play guitar when i was in high school, but till now i feel like am still a beginner...
i just learned how to play all by myself...
i think we must practice more...

I know quiet a few experianced guitar players who insist on tuning by ear.  To be honest, I think it's a bit of an ego thing with them.  Sound can be measured in the same way that weight and distance can be measured.  We wouldn't expect to judge a distance by eye and be right each time...so why expect it with sound by ear?

Get a decent tuner that clamps on the head and works from vibrations.  Works everywhere and will always be right.

Enjoy,

Pat

Hey Leo, perhaps you are in a bit of a hurry to learn too much too quickly.  Your still at school,
so you won't have as much time as old guys like me, I started playing Guitar just under a year ago; give or take a week, at 62, so you see I don't have the time you have. However I played in a band when I was young and you had to learn Music. Our conductor always said there were
olny two words that mattered in music they were; Timing and Practice, without Timing all the practice in the world was usuless, and if you had Timing if you didn't practice, you were going nowhere, lighten up on yourself enjoy you learning.

As for Barre Chords, well barre chordes =Practice.  If you go over to the JamPlay site and watch the free lessons, there one on Barre Chords, it lasts for 38 minutes it;s verry good.

Remember, and a lot of people don't that Barre Chords opens the whole neck of the guitar to you. the two main bar shaps are the E chord shape and the A shape; and dont forget once you learn the dreaded Barre Chords it's not just chords like FMajor or B Major you can play using the open E & A shapes in a barre you can play chords in the Minnor the Seventh and Major Seventh, and that;s just for starters. I wish you good luck.

Luck to all. !!!

"I still think its something with my ears, and I hope it can be 'repaired'."

Well, in my experience it was my ears ! Over a number of years it became more and more difficult to hit pitch when tuning. From there being a sharp edge to the note, it slowly rounded off until now I can only tell that I am off pitch when I play a chord ( it "beats" wrongly ) or the tuner tells me.

Quite separately, I went for years ignoring complaints from wife and kids over having to ask them to repeat anything they said. I eventually bit the bullet and got my ears tested. I now have a hearing aid and it makes all the difference.

I still play the guitar without a hearing aid - just using a tuner to tune. When I play with the hearing aid in the whole tone of the guitar changes - becomes toppy.

There are a huge number of people whose hearing starts to deteriorate at they get older. The answer is to recognise the symptoms and do something about it. Now when I put in my hearing aid in the morning, suddenly the birds burst into song.

'Bout ye, Headcase !

I blame mine on Jimi Hendrix at full volume stereo six inches from each ear trying to track the guitar as it shifts from one speaker to the other. We should form a band, call ourselves the deef eejits !

Allabest.

Hi this is Headcase signing off for three weeks in America, stay well everyone.

Luck to all. !!!