Tips for an old guy trying to learn guitar

[bobeer]

I'm 34 and I've been a student of the guitar since age 13. It's been a long road and I've gone 2-3 month long stretches without touching a guitar. It is a great thing to keep in the corner of your living room and pick up whenever you have a few minutes to noodle around.

I've never had a lesson so here's what I did to get to where I am now, which is knowing about 15 songs I can sing and play at the same time.
Learn the triad chords and learn how to change back and fourth between them. It's all muscle memory so you can work on, for instance, going from C to G then once you have that go from G to D, then D to F, then F to A, then A to E, etc etc...
A lot of old folk tunes are all basic triad chords and are fun to play. Check out youtube for covers from other people and play it in your own way.

When you want to learn to play lead I suggest getting a loop station pedal. You can play a simple 2-3 chord melody, loop it, and noodle around over it. It's fun and both you and your son can play along with the loop and learn together while jamming out.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

The looper is a great tool because there's no pressure to keep up with someone else. Just play at your pace. It also can show you how unsynchronized you are by how tough it is to do a good loop.

I think that red headed irish kid (descriptive I know) is a good example to listen to.

 

[applescrap]

https://youtu.be/Ksekm7JYzGw

Yeah check this out it's pretty stud even if you don't like the music

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Been a little quiet around here so I'll share something off topic you may enjoy.

A while back I picked up a CL guitar called a Gavelston. Made in China. Piece of crap. The whole idea was to destroy it and hang it up. Wife's idea - I think she wanted to take out her anger on a guitar.

Anyways right now I'm using tea to yellow the headstock. Already wore down finger marks on the neck.

I'll share more pics in the next few days once it's complete.

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[Homercidal]

Nice. A got a couple of friends who like to buy cheap-ass guitars and "fix them up" with new pickup arrangements and whatnot. Looks like something I could get into. I've been meaning to build a cigar box guitar for a while now. Maybe some day.

For now, my 17 to daughter is enjoying her birthday present Ukulele and learning some Christmas songs. I may check them out too and see if I can add some Guitar accompaniment. Hardest part will be not wanting to turn it into a kind of metal carol with crappy solo and everything. Maybe I should just tune up the acoustic and call it good.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Nice. A got a couple of friends who like to buy cheap-ass guitars and "fix them up" with new pickup arrangements and whatnot. Looks like something I could get into. I've been meaning to build a cigar box guitar for a while now. Maybe some day.

For now, my 17 to daughter is enjoying her birthday present Ukulele and learning some Christmas songs. I may check them out too and see if I can add some Guitar accompaniment. Hardest part will be not wanting to turn it into a kind of metal carol with crappy solo and everything. Maybe I should just tune up the acoustic and call it good.

My dad ran a Uke through a Line 6 amp with a metal setting and did a pretty solid heavy metal version of Good Kind Wencelas (sp.). There's a time and a place!

 

[Homercidal]

My dad ran a Uke through a Line 6 amp with a metal setting and did a pretty solid heavy metal version of Good Kind Wencelas (sp.). There's a time and a place!

I'll have to get her to plug into my amp and try out all the different amp and effect settings and see how it sounds. I think some delay or reverb would be cool to play with.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Been a little quiet around here so I'll share something off topic you may enjoy.

A while back I picked up a CL guitar called a Gavelston. Made in China. Piece of crap. The whole idea was to destroy it and hang it up. Wife's idea - I think she wanted to take out her anger on a guitar.

Anyways right now I'm using tea to yellow the headstock. Already wore down finger marks on the neck.

I'll share more pics in the next few days once it's complete.

Update: The tea trick didn't work. I had seen a few very cool videos about it but it didn't work for me at all, despite having sanded way down. Oh well, no yellow color, but that's fine.

I put the guitar on the wall and will take a pic and post it later tonight.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

A before pic and a few after pics.

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[Steveruch]

For now, my 17 to daughter is enjoying her birthday present Ukulele and learning some Christmas songs.

After seeing Denny Conn play I definitely recommend going with a ukulele.
:rockin:

 

[estricklin]

Playing an acoustic set for about 30 people tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

 

[applescrap]

Awesome, what are you playing? Happy memorial day

 

[Kee]

Yea guys, don't let the thread die. I'm still working to improve on some basic chord changes but a guy that can actually play came over to my house today and made my cheap guitar sound pretty good. So now I'm inspired to practice a little more.

 

[doug293cz]

Haven't updated for a while. Been taking lessons on my Strat since September, and am now comfortable playing some new chords such as the open B7, playing the G with 2nd, 3rd & 4th fingers, and transitioning to and from barre chords based on the open C (up from just the E and A based barre chords.) Have been working on playing combinations of chords and riffs. Was working on "Jingle Bell Rock" before Christmas, but since then have gotten to were I can play a passable lead to the Ventures "Walk, Don't Run." Still can't seem to play anything completely thru mistake free however.

Brew on

 

[estricklin]

Awesome, what are you playing? Happy memorial day

I played my Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Studio EC. I used my 75 watt Line 6 Spider Jam and an SM58 mic. I played about 3 hours and it was a blast. Lots of family and friends, some people from our Church showed up, more people than I anticipated. Some did Karaoke while I took a break, and later another guitar player showed up and we jammed after everyone had mostly left.

Playing with musicians who are better than me definitely encourages me to go home and practice more. I take inspiration from any place I can find it.

I love the Ventures, actually played a couple Ventures tunes today, including Walk, Don't Run. I've noticed all of their riffs seem to be based entirely from Major Scales. I wish I had a simple loop pedal for playing rhythm.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I just got an Epiphone Wildkat - hollow body guitar with P-90 pickups. It was about 23% off, and I'd been eyeing it for about 6 months so I couldn't say no.

The reason I got it was because I've been playing more Blues and I love the deep tones these hollow bodies give. I had an Epiphone which was nice for rock but I wasn't really playing that anyways. I played a ton of Hollow bodies, from Gibson to Gretsch to Harmony, but I kept coming back to the Wildkat because of it's feel and tone.

The P90 pickups just growl. Absolutely growl and shake everything, even through my little 25 or 30 Watt amp. Reaaallly nice for blues. They give a fantastic subdued tone, and the guitar gives a lot of great control. The down side is, because of this the bridge pick up doesn't have much sharpness or clarity at all. That said, I'm tempted to swap in some pickups from a Strat for the Bridge pickup. I don't know if it's possible but thinking about it.

Anyways, that's my little guitar update. Glad to hear from people again.

 

[applescrap]

Guitar sounds sweet. Pics!

 

[estricklin]

I just got an Epiphone Wildkat - hollow body guitar with P-90 pickups. It was about 23% off, and I'd been eyeing it for about 6 months so I couldn't say no.

The reason I got it was because I've been playing more Blues and I love the deep tones these hollow bodies give. I had an Epiphone which was nice for rock but I wasn't really playing that anyways. I played a ton of Hollow bodies, from Gibson to Gretsch to Harmony, but I kept coming back to the Wildkat because of it's feel and tone.

The P90 pickups just growl. Absolutely growl and shake everything, even through my little 25 or 30 Watt amp. Reaaallly nice for blues. They give a fantastic subdued tone, and the guitar gives a lot of great control. The down side is, because of this the bridge pick up doesn't have much sharpness or clarity at all. That said, I'm tempted to swap in some pickups from a Strat for the Bridge pickup. I don't know if it's possible but thinking about it.

Anyways, that's my little guitar update. Glad to hear from people again.

Sort of interested in the P90s, pretty serious about getting a new electric toward the end of the year. It's probably going to be an SG or Les Paul, leaning heavily toward the SG. Not sure which model though.

I have a gig at a coffee shop next week, and I decided to get some new PA gear. I bought a Mackie Mix 8 and a pair of Behry 12 inch powered monitors. I will probably use 1 as a main and 1 as a monitor for now. I also bought all new cables and picked up a new gig bag for my backup acoustic.

I've still been practicing the piano quite a bit lately, my goal is to get good enough at the piano so that I can play both instruments at gigs or church. For now, I can play some whole songs on the piano but it isn't very polished. I also do not own a synthesizer anymore and am practicing on a Kimball. Who knows, if I'm improving well by the end of the year I may look for a good synth in the 1000-1500 dollar range instead of the guitar.

I hope you all are well, and I hope your enjoying your instruments.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Funny you mention the Mackie, I had been looking at one for our church but ultimately I decided to go with the Yamaha. We also just purchased the bose tower speaker and... Wow. It's just unreal. We got the largest model because we are in a large auditorium but we can't hardly give it any volume or it is too much. I may sometimes get to practice a little early just to crack it a bit before anyone else arrives...

I need to practice more. Aside from playing acoustic each week I hardly pick up the guitar. Looks like I'll have the house to myself here this morning so maybe I'll see how much I can make the P90s howl.

 

[applescrap]

Sounds like awesome gear gents. Wish I could sing well enough to have my own gig. I play piano estricklin and gig on it to. Glad you are at it. You could find my board for cheap now and i have seen pros use it. Its a yamaha s80 or is it s08. Wish i would have gotten something more fun, but if you want something that sounds and feels very real and is durable for gigs, this is kind of what you have to get. Makes a couple thousand different sounds. It was 1500 or 1600 new and the step up was close to 3k I think, but was similar. You could pick one up for like 400 I think. Note....its big and heavy.

 

[estricklin]

Funny you mention the Mackie, I had been looking at one for our church but ultimately I decided to go with the Yamaha. We also just purchased the bose tower speaker and... Wow. It's just unreal. We got the largest model because we are in a large auditorium but we can't hardly give it any volume or it is too much. I may sometimes get to practice a little early just to crack it a bit before anyone else arrives...

I need to practice more. Aside from playing acoustic each week I hardly pick up the guitar. Looks like I'll have the house to myself here this morning so maybe I'll see how much I can make the P90s howl.

Funny you mention the Yamaha, I was going to get something like a 16 channel Yamaha, I LOVE their mixers, but looking at the smaller mixers I didn't see the same value. I like that they have compressors built into the FX, and let's face it pretty much everything they make is awesome. I did look at the Behrys but I wanted something that was going to last. I'm ok with some of their products but you do get what you pay for. Our church has a Behry and it already has a dead channel, could be from abuse though I dunno. I just needed a smaller mixer anyway.

Sounds like awesome gear gents. Wish I could sing well enough to have my own gig. I play piano estricklin and gig on it to. Glad you are at it. You could find my board for cheap now and i have seen pros use it. Its a yamaha s80 or is it s08. Wish i would have gotten something more fun, but if you want something that sounds and feels very real and is durable for gigs, this is kind of what you have to get. Makes a couple thousand different sounds. It was 1500 or 1600 new and the step up was close to 3k I think, but was similar. You could pick one up for like 400 I think. Note....its big and heavy.

Oh that's cool you play piano, I used to have a Yamaha synth but it was bought in the mid 90s for about $500, and as you can imagine was pretty bad outdated by the time I sold it around 2005. I need something that is going to be pretty portable, and I really don't need a lot of bells and whistles. Singing just takes practice like everything else.

Here is an actual guitar tip that should relate to the thread. I've had a lot of these notebooks over the years, basically I jot down whatever I need to. I always draw a circle of 5ths and some basic chord/key charts to reference whenever I need it. Sometimes I chart out songs, write set lists, lists of songs to learn or practice, scales, chord types, lyrics and literally just anything I need. I carry the notebook I need that day in my guitar case. I don't write everything out so that I can play looking at it really, but glancing at the songs' chord progression or intro can help. I wish I would have started doing this, or doing it better back at the start. I used to write out all the lyrics and chords for every song I wanted to learn but that turned out to be a waste. Oh and always have an ink pen in your guitar case to go with the notebook.

 

[applescrap]

Check this out. Fixed this head stock 3x now. Originally got knocked over and broke. Fixed it and it broke 2x more. Wood glue and clamped. This time spread glue with cotton swab. It has held everytime but rebroke when knocked over. Charvel acoustic electric. Meh. I traded a signed (fake?) Jackson Charvel electric for it. I couldn't handle the floyd rose bridge. Its a floating bridge with allen wrench adjustment. Was listening to my jazz teacher at the time. Wish i has that guitar, really.

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[Homercidal]

All my electrics have a floating trem system. My mains both have FR trems. My original was a Sears Cort Effector and I had to set the bridge due to the plate underneath bending. Cheap ass construction.

I have been wanting a fixed bridge for a while. Can't stand the look of the SG, but I'm down for a Les Paul. only problem is I need to play more to earn it. My 3 electrics are all valuable to me. One is the Cort Effector, the first guitar I bought. The second is a Kramer Focus 1000, basically set up like EVH guitar with 1 knob and 1 humbucker in bridge (Before I frankensteined a neck pickup and tone pot, etc....). The 3rd is an Ibanez my friend gave me.

Also, I have started taking lessons again. I'm wanting to learn basic theory that I should have learned when I was younger, but never did. Playing was more fun than learning.

Also want to improve picking techniques and learn to improvise better. (Basic theory + Practice).

My instructor went on vacation right after my first lesson but gave me the Lydian mode to look at and some links to some backing tracks to play it in a few different keys. So far the little bit of playing I've been doing has been fun.

 

[applescrap]

Lydian was one of my favorite modes when I was studying music. What tracks go with it? I am curious if he taught you in the key of C saying it goes from F to f or if he taught you that it was an augmented fourth of any scale. Both are right. I used to love to jam on it over a major 7th vamp.

 

[Homercidal]

Lydian was one of my favorite modes when I was studying music. What tracks go with it? I am curious if he taught you in the key of C saying it goes from F to f or if he taught you that it was an augmented fourth of any scale. Both are right. I used to love to jam on it over a major 7th vamp.

So far I haven't had much chance to learn. I had one lesson as an introduction session and we discussed a bit about the modes. The take-home was Lydian to practice, but I haven't had a lesson that focused on it specifically.

If I had to choose a way of learning it I think I'd choose augmented 4th since I think it's better for use in other keys. It's a concept that moves with you.

It would be helpful to have actually learned all of the notes on the fretboard, but honestly I only know a few my heart. I hope that's part of the lessons too. Spending time learning scales and learning notes. I should have done the studying when I was young and taking lessons. I had a really good hard rock teacher that tried teaching modes and all of that. I still have his notes in a box in my attic.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Ughhh I need to play more. I've only done a little here and there, but no practice at all, and haven't learned anything in probably a year.

On the bright side, I had an Epiphone Special II, Slash edition. I picked it up almost 3 years ago for $185, and sold it last week for $160 plus a 4 pack of one day old Off Color brewery beers. To get 3 years out of that thing and only lose $25? Oh I'm a happy man.

 

[applescrap]

@homercidal
So cool you are diving in. Sounds like you found a great teacher. I am jealous of your beginnings. Man, wish I would have found an awesome rock teacher like my friends. I got all caught in theory and practice and realized one day, I dont know how to play the guitar. If your first teacher taught you to rock, that's cool.

I am impressed and surprised that you lean towards the idea of sharp 4. This caused arguments for me when I was younger. Now I just accept that classical trained musicians learn to root off the 4 of a scale and call that lydian. If it works then it works, but I always felt they were cheated the simple truth of the scales theory and how it can instantly apply to any key. This hippy kid in my improve class in Boulder at naropa, woodshedded on the lydian, and in improve class he was showed a picture of the stars and went off on that mode. Man, i was blown away by that scale. Sorry, I am deep in the woods now.

Learning the fret board is an awesome goal and like you I wish I would have worked harder on that goal. You could start by writing that scale, augmenting the 4th in every key using estricklins circle of fifths. Then play it singing each note.

 

[applescrap]

Funny you mention the Yamaha, I was going to get something like a 16 channel Yamaha, I LOVE their mixers, but looking at the smaller mixers I didn't see the same value. I like that they have compressors built into the FX, and let's face it pretty much everything they make is awesome. I did look at the Behrys but I wanted something that was going to last. I'm ok with some of their products but you do get what you pay for. Our church has a Behry and it already has a dead channel, could be from abuse though I dunno. I just needed a smaller mixer anyway.




Oh that's cool you play piano, I used to have a Yamaha synth but it was bought in the mid 90s for about $500, and as you can imagine was pretty bad outdated by the time I sold it around 2005. I need something that is going to be pretty portable, and I really don't need a lot of bells and whistles. Singing just takes practice like everything else.

Here is an actual guitar tip that should relate to the thread. I've had a lot of these notebooks over the years, basically I jot down whatever I need to. I always draw a circle of 5ths and some basic chord/key charts to reference whenever I need it. Sometimes I chart out songs, write set lists, lists of songs to learn or practice, scales, chord types, lyrics and literally just anything I need. I carry the notebook I need that day in my guitar case. I don't write everything out so that I can play looking at it really, but glancing at the songs' chord progression or intro can help. I wish I would have started doing this, or doing it better back at the start. I used to write out all the lyrics and chords for every song I wanted to learn but that turned out to be a waste. Oh and always have an ink pen in your guitar case to go with the notebook.

This is solid. Thanks

 

[Kee]

It would be helpful to have actually learned all of the notes on the fretboard, but honestly I only know a few my heart. I hope that's part of the lessons too.

My goal is to spend at least a few minutes a day on learning the notes. The good news is that once you know the notes on the E string and A string, it's easy to quickly determine which note you are fretting on any string:

https://www.justinguitar.com/en/IM-116-NotesOnNeck.php

 

[estricklin]

Check this out. Fixed this head stock 3x now. Originally got knocked over and broke. Fixed it and it broke 2x more. Wood glue and clamped. This time spread glue with cotton swab. It has held everytime but rebroke when knocked over. Charvel acoustic electric. Meh. I traded a signed (fake?) Jackson Charvel electric for it. I couldn't handle the floyd rose bridge. Its a floating bridge with allen wrench adjustment. Was listening to my jazz teacher at the time. Wish i has that guitar, really.

Glad to see your keeping the old girl going. My Gibson had a crack in the headstock before I bought it, it was repaired by a professional and I'd post a pic of it but it's extremely hard to see the crack. The sad truth is our instruments take lots of wear and damage when we actually play them.

My goal is to spend at least a few minutes a day on learning the notes. The good news is that once you know the notes on the E string and A string, it's easy to quickly determine which note you are fretting on any string:

https://www.justinguitar.com/en/IM-116-NotesOnNeck.php

This will come with time, not sure it's something I would strictly practice, or not spend more than a few minutes at a time on. The fact that you care to learn it, is a pretty good sign.