Teaching Myself How To Play The Guitar

I have to post at least once in April right?

tonybrock — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:56:02 +0000

So, yes, I have been slacking; which, as I am sure most of you are aware, is the biggest problem in learning anything…

I want to practice, but I always tell myself “tomorrow” Over the past month, I have probably averaged two times a week…Not terrible, but I can feel that my fingers are getting lazy.

I will find some rededication somewhere. Maybe. I hope.

I am still in section two, and though I am getting better at reading the music, I should be much better. I am almost ready to try out the next section (I’m thinking it simply adds a couple strings) we’ll see.

Moving on to Session Two

tonybrock — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:14:10 +0000

Well, after two solid weeks of practicing ~30 min a night (skipping 2-3 days), Im’ starting to get slight calluses on my finger tips, and don’t really experience much pain when playing. I think I have mastered Session 1, having pretty much fulfilled the requirements of the “Assignment”:

-Learn the strings (e,B,G,D,A,E)
-Go through various finger exercises easily
-Play without pain
-Practice the G7 and C chords

I figured it was time to move on to session two of the first DVD in the set, and see what I was going to learn next. As it turns out, I got a an introduction to reading music: Reading notes off a staff, noting the treble cleff, measures, tempo, rests, rythm etc…

I can’t say I am confident that I understand much about reading music at this point (I am also introduced to tabulature here, but really want to concentrate on reading the music by sight), and am really hoping one day to understand/play something besides 4:4 time. For now, I will concentrate on working my way through the session, which has me concentrating on the first two strings (e and B), and the first few notes they make (E,F,G,D,C,B,) and how to read them off the music sheet. I am wanting, as I go, to become more and more confident that I am understanding music, as much as I am simply playing along.

Guitar Lessons Blog Link

tonybrock — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:04:15 +0000

Just a quick post (a reminder to myself really), linking to what appears to be a really helpful guitar lessons blog:

http://oestrem.com/thingstwice/2009/12/learn-to-play-the-guitar-in-two-weeks-and-impress-your-girlfriend/

It looks fairly in depth, and you guys may find it useful too…

A week later…

tonybrock — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:09:30 +0000

Ok, so here I am a week later, and I figure I owed an update. I have pretty much been concentrating on session one of the Steve Krenz DVD set. I must say that I think I am going to get a lot out of this purchase, and still recommend it at this point.

Session #1 basically teaches you the names of the strings, and then runs you through appropriate basic right hand and left hand technique. For practice it runs you through various finger exercises which on each string. This session also has you practice forming and switching between the G7 and C chords (which are very similar to one another). So far I have continually been doing the same exercises each evening for about 30 minutes (missing a couple nights).

I have filed my nails down as far as they will go, and it seems to be fine. I am able to occasionally get a C chord without muting or buzzing the strings, which has been almost impossible in the past. At first, I could barely do 15 minutes before my finger-tips were killing me, but now I can go about 30 minutes with a medium level of discomfort. I am not really doing anything musical yet, but I’m actually excited to be taking it step by step, practicing the right way.

Day – 1 (For real this time)

tonybrock — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:06:32 +0000

Searching around for something better than the cheesy “Learn to play guitar” disks being sold everywhere, I found and purchased “Learn and Master Guitar (Expanded Edition)” with Steve Krenz, from Legacy Learning. I had watched various portions of this DVD set, and it appeared to be exactly what I was looking for in an at-home, learn-to-play-guitar product. It comes with 20 DVDs, and a book. It is meant to be an at your own pace style learning process, and the teaching style seems to me, what you may find if you were to hire Mr. Krenz directly. For now (and I know its early) I am going to recommend this DVD:

Link to Product

So last night I finally made some time for myself to sit down, and attempt to learn something. I sat down with my acoustic guitar (a cheap Yamaha I got for $100) and popped in the first DVD. My first impressions of the product itself are very favorable, though I had to quit for the night about 45 minutes in, simply because my fingers were starting to kill me.

I have noticed something about my own fingers that I’m not sure many people are going to have to worry about. My fingernails seem to end, naturally, very close to the end of my finger-tips, no matter how much I cut or file them. I don’t know if this is going to affect my progress, but it seems most people have more “meat” at the end of their finger, allowing them to apply pressure to the strings without the fingernail ever becoming a factor. I am hoping I can eventually build enough of a callous to make this a non-issue for me. See what I mean here:

I did find the following post on acousticguitarforum.com, and may use these if my fingers are too weird:

A table saw accident cutoff 5/8″ off of my left-hand second finger. I have searched high and low for a finger cap and here is what I have found:

1. Cheap and works 85%: Red Tory Finger caps. These are rubber finger caps. I cut off the end so that they fit from the finger tip to the first joint. I use size 13, 12 in a pinch. 13s are a bit loose, 12s are a bit tight. Story of my $#$## life. Anyway, the link is: http://www.toryinc.com/. Email them and he will send you a free sample package of all sizes. Great outfit. $5 a dozen. I use these every minute I play. Steel string, nylon, acoustic, electric. If they ceased to exist I don’t know what I would do.

2. Cheap and works 40%: Acco Swingline finger protectors. Pros: cheap and available at any stationary – office store. Cons: sticky and lots of bumps. http://www.amazon.com/Swingline-Rubb…/dp/B00007LB0H. $2 a dozen.

3. Cheap and works 50%: Finger gloves. I spoke with the owner and she said many guitarists with finger injuries buy these. They are too sticky for my playing style. http://www.fingergloves.com/

4. Cheap and works 60%: Red plastic caps that come with plumbing and other components. I got one off of a water filter and it worked pretty well. So I did a huge search and found a vendor. They sold me a dozen or so for pennies. Didn’t work as well as I had hoped. Hard to cleanly fret.

5. Galaxy Products FT-1. Supposedly this is what Tony Iommi now uses. It runs $60, no returns, one size fits all. http://www.galaxyguitar.com/ft1.html It looks like my #4 above with a leather pad glued on.

6. This is not for you, but for someone like me with a tip cut off, there is a company in Georgia that makes finger prosthetics. I spoke with a tech there and they do guitarists rather frequently. http://www.fingerprosthetics.com/fingerprostheses4.html

Making Time is Hard…

tonybrock — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:02:57 +0000

I needed to add a quick post, just to point out how difficult it has been in the past few days (for me) to actually have the time to sit down ans start this thing. Between making time for other people, reading to my kids, Turf Burn Sports reffing (flag football), Cub Scouts, and other appointments/engagements, I don’t think I have had a busier schedule in my life. Not to mention the fact that in the small amount of time I have left over each week, my extreme sloth takes over.

Oh well, perhaps things will change here this week sometime…

Day – 1

tonybrock — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:17:40 +0000

Stir crazy and alone, after sitting inside on the couch all day (Sick day), I was looking for something to take the edge off the Sudafed fueled anxiousness I had coursing through my body.

I suppose today would be as good a day as any to try and start this whole “learning to play guitar” thing up again. Hunting around for that tutorial CD Ashley bought me back in the day, I found it and popped it into my wife’s laptop.

Wow, it really has been awhile as it is asking me to install Quicktime 3…

Ok, everything’s installed. After perusing this disk a bit, I can tell right away this is not going to teach me a thing. After figuring out how to turn on the midi sounds it is using to try and have me play along, I am frustrated to find that there is no real instruction on what i may need to practice. Am I supposed to have a pick? How do I hold this thing? Do I just follow along? How many times do I play this? How long do I practice?

You know what? Screw this CD.

Obviously very little effort went in to making sure people were actually learning anything. This CD isn’t worth the 3 days it took the publisher to throw it together. I will have to find something else. Maybe tomorrow…I don’t feel good.