# curious begginer needs your advice and answers please!



## sureshred (Nov 16, 2008)

I've been playing the acoustic guitar for two months. I'm a metal fan and my teacher is teaching me stuff I like. Here's what I've learned up to now :

CHORDS:
D,
A, 
Aminor,
Eminor,
2 variations of G: 
1. G string 3rd fret, A string 2nd fret and low E 3rd fret
2. A string 2nd fret and low E 3rd fret ( my teacher told me to stop using this one)
2 variations of C:
1. G string 3rd fret, D string 2nd fret and A string 3rd fret
2. D string 2nd fret and A string 3rd fret

SONGS:
Come as you are (intro part)
Smoke on the water (Intro part)
Iron man (intro + this part:
A-0-0-3-4-5-5-6-7
D------------------5-6-7)
Sunshine of your love (intro + chorus)
Crazy train (main riff)

We haven't reallt looked at any theory (excluding chord names and tabs if they count) and my teacher said that my next class will be be "more technical and kind of difficult". 2 months in... what does he want to teach me?
QUESTION TIME:
How am I doing? Any suggestions on practice? Did I make a good choice starting on acoustic? Remarks, insults, suggestions? When's a good time to get electric?


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi sureshred. He's likely going to start teaching you scales and barre chords.
Keep in mind that 2 months is a blink of an eye in terms of learning guitar. You'll be well on your way once you get the minor pentatonic and major and minor scales down. Learning how and what songs are built from is a big help. 

Shawn


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Rugburn said:


> Hi sureshred. He's likely going to start teaching you scales and barre chords.
> Keep in mind that 2 months is a blink of an eye in terms of learning guitar. You'll be well on your way once you get the minor pentatonic and major and minor scales down. Learning how and what songs are built from is a big help.
> 
> Shawn


+1 on what Shawn is saying. 

I'm not sure what a teacher would consider as a "next part" to teach you.

I'd start playing all the electric guitars and amps you can find.... in the stores or ones that your friends own. Take your time. It will help you to make a better decision.

Also, ask lots of specific questions in this Forum.

Dave


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## Skin (Feb 18, 2009)

That fact that you’re getting lessons is a major plus. I am self taught and it took years to undo that bad habits I got in my first five years. Be patient and remember the more time you spend practising the quicker it should come.


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## Luke98 (Mar 4, 2007)

Lessons are a great Idea, I wish I had taken them when I first started...
Good Luck!


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## Pighawker (Feb 28, 2009)

Rugburn said:


> Hi sureshred. He's likely going to start teaching you scales and barre chords.
> Keep in mind that 2 months is a blink of an eye in terms of learning guitar. You'll be well on your way once you get the minor pentatonic and major and minor scales down. Learning how and what songs are built from is a big help.
> 
> Shawn



By getting them down, do you mean all the different patterns?


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi Pighawker.
At first learning the major/minor and pentatonic scale in their simpler or "boxed" positions makes the most sense. Later you will want to learn how to run them up and down the neck, as oposed to runing them from low to high/high to low off the root fret. Sooner or later if your interested in advanced soloing, you'll likely want to learn about melodic and harmonic minor scales, modes, major pentatonic superimposition and appeggios. This may sound complicated, but after a while it starts to become second nature.You won't find yourself thinking about music so much in terms of scales and chords. Just like writers don't think of the stories they write in terms of words and punctuation. Hope this makes semse.

Shawn :smile:


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## Pighawker (Feb 28, 2009)

Rugburn said:


> Hi Pighawker.
> At first learning the major/minor and pentatonic scale in their simpler or "boxed" positions makes the most sense. Later you will want to learn how to run them up and down the neck, as oposed to runing them from low to high/high to low off the root fret. Sooner or later if your interested in advanced soloing, you'll likely want to learn about melodic and harmonic minor scales, modes, major pentatonic superimposition and appeggios. This may sound complicated, but after a while it starts to become second nature.You won't find yourself thinking about music so much in terms of scales and chords. Just like writers don't think of the stories they write in terms of words and punctuation. Hope this makes semse.
> 
> Shawn :smile:


Thanks Rugburn, it's the running them up and down the neck I have a hard time with, ie making it not sound so scaley (if that's a real term). 

Not so much into advanced soloing at this point but do are you talking about modes?

Also, this may be a basic question, but when you are playing a solo over lets say a song in the key of 'A', would you play the solo only in the key of 'A' or do you switch it with each chord that's played????


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Pighawker, your asking some very good questions. When I started playing rock/pop/blues, I used simple pentatonic major/minor, mostly minor and it worked OK. After a while you'll learn more ways of playing over chord changes that keep a song interesting. After a few years of playing it becomes a question of not what _can _ I play over this chord, but what _should_ I play over it. As far as modes are concerned, it's something you can learn about after you get some of the more basic stuff down. Modes are built from the C major scale. Each degree of the scale has it's own mode.They each have their own sound. You can learn a lot by surfing the Net and reading books. Here's a link for you, I'm sure there are many more to choose from.

http://www.modemaster.com/

Cheers Shawn sdsre


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Shawn, will you be my guitar teacher!

:smile:

When I first wanted to play solos (and I started playing guitar in the grunge era, when that was basically a no-no) I learned a few blues progressions (I-IV-V - usually played as 7 chords) and played a pentatonic or minor pentatonic over each chord. So if the chord was an E7 I was using an E minor pentatonic, if it was A7 I was using an A minor pentatonic. Eventually I learned (more by listening and trial and error than by studying) to move up and down the neck. It has gotten to the point where now I (and eventually you) don't even think about scales. I just listen and play what I feel.

If you're interested in this idea, look up 12 bar blues and you'll get about a million examples. BTW all this I-IV-V stuff will make sense once you learn a scale or two. Someday I'll post the 15 minute theory lesson I got from an excellent (and sadly deceased) KW area guitar player named Matt Osborne http://www.musicface.com/matt/ that has kept me in business for the last 15 years.


That being said, I'm not a metal guy and I'll never want to play high speed arpeggios or do extended sweep picking riffs. Keep working with your teacher. He has you on the right track. Good luck, eh!


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi mrmatt, I'm not the most theory heavy kind of player. I don't read music, but I also don't feel it's always necessary to. That's just me. Having said that, I always felt it was important to learn enough music theory to express myself the way I want to. I'm still learning and I'm resigned to the fact that I'll still be learning 30 yrs from now. I've been playing for about 18-19 yrs, so I've picked up a couple of things. Anytime you have a question about technique or theory, I'll be glad to help as best as I can. One thing I like to do is play a lot of different kinds of music. I always come back to doing "my thing", whatever people want to call it, but playing reggae for a week can only make you better...I think. Also, I like to play a bunch of songs from a group/band focusing strictly on rhythm. Years of listening to guys like Keith Richards, Pete Townsend and Steve Cropper revealed to me that there's a small symphony in even the simplest chords.

Cheers Shawn :wave:


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## Duster (Dec 28, 2007)

sureshred said:


> I've been playing the acoustic guitar for two months. I'm a metal fan and my teacher is teaching me stuff I like. Here's what I've learned up to now :
> 
> CHORDS:
> D,
> ...


You're doing great. If you're 2 months in and you still enjoy it and are looking forward to more, that's a positive sign. As for whether or not you're learning fast enough, it's an impossible question, and the sooner you get it out of your head, the better. When I had been playing for 2 months, I thought, I'm just getting started, there's this mountain of stuff to learn, I'm such a beginner. Now I've been playing for 2 years, and I think, I'm just getting started, I'm such a beginner! You'll never stop being a beginner, as long as you keep looking for stuff to learn. And this music thing is so huge, there will always be new things to learn.

Yes, good choice starting on acoustic! And when's a good time to get an electric?.... I would say, right away, if it's going to get you to practice and play more!

Remarks: You seem like you have a good attitude, keep it up!
Suggestions: Keep taking lessons and asking questions.
Insults: None. And if anyone offers you one, ignore it.

--- D


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

sureshred said:


> QUESTION TIME:
> How am I doing? Any suggestions on practice? Did I make a good choice starting on acoustic? Remarks, insults, suggestions? When's a good time to get electric?


"How am I doing?" - this is impossible to answer, really. Why? Because everyone learns at different speeds in different ways. I can say that it looks like you're definitely progressing. Do you know all the stuff you posted blindfolded? .

Suggestions on practise: use a metronome. If you start doing this early, you will find that you can keep time and progress with new patterns pretty well. This will also make you any experienced player's best friend, as you'll be able to keep time really well instead of relying on someone else .

Starting on acoustic: it really doesn't matter what you start on. Acoustic, electric - either way, you're learning guitar. They feel, sound and look different, but the material you're learning is all transferable.

when's a good time to get an electric: any time. Seriously. There is no "you must be this good to buy X guitar" rule - anyone who tells you that is either jealous, full of themselves, or just plain misinformed.

Buy what you want and what you can't afford. If you can't afford what you want, wait and save up - *do not settle*. You *don't* need to be an amazing guitarist to own a fender, or a PRS, or a gibson, or whatever other brand. You also don't need to be filthy rich, which helps us mere mortals .

****Important****

The amp you use with an electric makes up at least 50% of the tone - more like 75% I'd say. Consider this when you are buying your amps . A great amp can make a budget guitar sound great. A great guitar *generally* can't make a budget amp sound like a quality amp. Also, what you hear on albums is not what you would hear live - there is studio EQ'ing, mixing, mastering, and layering - *I highly suggest looking to find your own tone!* TL/DR - Don't skimp on your amp! Also please bear in mind that your ear will get better at hearing the differences between say a $3000 half stack and a $300 practise amp with exposure to good (and bad) tones and being critical of the sounds you hear.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

If you're having fun, that's all that matters! It doesn't matter if your guitar is $50 or $5000, if your amp has 1 8 inch speaker or 8 12 inch speakers. If you're having fun, you're doing something right!

Enjoy the journey


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Budda is giving great advice :bow:


....print it, frame it and hang it where you practice....and *read it often*.

cheers

Dave


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

I agree with Budda's advice, but if you do only play electric, spend 1/5th to 1/4th of your practice time playing unplugged. I really think that's the benefit most attribute to playing acoustic guitar first, perhaps not really being aware of it. Electric guitars are great for hiding sloppy technique, especially when you add fancy pedals and lots of gain.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I pretty much never play unplugged, and i don't play clean nearly as much as I used to.

all that said, I don't actually Practise playing guitar very often at all - I just play a lot.

If you practise, you will become a better player. if you noodle, you'll become a better player - but it will probably take longer.


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