Wall of Mouths

Title: Re: What advice do you have for someone

Bad Karma wrote:

How easy is it to tune a guitar and change strings?

i don’t need a guitar tuner to tune a guitar, some people do. some people have perfect pitch, some don’t. i’ve taught some people who had the best intentions in the world, were highly enthusiastic to learn guitar… but couldn’t hold a note in a paper bag.

try and play to records, using your ear. forget those stupid “chords of the album, by wolf marshall!” books. half the time, they’re wrong, and you’re not really learning more than a few chords. you need to learn by ear, in my opinion. there’s nothing wrong with learning chords from a book, but i’m sure you know what i mean

stick at it. you’ll reach a point where you realise playing guitar is something you can either do, or not do.

30seconds wrote:

My advice?…

Don’t do it. Learn drums instead! :D

HaHa :D Nope my heart is set on learning to play guitar :p

i´m playing bass for more than 10 years now …

i never had a teacher. (except for studying jazz bass at a consveratory in vienna … but they couldn´t teach me something new techniqualwise and i left again cause it was shit - but thats anoter story) but i learned it all by myself really …
just listen to your fav records, but do not just stay with them. you should be very open minded and play all kind of music. then you are able to be a good musician …
if you practise alot you will get your own style anyway …

but you should feel no pressure … just “love to play” its all you need …

i got my bass and started out hearing the notes from bass lines … of the songs i like and i wanted to be able to play … but soon i found out, that there was more … cause i was really fast in getting the skills …

i soon played what i wanted to play and more than that … not just playing along with records … well for the beginning is the best you can do … but you should be open minded to write your own music, having your own style …
i think that is what its all about … (my opinion)

cheers …

P.S.: perhaps you know some friends … you can play with? needs not to be a band, but its important to play along with other musicians …

its soooooooo easy…even i can play and im a GIRL!!!
no really though, u might as well give it a try, u’ll pick it up fast… :D

If it’s easy to change the strings on a guitar depends on the way it’s built. On some set-ups, like when there’s a whammy bar, it can be a bit more difficult to change them properly, but in general it’s quite easy to do. I’d just try it out, and if it doesn’t work out you can always take it to a shop later on. As long as you’re a bit careful it’s quite hard to break something on your guitar while changing a string (except maybe the strings themselves).

I’ve always had a guitar tuner, as I can hear it when my guitars are out of tune, but can’t get them back into tune properly without a tuner. As a sidenote, I don’t believe most musicians do this without a tuner. I’d recommend a BOSS tuner.

Hopefully this helped a bit. As a bit of general advise, just have fun! Don’t feel pressured by friends or anyone else to take lessons, play ‘this’ song or ‘that’ chord, write your own songs, etc. Just do what you enjoy most. I’ve been playing on and off for a long time and have always enjoyed jamming along to my favourite songs or playing covers with some friends most. I’ve hardly had any urge to write my own songs (the attempts I did make sucked quite a bit), and being/becoming a good musician is not defined by how well you can write your own songs/riffs.

And, don’t give up too soon, you should really try for a while, even though it can be frustrating, before you find out if it’s for you or not, like philzilla said.

Good luck!

I’m thinking of getting an electric guitar.Thanks for all the help guys.

the price is not really the best indicator … i played basses from 100€ to 3000€ and of course … there are more likely playable, when they cost more … but that is not for any guitar or bass …

for accustic … well you just have to look if it suits you well … you can play easily … not have to pull the string too hard for playing … or with the left hand … if you have to push down the strings to the frets too hard … its not good for playing …
i think don´t look at the price … just get one guitar after another, and the one wich suits you most and you can play best with .. thats the one … but of course you won´t be able to afford the really expensive guitars … so then just find the best for your money you want to spent …

don´t make the decision too easily or too fast … a guitar, a instrument … can be like your child really …

The choice of guitar:

Not to heavy, good sound, easy to play (your hands should fly over the neck if it is a good one).

i have been playing the guitar for about 7 years now and still find it impossible to tune without the aid of a tuner.

xxz

scotdamn wrote:

Tuning your guitar:

The fifth fret should be the same note as the next higher string.
So if you want to tune you just “play” the fifth fret and the next higher string. If it isn’t tuned you will hear a waving sound. (how shorter the waves the more the guitar is out of tune.) You should try to make one lang wave then the string is tuned.

I hope this make somes sense, as english is not my first language.

technically incorrect (one string would be the 4th fret), and only applicable for a standard EADGBE tuning. if someone was learning to play Led Zep’s Kashmir, for eample, they’d have to tune to DADGAD

anyway, a lot of bands use a dropped D tuning, these days. even more reason to rely on your ears. you need to be able to hear these things, and adapt ;)

If you tune your strings each to the 5th fret of the one below it, b will be out of tune and could result in e breaking.
to tune your guitar to d, if you have any kind of musical ear, just let the low e string down till the sound forms one note.

I just bought a tuner, easier when your gigging than pulling out a cd player :D