Beginner Guitar Suggestion + Learning Advice

• 

  R-Man on 14/02/2018 - 11:14

  +2

  Hi mate! Great idea starting guitar :)

  I recommend you trawl through this awesome website www.ultimate-guitar.com for so so many lessons, but also youtube of course (afraid i dont have any favourite channels)

  So many people including my own siblings self-learn online so dont get lessons until you give that a solid crack.

  A couple of people have mentioned the Yamaha FG800, does anyone have any other suggestions? Or is this a good starting point? It goes for about 369-400

  No no this is definitely too expensive for a starting point. Here is a starter guitar bundle we bought a mate a few years ago. he's still getting heaps of mileage out of it. $209 or probably better elsewhere (just doing a quick search at work)

  https://www.bigmusicshop.com.au/yamaha-gigmaker-310-acoustic…

  I've had a brief look around on Google and YouTube and decided on learning Acoustic. Would it be recommended to start on Classical or does it not matter too much?

  Classical will be gentler on your fingers (nylon strings), but if you get a steel string acoustic and push past the pain i think you'll enjoy the sound better/have more modern songs to replicate etc. That's just me, of course there are others who prefer Classical anyway for finger picking.

  Valencia classical starter guitar typically $80-$90 from memory.

• 

  SharedSugar on 14/02/2018 - 11:19

  I picked up guitar a little while ago. I think It helps for the first couple of months to use a classical. I feel it isn't going to make a huge difference though.

• 

  Quantumcat on 14/02/2018 - 11:21

  +2

  Classical is easier to play because of the softer strings and less tightness. Strings also cheaper.

  Do you know anything about reading music? Here is how you can learn to play classical without too much trouble:

  • learn which frets are the same as the next higher string when pressed. This also lets you tune your guitar without needing an electronic tuner (make the two strings sound the same when the same notes are on each one, pressing fret of lower one compared to open of the higher)
  • learn which lines on the treble clef the open strings correspond to
  • if a note is on the next line or space up then press the first or second fret (it will be one of those), if it is a sharp (hash sign) then press the first fret up. If it is 2 notes up try two or three frets up.
  • if you remember which frets are the same as the string above you can also count down. So if a note is one below an open string you can go to the next lower string and count down the appropriate number of frets. A flat (b sign) means one fret down always.
  • This will all be a lot easier if you are familiar with notes on a piano - if two notes have a black key in between then going up one note means two frets, if no black key in between them then going up one note means one fret.

  Get some beginner piano or violin music (simple tunes that you already know how they go, like nursery rhymes or very popular classical tunes simplified), photocopy it, then get some coloured textas and colour the lines that correspond to the open strings. Then start playing. You'll be able to sight read music within hours, without even knowing which notes are which. This is how I have taught myself all instruments I know to a nearly a second grade level on all, violin, cello, guitar, trumpet from just knowing piano.
  If you wanted to get good you'd need some lessons so you hold the guitar correctly, use fingers correctly, use footstool etc (kind of like you need to learn to touch type if you ever want to type super fast)

  Oh, and if you learn some of the major scales (esp. C major) you will be able to play any simple tune you know without needing any sheet music. Eg any nursery rhyme, Aussie national anthem, Christmas carols, many songs from the 50s…

  • 

    poboy on 14/02/2018 - 14:43

    To piggy back off this - you need to balance longterm learning with immediate gratification. You will get immense gratification when you play a tune that you love. Smiles all around.

    Learn chord shapes to get gratification (C chord, G chord). It will take many many repetitions to get this down automatically. You are more likely to persevere when trying to play music you love.

    It's up to you if you want to read music, no biggie in my books.

    Personally, I prefer playing classical due to the thicker fretboard and lighter strings - although playing acoustic transfers well to electric guitar (same fretboard thickness) and both will sound louder than a classical guitar.

    Good luck.

• 

  yk300 on 14/02/2018 - 11:30

  Check out my reply on a similar post.

  The choice of acoustic and classical should be based on what songs (or style) you want to play. What do you listen to the most? What does your favorite artist play?

  With regards to lessons, you can teach yourself - plenty of great videos on youtube. The biggest advantage of a teacher is the feedback that he/she can provide you.
  I've used Yousician briefly before. It is quite impressive for what it is. You probably would want to spend some money to unlock some of the more premium features.

  • 

    Quantumcat on 14/02/2018 - 11:35

    +1

    Classical is much easier (Doesn't hurt fingers, strings further apart so easier to find the notes), and much cheaper, so it makes sense to start there. You wouldn't need acoustic unless you're planning to join a band or busk (where the extra volume is useful). (And personally I think classical sounds a lot prettier, acoustic can be a harsh sound)

• 

  dazweeja on 14/02/2018 - 11:34

  +2

  Don't spend too much money on your first classical guitar. Unless you're planning on sticking with classical/finger-picked style music, I think you want to move onto a steel string guitar as soon as your fingers can handle it. Classical guitars just sound average strummed in comparison to steel string guitars, and making a nice sound with your guitar is a good incentive to keep playing. Even if you're just a beginner, you can make a simple strummed song - eg. Knocking on Heaven's Door, All I Want Is You - sound pretty good.

• 

  cypher67 on 14/02/2018 - 11:42

  I actually learned to play on an Electric. The strings are much closer to the frets and don't require as much pressure to make the notes/cords. After 6 months I developed the grip strength and fingers hardness and moved over to an acoustic. I know its not the standard approach, but I know others that took this route successfully.

• 

  smashed on 14/02/2018 - 11:55

  Has the Aldi 100 dollar guitar offer started yet?
  Do you have a ps4 or xbox? You could use rocksmith to supplement your learning.

  • 

    tre180 on 14/02/2018 - 12:11

    Aldi sale was last week. But yeah I recently started Rocksmith for bass and seems really good so far, but OP will need an electric or semi-acoustic

• 

  pformag on 14/02/2018 - 11:55

  Yeah, Youtube for lessons.

  I would suggest getting a 2nd hand guitar to start off with, as you are most likely not going to go through with it in a couple of months time.

  If you are the few that sticks to it and falls in love, then upgrade to a better guitar. Gumtree has loads of instruments from parents who thought their kids would love to play an instrument long term.

  Also, guitar for dummies is a good starting point.

  Here is a PDF version.

  http://www.htg.tartu.ee/~siim/raamat/Guitar%20For%20Dummies.…

  And accompany Audio CD

  https://hub.wiley.com/external-link.jspa?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwi…

• 

  Freitag on 14/02/2018 - 13:30

  Get a guitar that suits your musical tastes, if you listen to classical guitar get one, or if it's more contemporary stuff, get a steel string guitar.

  You will improve the quickest if you get proper lessons, I improved a lot when I got lessons, then slowed down a lot after I stopped.

• 

  khued on 14/02/2018 - 13:56

  Find a "good" teacher and practice lots with "enough" rests between practices.

  Listen to pieces you love and try to emulate. Pick three pieces at a time: easy, medium, hard. When medium becomes easy, repick: medium, hard, harder; and so on.

  Enjoy!

• 

  Chris Topher on 15/02/2018 - 20:58

  If you get too cheap a guitar, or a bad 'good' one, you'll never get good sound and may well give up in frustration of the lack of good tone.

  Also if you can read music, good. If not learn at least the basic of a music score, i.e. the lines E G B D F and the spaces F A C E (reading from bottom lowest note 1st [LINE] then space, in order from lowest note to highest they are E F G A B C D E F

  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Blankshe…

  Then the strings thick down to thin on a standard tuned 6 string guitar - E A D G B E - you need to be able to either tune them or get help to do it. When you learn how to tune you will see how the notes are repeated in different octaves all over the fretboard.

  Put that all together and it will start to make sense.

• 

  Brainwhacker on 05/04/2018 - 17:20

  +1

  Good timing, OP, some very good advice here, will check it out now that I have managed to get my hands on a guitar!

• 

  Terencee on 05/04/2018 - 23:56

  Great advice from these guys :) I forgot to + :(

  So I got my hands on a mate's fender cd140sce and have been playing for about 2 months now. Thatwey was completely correct regarding getting cheap guitars. I got a Yamaha gig maker pack for about 200 bucks and the guitar sound quality was very disappointing, returned it straight away.

  Stuck to the fender (mate doesn't play anymore lucky me!) and it's been going great. Using a mix of yousician (very fun) and Justin guitar on YouTube (mainly) and a few other random YouTube videos here and there. I can't read music sheets just yet but I am just enjoying yousician's way of showing notes and memorising chords.

  My fingers hurt for about 3 weeks but they got drier and harder very quickly after that. There is a loss of sensation in the fingertips but as a result I can play guitar a lot longer! Worth it.

  When I am a little bit more comfortable i will look into reading music. I am also looking for a budget music teacher they all seem to be quite expensive! But would love to start taking classes very soon.