But I mostly play either Freebird or Thunderhorse on expert.
I can (sometimes) play Trogdor on expert and not screw up completely. I usually get good scores. But I have to be really tired... or maybe have been playing for upwards of 5 hours.
Either way, I sometimes don't screw up Trogdor on Expert.
I've been playing guitar like crazy lately. I got a Squier Telecoustic for Xmas and I've written three songs since. I love playing bass more than anything else in the world, but it is not a tool for writing songs. Unless you're Les Claypool.
I'm learning/teaching myself how to play bass, but that's been put on hold, since I had to leave my Bass back in Australia, but I'll soon be borrowing my girlfriend's bass, so back to it.
All I have is a Squier II Strat and a Peavey Fury Bass. I don't play guitar that well (simple covers like Mr. Brightside, Stephen Lynch songs, that kinda stuff, and a good understanding of chords), but I'm pretty good at bass.
I stopped doing that in 9th grade, and I concentrated fully on my instrument of choice,the 104-key keyboard.
I'm just curious, is there any particular brand of keyboards that you would recommend? Also, do you (or did you) know how to read sheet music or did you just fool around?
I've just started to begin to learn the Guitar. I have no musical background so I'm having to learn everything, from music reading to technical things like knowing how to tune guitars etc. It's quite fun and there is a lot more to the technical side of playing than I thought there was! I'm a ambidextrous so even though I'm right-handed I play guitar left handed.
I bought a generic electric guitar that came with a starter kit, so I'm just practicing chords right now and trying to learn as much as possible. There is an instructor near me, so there is always that option.
so I'm just practicing chords right now and trying to learn as much as possible
The thing you should learn first is how to strum in rhythm, keeping time solidly. Once you can do that, then you should start learning to move your fingers from chord to chord, and when you do, don't worry about missing strings and it sounding crap, only worry about keeping up a good rhythm. The worst thing is to get into a habit of pausing your strumming between chord changes.
There are worse habits you can get into when playing guitar, habits that can even harm you perpetually, such as not picking properly.
I'm a ambidextrous so even though I'm right-handed I play guitar left handed.
Or like that one? Dude, why would you do that? 99% of the guitars you're going to run across in your life will be right-handed. I'm left-handed, and I learned to play right-handed. (If you're learning to play Hendrix-style, by flipping a right-handed guitar around, disregard.)
(If you're learning to play Hendrix-style, by flipping a right-handed guitar aroundand re-stringing it upside down, disregard.)
Did Hendrix re-string it upside down? I didn't know that. In any case, my stepdad plays a regular right-handed guitar, strung the normal way, and flips it around and plays it left-handed. Works out okay for him. He plays mostly jazz, though. I imagine chugga-chugga metal riffs wouldn't work out quite so well.
But anyway, either way you're still gonna run into the situation where you're not going to be able to play most guitars without restringing them. That puts a damper on the times where you're at a party, passing a guitar around or whatever. If you're ambidextrous, I don't know why you'd want to make these things more difficult for yourself.
so I'm just practicing chords right now and trying to learn as much as possible
The thing you should learn first is how to strum in rhythm, keeping time solidly. Once you can do that, then you should start learning to move your fingers from chord to chord, and when you do, don't worry about missing strings and it sounding crap, only worry about keeping up a good rhythm. The worst thing is to get into a habit of pausing your strumming between chord changes.
Have fun!
A lot of that can be solved by having a teacher. Exclusively learning from the internet, I don't know if you are, will form bad habits. I don't play guitar, but I do play drums. I started taking lessons early enough that I didn't have too many band habits to break.
If money is an issue, check with the small music stores. In Baltimore, we have quite a few. Some of them offer free public lessons to promote the hobby and possibly sell equipment. Even a few lessons should get you on the right path.
The quickest way to get better is to play with a band from early on, trust me, I seen people reach insanely high levels of skill in less than half a year because of this situation.
So I've been fooling around with the guitar and concentrating on rhythm (as Luke suggested) and even got some tabs and learned 2 quick and easy 'songs'. The beginning of "twinkle twinkle little star" and "come as you are", the Nirvana song. I know those two are damn easy to do and I thought it fun =P I'm really enjoying it so far.
There is someone near by who gives lessons, but I'm not sure if I can because of my strange work schedule. I'm pretty much relying on guitartricks.com to teach me at this point.
We all chipped in and bought our friend her first guitar for her birthday tomorrow. We got a Squier Bullet for $100 and, after setting it up and messing with it tonight, I'm finding it to be more awesome than we initially realized. The neck feels very nice, the action is good, and it's got a whammy bar. The biggest flaw is that the pickups buzz quite a bit, but other than that it's an excellent electric guitar for an absolute beginner. I highly recommend it for anyone in that market.
Comments
But I mostly play either Freebird or Thunderhorse on expert.
Either way, I sometimes don't screw up Trogdor on Expert.
I've been playing guitar like crazy lately. I got a Squier Telecoustic for Xmas and I've written three songs since. I love playing bass more than anything else in the world, but it is not a tool for writing songs. Unless you're Les Claypool.
I bought a generic electric guitar that came with a starter kit, so I'm just practicing chords right now and trying to learn as much as possible. There is an instructor near me, so there is always that option.
Have fun!
But anyway, either way you're still gonna run into the situation where you're not going to be able to play most guitars without restringing them. That puts a damper on the times where you're at a party, passing a guitar around or whatever. If you're ambidextrous, I don't know why you'd want to make these things more difficult for yourself.
If money is an issue, check with the small music stores. In Baltimore, we have quite a few. Some of them offer free public lessons to promote the hobby and possibly sell equipment. Even a few lessons should get you on the right path.
Most importantly, have fun.
There is someone near by who gives lessons, but I'm not sure if I can because of my strange work schedule. I'm pretty much relying on guitartricks.com to teach me at this point.