Musical instruments

[entercheesyname]

hey there,
I have made the decision, Im finally gonna start learning to play a musical instrument again ( i used to play violin but forget how after a period of lazyness) I would like to pick up a stringed instrument and have had a fascination with the guitar for as long as i can remember...trouble is, im more or less a complete newbie to this world so was wondering if someone could 'write' an intro to the guitar, i hope to teach my self at home, could someone recommend any books or dvd's to learn from ? also, what should i look for when buying an acoustic guitar.

Lastly, Do any MAP'ers play instruments? if so which one.

Do you fell it compliments your MA training in any way? e.g timing , concentration etc......

[TigerWolf]

hey

yeeeah i dont play the guitar but my friend does so if you want i could get her to write an intro for you... Are you starting Electric or Accoustic?
And i play piano, Clarinet and Saxophone mainly... I'm a music fanatic, the two things that keep me sane are music and FMA, ;)

[xen]

i'll post more tomorrow, but i'm off out now.

quickly;

i've been playing guitar for about 14yrs and focus mainly on my acoustic stuff now, i gave up learning other peoples stuff years ago cos i could never sound as good as them and focussed on developing my own tunes.

it led to me getting into electronic music and studing music and electronics for six years to masters level

i'll be happy to jot down some tips for you, i'll give it some thought tonight and try and post tomorrow lunctime.

[entercheesyname]

God I would love to play the piano but i dont have enough room to store one and cant afford the lessons privatly, I am starting acoustic guitar, although electric seems cool too,

Look forward to your intro xenmaster.....

[Peter Bradbury]

Well i pretend to 'play' drums, i more just sit there and beat them up. Its all this FMA stuff with sticks, you get a stick in your hand and you have to hit what evers in the way as hard as you can...... not good really..... my skins are bit battered.... and my old cymbals... well they didnt realy look like cymbals any more...

[GojuKJoe]

I've been playing guitar for about 4 1/2 years now. I'm not all that good because I just twang around in my room, but if you need some advice, you can pm me.

[E-Rocker]

I play guitar, both electric and acoustic, with a fair degree of competency. I also mess around a bit with piano & keyboards, bass guitar, drums, and various other percussion instruments.

[wayofthedragon]

I dabble a bit with the piano/keyboard
nothing serious.....Got lessions from a lady at a church in my home town a while ago, and since then only trying to teach myself

[xen]

Playing the guitar is cool. It is one of the most expressive instruments for new-comers to music and it is so versitile, the range of styles should keep even the most adventurous musicians happy for years. So what is the first thing you should do if you want to learn the guitar? Simple, listen to the guitar.

Whatever music you listen to, listen to it again and again and again, until you can pick out the guitar lines clearly in your head. This make you aware of the role the guitar plays in that particular style of music. It could be extendend lead lines found in prog. rock. Heavilly distorded rhythmn in metal. Melodic phrasing in blues etc.

While you're doing all this listening, shop around for a guitar. Spend sensibly. Don't go and blow £1000 on a guitar at this stage. But don't spend £30 either. My first acoustic was £90 and was okay, but flaws in the instrument you are learning on can make it twice as hard. I've settled with a Tanglewood roundback elecro-acoustic. £230. It is just right for what I do, which is just play at home and occaisonally record guitar parts with the electronic music I write and produce. So, think about where you want to be and spend accordingly.

If you are looking for an acoustic, you need to decide if you are going classical or not. A classical acoustic has three nylon strings and is designed to be played with the classical fingerstyle. I have tried to learn this, but prefer using a pick/plectrum. The alternative is a metal-string acoustic. This can be played with a pick or fingerstyle and tends to be louder in the higher register.

Next is size, I like the roundback because it is slightly smaller and less of a reach over the top, but its all down to you. Go to a guitar shop and ask if you can try some out. Explain your a begininer and they should be quite helpful, if their not, leave and don't spend your hard earned cash there. Find a helpful place and build up a good relationship with them. Shop owners are a valuable source of reliable information.

Look for a guitar that 'feel' right. This can be difficult to gauge when your new, so if you can and you know people with guitars, get to play around on them for a bit so you begin to sense what your looking for. Also, get the shop-owner to play the guitar your thinking of buying for you. That way you can hear how it sounds when its played proplerly, because (no disrespect) if you can't play it, you won't know until you have learnt to play if the guitar you buy has a pleasant tone or not!

If you decised to buy an electric you will also have to budget for an amp, leads and I'd advise a simple effects processor that will allow you to add reverb, chorus, delay and distortion. If you are going down the electric path, effects are half the fun :)! Again, if all you are doing is playing at home, you don't need a 1K rig (and your neighbors certainly won't!) But anything too small is a waste of time. A decent practice amp can be picked up for less than £100 and a Squier Strat for about £100-£150 if you shop around. The web is an excellent place to gather info.

If you are going electric you need a pick. These come in a range of thickness' and materials. Thin picks are sound quieter and if you are heavy handed they can be ok. I prefer a heavy pick (1mm) as this encourages you to work attentively on your right hand technique and helps you get more feeling into your playing. I also find you can be more expressive and that you can cover a wider dynamic range. But they cost pence, so buy a few different ones and experiment until you find what's right for you.

Once you've got your guitar, you'll be in for a shock. It is a nightmare at first. Your left hand (the one that does the twiddly bits) will feel like its drunk and after about 20mins your finger tips will be raw. The only way through these problems is to practice and you should make a commitment to practice for at least 20mins every day. After about a fortnight you should be addicted, the left hand should be sobering up and the callouses on your finger tips should be coming along nicely. Now the fun can start...

First thing to learn is guitar tab. Do a google search and you'll soon see what I mean. Tab is a simple system which tells you where to put your fingers. Once you've got tab your away. Find the tab for some songs you really like (google search ..song title..artist..tablature..guitar.. will find it for you)

Also look up some technique articles and follow their advice.

That should keep you busy for a month or so :)

I'll post some more in a day or so.

Hope this helps.

[entercheesyname]

Great post Xen, You should copyright that guide and sell it on ebay !!!!

[David]

I just started guitar a few weeks ago, first with some free web lessons (loads of fun ones out there including a lesson #1 with which you end up with Stairway to Heaven :)).

I bought "The Complete Guitar" (or was it Guitarist?) book and it has everything about guitars with exercises in everything.

In the past I've dabbled lazily with violin and cello and I have about 5 Irish whistles I can't play too. Recently got on a keyboard but the little keys were too small for my giant hands - am loking out for a large-key instrument that's cheap. Classified ads always have "piano, free for collection" notices if you ever want the things.

Guitar's fun, enjoy!

I'm lucky cos I have three accomplished muso's nearby :).

Rgds,
David

[xen]

Great post Xen, You should copyright that guide and sell it on ebay !!!!

not a bad idea

how much do think i should set as my reserve? :)

[entercheesyname]

I was gonna start acoustic guitar but am now seriously considering the electric, as a lot of the 'guitar' music i listen to is on electric. What do you think? which one offers more over the years? acoustic or electric?

If I was to learn to play on one would the knowledge acquired through playing it allow me to 'handle' the other guitar?

http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa072401a.htm

[Twimyo Jirugi]

Personally, I started on electric.I like the feel of them better and I listen to metal mostly, but the cool thing is, you can change the sound to your needs, so they're quite versatile.

Speaking from experience, I say tabs are the best way to learn. I picked up many techniques from learning songs I was into. Just constant practise is the key. Tho in a few years, you may want to consider lessons if you want to learn some advanced stuff, such as sweeping arpeggios.

[Omicron]

Speaking from experience, I say tabs are the best way to learn.
Speaking from my experience, I'd say they aren't. Since you are new and haven't becme "addicted" to tab like many guitar players out there, I'd strongly suggest you learn to read music. It will set you up MUCH better for the future, and there's really no comparison between a guitar player who can read music and one who can't. If you are even moderately serious about playing any musical instrument, being able to read is a must. It really isn't very difficult, and the possibilities it opens are almost endless.

[Jang Bong]

^----^ The man talks sense. I learned piano as a child, but didn't apply myself in practice - a pity as I inherited a musical ear off my mum. I kept annoying my teacher by learning the small exercise out of the book (Fir Elise I think) and then continuing to play the bit that comes after 'by ear' :D

I was able to read music - and I could play the piano - I just never got the hang of doing both things together. :cry:

Learned guitar chords at school, and was able to 'pick out a tune' by ear - I simply never have time to do anything with it now. Saying that, lay down a list of chords (from my limited list ;)), and I can probably make it sound right.

[I can see the idea of a martial arts musical roadshow forming, but can you imagine the fights over musical style :D:D:D ]

[xen]

yeah, if you have the patience to learn to read music then you will get much more out of the guitar and also you can switch to other instruments more easily.

I recomended tab as a quick and easy way to get to grips with the guitar and to give you instant access to lots of free material on the web.

I can read music, but not sight-read (ie read and play simultaneously) and I wish I had spent more time in the early days developing those skills!

And yes, if you learn on an electric you will be able to play acoustic. The fundamantals are the same, but you may have to adapt your technique slightly. I started with electric but moved to the accoustic because I wanted to improve. When your using effects you can cover your mistakes, but with an acoustic, every buzz and rattle is there for all to hear.

[entercheesyname]

Is it possible to apply 'acoustic' effects on a electric guitar? and imitate the sound it makes?

I'm not really ready to buy a guitar yet but am looking around, there is a music shop on oxford road (manchester) they have an ebay shop and sell a squier strat starter pack, is it good to start with Xen?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47074&item=7309326385&tc=photo

[xen]

checked the link and it was a bit light on information.

if they have a shop you can get to go and have a look and see what's included.

If you are getting amp + leads and possible an electroninc tuner thats alot for your money. At that sort of price, its worth investing. If you get into it you can upgrade later and then you'll have a spare guitar knocking around and a practice amp, which is never a bad thing. I'd look at it as a good way to get into it, but you should be looking for something a bit better within 6months to a year. I'll write more soon, but briefly;

Squier strats come in a range of flavours from the very cheap to the decent. Even the cheap ones can be okay (i've got one myself which gets used occaisonally).

Yes you can get an acoustic sound out of an electric. No time to explain now, but i'll try and get online tommorow evening.

[Omicron]

Lastly, Do any MAP'ers play instruments? if so which one.

Do you fell it compliments your MA training in any way? e.g timing , concentration etc......
There are a lot of musicians here on MAP. Personally, I see a lot of parallels between practicing music and practicing martial arts. They both require timing, coordination, and creativity, and in both disciplines it's essential to have a firm grasp of the basic techniques before you can hope to achieve at a high level.

Like martial arts, there are many different styles of music, and you'll often see style vs. style bashing going on in music just as much as in martial arts. And, just like in martial arts, you can often tell the most mature practitioners as those who are accepting of other styles and opinions, even if they differ from their own.

Also, I think that the pursuit of music is an excellent thing for any martial artist. A lot of the skills necessary for being a successful musician transfer over to being a successful martial artist, and the two compliment each other very well. So, if you've settled on guitar, as it seems you have, I'd say that you should definitely go for it! Like xenmaster has said, make sure you investigate around before you actually buy something. Instruments are expensive, and once you've bought one you're stuck with it. It's very important that you get a good deal, especially when you're first starting. You may also want to consider picking up some guitar lessons. Nothing can get you going better than a teacher. Again like in martial arts, the difference between someone who learns from books and videos and someone who learns from a qualified instructor is a huge one.

[Jang Bong]

There are a lot of musicians here on MAP. Personally, I see a lot of parallels between practicing music and practicing martial arts.

Funny you should say that - I used a musical analogy (guitar, in fact) on a Kata thread. ;)

[Omicron]

So I'm not crazy then! I'm glad to hear that other people find similarities too.

[butcher wing]

I agree.Learning a set/form/kata is like learning a guitar solo. break it up into small parts, get it nailed then move on to the next part.
I hope I don't ever get a set/form/kata thats like an Yngwie Malmsteen solo :)