Should I learn guitar notes before chords?

Question

I'm in the process of self-teaching myself ;) alongside a handy begnner's book.
The beginner's book jumps straight into chords.. should I learn notes first?

Thanks xx

Answer 1

No, no, no... learn your basic chords first. I know it can be a bit tedious, but in time you'll learn to use chords in all sorts of interesting ways.
More importantly, everything else you do on the guitar stems from a basic knowledge of chords. You'll find it much easier to memorise the scales, notes and the relationships between them when you can mentally relate them to chord shapes.

Answer 2

It would be helpful to know the notes first, that way as you are learning the chords it will make more sense to you, and you will be able to use your knowledge to add extra bits in and so no.
Or, if you are happy to just learn what the chord looks like and sounds like, then learn it that way. It depends what type of music you want to be able to play really. If you want to play anything classical or read sheet music and play it on your guitar, you need to know the notes.
Good luck!

Answer 3

While Carl maybe correct in theory, the reality is that you'll be able to use chords more in the beginning. Scales are used to build leads off of, you won't be playing lead right away. Chords will allow you to start playing some songs to get you motivated about learning and hopefully stick with it. If you just started learning scales and all the theory involved to correlate those scales to chords like Carl mentioned, chances are very good that you would just get bored and quit before you learned your first song. Pick put 3 or 4 basic open chords and start practicing moving between them. It is good to practice at least one scale position along with the chords to build dexterity in your fingers and to build right hand muscle memory needed to find the proper string without looking at your picking hand.

Answer 4

I started learning guitar last summer - my cousin's boyfriend taught me. He said he wanted a guinea pig to accompany him - nice! So he taught me a few chords. These have come in useful - people always need a guitarist to accompany them. However, I found that if you begin by learning chords it can be very sore on your fingers. Afterwards, I bought a book and taught myself notes on the guitar. i found this more enjoyable - the sound was nicer. I bought the grade one trinity guitar book, learnt the pieces and put myself through the exam last month - I got a distinction! (really pleased!) So I'd probably advise you to learn notes first - anyone ca learn chords - you just learn chord shapes really - nothing to do with reading music. Don't let anyone tell you that its impossible to do without a teacher - I've proved them wrong! You go girl! xox

Answer 5

The straight answer is a bit of both! When you start out, it's good to be able to accompany yourself with stuff you,ve learned..so learning the basic primary chords will access you into a wide range of musical styles relatively quickly. I found that I wanted to play songs as soon as I had mastered a few chords. Learning the notes will enable you locate the roots of chords and scales..plus you'll be able to pick out some basic lead melodies..even on one string. Try a C major scale to start..you will be surprised how many melodies are built on a handful of notes in scale. ps... get alongside someone who plays already..it really will improve your development.

Answer 6

never mind about notes, just learn 3 chords. One you have learned 3 chords and can change from one chord to another chord, is plenty time to think about learning notes.

Answer 7

Learn a few chords first. It's fairly easy to get a pleasant noise out of a guitar! That will give you the confidence to try other things.

Answer 8

Chords first then notes. Try learning some bob dylan!!

Answer 9

lean chords first as it takes a lot to lean notes , if you do the chord you can play some turns state away with just 3 chords

Answer 10

Chords first before notes.Have a merry Christmas!