I would like your help with playing the guitar please?

Question

Well, I borrowed an electric guitar from a friend and see how I'd do, and I'm a complete wreck! Before we get more into it, yes, I have all the physical necessities to play it (guitar, pick, amp, tuner), I just don't know where I should begin with the actual music-making of the instrument. I've tried sites that give free lessons for beginners, but only to become lost reading the instructions from the early steps. The wording was just too unfriendly for a complete newbie like myself. So, here I am, if anyone can even give me a small push towards the right direction it'd be much appreciated.. Where should I start exactly?

Normally, I wouldn't even bother embarrassing myself like this, but I really want to instrumentally start something in music.

Answer 1

The answer above mine did an excellent job describing things...... I myself am Self taught... The first thing I remember doing was breaking out the acoustic guitar with a simple little crappy icky book i learned how to pick out stupid songs with just one note.. like marry had a little lamb.. just to get soundo ut of it and familiarze myself with it... then I went for full blown chords.. it took me one week to get the chords down.. now when I mean chords I mean learn chords like all the majors and minors.. not power chords.. power chords are easy and you can basically play any good charlotte song known to man with power chords.. but learn the major and minor chords first.. then you can play much much more plus it will build up strengthin your fingers.. start with simple chords such as G major A major. C Major and D major.. thats what I did.. once you can play those 4 chords you will have much more of an undeerstanding.... another thing is about finger placement... the frets start at one and keep going up from there..... in order to read tablature you need to know that its just a diagram of the neck of the guitar... the number indicates the fret you will be playing on..... and the position is where you put your fingers... when reading tabs.. the thickest string is always the bottom... now about that...

it goes..
E this would be high E.. farthest away from you... the tiniest string..
B
G
D
A
E- notice the firt and last string on the guitar are both the same....... this would be low # the thickest string... closer to your thumb and the top of the guitar
if you want to later find notes that will come ; so in a nutshell.. the first thing I would do If I were you would be to
A. figure out the parts of the guitar by name.. so you know what they are talking about. I.e.. frets ( the space between the bars that seperate them) and notes etc....
B. figure out how to read tabs... its easy to do.. many tutorials online.... i can explain in more depth.. feel free to email me...
C. learn chords.. by reading the tabs..
D. learn how to play time of your life by greenday.. or smoke on the water... even oasis wonderwall.. those were my first 3 songs.... they are fairly easy...

good luck.. and feel free to drop me a line if you need any more help. the other guy probably explained things better to you .. but i just thought i'd try as well.. keep on rocking!

Answer 2

Playing guitar is basicly two sets of moves you have to co-ordinate.
Your one hand (mostly the right) is going to hit the strings to make the sounds.
The other hand (left?) at the same time is pushing against the strings to make them 'shorter' to change the sounds.

The following is to get you into the idea of how to play without the technical words.

Ask someone to tune your guitar for you so it sounds a bit as it sould.

Try to do this when the house is empty, it is going to be a lot of noise.

Now hold it in the playing position. (Look at video clips and copy in a mirror.)
Hold your left hand as if you are going to use it, but do not for this time, and start hitting the strings.
Go up and down, hitting all in order, and listen to what happens.
Try to hit only part, just one or more, till you feel confident.

Now repeat the hitting the strings in a rythm.
Try different things so you see what changes.

Copy the moves you see in the clips, but do not worry if it does sound awfull. You are playing with the guitar now, not on it.

Next step would be, I think, to set your fingers on the strings, one at a time, to hear what that is doing.
The right place to do it, is just above one of the metal strips, pressing the string to the strip without your finger coming on the other side of the metal.
Move your finger around a bit after you have hit the string and listen to the sound.

Now it is time to get one of those books/sites and try to place your fingers as they are on the pictures.
Generally it is known that you need three cords to play a song, but it is the hitting the strings in the right rythm that makes it worth doing.

I have left out all the different buttons and things, and what to use to hit the strings, because I played clasical guitar, not electric. And I prefered to use my fingers.
But as long as you are playing around, try all different settings and posibilities.

I hope this will get you started, if not, ask a friend who does play, or go to a musical school and ask one of their 12 year old electrical guitar students to show you how to start.
(I said 12 year, because they are old enough to know what to do, but young enough that you do not need to feel embarrest.)

PS, I am a woman, not a guy.

Answer 3

They are different things. Playing guitar is different than playing guitar hero. The comparison doesn't work. Some people are not as musical adept at playing instruments as others