Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

I just make shit up as I go along. Probably discover very basic things. But it feels like you own them.

It's all valid. Jamming with a mate for the first time next week. He knows no theory and "plays by ear". He has been in several bands. I have only played in my living room and office.

I think Jamming with someone would probably be the single thing that would take me to the next level. It will be shit at first no doubt, as I forgive myself a lot by myself. But no doubt I would learn faster

Any tips for string bending guys?

I bend with my 3rd finger, supported by my 2nd and sometimes 1st. My issue is that sometimes other strings ring out when I don't want them to. What is happening is my finger tip pushes other strings up and out of the way but then the string will slip down and under my finger, making a noise.

Yeah it sounds like one of those 'just keep playing' answers. I don't do much bending though.

Anyway, I've made decent gains this year on alternate bass thumb stuff, I used to be ok at bouncing between the same two strings but the alternate stuff like with Am where you bounce your thumb between A, D, E, D A, D, E, D etc made me lose my place. Now though, the thumb just does it by itself for the most part. Current challenge is doing the same with barre chords higher up the neck. In the default position I'm happy to wrap my thumb over the E to avoid a barre, but I don't think that's always viable up the neck.

Nah never played bass outside of trying out a mates, I mean bass thumb stuff as in Travis picking, doing the chuka-chuka sound with your thumb on palm-muted bass strings whilst picking a melody out with your finger(s).

I'll have a listen to that later! I need more tunes to learn, I tend to get focused on one or two and I think it doesn't help me. I also enjoy Ed Sheeran and don't know why people dislike him, he's a great songwriter.

Atm I'm playing (learning) Windy and Warm, and I'll See You In My Dreams, the latter I've got no chance at. I'm making gains on the former tho, the main idea I have, it's just getting the back half in muscle memory and the front half sounding clean. The thumb at least does what it's meant to now.

Growing up one of my best mates was a natural musician, he would just pick up an instrument and play it in moments. I on the other hand couldn't, so i just bounced off trying to learn anything. the only thing i picked up was the very beginning to Nothing Else Matters since it's open strings!
Then about 15 years ago a work mate gave me his old beginners electric guitar. I'm tone deaf, have no rhythm, and despite long gangly fingers they don't seem to move well for guitar. Anyway, at the time i perserveered enough to learn a few chords, but never got to playing a full song...then i got bored, and the wife has no truck for music or stuff lying around so the guitar was sent to the loft. Kids came along, and once or twice over the years the guitar was mentioned, would come down for them to mess with, and then go back in the loft. This happened again a couple of weeks ago, kids are bored already, but i'm slightly more determined to learn something this time!
I've even bought some new strings and plectrums cos clearly that's what was holding me back from being able to quickly hit a C chord!

my current playlist is:
metallica - nothing else matters intro (up to the bit you use the 12th fret anyway then it gets messy)
audioslave - doesn't remind me (just the verses which is a simple 2 chord thing, but i tend to lose the strumming pattern and hit random strings quickly)
hanson - mmmbop (only started looking at this the other day, looks quite simple as you finger pick through a few different chords and repeats through the song, so hopefully will be useful as a training exercise as much as learning the song)

Anyway, despite this thread quickly moving on to discussions i don't understand, it's nice to have it here as a bit of motivation and inspiration.

For anyone new to picking up a guitar, instead of learning whole songs, I would recommend learning riffs and chord progressions first. Only on my personal experience of course but I find learning a song is only useful if you want to perform it all. If you are going for learning technique go with Riffs and licks to get a good feel for it all first.

Stuff like enter sandman is good - the very first riff is a nice little bit of note arrangement , than the main riff has the palm mutting technique which is vital even outside of Metal. Finally you have that  little lead lick at the start of verse 2 that sounds great, is short and easy to learn and  gets you used to jumping to the twelfth fret.

Lots of classic riffs are great to learn to build up your skill. Plus they sound great when you go into the guitar shop and want to annoy the staff... 

Would recommend:
House of the rising Sun
Day Tripper
Whole Lotta Love
Smoke on the Water
Little Wing (bit advanced but beautiful)
My Name is Jonah
Under the Bridge (intro but with no Cappo)
Life is A Highway
Sweet Child O'Mine
Alive
Even Flow
Ziggy Stardust 

So many....

Hey Joe also has a pretty easy intro to play, then the song itself can be done with basic chords, it's a nice one to learn early on.

nick_md wrote:

Hey Joe also has a pretty easy intro to play, then the song itself can be done with basic chords, it's a nice one to learn early on.

Hey Joe is a great shout. Nice little lick at the start, than its quite simple if you want to just use chords but it's also a really good song to learn riffing around a chord (and for me it was the song I learnt how to use my thumb as a 6th/5th string fretter). Start adding little bites at the E part of the chord progression - great for singing along to.

I also love the little scale run at the end. The solo itself is a little tricky to get sounding perfect but I find that with a lot of hendrix. He had lots of little touches and flourishes which are hard to emulate. Purple haze is a good example with the basic chords being E to G to A but the extra work he puts around them is what makes it work in the verse. The solo has some odd little bits too but it's a good one to try (I'd class it as low intermediate though myself - think a beginner would struggle with some bits )

For very early players, the first 3 oasis albums are filled with very easy solos which are mostly built around the scales. A good place to start getting your lead on.

RamSteelwood wrote:

Thanks for the recommendations, except for those of you suggesting Oasis...yous i have now blocked and will never mention again.

I never said they were good solos, I said they were easy solos.... (see also Nirvana)

There's something else in there worth looking at, which is timing. A lot of guitarists don't pay attention to it (I didn't) and if you go further with your playing it will bite you in the arse. Hendrix is an absolute master of timing, and Purple Haze is lockdown tight on the beat.

Love this.


I mean, some of those licks look very easy, some look like voodoo to me but the way he puts them together is absolutely beyond my understanding at this point. I just know it sounds great and makes me wanna pick my guitar up and learn.

He also looks like the average badger too I reckon.

Other little tips:

Begin a lick before the first beat of a bar and not on it.
Finish a lick with a big bend (works really well with blues).