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How can anyone play the guitar?!

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I'm getting reeeeeally annoyed. I'm trying to learn guiatr. Know lots of chords, can play a few tunes etc. it's just...

HOW?!

How can you play it with chords? I'm busting every tendon and ligament in my hands contorting my fingers into these freaky positions, and then having to strain them into another in 0.25 of a second.

HELP ME!

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maybe you should try yoga instead of guitar, it's good for flexibility :D

No, seriously, maybe you should take a few guitar lessons ? Nothing to be ashamed about that :)

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the only thing I ever managed to play was House of the Rising Sun, gave up after that. serious lack of talent :D

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I've been playing for about 2 years now, and I can say it takes time. And lots of playing, just play along with songs. Learn Barre Chords, Major & minor chords (and scales), thats all I've really done and its helped me a lot. I recommend playing New Order & Joy Division songs, there not to difficult and it really helps get your technique and speed up if your a beginner. Hope that helps, last thing I can say is try to figure songs out. train your ear and all that, good luck!

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i got a guitar when i was 19 and booked lessons.trouble was they were 9 a.m.saturday morning so i always had an hangover,in fact still a bit drunk being sick and that.i never got much past the smoke on water and 3 blind mice stage.:nonono:

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You have to learn at your own pace, and you have to learn what you like. There is no exactly 'correct' or 'wrong' method or order to learning, especially when teaching yourself. If you approach it as a burden and chore instead of leisure, then you'll never learn a thing and you really shouldn't expect to either.

Though there's been a whole of negative flack flung at them, I wholeheartedly recommend starting out by playing to tablatures. They're extremely easy and can span in complexity from the simplest one-string patterns to heavy jazz chords that require a prehensile pinky, sixth finger, and your tongue. Look up tabs to your favorite songs and learn those first. Don't worry about the claims of tabs destroying one's abilities to play chords, because it's simply not true. As you get better playing to tabs, you'll naturally want to and begin to learn chords to get a fuller sound later on.

As for the finger-chords problem, i'd suggest playing around on a bass for awhile, especially with New Order basslines. A bass is excellent exercise for your fingers.

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I started guitar a month or two ago and one thing that I've found really helpful is warming up your wrists and fingers before you start. Turn your hands round in circles a few times in each direction, then bend and straighten your fingers a few times. You can get the chord positions that little bit better if you do that. Hope that helps you out some.

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give up and play the trombone instead. chicks find it sexy! so phallic!

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His Holiness, The Pope wrote: give up and play the trombone instead. chicks find it sexy! so phallic!

Apart from this guy :evil4: , thank you all for the advice! it is helping gradually!

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I can play most major & minor chords (barre or not) but I have troubles with melodies (tabs). How the hell can you pilot both hands together (and sing at the same time)?

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I've been playing for about 25 years now. I started on the bass, just picking out Hooky basslines by trial and error. Watching him play live I realised that he often went up and down the same string rather than across the fretboard, and copying him gave me a feel for the notes. After about three years, in which I learnt the entire JD/NO, Bunnymen and Smiths back catalogue, I started trying to do the same thing with the guitar parts. I’d been using an acoustic guitar to pick out the six string bass parts already, so was familiar with the feel of a six string guitar. The only way for me to learn was to get used to playing the guitar first, then graduating onto chords. I bought a couple of tuition books and worked through those, adding a new major chord every day for a week and just repeating playing those until I could play them without having to think about where the fingers went. Once I was happy just playing the chords I started playing some Bunnymen and Velvets stuff, all of which was simple to play. From there, I graduated onto a whole load of stuff, Oasis, Beatles, Lemonheads, Radiohead etc, and started doing some acoustic gigs in pubs etc. Learning to play and sing at the same time was harder than learning to play! I never bothered with JD/NO guitar parts though, and had never really played any of their stuff on a regular basis until we formed Digital. All the bands I had been in I had always been the bass player, never needed to sing.

For me, the best way to learn how to play would definitely be to pick out some tunes first, just listen to the melody and replicate it on the guitar, learning all the time how the songs are put together. Hooky basslines are ideal for this. When you’ve got the hang of the whole fretboard, what sounds like what wherever you put your fingers, then move onto chords. You’ll be a James Dean Bradfield virtuoso in no time! Good luck!

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Don't bother - just get some computer software and make your guitar noises that way!

:ignore:

Not quite as effective for axe God posing potential though...:cry:

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How can anyone play the guitar?!

I know what you mean mate. After a year of playing nothing but Ceremony, Temptation & Crystal I decided to invest in a DVD guitar course. Got it the other day and it lasts 2 years !!!

Fook that.

Anyone wanna buy a Telecaster & Boss GS10? :D

I'll stick to DigitalWaters idea and just muck around with guitar sounds in Reason. Lazyarse stylee.

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i bought a basic acoustic guitar about 8 year ago,i tried and tried to play this thing for about three month's, i just could'nt get the hang of this,then i gave up after that,i see what you mean it's fecking hard to play,you need to dedicate yourself and dont give up..

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I've got three guitars and I know how to play three songs - it's taken me 15 years to get this far!

At first, I was sharing a house with a guy who had a few lovely guitars and amps, and I noticed that he did quite well with women as a result (I convinced myself that this was the reason anyway). A month of really hard work and I could play "Tears in Heaven" as well you need to and was more than happy with that.

Over the years I learned to play other songs quite well, but had no understanding (or interest) in the way the instrument actually works.

Over the last couple of years, this has been slowly changing. I've put in quite a bit of work and I am now proud to report that I have acheived the the skill level that's commonly known as "crap".

The one thing I have learned is that spending a lot of money on guitars doesn't help (although they do look lovely when you take them out of their cases). It's practice, baby, and that takes time. I've simply not had enough time until now. I have recently got a new job and the hours are nothing like as long as I have done before. Who knows, this might be the time that I get to progress at last. I'm even thinking of having some lessons - my new office is right opposite a music shop, and they have cards in the window (and a beautiful Dobro!).

Since my early days of trying to impress girls, I have very rarely played in front of anyone. Certainly never in front of anyone sober. I used to think that this would change as my skill level increases, but now I realise that I will never be a performer at any level.

In the last couple of weeks I have learned to play one of my favourite songs, the mighty Run Wild, and I am really pleased with myself. I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from getting it right, and that's the point for me.

What a long post - is anyone still reading? Sorry.

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Don't look at me - I'm a drummer!

Seriously, I found it better to learn on electric rather than acoustic and practice scales. Then practice them without looking. Then practice them again and again. Try to talk or do something whilst you are playing the guitar cos it trains your head to feel the music more than think it.

But most of all enjoy it:nod:

Good luck

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Ive played guitar for four years now, and youll find the first year a pain in the ass, but once u get past that, youll start to find things easier, i then moved to bass two years ago and i play with that now..

but i always played an insturment my whole life lol

i can play drums,guitar,bass,keyboards, and i got a melodica.

But um, like everyone else said , warm your hands up before pratice and start with easier tunes,like jd stuff on guitar,and then youll get to the stage where u can play jimi hendrix lol

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I only learned how to play this thing... Tried guitar but didn't really get into it... I still remember 4 or 5 chords ;) . If anyone needs this kind of flute in the band I'm in...

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ugh is that a recorder?!?!?!

i had to learn that in 3rd grade......school..

but yea famous people who used it...

The dead singer of ACDC Bon Scott used it...Odd isnt it?

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I always dreamt of being in a Heavy Metal band with playing this... AC/DC did? Wow!

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Haha the things you learn lol

i saw it on VH1 and they where makeing fun of Bon Scott lol

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