New Guitarist

[The Destroyed]

Well, today is my b-day, and I am 15, my present was a brand new Fender Strat. I have an amp that I have tested it out on, and its all tuned and what not...the problem is...I have no IDEA how to play anything. I really want to learn some simple chords or some quick melodies to get me going. Does anyone have any suggestions for helping?

[Masamune]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ should have some beginners lessons available, plus tablature to almost every rock band. And learn to read tablature. :P

[erm2003]

And also, happy birthday! :) I have always wanted to learn how to play a guitar of any kind. I am sure you will have fun with that.

[The Destroyed]

Well, right after I posted that, I looked up some just starting things, and I learned the C, and G major chords. I also memorized the chromatic scale, which is a breeze. :) 40 minutes ago I didnt know one note on a guitar, and now I'm learning more each minute. The C chord is kinda hard on my fingers, but they will get used to it. And thanks erm. :D

[Aegix Drakan]

oh, Hey!

happy b-day!

[Darth Marsden]

Another birthday? Yeesh. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Brasel]

www.tabcrawler.com is a good one I think. Easy to learn some quick stuff.

[Dechipher]

Iron Man. Smoke on the Water. Those are pretty much the first few songs anyone learns.
I would advise trying to learn stuff by ear and learning to read music. They both help with skills that extend beyond those two things.

Tab is an easy way out. It's like using the handicapped carts a WalMart if you're training to become a runner. Yeah, it gets you to where you need to go, but you don't have the skills you need to continue growing.

[Beldaran]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with using tablature in order to learn. With no one to teach you, tab is often the only way you can learn interesting techniques or styles until you get a lot more accomplished and can figure them out on your own.

Learn scales. Learn all of the natural minor/major scales, as well as the pentatonic "blues" scale for soloing. Learn to solo in different keys.

I recommend you visit this site (http://www.schoolofguitar.com/index.htm) and learn the sections on "Soloing Practice" and "Theory Primer". That website is run by the guy who was my guitar teacher (way back in the day).

Above all, practice. Recognize that your skill will directly reflect the amount of time you spend in focused practice. An hour a day of good focused practice will help you see results fairly soon.

[Prrkitty]

Happy birthday :)

[Dechipher]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with using tablature in order to learn. With no one to teach you, tab is often the only way you can learn interesting techniques or styles until you get a lot more accomplished and can figure them out on your own.

Learn scales. Learn all of the natural minor/major scales, as well as the pentatonic "blues" scale for soloing. Learn to solo in different keys.

I recommend you visit this site (http://www.schoolofguitar.com/index.htm) and learn the sections on "Soloing Practice" and "Theory Primer". That website is run by the guy who was my guitar teacher (way back in the day).

Above all, practice. Recognize that your skill will directly reflect the amount of time you spend in focused practice. An hour a day of good focused practice will help you see results fairly soon.

Right. Let me rephrase. Tab is fine, I used it at the beginning as well. However, it is much more beneficial to learn how to read standard notation as well as to play by ear (this one moreso if you're more into rock and such.)
The most important thing is just to play. Just play along to music you like and such.

[Brasel]

I only use tab because I'm too lazy to learn to play. I have a bass. I don't say that I play the bass, because I don't play it, I just fuck around with it every once in awhile. One day I might make a more solid attempt to learn, but for now, I stick to tabs.

[vegeta1215]

Continue doing what you're doing - learning chords and fretting notes. Once you learn all the major chords, practice changing between them. A good chord group to do that with is the G, C, and D chords. Also, practice strumming patterns, like down, down, up, up, down.

Once you're ready, learn some barre chords and power chords. You can play a lot of rock songs very easily with these. I started playing Green Day when I first learned guitar. (they're my favorite) Their music is relatively simple and fun to play.

[The Destroyed]

Continue doing what you're doing - learning chords and fretting notes. Once you learn all the major chords, practice changing between them. A good chord group to do that with is the G, C, and D chords. Also, practice strumming patterns, like down, down, up, up, down.

Once you're ready, learn some barre chords and power chords. You can play a lot of rock songs very easily with these. I started playing Green Day when I first learned guitar. (they're my favorite) Their music is relatively simple and fun to play.

Ah yes, my brother told me he also started to play Green Day's oldies. He said they would help alot with chords. And by the way, I told my friends about my guitar and they were speechless. Why?

[vegeta1215]

They were speechless? I don't know why that would be, maybe they were surprised to hear you were taking up guitar? Or maybe the model you got is a really nice one? What kind of guitar is it? Is it an american strat, standard strat, or squier strat?

[Beldaran]

Maybe you forgot to wear pants when you were telling them about it.

[MasterSwordUltima]

Simply reconstruct your body as a robot, install AnvilStudio and a MIDI player, and you win!

[SUCCESSOR]

Learn music notation, there are a million tutorials online. Then spend ten dollars on this book:

http://www.booksamillion.com/bam/covers/0/78/661/791/0786617918_l.gif (http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?pid=0786617918&ad=FGLBKS)

[The Destroyed]

Well, I learned my first song. From start to finish I can play this pretty decently. I have a little bit of trouble on the solo but I just have to keep practicing.

Caveman Rejoice. Ill Mcnasty lumpkin song.

[Riku]

If you plan on doing alot of rock, and soloing, or really anything at all, learn where all the notes are, for instance the strings are the notes EADGBE and it goes up from there, like on the E string it goes E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E and all the strings are the same, but say you were on the A string, you start with A and go up the scale, on the D string start with the note D and go up, yeah i know it sounds confusing, but it really helps when your playing power chords or just soloing, and its really not that hard :)

but the main thing is, just practice as much as you can. Good LUCK!