Ask Lemmy

The person who taught me put colored bits of tape on the instrument to denote basic chords like G, C, D, and Am. It really helped, using a different color for each one, so I could learn to move quickly between them and build the muscle memory I needed.

Best thing to do to make sure you enjoy playing the instrument is to take it to your local guitar shop for a setup. If it's not set up well it takes much more pressure to fret the notes cleanly and it can be painful both on your finger tips and the muscles in your hand.

Get a setup so its comfortable to play and you'll be able to play much longer.

Don't give up.

I don't wanna be a buzzkill, but if you've only been practicing for a month so far, I'm not sure there's gonna be any particular resource that's going to make you improve faster, short of taking formal lessons. It sounds like you're already making good progress, so just keep doing what you're doing! Read that book you downloaded, add new finger exercises to your daily routine, and drill the chords and scales and such into your muscle memory so you can do them in your sleep. But this all takes time.

The biggest factor, at least for me, was consistently practicing for years. I've been playing for about 17 years now and, by the end of the first year, I had spent hundreds of hours with the guitar in my hand (it was my primary hobby). I'm no rock star, but I got pretty decent by just practicing the stuff I wanted to play and learning the basic fundamental concepts like scales, arpeggios, chord structure, etc.

One good piece of advice my old man gave me: even when you're not actively practicing, just having the guitar in your lap when you're working on other stuff winds up making it extremely comfortable to handle. I'd sit with the guitar in my lap while doing homework, or using the computer, and would end up fiddling with it here and there, gradually getting better at navigating the neck, getting more familiar with the distances between the strings, etc.

And use. the. pinky. A lot of guitarists shy away from fretting with the pinky finger if they can avoid it, but they're doing themselves a disservice. Put in the effort to train your pinky to fret and it will pay dividends when you start tackling more advanced stuff. Even if you can easily hit a note with your ring finger, hit it with the pinky to give the pinky more practice so it becomes second nature.

Find some finger exercises that help teach finger independence. I learned a great one from a Chet Atkins VHS tape back in the day, but I can't find it anywhere online at the moment; I'm sure there's a million similar exercises on YouTube though.

If you're learning a song through a video on YouTube and it doesn't tell you the strumming pattern or the tuning or whatever, you can probably find that info on Ultimate Guitar. I'm not affiliated with them, just been using their site for basically the entire time I've been playing. Has an absolute mountain of chord charts, tabs, yada yada. Very useful.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. 🎸

I bought a poster of all the chord shapes and would constantly run through the whole thing while watching TV and a huge Beatles book because everyone knows Beatles songs. They literally taught us a bunch of them in grade school music classes growing up. After a couple of years of basic chord structure and strumming, I then moved on to learning scales. Mostly right now, concentrate on chord shapes, building up hand strength, and strumming. Pick easy three chord songs that you know and enjoy and play the heck out of them.

If you want to get better, you have to practice every single day.

You're going to suck at first, but then you're going to suck less. You have to learn enjoy the process, which it sounds like you do, so great! I like to break up my play time into practicing something new and having fun; they're both important.

One thing I've found is that keeping my guitar out and on the wall makes it a lot easier to get started playing, even if I don't feel like it at the time. Once I'm about five minutes into playing, I'm into it.

Oh, and practice with a metronome. Most guitarists suck at rhythm (myself included). Using a metronome beats it into your head.

Hold the books and lesson videos for 6 months to a year. Learn by playing music you want to learn. Songs you love. Start with some easy 3-4 chords stuff. Get the strumming by playing along with the song. Add in a lick that you can manage. Gradually progress into more complex songs with new chords. Get comfortable with singing along. Enjoy it. Enjoy it enough that you want to play a bit more each day.

Practise by accompanying your favourite music. That way you don't get hung up on the strumming pattern and focus on enjoying, which is what keeps you coming back for practice.

There are abundant beginner videos on YouTube that teach strumming. I think the important thing is to mix learning technique with just enjoying making music by any means.

(Source, self taught playing 20 years)

Depends on your goals. Two things are magic: playing with other people and playing live Other than that focus on the basics - always practice with a metronome. You can instantly tell who is ready to play together and who is used to used to doing their own thing all over the time signature.