When I was 13 I announced that I wanted a guitar for my birthday. My dad, who was a musician, violin, cello and clarinet (yeah, weird huh?) came home on my birthday with a steel string acoustic guitar, that he had them put 11's on. I, of course, wanted an electric. He sat me down and taught me the C, G, D, E and A chords. Then he would have me practice. Then he signed me up for lessons, at a school that he sat in on to make sure they were doing it right. He told me that reading music isn't required, but when you learn to read it, you'll learn to keep time, and you'll learn some theory too. So I learned how to play in time and more important how to play without looking at the neck all the time. So I learned to read music in about 2 weeks (It isn't that hard) and when I could play a simple piece, Molly Malone, in time he made me a deal. When I could change from an A, C, D, E, G and do it in all the patterns, a full bar each without making a mistake, and in 4/4 and 3/4 and 2/2 time he would buy me the electric. But if I made a mistake, that was it. Try again in 2 days. It took over a month, I would practice, and then sit down and play and one day I got it right. So a few days later he comes home with a 1970 Stratocaster and a small tube amp. I was elated. Played every day. Then 2 weeks after that I broke 4 fingers and 3 bones in my left hand playing baseball. That was 1975. In 2003 I was in Iraq, and a guy in my unit got a guitar (cheap Fender) and I still remembered the chords that I learned so long ago. I was 43. When I got home in 2004, I went to Guitar Center and bought a used American Strat and a Vox amp and went to the same school and enrolled in lessons again. I came home with a TBI, so at times it is hard to remember things, but I play almost every day now. I was forced to sell the Strat, but got a Squier and kept playing. If you're thinking about doing it, just go ahead and do it. Try out a bunch of guitars, if you can't play ask the salesman to show you an A or C chord. Try playing them on different guitars. Look at used guitars and amps also, you can save a good deal on them. You'll find what feels good to you, trust me. And by all means, have your guitar set up properly. Take it from me, the 54 year old guy with a brain injury; if I can do it, you can too.
***** I was, and I was not the oldest soldier in our unit. Our first shirt served in Vietnam. Here's the breakdown. I joined the USN in 1979 at 17, spent 12 years 9 months in, got out in 1992. I was 31. Had a 2 year break in service then got a slot as an MP in the Army on April 24, 1994. I had 8 years to go to collect retired pay because the regulations state that you must do 8 years in another branch to collect retired pay. So I was 33 when I enlisted. So what is 1994 +8? That would be April 2002, Which would have made me retirement eligible at 41 and I was put on Stop Loss effective Jan 1, 2002 because my unit had gotten the warning order to deploy to Afghanistan. So, I could not retire. We wound up not going to Afghanistan and were slated to go to Iraq in November 2002. We flew out in Feb 2003. So do the math. I was released from Stop Loss 1 October 2004 and retired 5 November 2005. Any other questions?
jesterd14 inspirational story. I restarted my playing last year at 35, moved by Bowie's death, after about 15 years of not picking up the guitar. Learned more about it online in last year than in all my teenage years. If I only had all these tools back then... I'm really enjoying it now and what is even better I can now buy guitars that I could only dream about when I was kid. Dream is to have a gig by 45th birthday:-)
Amen to the "learn on the guitar you intend to play on". I was discouraged from learning because my parents demanded I learn acoustic first, and I only wanted to learn electric. Now I'm middle aged, and been learning for a time; and I morn the time I've lost not learning to be honest.
Another (kind of) myth: if you practise a lot, you'll definitely be amazing. I practise at least two hours a day everyday and have done for years and im still only mediocre... you have to practise right, quality not quantity!
This. You can practice 10 hours a day, it doesn't count if you practice it wrong. Instead of focusing on practicing for hours and hours try to focus on perfecting your technique and what you're practicing. If that takes just 30 minutes then that's alright, you don't need to practice 8 hours a day. Another strange thing I notice is that if I take a break I tend to be better? Once i went on a vacation for 3 days and couldn't take my guitar with me, the second I got home and picked it up I felt like I could play anything and I made no mistakes. It depends on the person, but as long as you love what you're doing it doesn't matter if you practice 20 minutes or 4 hours a day. What matters is what you learn at the end of the day.
Ender Wolf you do have to PRACTICE, but it's not necessary that you bore your day into it. I mean, you can totally practice one or two hours a day efficiently, and outperform a guy who "practices" 5 hours a day.
Starting out young is beneficial, but indeed, not necessary. The younger you are, the more plastic your brain is, which means the quicker you'll learn and retain techniques. Again, advantageous, but not necessary. But, practice on the other hand... You're technically right, you don't need to practice several hours daily to become good. You can indeed improve greatly with just 20 minutes, half an hour a day. Buuuut it could take you several years at that rate to get where you want to be. Whereas if you devote more time daily to practice, you will just get there faster. You're only as good as the number of hours you've practiced. So, it all depends on how good you want to get and how quickly you want to get there. They say to get to virtuoso-level playing, you'll need to practice about 10,000 hours. If you want to be virtuosic in your playing and you want to get there in... 3 years, well, prepare yourself for three years of practicing 10 hours a day. However, if you only want to get, say, halfway to virtuosic playing, which is still very good, and you don't mind it taking a decade, yeah, you can get away with just an hour a day.
Still disagree. I'm, again, not talking about hours but about efficiency. You can have a guy practicing efficiently 1 or 2 hours a day and still outperform a guy who doesn't know how to practice or why he does what he does when he practices, even if he spends 5 or more hours a day. I've seen this in my life first hand (guys who've been playing forever, yet still lack a lot of the stuff you'd expect to find on guys like that) but only recently understood the reason for this. There's been a lot of neuroscience going on recently on this field and I've been lucky enough to find some of those resources and apply them to my own practice. I've noticed since then that I've gotten incredible results for the same or less time invested.
Well, I'm speaking of only people that practice effectively. If you're not practicing effectively, you're not practicing at all. I'm speaking as a lad with a college degree in music.
Thanks for the video which pretty sums up everything Summary: Myth 1 (0:35): You must always start off by learning acoustic or classical guitar Myth 2 (1:48): You have to get an amplifier Myth 3 (2:47): The value of your guitar has everything to do with how fast you will progress in learning the guitar Myth 4 (5:11): Thinner strings makes it easier to play he guitar Myth 5 (6:30): You definitely have to learn to read music to play guitar Some extensions (my opinions, strictly about electric guitar): Opinion 1: Time, effort and dedication is still needed to learn the guitar. But most importantly, are you having fun ? Shout this phrase out three times with the last word louder than the last time. Opinion 2: Get an inexpensive amp with aux in and headphones jack, even if it is a table top amp. All-in packages will bundle in amp for less than an iPad or Smartphone. Whatever it is, get an amp Opinion 3: Buy or borrow a good looking guitar that you will pick up, sounds good and you are cool with. Rosewood, basswood or alder doesn't matter.. you will get a better idea later on... (that is the stage where the guitar chooses you !) Just ask yourself: Will I pick up that guitar ? Often, you will be tempted to get a better guitar which you know you will not pick up. Just choose the guitar which you 'feel' has the most 'chemistry'. Opinion 4: Thinner is easier and no matter what, the tips of fingers will hurt. No pain, no gain, that's why having fun is the most important factor (see opinion 1) Opinion 5: Should learn to read tabulature or guitar tabs. If you can recognize 0-24 and can see six parallel lines drawn together, you are all set. It is ok to sound like crap when you first start (and even as you go along you can still sound like crap) but you must have fun. Fun is what sustains most guitarists. Enjoy !
I see a lot of comments asking if you're too old to play guitar. Short answer, NO! One thing the youth has over older people is time. A kid at school has time after school to learn guitar, go to lessons, play during the summer, and start a band with buddies. As you get older, you work 9-5, have kids to look after, chores to do, and everything else! Dedication and finding the time to pursue your passion is what you need. If age came with reduced talent, The Rolling Stones wouldn't still be touring, nor The Who, ACDC etc etc. Look at Seasick Steve, he didn't make it big till he was in his 60's, he now plays Glastonbury and other Music festivals!
Couldn't have written it better myself! Not only that, it's difficult to make it big now thanks to websites like TH-cam, where everyone posts footage of themselves playing! Gone are the days of the 60's, 70's, 80's where people actually stood out!
I'm so glad someone mentioned this! I've been playing for nearly 20 years, and have taught students of all ages for the past 5 years. The one thing I've emphasised to my students is that it's about talent over age! If you're auditioning guitarists for your band, talent will always win out over age. No-one would look at a mediocre 30 year old player, and favour him over an exceptional 50 year old player just because he's younger! That just doesn't happen! If it did, the band will be going nowhere!
its like learning language the advantage of youth is it is easier to learn and retain the work. that does not mean you cant learn music or language when your older but your retention and fluency will not be the same. imho.
Spot on. My great grandmother decided to learn organ at 70, and she got pretty good before she died at 98. I started piano later in life than most (9th grade), but I earn my living as a musician today. Youth and the associated cerebral sponginess certainly help, but time and effort are the biggest requisites to get better at music (or anything for that matter.)
I worked my first job when I was 15 years old and back then the minimum wage was $4.25 an hour. I saved up forever and bought a $700 Jackson Randy Rhoads Pro. People told me I was crazy to spend so much because I didn't know how to play but after buying it, I made myself learn. I think saving and spending so much on the guitar I really wanted made me stick to it. If I would have bought a cheap guitar, I don't think I would have stuck with it to be honest. Nearly 25 years later I still have that guitar, although I've gone through tons of other guitars as well and a Jackson Soloist Pro is my main now.
Yes. The Les Paul is a thing of beauty. The feel and the tone are also incredible. No whammy or 24 frets (usually) so you can't use them for everything, but it's my favorite guitar by far.
check out the Alex Lifeson sig Les Paul, it doesn't have the 24 frets, but has a Floyd, better fret access, and sounds incredible. I had a friend build me a custom version of it, with a hard tail, but seriously regret it.
I started to learn how to play the guitar (acoustic) many years ago. My mum paid for a private teacher to come to my home every week to teach both my sister and I. We did that for a few years and I even eventually could read and write music and confidently play quite a number of songs. However my teacher had just got married and was moving away so we no longer got our weekly lessons. We tried a different teacher but they weren't as good and soon after started to lose interest in the guitar and began to like other things instead including boys (silly me!!). I always regretted not continuing and never really got around to picking up an instrument again until now. I am 59 years old and have decided to take it up once again. I will be going electric now. Even though my hands especially my left thumb have a bit of arthritis in them now, my husband thinks I should give it a go and they say you are never too old to learn new things. For me its a bucket list thing and have set a goal of learning to play at least one song every year if I can. How many other people here have decided to take up learning guitar at an older age, and how are you finding it?
As somebody who plays electric, acoustic and nylon-string, I can attest to the fact that if I practice for a while on acoustic or nylon-string, it really helps me to rip on the electric. If you can nail something on a jumbo-bodied acoustic with thick strings and higher action, then you switch to an electric with a thinner body and lower action, it'll make playing those same licks a breeze.
Since I'm on a bit of a budget, I thought about the Squier Vintage Modified (found some for only 288€, which is really good considering the prices in Finland). Still not sure if vintage blonde, sunburst or Surf Candy Apple Red. The amp I thought about is the 10GX
Wormweed that's a good idea but I find that playing with an ass ton of distortion can really help build up your control and how clean/tight your playing sounds
I'd highly recommend beginners starting with an amp though, you can really run into a brick wall with string muting if you learn your technique without being able to hear string noise.
I just went to a Guitar Center and the salesperson told me it's better because a child will be less entertained while playing because you arent getting the full experience of the electric. I believe him. Kids hear this awesome sound on a music video and then play those sad quiet strings? Def not motivation...
Same, there's great cheap amps that have everything you need, I got an used roland microcube and it sounds great. Cost me around 75$ and I haven't and won't feel the need to get a better amp/pedals soon. Hearing it and playing around with effects just makes it way better
For some reason you made me feel comfortable for the whole video Maybe it was beacause I was feeling stressed earlier or beacause I was scared you would bombard me with a bunch of complicated guitar facts that would make me quit doing something that could influence my future... Great video, though :)
Start off learning on an ocarina. Apparently that's where Yngwie started before transitioning seamlessly to Electric guitar. He swears by them, you should see his vintage collection from Denmark Street.
he isn't an idiot. just needs to pick one that is comfortable for him and looks good to him, like Rob said, and then practice a few hours a day, again, like Rob said.
I agree with number 5, I think if you're going for the classic rock/blues style playing, start by learning how to play some classic rock songs from famous bands, then you can start writing your own riffs etc using simple tab, and when you have some spare time in between writing your solos and learning songs, you can start learning some of the fundamental scales and stuff online, thats my opinion anyway.
I've always believed that you can learn so much about a genre/style of playing by learning how to play songs in that genre using your ear, it's really useful!
Absolutely! Learning songs you love is mainly what keeps you motivated and also teaches you about how songs are made etc. It's the most important thing, I think. And I've noticed people that never learnt many songs are a bit more restricted and stuck in their playing.
That's actually an important part of learning music and it's called "ear training". I know many professional musicians who learn really complicated stuff by ear and use sheets as a guide while they're playing.
There's another myth he mentioned without being aware of it - 1:32 "Practice makes perfect" Well, it doesn't!!!! PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT, NOT PREFECT!!!!! If you practice wrong, you'll end up playing wrong
Most important is to love the guitar. Played classical for 8 y. Swifted to eletric 6 months ago, and one day, my classical technice kind of transformed over to the eletric too. I personally recommand to begin with classical if its the same, its good for youre tachnice when you must play advanced on the instruments. Most important, play and enjoy this beautiful instrument.
*Hank's Top 5 Myths About Learning Guitar.* 1.) You will NOT get laid immediately for learning an A chord. Although as you progress the A chord can be used in such a way that will get you laid, learning the A chord alone will not get you laid, so stop playing the damn chord over and over on your acoustic guitar while winking at jogging girls in the park. 2.) Wonderwall is not the only song you need to learn, there are other songs that can get you laid. 3.) Les Pauls will get you laid, Strats will not. 4.) Guitar necks cannot be used as emergency dildos. 5.) You cannot legally marry a Telecaster.
Hello Rob ...I'm a 60 y.o. who has dinked around on an acoustic guitar since my teens and since my retirement a few years back I've been playing more and realize I need to move to an electric guitar. ..so I've been searching TH-cam to learn more. .I think for me. ..I'm going to start with the HB es 35 plus. ....and an HB 450 something something lemon drop....and I'll be TH-cam ing lessons too....So watching a lot of guitar videos lately I'm learning who the cool cats are....of which you are one ..thid video has been really helpful. ...maybe I'll start a channel to show my progress....anyway thanks. ..CM
As a bassist, I can say that, at least for me, playing with an amp was absolutely essential. You really can't get a sense of amplified dynamics until you get some experience playing plugged in. I often play unplugged now, but that's because I'm comfortable playing plugged in, and I know what actions will produce what sounds. You also get a lot more audible sympathetic vibration when plugged in, which forces you to get better at muting. The same principles apply to drumming; a lot of people swear by practice pads, and they can be an invaluable tool, but unless you already know how a snare feels, it won't be nearly as useful, and it won't be even a fraction as fun. With some experience, you know what actions will produce what sounds, as mentioned above, and your brain will fill in a lot of the experiential blanks. Also, for newer players who are self-aware and timid, it's important to get comfortable with playing at a reasonable volume. Some confidence is key not just on the stage, but in every aspect of playing. You should feel like the master of your instrument, and not the other way around. If you intend to play amplified, you don't want to be intimidated by your own instrument. And finally, people correctly attribute a great deal of "tone" to the player; but the amplified tone is different from the unplugged tone, and if you have no idea how to shape it on the amp or the instrument, you cannot help but flounder. If you never intend to plug in, that's fine, but you'd probably be better off with an acoustic.
As a bass player, I found it important to practice without an amp, you can hear your shortcomings when you don't have an amp to cover for your mistakes, plus it strengthens the hell out of your fingers. I used to practice a half hour to an hour before I plugged in, & it took my playing to the next level.
I remember when I was younger and wanted to learn electric guitar, I really liked rock and wanted to be able to play it. That Christmas i got an acoustic guitar, and I just could not get into it. Fast forward to last year and I finally decide to pick up guitar again after hearing One... now I have a LTD iron cross and I really enjoy playing
Thane Krios l hear ya! I've got a Pacifica too, I also have les Pauls & PRS stuff but I WILL NOT PLAY A GIG WITHOUT THAT 100$ YAMAHA!! It's the most comfortable guitar I ever owned.
The worst thing about Myth Nr1 is that there are sooo many music teachers, guitar teachers and music store employees who INSIST that you have to start with an acoustic guitar.
Another myth: People who take the time to learn to learn to read and write music are automatically snobbish and treat people who haven't put in the time and effort like garbage.
Mark Jones Most, like me, can read some music but can't play it that fast. without notes I can blast through my scales and improve easy. I'd much rather learn a song by heart to play it anytime over depending on sheets
I've been confused by a lot of people telling me to get the cheapest acoustic to start with, while in fact, that also tends to discourage me since I like heavy metal and rock. So I tried to not believing them and now I get another confirmation from you for what I believe. Thanks! // was playing without amplifier for a couple months as well.
Right on point Rob! I actually was given a classical guitar at age 7 as my first decent instrument, having played a pint sized plastic Sears and Roebuck for a few years. After practicing for several years, a Strat caught my eye, and after eventually saving up to buy a cheap copy, I played that for about 8 hours a day every summer. A family friend gave me a 335, which is when my playing really began to improve at a greater speed. It was much easier to play a well set up instrument. This was long before learning how to work on guitars. For those folks who feel they sound worse after practicing... This is because you are developing your ear, and learning to hear what you are doing incorrectly. Keep pushing forward, as you are on your way to becomming a discerning player. Take the time, work through the pain, it will be worth your troubles!
I'm getting a Yamaha Pacifica 510V for Christmas, I've never really committed to a hobby before. I'm very interested in guitars so hopefully I stick with it. Also my parents kept saying I needed to start on acoustic but I dont have the motivation to do it. I'm sure I'll play acoustic one day I just need to learn electric
Alyssa Black I agree. I've played guitar, strictly for fun, for 30 years, and I've still never owned an acoustic. An electric also means you can play quietly away, instead of doing homework etc, and no one can hear you 😉
I'm getting a Schecter C-1 SGR from amazon for Christmas. I know nothing about guitars but I've always loved the way they sound. I've never really had a hobby either that I stuck to and I'm hoping to become skilled with it. I thought about acoustic but it didn't seem very fun to me. I may be over my head with this but oh well lol
Gideon Jaape some ideas: check everything is grounded, you can make a farad cage. The farad cage imo makes it kind of super quiet and changes your guitar sound a bit. That's to my ear ymmv
When I picked up the guitar again, the first thing I wanted to do was rebuild my downpicking stamina. I played my electric unplugged for MONTHS but became extremely discouraged because I just couldn't get my downpicking speed fast while keeping it consistent and solid. What I did not realize is that I had been practicing with enough power to hear my playing without an amp, and that I didn't need to use nearly that much effort to hear myself while plugged in. The extra effort paid off... when I finally started playing with an amp again, I was amazed to find that I felt perfectly confortable playing along with Master of Puppets.
Here is where a mid level well cared for pre owned is the best... you get a decent instrument that feels ok for the price of a new entry level. AND it retains its value the best, as you already purchased it devalued, as long as it is cared for should retain almost all of it. As long as you inspect the instrument with someone knowledgeable this is where you find gems that feel great and you learn to love.
The problem with that attitude is that its almost like you are giving up before you begin! Its like the person expects to fail, so they better not spen too much money. I say, buy a great guitar, it will motivate you to learn to play it if you have loads of money invested!
Yes I've had students say they couldn't afford a decent guitar, so they got a really cheap one from a charity shop. Problem is, their cheap guitar had the action about a mile high, and it hurt their fingers, so they gave up
Probably your best video yet. Love the humility and couldn’t agree more with your myths and debunking of said myths. Thank you for taking the time to share your 20+ years of experience with new or aspiring guitarists.
Brilliant video, I remember being told you got to start with acoustic. I tried the acoustic guitar and hated it. 30+ years later I tried out an electric guitar, and never put it down.
That's why I have a T-body since yesterday, 25 years after my shitty old spanish used accoustic I gave up with after 6 painfull months... Still hard to learn, but way more motivating ^_^
Starting on a cheap acoustic really is a recipe for disaster. Nylon strings are impossible for me, and I've been playing for over a decade. Obviously I completely suck, but still.
My first guitar was about 17 dollars I'm not kidding. It was made out of plywood and it had an acoustic bridge with a classical headstock and yes it came with nylon strings. All i can say is grinding through that thing made my technique way better now than if i started on a Gibson for example
Arctic Moose Yeah man I get that, when I started playing guitar again I had this "build your guitar" kit and it was cool and all but the guitar sounded like ass, terrible intonation, warped neck and when I moved up to a decent guitar it blew my mind how much I'd been missing out on
Yeah, my technique of trying to play songs recorded on electric guitars with pedals skyrocketed. Unfortunately the rocket was made in North Korea. It's just bullshit. You get angry because the sound playing chords is not the same, trying to get the hammer-ons and bending sound is better for clearing tears ducts than cutting one ton of onions. Just no. If you want to play KISS buy an electric. Trying to play them on acoustic will you howl all night and cry everyday.
Agree 100% with all EXCEPT for point 1 - and here I do agree with many of Rob's points, especially about how essential it is for new players to have fun and keep motivated. However, despite "playing" guitar for decades and while I can sound reasonably OK for stuff I like to play, I am today a lousy acoustic player. :) Simply put, I do feel that newer players will benefit immensely from playing acoustic guitars from a finger strength perspective. There is no such thing as a "proper" acoustic [steel string] guitar that plays as easily as an electric, if both have good setups and reasonable action [though some modern electric-acoustics can come close]. In my case, I am a lousy acoustic player despite listenable electric skills mainly because never focusing much on acoustics has left me with a relatively weak left hand in terms of the ability to depress acoustic strings properly and for playing more than a few minutes. My point is really that I do think it is physically easier to transition from acoustic to electric playing than the reverse, especially if someone spends 95+% of their guitar time playing electrics. :) cheers!
Joe Satchton I've done exactly the opposite. I've been playing for about 12 years and only picked up electric seriously about 8 months ago. I think both ways have their benefits. Its extremely easy on my hands to play electric but because I've been on acoustic for so long I have nowhere near the speed and dexterity I'd probably have had I used electric for the same amount of time. Leaving me unable to play many of my favorite electric songs at the moment. another part of my struggle is that until I recently picked up the electric I'd only used my thumb and fingernails to strum, so I'm also not where I could be in using a pick. If I were to give any advice I'd agree with Rob, play whatever you'd like to end up playing. But if you can, learn to use both well! they both have their benefits and are both awesome instruments. :)
And maybe we should start sending kids to college before we send them to kindergarten, so kindergarten won't seem as hard later. Sorry, I have to agree with Rob on this one.
+brainstewX: Hey man, thanks for the unnecessarily smarmy Twatter-like reply to a comment that was serious, well-intentioned and fairly lengthy in its attempt to make decently explained point. How clever of you... So, in your mind there is absolutely zero physical difference in terms of actual finger-strength required to play similarly setup electric guitars and acoustic guitars? Not been my experience over the decades. And if you read my comment it would be clear that I am NOT 100% disagreeing with Chappers on point 1 - I opened my comment by saying I do agree with the spirit of point 1. My POV is that spending 95%+ of my guitar experience focusing on electric has left me less capable on acoustic for finger-strength reasons than I am on electric. cheers
Zachary Paddock: Indeed! That is exactly my point, really - that encouraging new players to try acoustic and electric in a more balanced manner would definitely pay of in the long run. :) Realistically, it probably won't ever be a 50-50 split, timewise spent on acoustic vs. electric - we will each have elements of guitar that appeal differently to different folks. But I will always feel, based on my own experience, more balanced exposure on each instrument can only be a benefit. For example: a piano is a piano is a piano. As long as it has 88 keys, there really is not, IMO, as much a difference between the actual finger-strength required to depress the keys on an upright, a quality electronic keyboard and a full-out concert baby grand or grand. Sure, some variances in key resistance, but again, not as much as the difference between acoustic and electric strings and feel. We are indeed polar opposites - I absolutely am lousy with finger-picking, having never been a fan of genres like say country or folk guitar playing. Older and wiser, I am now struggling to try and improve my finger-picking and hybrid picking styles - man, so hard when all I have known is that little piece of plastic between my thumb and index finger...lol cheers and good luck and happy holidays!
Joe Satchton There was no smarm. Can we not disagree without name-calling? Any finger strength built up as a child is going to be lost when the child switches to mostly (or entirely) the electric guitar. That is now muscles work. If you don't use them, you lose them. There is also no evidence an adult cannot build finger strength. Secondly, I have heard it estimated that around 90% of people who start the guitar end up quitting. I imagine much of it has to do with some people who insist on piling unnecessary difficulty on beginners. Learning a new instrument is difficult as-is. There is no need to compound it. The only instance in which I would recommend a child start on the acoustic guitar is if it is his/her intention to play mostly the acoustic guitar. And, to the poster who called me a dick and implied I was mentally handicapped, it is most logical to start beginners on what is easy, and have them work their way up. Pilots in training learn to fly and land the easiest planes first, not the most difficult ones first. School children start with Algebra I before they take Algebra II. Pretty much everything works this way. The 'logic' as to why learning the guitar should be backwards from everything else does not appeal to me.
Thank you! I've said for years that there's nothing more soul-destroying for many aspiring guitarists than playing cheap nylon string guitars when they could grab a cheap electric guitar/amp package and start playing easy power chords straight off the bat that would keep them interested to continue
I play for for exact 39 year now. I started learn classical guitar with nylons and notes and what not for five years. And I totally agree with you! In fact I remember when I was at the music school. I prefered to remember the things our teacher was demonstrating to us before he began the lessons intead of reading all the notes to learn the stuff! :-D Another thing I'll never forget: while I played a classical concert from a nice sheet of paper I got distracted by a girl in the audience and I lost the line. And I was the solist. I never managed to get in again to that song and I was also not able to play around, since I just new this piece of music from paper without ever really having payed attention to how it actualy sounds. This never ever happend to me in 30 years on stage with rock and blues. It just happend in the ealry years of classical music while playing from a piece of paper instead of playing from the heart. Play! Just play! And if you like the instrument you'll always be able to change the direction in a way the suits you more.
This is brilliant, Rob. The most sense anyone has spoken about learning the guitar in a long time. It is time to break the dogmas of boring guitar learning. You really spoke to my heart. Really good stuff!
I am a little cautious about practicing without an amp. I've found if I learn and practice something without an amp and then try to play it through an amp I've had times when I feel like the sound of it and the tone isn't what I would have hoped. The articulation and dynamics just don't sound quite the same to me through an amp as they do unplugged. Also, I've found that it's easy to accidentally leave a string ringing out when you're playing unplugged but if you're amped that could add noise and make your playing sound rough. Of course that doesn't mean you can't practice without an amp. You can do it, and it can be helpful. I think why I try to avoid that is my goal is to get a really good sound when amped. If you practice with an amp you can make small adjustments to your playing and tweak the articulation to get just the sound you want. In a way I think what I'm saying is if you want to play amped, practice amped. Practice what you want to play. I guess that's kind of obvious but it's true.
I got my first guitar for Christmas just gone just to see how I'd get on with it, a Strat copy. Best thing ever. Played the drums for 15 years or so which kind of started to die off in the past couple years, slowly come to terms with the fact that it's way too anti social for me now, too loud, too expensive and takes up way to much space at home. (Sorry to put you off potential future drummers) Anyway, love your videos man, it feels so good to play an instrument again, anyone that's thinking about it just do it. You'll get so hyped when you pick it up and learn something new, gonna give it a while and invest in a nice Tele off you lot at Andertons some day. Another note for anyone at school - convince your parents to let you have lessons. Best thing I ever did getting drum lessons at school. I know you can learn alot for free now, but that little bit of theory goes a long way. Going back 12 years now but it was like 20/30 quid a term. You're looking at around that for an hour for private lessons. Sorry life story 😂 cheers then!
It'd probably be a good idea to look for a guitar with a good or decent neck as well. I almost got turned off from playing because of high action and a slightly warped neck. So glad I sold that acoustic.
Yep. You first have to make sure this is something you really want to invest a significant amount of time and money into. Guitars are fairly ubiquitous. It's easy to find a good used one that is inexpensive.
get one with good tuners..My parents bought me a Synsonics Terminator from Sears I think. The thing was complete junk and would not stay in tune for anything.
I second that Harry Callahan... Here's one good reason you should learn on a solid body 'lektrik...unplugged. You can kick back on the settee with the guitar on your belly and play along with all the tunes on the telly... a good way to train your ear. 'Lektric 'cause you can just about get away with convincing your fellow telly watchers that it's not loud enough to spoil their viewing pleasure. Mind you it means that after all these years I have to have a settee on the stage to play properly.
Thanks for this Rob (aka as “Chappers” of Anderson’s?). Just to reinforce your point about myth 2, not needing an amp for practice. My solid wood body, alder wood strat sings and resonates beautifully every time I play it. No amp yet but... Improves all the time. It’s as though the individual wood fibres are vibrating in sympathy with my playing. High gloss finished, cheap plywood guitars will not improve over the years😩. Another important point for the 🎸 guitar, it will not sing beautifully if it is NOT intonated perfectly. Takes time but must be done, adjustable bridge saddles (easy): The 12th FRET HARMONIC MUST SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME PITCH/Frequency as THE 12th FRET fretted note. Otherwise the guitar will not sing beautifully ☹️.
I work with guy who’s mostly a jazz guitarist who constantly bragged about his music theory skills and how he did all of those myths( started with a cheap nylon string acoustic etc) so one day he brought in this guitar for me and another coworker that plays to try out(also mostly to show i suspect). Alittle about me is I played a cheap electric for over a year after my mom bought one for my birthday, I’ve always wanted to play guitar and my dad never took me serious( I had a habit of not following through on things I said I really wanted, I was also 13 at the time) So she buys me this guitar I played it every day, I learned to tune it thanks to its greatest quality that it never stayed in tune. But after a year I finally receive a really nice wolf gang guitar and peavy amp for Christmas from my father which also came with lessons. I was good and after 3 years and 3 teacher changes the music shop told me I have the tools to learn on my own. So fast forward to the guy brining in the guitar he was fairly skilled, I wasnt a fan of his choice of music as I’ve never really been into jazz music. And I’m not great with music theory either but I just jammed like I always do and when I was done he was pretty impressed. Impressed enough where he openly questioned the validity of holding other guitarist to his beliefs. I was just happy to expand his mind and hopefully not discourage someone, plus the satisfaction of putting him back into place wasn’t to bad either hahaha
I kinda wish I saw this before I bought my guitar. I love both acoustic and electric, but I only decided on acoustic first because of this idea it would be easier. But most of the playing and styles of music Id like to do is on electric. Great informative video n
Honestly having both isn't a bad thing. You should definitely play your preference however, to encourage yourself to train and learn. Bare in mind you can't easily plug your electric in round the campfire and sing away to the flames lol. Always something extra to consider with guitar and they are flexible, never a waste.
my first guitar was a Yamaha RGZ limited edition. I still have it and I love it. 2 fantastic features it has are.. 1. the cord jack has been carved into the back of the guitar instead of the bottom or front. This prevents it from getting in the way and accidentally being pulled out if the cord is stepped on etc. 2. The floyd rose style tremelo system has a knob on it so you can set how far a note can be bent backwards using the whammy bar. It also allows for the guitar to become a kind of fixed bridge instrument rather than a floyd rose per se. (even tho you can still whammy downwards)
I started learning last year at age 13 and my dad who has been playing for 28 years decided to take me to Ken Stanton to pick one out, and while I wanted to learn electric I ended up choosing an acoustic cause when I saw this certain acoustic it looked so pretty I decided that’s what I wanted, it was hard at first but my fingers adapted quickly and now a year later I play at least 3 hours a day practicing and wanting to get better. I’m so glad with my choice and I’m grateful my dad got me that guitar cause I now know it’s something I’ll play for the rest of my life.
Agree with all of these, except the one about buying cheap guitars, if you want to start playing guitar, buy a cheap one, you might not even know if you'll enjoy it. If youve watched loads of videos and shit and feel like you will definately continue, still, you might not, you might not enjoy it as much as you think you will, or you might not hage the patience
True, but as he says, more expensive guitars tend to hold their value a little better. If you go too cheap, you'll end up with something that doesn't play well or sound particularly inspiring and that can lead to frustration and ultimately make you less likely to stick with it. I've seen that a lot, someone asks you why they're not making as much progress as they'd like, you pick up their guitar and find that it's basically unplayable. To me, it's better to get an instrument you love and are excited to get home and play each day. If you are on a severe budget, you can make it go much further by looking at used guitars, although I would always recommend taking someone along who knows their guitars.
Mike Towey ye ive changed my view since that comment, buy whatever excites you, that makes you wanna pick it up and play it, if you give up it will retain value
Agreed. I recently picked the guitar up after a 17 year hiatus. Bought a cheapy electric & after a few weeks I got something better to play while I customised the cheapy. The better guitar made me realise how hard the cheapy was to play, but the cheapy got me started again & is now a project.
I've wanted to find a new hobby for years and always bounced between the two ideas. I think decent little weighted keyboard has the edge. Did you follow their advice?
Mr Tom, In Jr. High, my music teacher gave me a quarter amd told me to try my luck with the juke box because I damn sure had no luck with the trombone. I wish I still had the quarter. Because at least then, I would have gotten SOMETHING out of that class.
I was able to buy a 700 dollar Epiphone les Paul as a beginner, and I’m thankful for that since it doesn’t feel like a cheap beginner guitar, I can stick with it forever (probably not forever but still). Just look at Brian May, the guitarist in Queen, he finished building his guitar in 1965 and he has stuck with it since and he almost never plays on any other electric guitar. My point is that if you can afford it, don’t buy the cheapest guitar you can find, because being able to use your first guitar as you main one after many years is amazing.
Growing up, I may as well not have had an amp. My father used to come home and pull the fuses out of the box. Your amp is useless if it ain't getting any juice! Maybe he wouldn't have done that if my playing hadn't totally gargled sweaty...well, you get the idea. Of course, I cranked EVERYTHING up to 11 (only because I couldn't afford 12, LOL). BTW, just before he passed away, my father bought me a very nice Peavey amp that I still have. It was, he said, his "going away" present to me. Pretty sure, though, that my playing still totally gargles sweaty...
barry jwz as a new guitar player, I rarely plug in my little Marshall to save the embarrassment of fret buzz and wrong notes when practicing. When I do plug it in I'll use headphones, it's not necessary to have an amp early on in learning guitar at all
After years of taking my sons to classical guitars lessons and now rock guitar lessons, I have finally decided to learn playing myself. Part of the motivation is that now the kids don’t listen to me when I critique their practice, so I need to show them how I also will dedicate time to practicing and enjoying guitar.
My 1st guitar was a memphis off brand telecaster. I bought it in 1977. Plywood body. I was stunned at how little electronics was in it. two coils a switch, two pots, some strings and 6 tuners. I never held an electric guitar until then, I was maybe 14. What a rip I thought. Of course I realised the guitar was the instrument that created the signal to the amp and I became enlightened. Before I had an electric guitar I was amazed at the sound I heard on the radio and imagined an electric guitar was an extremely complicated device. My electric guitars make life amazing.
I will agree that Myth #5 is absolutely false. David Gilmour can't read a lick of sheet music. I've heard him say so. He learned by doing. Simple as that. Plus a real testament to his gift and genius.
Hi, I have been learning through the Fender Play program. I feel the moment is coming when reading and understanding music is unavoidable. You as a teacher think I could lear to jam or solo or confidently moving on the neck without reading and understanding music theory? Or I just misunderstood Myth 5?
I started playing guitar 4 months ago, now I'm still pretty new at it but I'm in love. Gonna get an electric because of my music taste but it's true that the type of guitar doesn't really matter. Awesome video, thank you!
great video Chappers, I started playing guitar back in the 80's on an old Radio Shack cheapy, the one with the speaker built right into the body. learned so much on that thing.
Acoustic guitars are only for advanced players. Why? Well they are loud, very loud and nobody wants to hear 3 chords over and over again. Electric guitars are silent.
Well... Kinda. Electric guitars are silent-ish by themselves. However, once you plug that thing into an amp, you could turn it up sooooo LOUD, that you make every wall shake within a 100 yards. Well, with stadium-grade equipment, at least.
I was playing my 20w Fender Mustang today and my dad heard it from a good distance away from our house, it's master volume was only at 3 and didn't sound too loud to me hahaha
An eight year old girl might have amazing grip strength from playing on the monkey bars for hours a day, whereas a fifty year old man might have arthritis.
Oh lord, you’re one of those guys, pedantic one upper. Most 8 yo girls are weak, most 50yo men are much stronger. We all know there are exceptions in the world, you add no value.
The problem is if you buy a guitar worth £2,000 and people see it, they expect you to be able to play it. I'm not saying don't buy one...but if you buy an expensive guitar and cannot play it well, don't expect people to be impressed with how much you spent on the guitar!
mario cox jealous... that’s all it is. People can’t stand someone not as good as them having better stuff than them. Then they spread rumours about buying cheap if you are not good.
@ppino98 I am a "new beginner" at 59- dinked around in the past but need a hobby- so have been playing for a couple of years again in my "spare" time- anytime I go to play with people i know are better than me (meaning almost everyone) I bring my Squier Telecaster (Which I love BTW) and keep my Gibsons and Fenders at home- I kinda of think Id be a poser with a > $3000 Les Paul at my level of "expertise"
My first guitar was an Epiphone Les Paul, flame burst. I went a year before getting my first amp. Just found out it was the first year Epiphone made the Les Paul, 1989. It doesn't have the clipped ears on the headstock. I always felt there was something special about it. Playing without an amp I felt helped my ear for music and technique.
Thanks for all your effort Rob, at age 59, I think I'm ready to give this a shot. I started wishing to play in 1963, I took a guitar lesson in 1972, Practised not at all, but never stopped wishing to learn. I have watched a great deal of your work and reviews, and shenanigans, and have enjoyed the lions share. This is what I've come up with. in 2013 I was diagnosed with metastasised prostate cancer which was well defined throughout my skeleton and the prognosis was very dim. Well July 2017 I still want to learn guitar. I've no income outside of being a blessed Canadian and so my guitar is going to be an Epiphone PRO-1 acoustic. and my palliative home state is my chance to grow up and practice. What do you think of that plan??? Thanks so much. Love your work.
Dynamics, tempo, expression, harmonics, palm mute - everythinig, including modern electric guitar technique. Most other musicians communicate material using notation, if you play in an orchestra or a big jazz band can you imagine them all sitting in front of a tablet using a youtube video? Rob is showing his ignorance unforunately.
The best musicians understand theory and how to improve and modify technique, this video encourages a tunnel vision approach. Essentially the message here is buy an electric guitar (even if you can't afford an amp) and take as many shortcuts as you can.
Imagine you spend a lot of time learning, practicing, improving and getting your face known in the business. Someone calls you and says "I'll pay you to play in my band, what's your fee?" So you agree a fee, and two days before he gives you a copy of your notated guitar part. What are you going to do? Well you could say "Rob said I don't need to learn how to read music."
Playing an acoustic guitar does make you a way better player... The fact that your fingers get really strong and many songs that you could play on an Electric guitar you can also play on acoustic guitar. If you don't believe me try it. Practice the chromatic scale while watching TV for as long as you can for one week and you will find yourself playing way better
Worked for me I was doing chromatic scales watching TV lol. Also holding the electric guitar in a classical position makes the playing a lot more aggressive
playing a steel string acoustic guitar strengthened my fingers far more than by playing my electric. Electric guitar strings are so much easier on the fingers - you don't need to push them down as hard, and bends are much easier too. As a general rule, if I can play a song on my steel string, I can play it even more easily on an electric.
Hes talking about learning though and making it easier to learn. Its defintely easier to learn on an electric. Its even easier to hold for a small child! Besides that, my favorite quote is from the great Billy Gibbons who uses 9s "guitar is hard enough to play, why use fat strings and make it harder!?"
i play unplug in my apartment, my neighbors are happy. I plugged in and played loud rock one day when I thought everybody was gone. a band member across the hall invited me over to play. feels good to surprise people at 70.
I'm 68 and just starting. I just got my first guitar (2 hours ago). I bought a Gretsch G5420T Electromatic Hollowbody in Aspen Green. beautiful instrument and the sound is incredible.
The learning on an acoustic thing isn't so much an important thing for technique but for knowing how to play songs & not just fancy licks. If you can play a song on an acoustic you're a musician, if you can only play a handful of fancy sweep picking & tapping licks you're not. Acoustic playing is unbeatable for distilling songs down & learning how they're put together.
Agreed, but if a guy doesn't like acoustic sound and does like electric sound, he will never have the enthusiasm to drive through the hard parts of learning on the acoustic guitar.
If you've never played or heard the song before then how are you supposed to just play along? Whatever you play will be after the rest of the band, since you obviously can't predict the future.
leigh tyrrell 1. That's extremely hit and miss. 2. That's only applicable if you're soloing over something. What about where there are written parts? (i.e, 90% of what you're doing on a gig) 3. If you're on guitar, then YOU are the chord guy. You can't properly pick up the chord parts if you can't hear them. You can make an educated guess, but that's the best you can do. If the bass is playing C to G over and over again, then what is it? C Major to G Major? C7 to G7? C Min/Maj7/13 to G Alt? What do you play over that? 4. Finding the bass note works fine if you're playing an AC/DC song, but all I can say is good luck if you have to do something harder, like a Steely Dan song.
I meant this in a jazz or fusion context. Most rock music is super repetitive and most bands will sound the same. Ex. It's a pretty strong chance when playing AC/DC it's going to be in e. But thy guess by ear in an Allen Holdsworth song.
When I was 13 I announced that I wanted a guitar for my birthday. My dad, who was a musician, violin, cello and clarinet (yeah, weird huh?) came home on my birthday with a steel string acoustic guitar, that he had them put 11's on. I, of course, wanted an electric. He sat me down and taught me the C, G, D, E and A chords. Then he would have me practice. Then he signed me up for lessons, at a school that he sat in on to make sure they were doing it right. He told me that reading music isn't required, but when you learn to read it, you'll learn to keep time, and you'll learn some theory too. So I learned how to play in time and more important how to play without looking at the neck all the time. So I learned to read music in about 2 weeks (It isn't that hard) and when I could play a simple piece, Molly Malone, in time he made me a deal. When I could change from an A, C, D, E, G and do it in all the patterns, a full bar each without making a mistake, and in 4/4 and 3/4 and 2/2 time he would buy me the electric. But if I made a mistake, that was it. Try again in 2 days. It took over a month, I would practice, and then sit down and play and one day I got it right. So a few days later he comes home with a 1970 Stratocaster and a small tube amp. I was elated. Played every day. Then 2 weeks after that I broke 4 fingers and 3 bones in my left hand playing baseball. That was 1975.
In 2003 I was in Iraq, and a guy in my unit got a guitar (cheap Fender) and I still remembered the chords that I learned so long ago. I was 43. When I got home in 2004, I went to Guitar Center and bought a used American Strat and a Vox amp and went to the same school and enrolled in lessons again. I came home with a TBI, so at times it is hard to remember things, but I play almost every day now. I was forced to sell the Strat, but got a Squier and kept playing.
If you're thinking about doing it, just go ahead and do it. Try out a bunch of guitars, if you can't play ask the salesman to show you an A or C chord. Try playing them on different guitars. Look at used guitars and amps also, you can save a good deal on them. You'll find what feels good to you, trust me. And by all means, have your guitar set up properly.
Take it from me, the 54 year old guy with a brain injury; if I can do it, you can too.
***** I was, and I was not the oldest soldier in our unit. Our first shirt served in Vietnam. Here's the breakdown. I joined the USN in 1979 at 17, spent 12 years 9 months in, got out in 1992. I was 31. Had a 2 year break in service then got a slot as an MP in the Army on April 24, 1994. I had 8 years to go to collect retired pay because the regulations state that you must do 8 years in another branch to collect retired pay. So I was 33 when I enlisted. So what is 1994 +8? That would be April 2002, Which would have made me retirement eligible at 41 and I was put on Stop Loss effective Jan 1, 2002 because my unit had gotten the warning order to deploy to Afghanistan. So, I could not retire. We wound up not going to Afghanistan and were slated to go to Iraq in November 2002. We flew out in Feb 2003. So do the math. I was released from Stop Loss 1 October 2004 and retired 5 November 2005.
Any other questions?
Wow, clever. What got you so mad, that you were totally wrong, or the simple math?
Were you unable to play as a teenager after your fingers healed or had you lost interest at that point?
hockleyrambler It was about 6 weeks until I was fully functional, but there was a lot of pain in my tendons. Playing for 15 minutes was tough.
jesterd14 inspirational story. I restarted my playing last year at 35, moved by Bowie's death, after about 15 years of not picking up the guitar. Learned more about it online in last year than in all my teenage years. If I only had all these tools back then... I'm really enjoying it now and what is even better I can now buy guitars that I could only dream about when I was kid. Dream is to have a gig by 45th birthday:-)
Bonus Myth: Playing guitar makes you better than everyone else
*_Completely True_*
BLACKMETALWILL d
It actually does :)
Best myth ever
Myth
Another bonus Myth: The beginner guitar !! no such thing its the person who is the beginner!!
Amen to the "learn on the guitar you intend to play on". I was discouraged from learning because my parents demanded I learn acoustic first, and I only wanted to learn electric. Now I'm middle aged, and been learning for a time; and I morn the time I've lost not learning to be honest.
He lifted that les Paul like a feather
Electric guitars are lighter than they seem, I've held acoustics heavier than them.
What it is maybe 12 lbs? LOL
thats what im sayin
Its hollow body
They are starting to cut chunks out of the body to lighten the weight
Another (kind of) myth: if you practise a lot, you'll definitely be amazing. I practise at least two hours a day everyday and have done for years and im still only mediocre... you have to practise right, quality not quantity!
This. You can practice 10 hours a day, it doesn't count if you practice it wrong. Instead of focusing on practicing for hours and hours try to focus on perfecting your technique and what you're practicing. If that takes just 30 minutes then that's alright, you don't need to practice 8 hours a day. Another strange thing I notice is that if I take a break I tend to be better? Once i went on a vacation for 3 days and couldn't take my guitar with me, the second I got home and picked it up I felt like I could play anything and I made no mistakes. It depends on the person, but as long as you love what you're doing it doesn't matter if you practice 20 minutes or 4 hours a day. What matters is what you learn at the end of the day.
Are you practising wrong?
Great video. I'd also add two other myths to the mix.
1°: You need to start young.
2°: You have to practice many hours a day to become good.
Lucas Medina D'Abate you do have to practice a lot
Ender Wolf you do have to PRACTICE, but it's not necessary that you bore your day into it. I mean, you can totally practice one or two hours a day efficiently, and outperform a guy who "practices" 5 hours a day.
Starting out young is beneficial, but indeed, not necessary. The younger you are, the more plastic your brain is, which means the quicker you'll learn and retain techniques. Again, advantageous, but not necessary.
But, practice on the other hand... You're technically right, you don't need to practice several hours daily to become good. You can indeed improve greatly with just 20 minutes, half an hour a day. Buuuut it could take you several years at that rate to get where you want to be. Whereas if you devote more time daily to practice, you will just get there faster. You're only as good as the number of hours you've practiced. So, it all depends on how good you want to get and how quickly you want to get there.
They say to get to virtuoso-level playing, you'll need to practice about 10,000 hours. If you want to be virtuosic in your playing and you want to get there in... 3 years, well, prepare yourself for three years of practicing 10 hours a day. However, if you only want to get, say, halfway to virtuosic playing, which is still very good, and you don't mind it taking a decade, yeah, you can get away with just an hour a day.
Still disagree. I'm, again, not talking about hours but about efficiency. You can have a guy practicing efficiently 1 or 2 hours a day and still outperform a guy who doesn't know how to practice or why he does what he does when he practices, even if he spends 5 or more hours a day. I've seen this in my life first hand (guys who've been playing forever, yet still lack a lot of the stuff you'd expect to find on guys like that) but only recently understood the reason for this. There's been a lot of neuroscience going on recently on this field and I've been lucky enough to find some of those resources and apply them to my own practice. I've noticed since then that I've gotten incredible results for the same or less time invested.
Well, I'm speaking of only people that practice effectively. If you're not practicing effectively, you're not practicing at all. I'm speaking as a lad with a college degree in music.
Thanks for the video which pretty sums up everything
Summary:
Myth 1 (0:35): You must always start off by learning acoustic or classical guitar
Myth 2 (1:48): You have to get an amplifier
Myth 3 (2:47): The value of your guitar has everything to do with how fast you will progress in learning the guitar
Myth 4 (5:11): Thinner strings makes it easier to play he guitar
Myth 5 (6:30): You definitely have to learn to read music to play guitar
Some extensions (my opinions, strictly about electric guitar):
Opinion 1: Time, effort and dedication is still needed to learn the guitar. But most importantly, are you having fun ? Shout this phrase out three times with the last word louder than the last time.
Opinion 2: Get an inexpensive amp with aux in and headphones jack, even if it is a table top amp. All-in packages will bundle in amp for less than an iPad or Smartphone. Whatever it is, get an amp
Opinion 3: Buy or borrow a good looking guitar that you will pick up, sounds good and you are cool with. Rosewood, basswood or alder doesn't matter.. you will get a better idea later on... (that is the stage where the guitar chooses you !)
Just ask yourself: Will I pick up that guitar ? Often, you will be tempted to get a better guitar which you know you will not pick up. Just choose the guitar which you 'feel' has the most 'chemistry'.
Opinion 4: Thinner is easier and no matter what, the tips of fingers will hurt. No pain, no gain, that's why having fun is the most important factor (see opinion 1)
Opinion 5: Should learn to read tabulature or guitar tabs. If you can recognize 0-24 and can see six parallel lines drawn together, you are all set.
It is ok to sound like crap when you first start (and even as you go along you can still sound like crap) but you must have fun. Fun is what sustains most guitarists. Enjoy !
If it's not fun, then why?
Thanks
I see a lot of comments asking if you're too old to play guitar. Short answer, NO! One thing the youth has over older people is time. A kid at school has time after school to learn guitar, go to lessons, play during the summer, and start a band with buddies. As you get older, you work 9-5, have kids to look after, chores to do, and everything else! Dedication and finding the time to pursue your passion is what you need. If age came with reduced talent, The Rolling Stones wouldn't still be touring, nor The Who, ACDC etc etc. Look at Seasick Steve, he didn't make it big till he was in his 60's, he now plays Glastonbury and other Music festivals!
Couldn't have written it better myself! Not only that, it's difficult to make it big now thanks to websites like TH-cam, where everyone posts footage of themselves playing! Gone are the days of the 60's, 70's, 80's where people actually stood out!
I'm so glad someone mentioned this! I've been playing for nearly 20 years, and have taught students of all ages for the past 5 years. The one thing I've emphasised to my students is that it's about talent over age! If you're auditioning guitarists for your band, talent will always win out over age. No-one would look at a mediocre 30 year old player, and favour him over an exceptional 50 year old player just because he's younger! That just doesn't happen! If it did, the band will be going nowhere!
its like learning language the advantage of youth is it is easier to learn and retain the work. that does not mean you cant learn music or language when your older but your retention and fluency will not be the same. imho.
Who the hell is Seasick Steve?
Spot on. My great grandmother decided to learn organ at 70, and she got pretty good before she died at 98. I started piano later in life than most (9th grade), but I earn my living as a musician today. Youth and the associated cerebral sponginess certainly help, but time and effort are the biggest requisites to get better at music (or anything for that matter.)
Rob: Ritardo...
Me: Heh heh...Retar-
Rob: Don't make fun of Ritardo.
Ricardo's long lost cousin
hahaha this guy knew right away
Lol the first two comments juxtapose
Funny. Was just looking at your post as he said this 😁. Was picturing Bevis and Butthead when he said this.
i was just gonna write that *exact* comment
Myth number 7- You need a guitar to play guitar.
.
COMPLETELY FALSE
Yep, we're all rock stars with the air guitar.
Saugat Ghimire GarageBand
Saugat Ghimire 😂😂😂😂😂
I play it on my phone lol
Air guitar
I worked my first job when I was 15 years old and back then the minimum wage was $4.25 an hour. I saved up forever and bought a $700 Jackson Randy Rhoads Pro. People told me I was crazy to spend so much because I didn't know how to play but after buying it, I made myself learn. I think saving and spending so much on the guitar I really wanted made me stick to it. If I would have bought a cheap guitar, I don't think I would have stuck with it to be honest. Nearly 25 years later I still have that guitar, although I've gone through tons of other guitars as well and a Jackson Soloist Pro is my main now.
I could literally stare at Les Pauls all fucking day. Best looking guitars around. So simple but so fucking good.
Yes. The Les Paul is a thing of beauty. The feel and the tone are also incredible. No whammy or 24 frets (usually) so you can't use them for everything, but it's my favorite guitar by far.
Keith Lamont Davis Yes I own two of my one. They handle everything I want to play just fine, it makes it up in other ways haha
TheMusicfan189 I personally think the fat strats are the sexiest guitars ever.
check out the Alex Lifeson sig Les Paul, it doesn't have the 24 frets, but has a Floyd, better fret access, and sounds incredible. I had a friend build me a custom version of it, with a hard tail, but seriously regret it.
Adam Sweet Putting a Floyd on a Les Paul is the equivalent of taking a shit on a Lamborghini, you just don't do it.
Him: “Students come in all shapes and sizes.”
My imagination: rAndOm TRiaNgLe wAlkS iN
Amazing
I started to learn how to play the guitar (acoustic) many years ago. My mum paid for a private teacher to come to my home every week to teach both my sister and I. We did that for a few years and I even eventually could read and write music and confidently play quite a number of songs. However my teacher had just got married and was moving away so we no longer got our weekly lessons. We tried a different teacher but they weren't as good and soon after started to lose interest in the guitar and began to like other things instead including boys (silly me!!). I always regretted not continuing and never really got around to picking up an instrument again until now. I am 59 years old and have decided to take it up once again. I will be going electric now. Even though my hands especially my left thumb have a bit of arthritis in them now, my husband thinks I should give it a go and they say you are never too old to learn new things. For me its a bucket list thing and have set a goal of learning to play at least one song every year if I can. How many other people here have decided to take up learning guitar at an older age, and how are you finding it?
I play no instruments
I don't have a musical bone in my body
But I did find this video interesting
Thanks for sharing Rob
Bang your funny bone real hard and you'll hear some music
@@Demention94 If he bangs his head on the wall he could hear it too!
As somebody who plays electric, acoustic and nylon-string, I can attest to the fact that if I practice for a while on acoustic or nylon-string, it really helps me to rip on the electric. If you can nail something on a jumbo-bodied acoustic with thick strings and higher action, then you switch to an electric with a thinner body and lower action, it'll make playing those same licks a breeze.
Thank yooou
Just what I needed :)
(buying my first guitar at xmas)
enjoy it buddy!
patrik streng have fun man, it's such a great feeling!
patrik streng Sweet, man. What are you getting? My first was a Jackson JS22 SC. Great price, and perfect for metal.
Since I'm on a bit of a budget, I thought about the Squier Vintage Modified (found some for only 288€, which is really good considering the prices in Finland). Still not sure if vintage blonde, sunburst or Surf Candy Apple Red. The amp I thought about is the 10GX
A Squier is a wonderful guitar to begin on. They are affordable and good quality. Good luck and most important have fun.
I practice my guitar unplugged quite often. Easier to hear if i mess up.
Wormweed that's a good idea but I find that playing with an ass ton of distortion can really help build up your control and how clean/tight your playing sounds
Badass Guitar Dude Distortion is weird. It can sometimes emphasise mistakes/errors/sloppiness, but it can also sometimes hide them too.
Wormweed I practice without an amp about 1h a day because after 10pm my neighbors would kill me if I was shredding
Badass Guitar Dude
Yeah, distortion is great for things like arpeggios. Because they sound so bad if you cant mute the unwanted strings
Me 2
I'd highly recommend beginners starting with an amp though, you can really run into a brick wall with string muting if you learn your technique without being able to hear string noise.
Luke Davies yeah that confused me loads of good quality cheap amps out there
Only one orange micro dark under £200
Agree, That explains my horrible dynamic.
I just went to a Guitar Center and the salesperson told me it's better because a child will be less entertained while playing because you arent getting the full experience of the electric. I believe him. Kids hear this awesome sound on a music video and then play those sad quiet strings? Def not motivation...
Same, there's great cheap amps that have everything you need, I got an used roland microcube and it sounds great. Cost me around 75$ and I haven't and won't feel the need to get a better amp/pedals soon. Hearing it and playing around with effects just makes it way better
For some reason you made me feel comfortable for the whole video
Maybe it was beacause I was feeling stressed earlier or beacause I was scared you would bombard me with a bunch of complicated guitar facts that would make me quit doing something that could influence my future...
Great video, though :)
Start off learning on an ocarina. Apparently that's where Yngwie started before transitioning seamlessly to Electric guitar. He swears by them, you should see his vintage collection from Denmark Street.
Thats awesome haha!
*learns Saria's Song on ocarina* two hours later *makes badass metal cover*
Your avatar is the cruelest thing ever. I kept trying to pick the cat hair off my screen. LOL
Moe Szyslak I was sitting in a dark room and I thought your profile picture was some hair on my screen and tried to wipe it off.
Moe Szyslak I thought your profile pic was a hair lol 😂😂
I have plenty of nice guitars and still suck. He is right.
So u an idiot.
Ace Spades yeah.
he isn't an idiot. just needs to pick one that is comfortable for him and looks good to him, like Rob said, and then practice a few hours a day, again, like Rob said.
That's because Rob is right, just because you bought an expensive guitar doesn't mean you will get better faster vs. if you bought a Squier.
I have 5 guitars. doesnt make me good. Or even ok. This ace spades shitbag probably struggles with open chords btw.
I agree with number 5, I think if you're going for the classic rock/blues style playing, start by learning how to play some classic rock songs from famous bands, then you can start writing your own riffs etc using simple tab, and when you have some spare time in between writing your solos and learning songs, you can start learning some of the fundamental scales and stuff online, thats my opinion anyway.
I've always believed that you can learn so much about a genre/style of playing by learning how to play songs in that genre using your ear, it's really useful!
Absolutely! Learning songs you love is mainly what keeps you motivated and also teaches you about how songs are made etc.
It's the most important thing, I think.
And I've noticed people that never learnt many songs are a bit more restricted and stuck in their playing.
That's actually an important part of learning music and it's called "ear training". I know many professional musicians who learn really complicated stuff by ear and use sheets as a guide while they're playing.
There's another myth he mentioned without being aware of it - 1:32 "Practice makes perfect"
Well, it doesn't!!!! PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT, NOT PREFECT!!!!!
If you practice wrong, you'll end up playing wrong
Perfect guitar player? No such thing.
Most important is to love the guitar. Played classical for 8 y. Swifted to eletric 6 months ago, and one day, my classical technice kind of transformed over to the eletric too. I personally recommand to begin with classical if its the same, its good for youre tachnice when you must play advanced on the instruments. Most important, play and enjoy this beautiful instrument.
Can i borrow your les paul for a couple of weeks rob ? Just to see if i like it :P
Legion Read lol
OK, you take Standard, I take Custom Shop
TheCheck01 and I get his made in China squier
Legion Read Hey, Rob can I borrow your American Telecaster for a few months just to see if I like it?
You guys decide which guitars you want to borrow. I'll take the amps for a while, okay?
*Hank's Top 5 Myths About Learning Guitar.* 1.) You will NOT get laid immediately for learning an A chord. Although as you progress the A chord can be used in such a way that will get you laid, learning the A chord alone will not get you laid, so stop playing the damn chord over and over on your acoustic guitar while winking at jogging girls in the park. 2.) Wonderwall is not the only song you need to learn, there are other songs that can get you laid. 3.) Les Pauls will get you laid, Strats will not. 4.) Guitar necks cannot be used as emergency dildos. 5.) You cannot legally marry a Telecaster.
Hank Hill #4. hahahaha
Re. #2. Exactly. There is also stairway to heaven. If you play both wonderwall and stairway at the same time, you will get double laid.
The concept of an emergency dildo is both very entertaining and disturbing
a) why would you marry a tele? Those are the ugliest bodies i've seen imho
and b) can you use propane and propane accessories to improve your tone?
A.) You're wrong. B.) Of course.
Hello Rob ...I'm a 60 y.o. who has dinked around on an acoustic guitar since my teens and since my retirement a few years back I've been playing more and realize I need to move to an electric guitar. ..so I've been searching TH-cam to learn more. .I think for me. ..I'm going to start with the HB es 35 plus. ....and an HB 450 something something lemon drop....and I'll be TH-cam ing lessons too....So watching a lot of guitar videos lately I'm learning who the cool cats are....of which you are one ..thid video has been really helpful. ...maybe I'll start a channel to show my progress....anyway thanks. ..CM
Corey M best of luck
Corey M I'm 58 and just picking up a guitar for the first time. I love this channel.
As a bassist, I can say that, at least for me, playing with an amp was absolutely essential. You really can't get a sense of amplified dynamics until you get some experience playing plugged in. I often play unplugged now, but that's because I'm comfortable playing plugged in, and I know what actions will produce what sounds. You also get a lot more audible sympathetic vibration when plugged in, which forces you to get better at muting. The same principles apply to drumming; a lot of people swear by practice pads, and they can be an invaluable tool, but unless you already know how a snare feels, it won't be nearly as useful, and it won't be even a fraction as fun. With some experience, you know what actions will produce what sounds, as mentioned above, and your brain will fill in a lot of the experiential blanks. Also, for newer players who are self-aware and timid, it's important to get comfortable with playing at a reasonable volume. Some confidence is key not just on the stage, but in every aspect of playing. You should feel like the master of your instrument, and not the other way around. If you intend to play amplified, you don't want to be intimidated by your own instrument. And finally, people correctly attribute a great deal of "tone" to the player; but the amplified tone is different from the unplugged tone, and if you have no idea how to shape it on the amp or the instrument, you cannot help but flounder. If you never intend to plug in, that's fine, but you'd probably be better off with an acoustic.
As a bass player, I found it important to practice without an amp, you can hear your shortcomings when you don't have an amp to cover for your mistakes, plus it strengthens the hell out of your fingers. I used to practice a half hour to an hour before I plugged in, & it took my playing to the next level.
I remember when I was younger and wanted to learn electric guitar, I really liked rock and wanted to be able to play it. That Christmas i got an acoustic guitar, and I just could not get into it. Fast forward to last year and I finally decide to pick up guitar again after hearing One... now I have a LTD iron cross and I really enjoy playing
Yay! I got yamaha pacifica as my first guitar. 6 years later I still play it sometime, awesome instrument for the price. Cost me like 200€ back then.
Thane Krios l hear ya! I've got a Pacifica too, I also have les Pauls & PRS stuff but I WILL NOT PLAY A GIG WITHOUT THAT 100$ YAMAHA!! It's the most comfortable guitar I ever owned.
@@davedecker1725 Try an Ernie Ball Music Man's Reflex Game Changer. Same neck feel, but an out of this world price. :(
DEViANCE the music mans are awesome!! Too pricey though😁😁
The worst thing about Myth Nr1 is that there are sooo many music teachers, guitar teachers and music store employees who INSIST that you have to start with an acoustic guitar.
yeah I agree with that
I'm not suprised that music store employees do that, after all in that case you end up buying 2 guitars instead of 1.
last time I went to buy an amp then they started talking about guitars and they recommended an fender to me.LOL
Music In Blood that sounds like good advice to me!
Another myth: People who take the time to learn to learn to read and write music are automatically snobbish and treat people who haven't put in the time and effort like garbage.
HAhahaha,,I know plenty of those.
Mark Jones Most, like me, can read some music but can't play it that fast. without notes I can blast through my scales and improve easy. I'd much rather learn a song by heart to play it anytime over depending on sheets
and it's just extra memory power I don't have lmao
Mark Jones absolutely!
*completely true*
I've been confused by a lot of people telling me to get the cheapest acoustic to start with, while in fact, that also tends to discourage me since I like heavy metal and rock. So I tried to not believing them and now I get another confirmation from you for what I believe. Thanks! // was playing without amplifier for a couple months as well.
Right on point Rob! I actually was given a classical guitar at age 7 as my first decent instrument, having played a pint sized plastic Sears and Roebuck for a few years. After practicing for several years, a Strat caught my eye, and after eventually saving up to buy a cheap copy, I played that for about 8 hours a day every summer. A family friend gave me a 335, which is when my playing really began to improve at a greater speed. It was much easier to play a well set up instrument. This was long before learning how to work on guitars. For those folks who feel they sound worse after practicing... This is because you are developing your ear, and learning to hear what you are doing incorrectly. Keep pushing forward, as you are on your way to becomming a discerning player. Take the time, work through the pain, it will be worth your troubles!
I'm getting a Yamaha Pacifica 510V for Christmas, I've never really committed to a hobby before. I'm very interested in guitars so hopefully I stick with it. Also my parents kept saying I needed to start on acoustic but I dont have the motivation to do it. I'm sure I'll play acoustic one day I just need to learn electric
Alyssa Black Find a guitar player with music / playing style that you really like. That's the best motivation to keep playing when starting out IMO.
Alyssa Black Look up Rain by Lee Kyung Won.
Amazing player and his own music
Alyssa Black I agree. I've played guitar, strictly for fun, for 30 years, and I've still never owned an acoustic. An electric also means you can play quietly away, instead of doing homework etc, and no one can hear you 😉
One word:
Jam
I'm getting a Schecter C-1 SGR from amazon for Christmas. I know nothing about guitars but I've always loved the way they sound. I've never really had a hobby either that I stuck to and I'm hoping to become skilled with it. I thought about acoustic but it didn't seem very fun to me. I may be over my head with this but oh well lol
The best way to learn guitar is with air guitar, grab one and there you go, instantly great!
Too expensive for me.
I keep having to restring mine, and it never stays in tune. Would not recommend.
I don't like the neck. Too thick.
My pickups make a kind of fuzz sound i can't seem to fix, does anyone have any tips?
Gideon Jaape some ideas: check everything is grounded, you can make a farad cage. The farad cage imo makes it kind of super quiet and changes your guitar sound a bit. That's to my ear ymmv
You buy a cheaper guitar first incase you don't stick with it, not because they say you learn faster.
Buy a guitar that feels and sounds good. Period.
@@Berbs73 what if i get bored of it in a month?
@@dimnik8292 Your chances of getting bored with a shitty guitar are much higher.
@@Berbs73 well, yeah
dim nik Then you don't REALLY want to play one in the first place!
80% of my playing is without an amp.
80% of my playing is without a guitar!
Do you want a hug ? And did you buy an amp already ?
I'm getting an amp tomorrow through Amazon I can't even stress how excited I am
Same
Felt the same way picking up my Marshall from Anderton's. Worth every penny.
When I picked up the guitar again, the first thing I wanted to do was rebuild my downpicking stamina. I played my electric unplugged for MONTHS but became extremely discouraged because I just couldn't get my downpicking speed fast while keeping it consistent and solid.
What I did not realize is that I had been practicing with enough power to hear my playing without an amp, and that I didn't need to use nearly that much effort to hear myself while plugged in. The extra effort paid off... when I finally started playing with an amp again, I was amazed to find that I felt perfectly confortable playing along with Master of Puppets.
New players tend to buy cheap as they don't know what their commitment level will be and they're often purchased by parents.
Here is where a mid level well cared for pre owned is the best... you get a decent instrument that feels ok for the price of a new entry level. AND it retains its value the best, as you already purchased it devalued, as long as it is cared for should retain almost all of it. As long as you inspect the instrument with someone knowledgeable this is where you find gems that feel great and you learn to love.
The problem with that attitude is that its almost like you are giving up before you begin! Its like the person expects to fail, so they better not spen too much money. I say, buy a great guitar, it will motivate you to learn to play it if you have loads of money invested!
It's so true they send cheap nylon string guitars to schools and expect 10 year olds with small fingers to be able to play them insane..
Yes I've had students say they couldn't afford a decent guitar, so they got a really cheap one from a charity shop. Problem is, their cheap guitar had the action about a mile high, and it hurt their fingers, so they gave up
It would be crazy to start on an acoustic if you want to play electric. I could see a serious lack of enthusiasm and desire to practice doing that.
autocrow that's me but I have the enthusiasm
serious question, what is the advantage of an aspiring electric guitarist, starting out on acoustic
Lol.I did and now I'm in a band
samuel b Discipline. If you can play well on an acoustic those fundamentals will make the average person better at electric.
I started on acoustic In fact I play rock songs on it
Probably your best video yet. Love the humility and couldn’t agree more with your myths and debunking of said myths. Thank you for taking the time to share your 20+ years of experience with new or aspiring guitarists.
Brilliant video, I remember being told you got to start with acoustic. I tried the acoustic guitar and hated it. 30+ years later I tried out an electric guitar, and never put it down.
That's why I have a T-body since yesterday, 25 years after my shitty old spanish used accoustic I gave up with after 6 painfull months... Still hard to learn, but way more motivating ^_^
Why care about the acoustic, it makes your electric playing sloppy anyway.
Starting on a cheap acoustic really is a recipe for disaster. Nylon strings are impossible for me, and I've been playing for over a decade. Obviously I completely suck, but still.
My first guitar was about 17 dollars I'm not kidding. It was made out of plywood and it had an acoustic bridge with a classical headstock and yes it came with nylon strings. All i can say is grinding through that thing made my technique way better now than if i started on a Gibson for example
Arctic Moose Yeah man I get that, when I started playing guitar again I had this "build your guitar" kit and it was cool and all but the guitar sounded like ass, terrible intonation, warped neck and when I moved up to a decent guitar it blew my mind how much I'd been missing out on
Yeah, my technique of trying to play songs recorded on electric guitars with pedals skyrocketed. Unfortunately the rocket was made in North Korea. It's just bullshit. You get angry because the sound playing chords is not the same, trying to get the hammer-ons and bending sound is better for clearing tears ducts than cutting one ton of onions.
Just no. If you want to play KISS buy an electric. Trying to play them on acoustic will you howl all night and cry everyday.
Agree 100% with all EXCEPT for point 1 - and here I do agree with many of Rob's points, especially about how essential it is for new players to have fun and keep motivated.
However, despite "playing" guitar for decades and while I can sound reasonably OK for stuff I like to play, I am today a lousy acoustic player. :)
Simply put, I do feel that newer players will benefit immensely from playing acoustic guitars from a finger strength perspective.
There is no such thing as a "proper" acoustic [steel string] guitar that plays as easily as an electric, if both have good setups and reasonable action [though some modern electric-acoustics can come close].
In my case, I am a lousy acoustic player despite listenable electric skills mainly because never focusing much on acoustics has left me with a relatively weak left hand in terms of the ability to depress acoustic strings properly and for playing more than a few minutes.
My point is really that I do think it is physically easier to transition from acoustic to electric playing than the reverse, especially if someone spends 95+% of their guitar time playing electrics. :)
cheers!
Joe Satchton I've done exactly the opposite. I've been playing for about 12 years and only picked up electric seriously about 8 months ago. I think both ways have their benefits. Its extremely easy on my hands to play electric but because I've been on acoustic for so long I have nowhere near the speed and dexterity I'd probably have had I used electric for the same amount of time. Leaving me unable to play many of my favorite electric songs at the moment. another part of my struggle is that until I recently picked up the electric I'd only used my thumb and fingernails to strum, so I'm also not where I could be in using a pick. If I were to give any advice I'd agree with Rob, play whatever you'd like to end up playing. But if you can, learn to use both well! they both have their benefits and are both awesome instruments. :)
And maybe we should start sending kids to college before we send them to kindergarten, so kindergarten won't seem as hard later.
Sorry, I have to agree with Rob on this one.
+brainstewX: Hey man, thanks for the unnecessarily smarmy Twatter-like reply to a comment that was serious, well-intentioned and fairly lengthy in its attempt to make decently explained point. How clever of you...
So, in your mind there is absolutely zero physical difference in terms of actual finger-strength required to play similarly setup electric guitars and acoustic guitars?
Not been my experience over the decades.
And if you read my comment it would be clear that I am NOT 100% disagreeing with Chappers on point 1 - I opened my comment by saying I do agree with the spirit of point 1. My POV is that spending 95%+ of my guitar experience focusing on electric has left me less capable on acoustic for finger-strength reasons than I am on electric.
cheers
Zachary Paddock: Indeed! That is exactly my point, really - that encouraging new players to try acoustic and electric in a more balanced manner would definitely pay of in the long run. :)
Realistically, it probably won't ever be a 50-50 split, timewise spent on acoustic vs. electric - we will each have elements of guitar that appeal differently to different folks. But I will always feel, based on my own experience, more balanced exposure on each instrument can only be a benefit.
For example: a piano is a piano is a piano. As long as it has 88 keys, there really is not, IMO, as much a difference between the actual finger-strength required to depress the keys on an upright, a quality electronic keyboard and a full-out concert baby grand or grand. Sure, some variances in key resistance, but again, not as much as the difference between acoustic and electric strings and feel.
We are indeed polar opposites - I absolutely am lousy with finger-picking, having never been a fan of genres like say country or folk guitar playing. Older and wiser, I am now struggling to try and improve my finger-picking and hybrid picking styles - man, so hard when all I have known is that little piece of plastic between my thumb and index finger...lol
cheers and good luck and happy holidays!
Joe Satchton
There was no smarm. Can we not disagree without name-calling? Any finger strength built up as a child is going to be lost when the child switches to mostly (or entirely) the electric guitar. That is now muscles work. If you don't use them, you lose them. There is also no evidence an adult cannot build finger strength.
Secondly, I have heard it estimated that around 90% of people who start the guitar end up quitting. I imagine much of it has to do with some people who insist on piling unnecessary difficulty on beginners. Learning a new instrument is difficult as-is. There is no need to compound it.
The only instance in which I would recommend a child start on the acoustic guitar is if it is his/her intention to play mostly the acoustic guitar.
And, to the poster who called me a dick and implied I was mentally handicapped, it is most logical to start beginners on what is easy, and have them work their way up. Pilots in training learn to fly and land the easiest planes first, not the most difficult ones first. School children start with Algebra I before they take Algebra II. Pretty much everything works this way. The 'logic' as to why learning the guitar should be backwards from everything else does not appeal to me.
Thank you! I've said for years that there's nothing more soul-destroying for many aspiring guitarists than playing cheap nylon string guitars when they could grab a cheap electric guitar/amp package and start playing easy power chords straight off the bat that would keep them interested to continue
I play for for exact 39 year now. I started learn classical guitar with nylons and notes and what not for five years. And I totally agree with you! In fact I remember when I was at the music school. I prefered to remember the things our teacher was demonstrating to us before he began the lessons intead of reading all the notes to learn the stuff! :-D
Another thing I'll never forget: while I played a classical concert from a nice sheet of paper I got distracted by a girl in the audience and I lost the line. And I was the solist. I never managed to get in again to that song and I was also not able to play around, since I just new this piece of music from paper without ever really having payed attention to how it actualy sounds.
This never ever happend to me in 30 years on stage with rock and blues. It just happend in the ealry years of classical music while playing from a piece of paper instead of playing from the heart.
Play! Just play! And if you like the instrument you'll always be able to change the direction in a way the suits you more.
This is brilliant, Rob. The most sense anyone has spoken about learning the guitar in a long time. It is time to break the dogmas of boring guitar learning. You really spoke to my heart. Really good stuff!
mark knopfler didn't have an amp when he started, and now look at him
And clearly not a virgin.
He also didn't have a pick apparently :D
well you judged him by his look, so...
Haha +Lenny Henry some people are so easily triggered
dnnyshdy You sound mad bro! perhaps you're too easily triggered
"Don't make fun of retardo"
Rob knows his fan base.
4:01 I hear this all the time.
I am a little cautious about practicing without an amp. I've found if I learn and practice something without an amp and then try to play it through an amp I've had times when I feel like the sound of it and the tone isn't what I would have hoped. The articulation and dynamics just don't sound quite the same to me through an amp as they do unplugged. Also, I've found that it's easy to accidentally leave a string ringing out when you're playing unplugged but if you're amped that could add noise and make your playing sound rough.
Of course that doesn't mean you can't practice without an amp. You can do it, and it can be helpful. I think why I try to avoid that is my goal is to get a really good sound when amped. If you practice with an amp you can make small adjustments to your playing and tweak the articulation to get just the sound you want. In a way I think what I'm saying is if you want to play amped, practice amped. Practice what you want to play. I guess that's kind of obvious but it's true.
I got my first guitar for Christmas just gone just to see how I'd get on with it, a Strat copy. Best thing ever. Played the drums for 15 years or so which kind of started to die off in the past couple years, slowly come to terms with the fact that it's way too anti social for me now, too loud, too expensive and takes up way to much space at home. (Sorry to put you off potential future drummers) Anyway, love your videos man, it feels so good to play an instrument again, anyone that's thinking about it just do it. You'll get so hyped when you pick it up and learn something new, gonna give it a while and invest in a nice Tele off you lot at Andertons some day.
Another note for anyone at school - convince your parents to let you have lessons. Best thing I ever did getting drum lessons at school. I know you can learn alot for free now, but that little bit of theory goes a long way. Going back 12 years now but it was like 20/30 quid a term. You're looking at around that for an hour for private lessons. Sorry life story 😂 cheers then!
you buy a cheap guitar first to see IF you like it, same goes for buying a guitar for a child.
if you're lucky to seel it as well as you bought it. depreciation's a bitch
and getting a child later to see if you will give it to someone else or not.
It'd probably be a good idea to look for a guitar with a good or decent neck as well. I almost got turned off from playing because of high action and a slightly warped neck. So glad I sold that acoustic.
Yep. You first have to make sure this is something you really want to invest a significant amount of time and money into. Guitars are fairly ubiquitous. It's easy to find a good used one that is inexpensive.
get one with good tuners..My parents bought me a Synsonics Terminator from Sears I think. The thing was complete junk and would not stay in tune for anything.
I second that Harry Callahan... Here's one good reason you should learn on a solid body 'lektrik...unplugged. You can kick back on the settee with the guitar on your belly and play along with all the tunes on the telly... a good way to train your ear. 'Lektric 'cause you can just about get away with convincing your fellow telly watchers that it's not loud enough to spoil their viewing pleasure.
Mind you it means that after all these years I have to have a settee on the stage to play properly.
Thanks for this Rob (aka as “Chappers” of Anderson’s?).
Just to reinforce your point about myth 2, not needing an amp for practice.
My solid wood body, alder wood strat sings and resonates beautifully every time I play it.
No amp yet but...
Improves all the time.
It’s as though the individual wood fibres are vibrating in sympathy with my playing.
High gloss finished, cheap plywood guitars will not improve over the years😩.
Another important point for the 🎸 guitar, it will not sing beautifully if it is NOT intonated perfectly. Takes time but must be done, adjustable bridge saddles (easy):
The 12th FRET HARMONIC MUST SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME PITCH/Frequency as THE 12th FRET fretted note. Otherwise the guitar will not sing beautifully ☹️.
I work with guy who’s mostly a jazz guitarist who constantly bragged about his music theory skills and how he did all of those myths( started with a cheap nylon string acoustic etc) so one day he brought in this guitar for me and another coworker that plays to try out(also mostly to show i suspect). Alittle about me is I played a cheap electric for over a year after my mom bought one for my birthday, I’ve always wanted to play guitar and my dad never took me serious( I had a habit of not following through on things I said I really wanted, I was also 13 at the time)
So she buys me this guitar I played it every day, I learned to tune it thanks to its greatest quality that it never stayed in tune. But after a year I finally receive a really nice wolf gang guitar and peavy amp for Christmas from my father which also came with lessons. I was good and after 3 years and 3 teacher changes the music shop told me I have the tools to learn on my own.
So fast forward to the guy brining in the guitar he was fairly skilled, I wasnt a fan of his choice of music as I’ve never really been into jazz music. And I’m not great with music theory either but I just jammed like I always do and when I was done he was pretty impressed. Impressed enough where he openly questioned the validity of holding other guitarist to his beliefs. I was just happy to expand his mind and hopefully not discourage someone, plus the satisfaction of putting him back into place wasn’t to bad either hahaha
enjoyed this, im 65 and still at it, been playing since 1965, everything you say is true to the word,
my first guitar is a les paul.
no regrets
My fist guitar was a charvel - massive regrets
@@brucecharlie8613 my first guitar is still my brother's really beaten up acoustic - rock solid regrets
I bet my old charvel had higher action lol... Not a begginers guitar haha
mine was a rickenbacker 325
The best guitar I ever owned is my schecter tempest custom, no regrets
I kinda wish I saw this before I bought my guitar. I love both acoustic and electric, but I only decided on acoustic first because of this idea it would be easier. But most of the playing and styles of music Id like to do is on electric. Great informative video n
Honestly having both isn't a bad thing. You should definitely play your preference however, to encourage yourself to train and learn. Bare in mind you can't easily plug your electric in round the campfire and sing away to the flames lol. Always something extra to consider with guitar and they are flexible, never a waste.
I like to practice without an amp but when I plug in I get self conscious about every little detail I didn't hear while practicing
my first guitar was a Yamaha RGZ limited edition. I still have it and I love it. 2 fantastic features it has are..
1. the cord jack has been carved into the back of the guitar instead of the bottom or front. This prevents it from getting in the way and accidentally being pulled out if the cord is stepped on etc.
2. The floyd rose style tremelo system has a knob on it so you can set how far a note can be bent backwards using the whammy bar. It also allows for the guitar to become a kind of fixed bridge instrument rather than a floyd rose per se. (even tho you can still whammy downwards)
I started learning last year at age 13 and my dad who has been playing for 28 years decided to take me to Ken Stanton to pick one out, and while I wanted to learn electric I ended up choosing an acoustic cause when I saw this certain acoustic it looked so pretty I decided that’s what I wanted, it was hard at first but my fingers adapted quickly and now a year later I play at least 3 hours a day practicing and wanting to get better. I’m so glad with my choice and I’m grateful my dad got me that guitar cause I now know it’s something I’ll play for the rest of my life.
Is that a riff from Layla at 2:30?
Thank you for identifying it, it was driving me mad. I knew I heard it somewhere!
no shit it is
Corrie De Beer k
Agree with all of these, except the one about buying cheap guitars, if you want to start playing guitar, buy a cheap one, you might not even know if you'll enjoy it. If youve watched loads of videos and shit and feel like you will definately continue, still, you might not, you might not enjoy it as much as you think you will, or you might not hage the patience
.
True, but as he says, more expensive guitars tend to hold their value a little better. If you go too cheap, you'll end up with something that doesn't play well or sound particularly inspiring and that can lead to frustration and ultimately make you less likely to stick with it. I've seen that a lot, someone asks you why they're not making as much progress as they'd like, you pick up their guitar and find that it's basically unplayable. To me, it's better to get an instrument you love and are excited to get home and play each day. If you are on a severe budget, you can make it go much further by looking at used guitars, although I would always recommend taking someone along who knows their guitars.
Mike Towey ye ive changed my view since that comment, buy whatever excites you, that makes you wanna pick it up and play it, if you give up it will retain value
Agreed. I recently picked the guitar up after a 17 year hiatus. Bought a cheapy electric & after a few weeks I got something better to play while I customised the cheapy. The better guitar made me realise how hard the cheapy was to play, but the cheapy got me started again & is now a project.
Cheap Guitar = Not always bad guitar.
My guitar teacher gave me some advice , ' take up piano numpty '
I've wanted to find a new hobby for years and always bounced between the two ideas.
I think decent little weighted keyboard has the edge.
Did you follow their advice?
How bout play both...you can get a little 61-key midi controller and run a plug-in, synth or piano-style keys
Mr Tom,
In Jr. High, my music teacher gave me a quarter amd told me to try my luck with the juke box because I damn sure had no luck with the trombone.
I wish I still had the quarter. Because at least then, I would have gotten SOMETHING out of that class.
I was able to buy a 700 dollar Epiphone les Paul as a beginner, and I’m thankful for that since it doesn’t feel like a cheap beginner guitar, I can stick with it forever (probably not forever but still). Just look at Brian May, the guitarist in Queen, he finished building his guitar in 1965 and he has stuck with it since and he almost never plays on any other electric guitar. My point is that if you can afford it, don’t buy the cheapest guitar you can find, because being able to use your first guitar as you main one after many years is amazing.
Right on, man! I definitely agree with your points. The guitar allows me to communicate in ways I'm not able to in any other manner.
some of my best guitars were " cheap " when they came out
but now they're incredible quality compared to modern guitars
Growing up, I may as well not have had an amp. My father used to come home and pull the fuses out of the box. Your amp is useless if it ain't getting any juice! Maybe he wouldn't have done that if my playing hadn't totally gargled sweaty...well, you get the idea. Of course, I cranked EVERYTHING up to 11 (only because I couldn't afford 12, LOL).
BTW, just before he passed away, my father bought me a very nice Peavey amp that I still have. It was, he said, his "going away" present to me. Pretty sure, though, that my playing still totally gargles sweaty...
its funny that you said that about playing without an amp because I do that all the time!! just to not annoy my room mates
barry jwz as a new guitar player, I rarely plug in my little Marshall to save the embarrassment of fret buzz and wrong notes when practicing. When I do plug it in I'll use headphones, it's not necessary to have an amp early on in learning guitar at all
After years of taking my sons to classical guitars lessons and now rock guitar lessons, I have finally decided to learn playing myself. Part of the motivation is that now the kids don’t listen to me when I critique their practice, so I need to show them how I also will dedicate time to practicing and enjoying guitar.
My 1st guitar was a memphis off brand telecaster. I bought it in 1977. Plywood body. I was stunned at how little electronics was in it. two coils a switch, two pots, some strings and 6 tuners. I never held an electric guitar until then, I was maybe 14. What a rip I thought. Of course I realised the guitar was the instrument that created the signal to the amp and I became enlightened. Before I had an electric guitar I was amazed at the sound I heard on the radio and imagined an electric guitar was an extremely complicated device. My electric guitars make life amazing.
I totally wanted a" Les Paul" in first place...but, I ended up getting an Ibanez so instead of getting a Les Paul I got a " Less Paid" guitar.
So nice Ibanez guitars tho , some of them way more expensive than Gibson guitars but depends on what you wanna play tho
I will agree that Myth #5 is absolutely false.
David Gilmour can't read a lick of sheet music. I've heard him say so.
He learned by doing. Simple as that.
Plus a real testament to his gift and genius.
True but we're no Gilmour. lol
work1907 Ah...if only.
Gilmour is my main influence. I can't read on guitar, Can read slowly on piano, but not really.
I'm therefore musically semi-literate at best.
Even the legend, Jimi Hendrix don't know to read music
Guitar teacher for 32 years here: I agree with everything.
Hi, I have been learning through the Fender Play program. I feel the moment is coming when reading and understanding music is unavoidable. You as a teacher think I could lear to jam or solo or confidently moving on the neck without reading and understanding music theory? Or I just misunderstood Myth 5?
I started playing guitar 4 months ago, now I'm still pretty new at it but I'm in love. Gonna get an electric because of my music taste but it's true that the type of guitar doesn't really matter. Awesome video, thank you!
great video Chappers, I started playing guitar back in the 80's on an old Radio Shack cheapy, the one with the speaker built right into the body. learned so much on that thing.
Acoustic guitars are only for advanced players. Why? Well they are loud, very loud and nobody wants to hear 3 chords over and over again. Electric guitars are silent.
Well... Kinda. Electric guitars are silent-ish by themselves. However, once you plug that thing into an amp, you could turn it up sooooo LOUD, that you make every wall shake within a 100 yards. Well, with stadium-grade equipment, at least.
I was playing my 20w Fender Mustang today and my dad heard it from a good distance away from our house, it's master volume was only at 3 and didn't sound too loud to me hahaha
Huh? I play only acoustic and do primarily finger picking. They're not just for strumming!
@@annlee8361 Ikr I've got an acoustic too and I almost never strum it. You can do plenty of other fun stuff on an acoustic!
I mean I started out on acoustic but I agree that it gets really annoying when you just strum the same chords over and over in pretty much every song
Oky great can i borrow your les Paul for a while?
Last time I was this early Chappers still had dreads!
Very informative. I'm picking it up again after 25 years.. thanks for the advice.
Hi Rob. That was a terrific segment You did. I've been on the guitar for a few years now and learned a lot from watching. Cheers!
The voyage of the Argonauts is a "myth".....ways to learn guitar (or any other instrument) are personal preferences.
An eight year old girl might have amazing grip strength from playing on the monkey bars for hours a day, whereas a fifty year old man might have arthritis.
Or a fifty-year-old man might have amazing grip strength from decades of playing with his monkey for hours a day.
Jill Buffon 😂
Oh lord, you’re one of those guys, pedantic one upper. Most 8 yo girls are weak, most 50yo men are much stronger. We all know there are exceptions in the world, you add no value.
Oh lord, you're one of those guys with absolutely no sense of humour.
lmao!
The problem is if you buy a guitar worth £2,000 and people see it, they expect you to be able to play it. I'm not saying don't buy one...but if you buy an expensive guitar and cannot play it well, don't expect people to be impressed with how much you spent on the guitar!
All the gear...and no idea!
mario cox jealous... that’s all it is. People can’t stand someone not as good as them having better stuff than them. Then they spread rumours about buying cheap if you are not good.
@ppino98 I am a "new beginner" at 59- dinked around in the past but need a hobby- so have been playing for a couple of years again in my "spare" time- anytime I go to play with people i know are better than me (meaning almost everyone) I bring my Squier Telecaster (Which I love BTW) and keep my Gibsons and Fenders at home- I kinda of think Id be a poser with a > $3000 Les Paul at my level of "expertise"
My first guitar was an Epiphone Les Paul, flame burst. I went a year before getting my first amp. Just found out it was the first year Epiphone made the Les Paul, 1989. It doesn't have the clipped ears on the headstock. I always felt there was something special about it. Playing without an amp I felt helped my ear for music and technique.
Thanks for all your effort Rob, at age 59, I think I'm ready to give this a shot. I started wishing to play in 1963, I took a guitar lesson in 1972, Practised not at all, but never stopped wishing to learn. I have watched a great deal of your work and reviews, and shenanigans, and have enjoyed the lions share.
This is what I've come up with. in 2013 I was diagnosed with metastasised prostate cancer which was well defined throughout my skeleton and the prognosis was very dim. Well July 2017 I still want to learn guitar. I've no income outside of being a blessed Canadian and so my guitar is going to be an Epiphone PRO-1 acoustic. and my palliative home state is my chance to grow up and practice.
What do you think of that plan???
Thanks so much. Love your work.
All of that information can easily be written into the notation.
Mike G Well notation normally has a tempo marking and dynamics so yes, it can be
Dynamics, tempo, expression, harmonics, palm mute - everythinig, including modern electric guitar technique. Most other musicians communicate material using notation, if you play in an orchestra or a big jazz band can you imagine them all sitting in front of a tablet using a youtube video? Rob is showing his ignorance unforunately.
But Rob did said in the video that in the sort of cases you mentioned, reading and writing music is important.
The best musicians understand theory and how to improve and modify technique, this video encourages a tunnel vision approach. Essentially the message here is buy an electric guitar (even if you can't afford an amp) and take as many shortcuts as you can.
Imagine you spend a lot of time learning, practicing, improving and getting your face known in the business. Someone calls you and says "I'll pay you to play in my band, what's your fee?" So you agree a fee, and two days before he gives you a copy of your notated guitar part. What are you going to do? Well you could say "Rob said I don't need to learn how to read music."
Playing an acoustic guitar does make you a way better player... The fact that your fingers get really strong and many songs that you could play on an Electric guitar you can also play on acoustic guitar. If you don't believe me try it. Practice the chromatic scale while watching TV for as long as you can for one week and you will find yourself playing way better
Worked for me I was doing chromatic scales watching TV lol. Also holding the electric guitar in a classical position makes the playing a lot more aggressive
What a shocking, circumlocutary waste of time. If you want finger strength, use thicker string gauges on the electric.
I dunno. Bending everything in sight gave me finger strength. Thicker strings just tore up my hands more.
playing a steel string acoustic guitar strengthened my fingers far more than by playing my electric. Electric guitar strings are so much easier on the fingers - you don't need to push them down as hard, and bends are much easier too. As a general rule, if I can play a song on my steel string, I can play it even more easily on an electric.
Hes talking about learning though and making it easier to learn. Its defintely easier to learn on an electric. Its even easier to hold for a small child! Besides that, my favorite quote is from the great Billy Gibbons who uses 9s "guitar is hard enough to play, why use fat strings and make it harder!?"
Literally no one:
Bob: coMpLeTeLy fALsE!
i play unplug in my apartment, my neighbors are happy. I plugged in and played loud rock one day when I thought everybody was gone. a band member across the hall invited me over to play. feels good to surprise people at 70.
I'm 68 and just starting. I just got my first guitar (2 hours ago). I bought a Gretsch G5420T Electromatic Hollowbody in Aspen Green. beautiful instrument and the sound is incredible.
The learning on an acoustic thing isn't so much an important thing for technique but for knowing how to play songs & not just fancy licks.
If you can play a song on an acoustic you're a musician, if you can only play a handful of fancy sweep picking & tapping licks you're not.
Acoustic playing is unbeatable for distilling songs down & learning how they're put together.
Agreed, but if a guy doesn't like acoustic sound and does like electric sound, he will never have the enthusiasm to drive through the hard parts of learning on the acoustic guitar.
Leaning theory is 100% essential because it is the language other musician communicate in. Try telling a sax player to play the 4th fret A string.
Exactly!
If you've never played or heard the song before then how are you supposed to just play along? Whatever you play will be after the rest of the band, since you obviously can't predict the future.
some are good at playing along by ear.
leigh tyrrell 1. That's extremely hit and miss.
2. That's only applicable if you're soloing over something. What about where there are written parts? (i.e, 90% of what you're doing on a gig)
3. If you're on guitar, then YOU are the chord guy. You can't properly pick up the chord parts if you can't hear them. You can make an educated guess, but that's the best you can do. If the bass is playing C to G over and over again, then what is it? C Major to G Major? C7 to G7? C Min/Maj7/13 to G Alt? What do you play over that?
4. Finding the bass note works fine if you're playing an AC/DC song, but all I can say is good luck if you have to do something harder, like a Steely Dan song.
I meant this in a jazz or fusion context. Most rock music is super repetitive and most bands will sound the same. Ex. It's a pretty strong chance when playing AC/DC it's going to be in e. But thy guess by ear in an Allen Holdsworth song.
My Silvertone plays great.
Silvertone has unleashed some amazing hardware on the world over the years, and I'll bash anyone who says otherwise in an argument.
Even tho they look like SG's. My Ex gets fooled of it all the time and she plays guitar . A lot of famous artists have and do use Silvertones.
TechGaming45 ii
so does my stella. my truetone archtop is awesome
Love this guy and how he explains things etc.... Congrats on the Total Guitar Personality winning, you definitely deserve it bud!
I've been saying the same about these myths for years. Thank you for making this public, you made my day!