Hi guys, looking to self-teach myself the guitar. Looking for a bit of advice! 1. Recommendations for a first acoustic guitar. 2. Books/Resources to refer to start from the very basics. (e.g. books on scales/chords/beginner's songs) - I can read music, (8th grade AMEB violin, 5th grade AMEB Musicianship) but definitely wouldn't mind something on the basic/really beginner's side. 3. Music shops around the North Shore or Sydney CBD area to have a browse. Thank you very much for any help! Much appreciated. =)
First up, allow a portion of your budget, for say, 4 or 6 guitar lessons. It's really hard to self teach, and those beginning lessons will give you a better start. First Guitar, I'm a bit of a Yamaha fan, so http://www.haworthguitars.com.au/shop.products.detail/f310-value-added-pack-natural For online resources, http://www.acousticguitar.com/community/ http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/ http://www.youtube.com/user/justinsandercoe http://www.nextlevelguitar.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/rockongoodpeople
Thanks for the advice mate! Yeah I probably will look around for a teacher around my area, I'll have to ask my friends, or check the local paper to see if they know of any good guitar teachers.
Looking at the Yamaha F310P (the package deal) for $199. A good buy? http://www.bettermusic.com.au/yamaha-f310-value-added-pack-natural?gclid=CKeq2aHDu7MCFQFKpgod7w0AhA
Yeah, it's ok. The sort of guitar you would buy for someone who is not really sure if they are going to continue. I'd advise against just buying a guitar online. You really need to go into a GOOD music shop, and try some. Have them show you how to play a G chord, and just try some guitars. Neck shapes are all different and you may find you really click with a guitar. There are some fab guitars in the sub $550 range. I'd look at Yamaha, Tanglewood, Cort, maybe even Fender. I wouldn't look at a Takamine, Maton, Taylor or Martin for someone starting out, but if you like it and you can afford it, go for it.
If you are just after a cheap starter, check out the second hand market. check out gumtree or whatever. I bought my f310 for $50 second hand, so you can save some money if you are not sure if you are going to stick with it.
I just sold my first acoustic, Cort FR for $220. The cort was a great guitar for the price I paid! Easy to play and not a massive body. I now have an even smaller bodied guitar. I would take the suggestion of getting lessons. I have never had a lesson after nearly 3 years, but I do plan to still because I actually want to learn more. Starting out is difficult but so rewarding.
"Cheap starters" can hamper the learning process by being more difficult to play, or giving poor tone.
most important thing is to stick with it, and keep motivated, as it can be slow to learn in the beginning, so best to learn songs you WANT to learn, rather than have someone tell you to play some scales over and over again, cos they will be boring and uninspiring when you can't even manage to play a scale properly. if your struggling thru a song you actually want to learn it'll be more fun.
yep agree 3000%. I started learning actual musical notes and wanted to go ground up. I almost put the guitar down and never bothered with it again. If you've never played music before, and know little about it.. actually learning notation and scales (however) fundamental is so incredibly boring and uninspiring. I have mixed in some scales and learnt bits and pieces here, but I still enjoy learning covers.. I have been learning camp fire sort of covers, ie; with or without you. This is basically all down strokes.. D, A, B minor (I think?) & G. Fundamental chords which will allow you to play quite a few songs already.. If you "search" there's a Lick Library acoustic guitar DVD which I found to be quite good!
For a guitar, I have no idea where I got it, but it was this Epiphone les paul junior acoustic, awesome guitar. I found an easy way to learn was to get yourself a copy of Guitar Pro, download some tabs for it and play with it. you can slow them down and get a metronome up as well. practice and patience is the best bet, don't give up on it and learn at your own pace. Jimi Hendrix was never taught how to play a guitar, he just did it, and if he could do it, then anyone can do it.
As long as you stay away from the ebay specials and whatever is being flogged in chain stores you'll be fine. The Yamaha stuff is quite nice same with cort/tanglewood and samick. You will learn a lot of these guitars in your budget range will be primarily made by Samick or Cort and just rebranded. The only other guys who I'm pretty sure make their own guitars are Yamaha and Epiphone. Make sure you buy a tuner - not the pitch pipes. There is one thing I cannot stress enough that starters need to learn - learn to tune your guitar. Spend 5 mins before practicing tuning your guitar. You've learnt a bit of violin so you'd understand how important this is. Another online resource http://www.justinguitar.com/
Don't touch the cheap Ebay stuff. A friend of mine as given me one of his to check out and fix if possible. I don't know that it is fixable - the bridge is actually in the wrong place. You can tune the low E fine, but by the time you get to the 5th fret it's half a semitone out, and you don't want to know about the 12th. As far as teaching material for beginners, you need my book!
I have an Ashton nylon classical as a kitchen/party guitar and it's perfectly playable. Was $99 with a buncha stuff including a bag and book etc iirc. I've moved onto other guitars but it still gets a lot of use when the kids are eating dinner or mates are around etc. Also the Wiki has some resources: http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Guitar_Learning_Resources
