HOW TO START PLAYING THE GUITAR?

[Jon]

yeah, of coiurse, oi tune oit every day befoire startoin' to play; doin't knoiw oif me stroings really need changoin'(as oi saoid, they're stoill oines that came woith the guoitar, factoiry set up stroings); oi've been practoisoin' foir oiver a mointh, every day; C foir example tends to soiund bad, tois' maybe cause oim settoin' up the treble so hoigh and cause oi oiften hoit false C but stoill oi thoink oit shoiuld soiund better; pulloin' stroings everyday, maybe oits noirmal stuff to change stroings after moire than a mointh; oi've read that proifessional guoitar players change stroings even on weekly basois, Philip knoiws best oif thois ois true

You can generally tell if the strings need changing when they get browner than their usual color.
See if you can't get your hands on some FastFret or a decent string cleaner, I use Dr. Fret and give them a good clean after a practise to remove the oils from your fingers. I reckon Pro players change their strings so often as they need a clean sound when they're playing.

My brother started playing guitar recently so I bought him an electric tuner. He commented that when he picks up the guitar more often than not he has to "loosen" the strings to get them back in tune. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yep, I losen my strings before re-tuning as it releases the tension on the neck. I think it also helps the strings last longer as they're not under a constant pressure

[philipchevron]

yeah, of coiurse, oi tune oit every day befoire startoin' to play; doin't knoiw oif me stroings really need changoin'(as oi saoid, they're stoill oines that came woith the guoitar, factoiry set up stroings); oi've been practoisoin' foir oiver a mointh, every day; C foir example tends to soiund bad, tois' maybe cause oim settoin' up the treble so hoigh and cause oi oiften hoit false C but stoill oi thoink oit shoiuld soiund better; pulloin' stroings everyday, maybe oits noirmal stuff to change stroings after moire than a mointh; oi've read that proifessional guoitar players change stroings even on weekly basois, Philip knoiws best oif thois ois true

You can generally tell if the strings need changing when they get browner than their usual color.
See if you can't get your hands on some FastFret or a decent string cleaner, I use Dr. Fret and give them a good clean after a practise to remove the oils from your fingers. I reckon Pro players change their strings so often as they need a clean sound when they're playing.

My brother started playing guitar recently so I bought him an electric tuner. He commented that when he picks up the guitar more often than not he has to "loosen" the strings to get them back in tune. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yep, I losen my strings before re-tuning as it releases the tension on the neck. I think it also helps the strings last longer as they're not under a constant pressure

Changing strings frequently is an expensive and time-consuming business. If you never change them, you'll probably find your guitar tech (Jos) will do so anyway, whenever he deems it necessary.

The jury is out on "Mr Fret", "Whizzo Fret", "Pro-Fret", "Don't Fret", and other such products. While removing the oils, sweats, tobacco residues etc the strings may have imported from your fingers, "Super Fret" may also remove some of the properties which makes them organic entities and not just slivers of metal. You are effectively denying your strings the human contact after which they may well hanker. Or not, in which case, do as Terry Woods does, be generous with the "Begone Fret" and sound like a God for ten seconds before resuming your customary dull clang.

Darryl Hunt never changes the strings on his bass. Fact. He just buys a new bass.

[Clash Cadillac]

My brother started playing guitar recently so I bought him an electric tuner. He commented that when he picks up the guitar more often than not he has to "loosen" the strings to get them back in tune. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yep, I losen my strings before re-tuning as it releases the tension on the neck. I think it also helps the strings last longer as they're not under a constant pressure

No, he meant that the strings had gotten tighter since he last played it. Is this possible?

[meowhouse]

No, he meant that the strings had gotten tighter since he last played it. Is this possible?

I have noticed that often the EAD has gone flat but the GBE has either stayed in tune or gone slightly sharp. I did not notice this on my last guitar; on that one they generally went flat only. Maybe it's a wood thing.

[Jon]

My brother started playing guitar recently so I bought him an electric tuner. He commented that when he picks up the guitar more often than not he has to "loosen" the strings to get them back in tune. This does not make sense to me. Has anyone else experienced this?

Yep, I losen my strings before re-tuning as it releases the tension on the neck. I think it also helps the strings last longer as they're not under a constant pressure

No, he meant that the strings had gotten tighter since he last played it. Is this possible?

if it's a cheap guitar maybe the neck could be a bit weak?

[IrishRover]

oi woin't change the stroings just yet..
oi knoiw theres stuff foir "guoitar maointanance" oif thats the good phrase,
woill check whats there oin the loical stoires..
anyway, soince oi started practoisoin' guoitar and all thois solo woirk woill requoire me to buy moire gear that oi prevoiusly used oin studios where oi had rehearsals..
oim goinna need.. moicroiphoine stand, guoitar stand, sheets stand;
& have to get a proiper strap, the oine oi goit woith guoitar ois too shoirt;

[IrishRover]

oi troied oiut Broiad Majestoic Shannoin toiday
loike oit, great soingoin' aloing & playoin'.. ointro & breaks are moire troiublesoime..
oi shoiuldn't have waoited so much to start learnoin' the guoitar.. oits great feeloin' to be able to soing & play!
thois' way whoile oim stoill jaoiled here, doin't have to rely oin fake candoidates froim Serboia;
and even better, noiw that oi play. oi even feel the tune cloiser, can even oimproivoise my way!

[Pyro]

Clash Cadillac: Indeed, that thing with tension happens. It happens to my guitar too. Of course, not in first few days, when strings are "getting used to the guitar" and vice versa.

Oirish: Well, when I played guitar well (and more frequently), I changed strings monthly - and those were very good strings. It depends on the strings, type of guitar and your level (or aspiration). If you want to practise and not use the guitar for recording or anything, you can use your old strings for a year (On my secondary guitar, I had Savarez strings for 3/2 of year). It won´t sound as good as new, but it should play. When you want to do some stuff on public, new strings will improve the sound a lot. Even for practise, you should have good strings - those strings on guitar in shops fit mostly two categories - shit and utter shit I can recommend you D'Addario strings, if you have them there. But don´t try to spare money on strings really, unless your guitar is really bad, their influence on overall sound is huge.

By the way, I have some guitar news myself - I´ll be getting myself a 12-string guitar - I tried one Ibanez in a store and immediately fell in love with the sound. Of course, barres are a little bit more difficult, but I believe it´s worth it. I'm really looking forward to it!

[philipchevron]

Clash Cadillac: Indeed, that thing with tension happens. It happens to my guitar too. Of course, not in first few days, when strings are "getting used to the guitar" and vice versa.

Oirish: Well, when I played guitar well (and more frequently), I changed strings monthly - and those were very good strings. It depends on the strings, type of guitar and your level (or aspiration). If you want to practise and not use the guitar for recording or anything, you can use your old strings for a year (On my secondary guitar, I had Savarez strings for 3/2 of year). It won´t sound as good as new, but it should play. When you want to do some stuff on public, new strings will improve the sound a lot. Even for practise, you should have good strings - those strings on guitar in shops fit mostly two categories - shit and utter shit I can recommend you D'Addario strings, if you have them there. But don´t try to spare money on strings really, unless your guitar is really bad, their influence on overall sound is huge.

By the way, I have some guitar news myself - I´ll be getting myself a 12-string guitar - I tried one Ibanez in a store and immediately fell in love with the sound. Of course, barres are a little bit more difficult, but I believe it´s worth it. I'm really looking forward to it!

In the Beatles' Hamburg days, in order to economise in an already poorly-paid job, they used to "repair" their broken strings by twisting new extremities on them. Apparently it's a habit George never broke, even when he could afford to buy entire string factories.

[IrishRover]

tois' too coimploicated foir me current guoitar skoill; oim stoickoin' pretty much to plaoin choirds at the moiment; haven't learned giuotar throiugh oindoivoidual noites but choirds; the stuff ye gave, thats tabs noitations, yeah? have to manage readoin' em

[Pyro]

tois' too coimploicated foir me current guoitar skoill; oim stoickoin' pretty much to plaoin choirds at the moiment; haven't learned giuotar throiugh oindoivoidual noites but choirds; the stuff ye gave, thats tabs noitations, yeah? have to manage readoin' em

Well, I guess it´s something like tabs - basically, those letters (EADGBE - or EADGHE - it´s the same, but in Czech Republic, english B is known as H - maybe your system is the same) mean strings - the deepest(soundwise) string is E, 2nd deepest is A etc. And the diagrams indicate, what fret is to be held. And if you write chords, you don´t have to write it "in space", but it can be written in line - for example, simple D-dur is 000232 - meaning, E,A,D strings are open, and you know the pattern of D dur I guess

I know that the stuff I wrote may seem a little too difficult - and it probably is at this time - but after few months of practising, you should be able to do it, and once you learn barre stuff and all that, it will mean great progress of your musical freedom.

[IrishRover]

EADGBE, yeah thats moire loike oit, that me tunnoin' & stroings
foirst stroing E ois hoighest, oi have wroitten oit as meloidoical E, foiund that expression soimewhere .. then goies B, G, D, A up to 6th stroing E - deepest as ye say, thats bass E;
thoink oi get startoin' to understand what ye've presented; so when ye say A dur.. thats actually what oi knoiw as A famoily of choirds(A, D, E).. what yer actually sayoin', ois numbers besoide the stroing letters actually represent the fret that shoiuld be played.. choird poisoitions remaoin the same, oinly frets are moivoin', yeah?

[Pyro]

EADGBE, yeah thats moire loike oit, that me tunnoin' & stroings
foirst stroing E ois hoighest, oi have wroitten oit as meloidoical E, foiund that expression soimewhere .. then goies B, G, D, A up to 6th stroing E - deepest as ye say, thats bass E;
thoink oi get startoin' to understand what ye've presented; so when ye say A dur.. thats actually what oi knoiw as A famoily of choirds(A, D, E).. what yer actually sayoin', ois numbers besoide the stroing letters actually represent the fret that shoiuld be played.. choird poisoitions remaoin the same, oinly frets are moivoin', yeah?

Yes. You have various chord shapes - for example G dur can be played like (again, the first number indicates E thick, the second number is A string etc.) 2-3-0-0-0-3 (this is probably how you know it) or 3-5-5-4-3-3 (this is the barre version I mentioned). If you move it one fret higher (which is equal to capo on the first fret), you´ll get a G#. If two frets, you get A dur. So the first version moved by two frets would be 4-5-2-2-2-5 - which is painful or impossible to hold really. The second version is 5-7-7-6-5-5 - which is playable all right - barres are well suited for moving up and down. So you get A dur. Or you can play "usual" A dur which is 0-0-2-2-2-0. It sounds a little bit different (I prefer sound of barre chords, but many would disagree), yet it´s rather similar (no surprise, since it´s the same chord really). By moving it further frets higher, you can get any dur chord.

I hope I don´t confuse you too much

[Alex]

You have various chord shapes - for example G dur can be played like (again, the first number indicates E thick, the second number is A string etc.) 2-3-0-0-0-3 (this is probably how you know it)

you mixed up the first two numbers should be 3-2-0-0-0-3

[Pyro]

You have various chord shapes - for example G dur can be played like (again, the first number indicates E thick, the second number is A string etc.) 2-3-0-0-0-3 (this is probably how you know it)

you mixed up the first two numbers should be 3-2-0-0-0-3

Damn, I knew I couldn´t do so many numbers right! Thanks a lot for correction.