I am getting a Guitar for the first time

[floydskater1022]

Hey guys Im getting a guitar for the first time. Im 15 and I know a little bit about guitars. I'm getting a Fender Stratocaster and was wondering if you guys can give me any tips on playing or how to handle it better or any other information I need to know. Thanks alot.

[terminalfrost]

I'm sure you'll be hearing from the many fine guitarists on the boards very soon...

[stratman]

A good place to start as a beginner is to get your finger dexterity developed.

This is what I was taught, which seemed to work well:

Start by picking a block of 4 frets, one for each finger. Say the 9th thru 12th frets, since they're close together.
Starting on the 6th string (E bass--closest to your nose), with your right hand picking, play the notes one at a time - 9th, 10th, 11th 12th fret. Then go to the next string down (A string) and do the same. Go all the way down to the 1st string. Then go back up the same way. Then move to the 8th fret and do the same thing over. Keep it up all the way down the neck to the 1st fret, which may seem hard because you have to stretch your fingers out more to hit the notes. After you can manage this pretty well, start mixing up the notes and patterns and skipping strings, etc. This is part of learning to coordinate your right hand (picking) with your left.

If using all 4 fingers is too difficult at first, just start with two fingers, index and middle, then go to 3 (ring), then to all four (pinky) as it becomes easier.

Anyway, practice this, (don't cheat --force yourself to use your pinky) and you will quickly develop dexterity.

PRACTICE is the key here, as it is with everything.

Also, start practicing learning the basic chords. You can find many internet sites which give you all the info you need.

When you learn some basic chords, start playing along with songs you like, which helps with timing and learning to quickly change chords. Learn to play melodies you like from songs "by ear".

Good luck and have fun.

[DeathTöngue]

Originally Posted by floydskater1022

Hey guys Im getting a guitar for the first time. Im 15 and I know a little bit about guitars. I'm getting a Fender Stratocaster and was wondering if you guys can give me any tips on playing or how to handle it better or any other information I need to know. Thanks alot.

Most here will disagree with me, but learn on an acoustic first. You'll get the fundamentals a lot better. The acoustic is more difficult to finger, and will help you learn to chord cleanly and precisely.

My opinion may be affected by the kid next door currently banging away on power chords; if he breaks into Smoke on the Water one more time, I may have to act.

[Wilton61]

I agree, you should learn on an acoustic... but if you have no choice, a fender strat will do . Learn your basic chords - E, A, C, D, Em, Am, etc. A fun Floyd song that you can learn relatively early is Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - the tabs are right here at APPFN.

[Two-Headed Boy]

Originally Posted by DeathTöngue

the kid next door currently banging away on power chords

That was me a few years ago. Now I play folk songs.

I say learn whatever you want but make sure you listen to alot of different kinds of music and learn a lot of different kinds of songs. This will help if you ever want to write music or be well rounded.

Also, a Fender strat is fine. Anything will do really. Just learn how to play it well and you can make it sound good.

[Watered]

Originally Posted by DeathTöngue

Most here will disagree with me, but learn on an acoustic first.

I agree with you as well. I didn't learn on an acoustic but on a Spanish guitar instead. The strings are even a bit further away from the fretboard than in the acoustic. What I learnt at the beginning is that in a Spanish guitar the mistakes you make when fingering are VERY noticeable, there is no way you can disguise them. This forced me to play neatly, putting the fingers in the right position and hitting right the notes and the chords.

I'm not saying that you must learn with a Spanish guitar but it could be a good idea to start playing your electric guitar without any distortion at first; just play it clean. If you make mistakes you will notice them more easily than if you play with some kind of distortion.

[DeathTöngue]

Originally Posted by Watered

I agree with you as well. I didn't learn on an acoustic but on a Spanish guitar instead.

So did I, but I didn't want to get all tangled up explaining the p-i-m-a-r thing.

[stratman]

I learned on an old Gibson acoustic.

I would have killed for a Stratocaster.

[Lily]

I learned on the worst ibanez electric I ever laid my hands upon. I would have killed for a Gibson.

[kjdave]

Originally Posted by floydskater1022

Hey guys Im getting a guitar for the first time. Im 15 and I know a little bit about guitars. I'm getting a Fender Stratocaster and was wondering if you guys can give me any tips on playing or how to handle it better or any other information I need to know. Thanks alot.

I started when I was 16, on a cheap acoustic, but it was tuneable. Check where the neck meets the body. If there is too much of a gap difference between there and the top of the neck, it may be too warped to tune and you may give up too soon. Also I liked learning on an acoustic because I formed better callouses, quicker, while forcing me to play cleaner.
Oh yeah, I was self taught from simple chord charts, but I think there must be better ways these days.

[Da_Floyd_Fan]

You could learn Wish You Were Here after you learn the basic chords. It's not hard and it's good practice. Chicks like it. Sure, you'll grow to hate it after you play it 1000 times. Absolutely hate it.

[floydskater1022]

New update guys, I'm not going to get a Strat for about a month because my dad wants me to pay for at least half the guitar and amp. So until i get $300
I won't have a Strat, but to make up for lost time my dad's friend is loning me a Electric Acoustic which I don't know much about. It looks like this is better to start with since most of you guys are saying start with acoustic. If you could help out with this one it would be great, thancks alot.

[Fulghum]

Just pick up your guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then get on your knees and pray.

[Wilton61]

ditto. look up those chord diagrams and prepare for 2-3 weeks of aching fingers.