I want to learn the guitar...well not learning with a teacher because my parents think I'm doing too much music and that I should be 'more academic', but pfff. I can read tabs okay but don't know where to position my hands on the fingerboard half the time and don't really know how to read the music for the guitar in relation to the different strings. Anyway, to cut a long story short, does anyone know of any good books that would help me more-or-less teach myself? And also how much I would expect to pay for a good quality acoustic guitar??? Thanks xx

im teaching myself and i use the Fast Track guitar books. i find them quite good for just messing about on the guitar. they also come with a cd

If you want to learn classical then Frederick Noads complete is good. It goees from the beginning to around grade six. re you looking atacoustic or classical guitars....both priced fairly similar and i think about £200 would get a fair decent guitar

A really really nice spanish student guitar will set you back £300 but should at that price have enough tonal quality and projection to take you through all the grades. Check out the following guitar companies-

Admira
Alhambra
Rodriguez
Ramirez

All of these 4 spanish companies made acceptable budget guitars as well as high end spec guitars. Ramirez being the most expensive. Check out model 1A!

my guitar is an Alvarez and I adore it =P I don't know how much it costed me though.. O_o can't remember.

Get a good chord book, learn how to read it =D it is very easy to self-teach yourself guitar so have fun

QUOTE (Oo esty oO @ Aug 19 2004, 03:29 AM)

Get a good chord book, learn how to read it =D  it is very easy to self-teach yourself guitar so have fun  :D

Hello...

As with all instruments, you can only go so far before you need the help of an experienced teacher.

It's OK to get the notes in the easier pieces, but as you advance, you will find other issues presenting themselves. For example, is my elbow positioned correctly, are my fingers angled optimally, is my posture hindering my legato.. etc etc..

A lot of these muscle mechanics are not easily self-diagnosed, so you may find yourself hitting a plateau, and not knowing why.

Just a few things to think about.

Regards,
Mike

Some good points their Mike, i have a few students who play at a lower level than me and it is apparent from my perspective that their bad posture is making a direct impact on their playing. Ultimately a teacher is very useful for most learners.

Another problem i have discovered is that if you are already a competant instrument teacher and looking for lessons on an instrument you'd like to develop many teachers are less willing to teach you even for just a few lessons. I have taught teachers and quite enjoyed it, imparting knowledge without fear of my own abilities. Wish more teachers where like this.

Thanks everyone, that's all really helpful!

QUOTE

As with all instruments, you can only go so far before you need the help of an experienced teacher.

Yeah, I might have to go to the guitar teacher once I get more advanced to see if he can help me. At the moment he wouldn't be able to fit me in anyway-he teaches about 30 students in one day!

TenorClef, is there a cleveland medal for music? Because I think I've heard of it....

QUOTE (MikeSG @ Aug 19 2004, 06:52 AM)

As with all instruments, you can only go so far before you need the help of an experienced teacher.

Generally speaking I'd agree with this - although, there are people out there who never have teachers and become incredibly good players - unless you really are a genius of course! I'd advise reading through the guitarists way for an absolute beginners guide to sight reading, based from a classical perspective -

I don't think you need to spend as much as £300 for a guitar, judging by the way you described yourself - a £40 argos guitar would suit your needs perfectly well until you've progressed and decided you want to keep going with guitar -

I'd also advise learning some easy songs and chord sequences/tunes which aren't necessarily classically based - the guitar is a remarkably versatile instrument, and is used in so many styles of music - don't limit yourself to one, especially when you're starting out! It's worth learning from a Jazzers approach too in as far as building up an understanding of the fingerboard is concerned and learning to understand harmony
from a guitarists standpoint - as well as learning to improvise etc...

Don't just stick furiously to the dots! There's so much out there! Have fun! Pick a song you like and try and learn it!

QUOTE (Mr bluefrets @ Sep 25 2004, 12:30 PM)

I don't think you need to spend as much as £300 for a guitar, judging by the way you described yourself - a £40 argos guitar would suit your needs perfectly well until you've progressed and decided you want to keep going with guitar

I have to dissagree with this comment, if cash is a problem look for guitar on the second hand market for about £100 or so. Also look for a nylon strung guitar because this will keep your options open between classical, fingerpicking, chord based playing. A £40 guitar from Argos will likely not have good tuning, will have a high action, not project very well and definetly not have a solid top construction.

QUOTE

I don't think you need to spend as much as £300 for a guitar, judging by the way you described yourself- a £40 argos guitar would suit your needs perfectly well

Well, I certainly don't know how I've described myself and how you perceived me but whenever I decide to learn an instrument I give it my all....so I'm pretty happy to save up for a good guitar and practice on my friend's cheap one at the moment. All I meant was that I'm not actually allowed guitar lessons...because my parents think I'm doing too much music....and what with doing 13 GCSE's, 4 orchestra rehearsals a week, 2 windband rehearsals, piano lessons, organ lessons, choir directing, choral training, flute lessons etc it's really hard to fit things in!!

Oh dear I really AM doing too much music!!

Dearie me! It's almost as if the notion of spending £40 on an instrument has been perceived as a minor offence? I didn't perceive you in
any derogatory way or mean to belittle your zeal for learning guitar! However, given as you say - you're already swamped with music and schoolwork, I imagined you wouldn't want to spend alot of money on an expensive guitar, just in case you found yourself changing your mind and not using it a great deal - or more realistically not finding time to practise a great deal...

Of course - if you want to buy an authentic spanish classical guitar then go ahead! On the other hand, if you started for a few months on an (admittedly ropier) budget guitar, which may have less than perfect intonation etc.. you'd have spent very little cash to get up and running, and then in a few months could still pick up a very decent guitar; be it second hand or brand new, for around £250-£300...

+ of course if you then got your hands on one for £250 or less, then you would still be within the £300 budget range, and you'd have not one, but TWO guitars!

Splendid!

M

Lol Mr Bluefrets...I'm not offended...just don't see myself in pottering around Argos (not that we have one on the Island where I live anyways!)
I have borrowed my friend's guitar and he is quite happy to let me use it for a year or so...so that should be reasonable enough time to see whether I like playing it I guess.
However I am going to have a good shot on it despite the school work and stuff, cause learning an instrument that I don't have a teacher for and is therefore not...well I don't know quite how to put it, but basically it's one of the ways through music which I could relax without me being worried whether I'd got the articulations etc exactly right so that my teacher wouldn't shout at me! I'd take it seriously but at the same time just enjoy!

I agree! Marvellous! The Guitar should be enjoyable + played as much for fun as anything else! That said, using efficient and correct techniques will speed up ur progress immensely! Sounds like you're very busy - a bit of a distraction could be good!

M

guitar is really easy to teach yourself... and electric guitar is just plain coooool......................

Choice of beginner guitar:
The quality of guitar should depends on wt you need. For beginner, a guitar with good intonation is very important. The action of guitar should also be considered.
However, if you also want to sit for grade exam in ABRSM as well as just playing chord, tone quality is very important. therefore, I usually recommand my student to buy a classical guitar fromo Yamaha CG-171 for G1-G4 exam.

Guitar book:
The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method Vol.1 (up to G2)
and Vol.2 (G2-G7)

Look for his CDs in amazon or other else if you don't know who is christopher parkening.

Some pieces of his books can be used in ABRSM grade exam, so it save money to buy a exam book.

I used Vol.1 to teach my student of all kinds, ann it is helpful and enjoyable books.

Hopes it helps!

Joseph

What do you want to play? If you're looking to play classical and take exams then Josephlau's advice is the most sensible. If you want to explore different styles then go for a reasonable quality steel strung acoustic. This will be suitable for almost anything. Electrics are great for rock, blues and jazz but the necks are too narrow for fingerpicking (not impossible but awkward).

As for price/quality, Yamaha are a good starting point (from £150) next up Taylor(£400) Guild (£800) and Lowden (£1300+). Hundreds of othre quality luthiers out there, but these are the ones I've owned and can personally recommend. As for electrics only a Gibson sounds like a Gibson (it took me five guitars to figure that out!) So I now play a Les Paul standard and a Fender Telecaster and a custom built acoustic and a violin and a keyboard and a tin whistle ......and I've got to stop buying instruments