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[elleroodles]

hello el :] i was wondering if you have any advice for someone wanting to start playing guitar with no prior experience!!

man oh man this is SO exciting!!! i love that you asked me this!!! i have so many thoughts!!! i hope i make sense!!! if you have any questions about anything at all do not hesitate to reach out!!! i’m!!!!

1) the guitar itself! (+ other equipment!)

so i started on what was quite literally a grocery store brand guitar my dad got when he was in his 20’s, and if you want to take up guitar as anything more than a fun little thing to dabble in every so often (which is completely fine!) then you might want to start saving up for a trusty brand.

i can’t remember the name of my first guitar since it was a hand me down, but you can literally get them for like. $25 on amazon. i’m going into this assuming you mean acoustic, i’m not entirely sure what the price points are for electric. fender’s the big name brand, but i vastly prefer guild. i love the wood and the sound, and some people at my music studio have said they work realllll good with amps. there’s also several different sizes other than the standard, which is very nice for my tiny little body

the reason i’d invest in a guitar early on if you’re looking into music for the long-term is because they’re super durable if you take good care of them. my guild will probably last me into my thirties, and maybe even longer than that. my dad’s old guitar that i started on obviously did last a long time, but it did Not sound very good. it’s also worth noting that i started learning music with a cheap uke and definitely don’t regret it, this isn’t to say that you Need an expensive instrument to play music, it’s just definitely something to consider if you’re looking for playing in the long term

other stuff i’d advise spending money on is a capo and tuner!! a capo is used to change the pitch of songs and can make playing easier if you need to transpose a song, i wish i got one earlier than i did. it opens up so many more songs!! having a physical tuner is moreso for convenience, phone ones work just fine, but i once lost my phone at a music festival and was Very thankful for my tuner. plus they can help you find the right notes if you’re fretting or singing!! the brand i use is snark

oh and picks!! i don’t really use picks all that often unless i’m live because they mostly serve to make strumming louder, but it’s really up to personal preference. i find fingerpicking harder w a pick but it’s something you gotta mess around with and see what works for you!! picks are incredibly easy to lose, so i’d buy cheap and plentiful packs. i like the nylon jim dunlop .46 mm ones, but picks are really something that varies from guitarist to guitarist

now for the FUN PART

2) actually learning lol

befriend ultimate guitar and never lose it. i would live and die for ultimate guitar, it is probably the best way to teach yourself guitar. there’s chords and strumming patterns you can actually play, and the community’s truly wonderful. there’s a premium option, but i’ve been using the free version for years now and i’d marry it if given the option.

after you’ve signed the marriage license to ultimate guitar, make a playlist!! at first i’d just put any old song you want on it, and then launch into the easy tabs on ultimate guitar (which i’ll just refer to as ug from now on). ug has a playlist system which i’d also ulitize! i’d recommend some guitar songs i started out with, but the best advice my music teacher has ever given me is that if you play music you’re not passionate about, you’ll lose interest so quickly. i have never taken a formal guitar class in my life, and i honestly would say i’m a better player because of that (though i did come from a few years of uke, so i had a pretty good grasp on fretting/strumming). find a song you love that’s easy and learn it!

before launching straight into songs, you probably want to learn some chords. the most common chords in western music are c, g, f, d, a, and e, so i’d nail those down as well as am (a minor) and em (e minor). if you’d like a lesson in music theory and chord structures, i’d be more than happy to help. same goes for strumming patterns, ug is great for listening to and learning strumming patterns but i also like listening to songs and just trying to figure out the strumming pattern. this may sound a bit like bragging and i apologize, but guitar came very naturally to me because i have a good ear for music, so i never really had a whole lot of those beginning struggles. that sounded really arrogant shdgsg but what i’m trying to get at is that i’m probably not the best person to go to if you can’t figure out the rhythm of a song because my brain just does it for me shdgdg

misc stuff:

tuning: standard tuning is eadgbe, another one i like is cgdgbe (a good chunk of wilbur’s songs are in this tuning 🙄🙄🙄🙄). i personally Hate retuning and try to avoid it at all costs so i’d recommend getting comfy with it

more string stuff: strings go out of tune really easily!! especially on new guitars!! it’s super duper important to keep your guitar in tune when you’re a beginner so your ear gets that muscle memory with sound (ie being able to hear an a7 as an a7 and not an out of tune a7)

little bit of vocab:

dim: diminished

m: minor

b: flat

maj: major

don’t be afraid of chords that are all wonky like fdim7!! they’re not scary!! most are very pretty!! but definitely get good at your basic before moving on the trickier stuff

barre chords: UGHHHHH most songs have a pesky little f in them which is a barre chord (a chord where you gotta stick your fretting hand over multiple strings). another scary thing i’d very much recommend getting used to!

oh god i feel like i’ve missed so much, like i said, i had a very unorthodox learning experience so i might make a part 2 to this sometime soon when i get my thoughts in a better order and some sleep but for now i’m so excited that you’re looking to learn guitar!! it’s so fun!! ty for reachin out and if you have any more questions don’t even hesitate to ask, i’d love to help :))))