Playing guitar - relearning

[Mystery Man]

Years ago I used to take guitar lessons and stopped playing. I've recently begun to get interested in it again. Being older and wiser I now have the motivation to dedicate some time to actually learning to play this thing. I'm going to be teaching myself for a bit before I think about taking lessons.

Any other beginners (or re-beginners in my case) out there? Can you recommend some books for those just starting out? Other recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[diaglo]

Other recommendations?

to paraphrase: forget all about that macho stuff and learn how to play guitar.

 

[Mystery Man]

lol! Goddamn coffee everywhere.

 

[buzz]

Any other beginners (or re-beginners in my case) out there? Can you recommend some books for those just starting out? Other recommendations?

Not a re-beginner, but I've been playing for about, wow, 17 years now.

Just like gaming, the point is to have fun. A good thing to do is assess how you learn best. Do you do fine with just a book, or do you work better with a teacher guiding you?

The books I'd reccomend if you're starting out are books of songs. There's nothing more rewarding than actually being able to play something. Find some sheet music (the kind with chord diagrams) or TAB of some of your favorite tunes and start messing around with them. (There's tons free on the Web, though much is of dubious quality, so beware.) Put on a CD of your favorite band and just try to play along, even if all you can do is find one note that sounds like it's in key.

Once you actually start taking lessons, your teacher will probably have a specific text or worksheets they'll want you to use.

One thing I would reccomend as well is keeping your hands in shape. Guitar can be very demanding on your hands, so it's important to stretch out before you play and to keep them limber and in shape. HandHealth has a series of products called Finger Fitness that I really like. Just the warm-up exercises they teach you are invaluable. Add to this using some stress balls or those gyro-balls, and your hands will become more agile and strong. The side benefit is that it also helps prevent things like carpal tunnel and repetitive-stress injuries. Just take it s-l-o-w and easy.

Lastly, the most valuable learning tool for me has always been playing with other people. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to learn how to listen, which is probably the most valuable skill in music. If you can't (or don't want to) find other people, use a metronome or play along to a CD so that you're at least developing your sense of rythym.

I hope this helps.

 

[Mystery Man]

I hope this helps.

A lot thanks!

 

[reutbing0]

Well I really like this online series of guitar lessons:http://guitar.about.com/od/freebeginnerlessons/ . Of course a lot of this stuff may be familar to you, but it never hurts to brush up on the basics.

 

[Mystery Man]

Found those and printed them off. I'm going to be travelling to the bookstore here soon. I've got my eye on a cd/dvd set for beginners that looks cool. It's only money right?