meh best way to learn?
 

yerr..im learning the guitar..i dont even know...eh i know a couple chords, and i can make some crap up with power chords, but im finding it very hard to do solos, and do things fast, any suggestions..besides practice,,,duh....like finger exercises?

Well...Practice is really the only way you're going to get better...and yes i know a lot of Finger exersizes ... one day ill scan some tablature and post it on here...just practice doing pentotonics up and down the neck over and over again...progressivly getting faster

uh scales scales and more scales and arpeggios

Start with the basics, try to mix it up, learn to play by ear, at the same time take advice from other musicians that you know, like LesPaul said work on your finger exersizes, experiement with different techniques, learn power chords, and then actual chords... Practice your finger picking and fretting equally... Work with riffs before moving on to more complex stuff, play a CD and play along with it... Simple stuff like Nirvana and what not is great to start with.

And have someone to practice with you, for example when my brother plays guitar, i'll play guitar, bass or keyboard right along with him, it's a great way to learn how to react with other musicians, how to keep your rhythm and how to work with time signatures.

RHCP -Otherside is a great song to learn first. And I've practically just picked the guitar up right now.

I'm in the same boat as tdoc so I'll keep a lookout in this thread.

Lespaul whats a pentotonic?

Well...a pentotonic is like a scale..the pentotonic scale is...
Here it is in tablature

E||-----------------|-----------------|----------5---8-||
B||-----------------|-----------------|--5---8---------||
G||-----------------|----------5---7--|----------------||
D||-----------------|--5---7----------|----------------||
A||----------5---7--|-----------------|----------------||
E||--5---8----------|-----------------|----------------||

Pentatonic*

It's the most common scale used in rock music... It's also very common in blues, gospel, jazz, country, bluegrass and different kinds of folk music from around the world... It's considered to be the most basic scale in the world, in other words, it's the perfect scale for beginners and it can be applied to almost any instrument.

It's origins can be traced back to english folk music and even earlier to traditional chinese and japanese music.

Tell me, who here can get fingers on chords G7,A8 and E(the thick one)5 at the same time, with ease?

My fingers don't stretch that far!

Mine dont either.... And i have long fingers, i struggle hard enough as it is just to keep my fingers positioned on the fretboard... It takes a good deal of practice to get it all figured out, and also some finger muscle.

just keep practicing ill get easier and your hands more flexible as time goes along lol it might seem impossible buts itz not.....trust me when i started bass i could barely stretch 3 frets on top of that im asian meanign i have small hands......lol soo yea

now i can almost go 7 fret s on bass

oh aye i skipped the power chords and went right into chords oh i suppose thats not good.......heh i can play neily youngs heart of golds, and led zeppelins..tangerine(sorta) but yeah my guitar teacher taught me the pentatonic scale...

uh i think youre supoosed to do chords 1st then power...chords hehe

oh good them im doing happiness..but power chords are simpler..ermm yeah

hahah thats why you do chords 1st cuz then power chords are really easy
also power chords are not always the type or chord you wanna play depending on the song....... so learn all chords !!!!!

im trying to learn to use all 4 of my right hand fingers for plucking, i got 3 down easy but my little figer is just weak.

for learning i say **** scales for the moment it'll just bore you ****less if your starting off, just get off some tabs you'd enjoy playing along to that'll challenge your practical playing.

My question be which to start with? Bass? Rhythm? Acoustic? What?

well that's easy, what sorta stuff you want to learn? just go with that, unless you wanna be an electric lead guitarist, it's more expensive but i'd suggest starting off with an acoustic for that, strengthen your fingers and what not.

That's generally what I'm told, learn acoustic and you can learn 'em all. I'm actually a vocalist so i've gotta learn to play without looking at what I'm doin'.

unless your learning bass, then start off with a bass.
thought that would be a given.

^ Nah not really, with a bass it's much simpler, what you could learn on bass you could learn on guitar instead, it's important for a guitarist to learn chords, something you can't do on bass... You ever tried strumming all the strings on a bass at once?... It sounds like crap... Plus there are a lot of techniques on guitar you can't do on bass, while most things you learn on bass you can play on guitar... And of course the strings on a bass are thicker and harder to pluck... So it's better to start on guitar.

The bass is a step down instrument, most people who play bass started with guitar, it's easier to take what you learned on guitar and apply it to bass, as opposed to vice versa... Like a friend of mine once said, there are no bassists, just failed guitarists.

That's why i have a bass now. :(

Bass "chords" are neat, 2 or 3 notes. And no you shouldnt "strum" a bass because when you get that low it gets muddy.
I've played bass for 3 years and I recently got a guitar. And chords are the thing I'm struggling with. Solos and lead lines are very easy to write coming from a bass because the frets are much closer.

I guess, but i'm mainly talking about rhythm playing on guitar.... It's always better to start with rhythm before you start playing lead parts.

^That's what I want to work on.

you missed the point, if you want to learn to play bass why start with a guitar. :S