Comments on: Sing us a song there… go on!

By: Tonia @ Fender Guitar Online

Tonia @ Fender Guitar Online — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:30:45 +0000

Hi there, just stopped by doing some research for my Fender Guitar site. Can’t believe the amount of information out there. Wasn’t what I was looking for, but good site. Cya later.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:07:57 +0000

What a fantastic post. I’ll have to have the husband read it. The bastard is a piano prodigy, started playing at age two, played with world class orchestras and for Bill Clinton even, but hated it… was forced into it. We actually met at music school and both subsequently dropped out. (I like singing… just not opera) Anyhoo… he said once he wished he’d learned guitar instead. So just before we moved back to Ireland I bought him this fantastic guitar with amp… all the accessories, tuning thingie, DVD lessons, chord charts etc. It’s all shiny and black and stuff! You can tell I’m very familiar with the technical shit all right! ;-) Needless to say it sits on a stand in our living room collecting dust. Bastard. Although I still break it out and play Come As You Are when I’ve had too much tequila! Maybe this post will snap him out of it!

P.S. Sorry for the delayed comments… been catching up! :-)

By: Conortje

Conortje — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:45:08 +0000

I have a book with two hundred songs that only use three chords – it’s great – well when I say great I mean my playing sounds better after a few beers and better still on my own

By: K8

K8 — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 10:45:26 +0000

I like this Monday because it’s a bank holiday and we’re…

… going to the zoo, zoo, zoo; how ’bout you, you, you; you can come too, too, too; we’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

By: Brianf

Brianf — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 05:38:38 +0000

I am somewhat skeptical about that loud mouth cat with axe!
How do you figure to answer that huh?
Some might call that cat….Well ya’ know…A Cat…

:)
I don’t like Mondays.
I want to shoot the whole day down.
time to take this time to rise above

By: Dario Sanchez

Dario Sanchez — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:17:32 +0000

Thanks for that!

And I don’t have much natural rhythm anyway, so there’s no danger of me losing it.

By: K8

K8 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 19:37:51 +0000

I have Guitar Hero too, the only thing that’ll really help you with is your coordination… if you practice with something mechanical like that, you’ll un-learn your natural rhythm. Just a thought.

There’s no point in getting yourself a really good electric guitar, you’ll end up spending too much on it. Take whatever you can get. Music wholesalers and second-hand shops are great for bargains, it just takes a bit of ringing around. As for makes, Fender, Gibson and Epiphone tend to be favourites. If you can get these second hand, you’re laughing. Try Ebay!

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Fender-Sunn-MUSTANG-Black-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar_W0QQitemZ300114328797QQihZ020QQcategoryZ33039QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I recommend buying an Accoustic guitar first, it will be your friend forever. You can buy a ‘pick-up’ which is a gizmo you place on the guitar’s bridge. It is D/C powered which means you can plug it into an amp. This is a lot cheaper and gets you a similar electric sound.

Songs to start out…
Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’
Counting Crow’s ‘Mr. Jones’
Snow Patrol’s ‘Run’
The Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’
… basically anything with a simple chord structure that you can play over and over without tiring of it!

Start with chords, always chords. To be a good guitarist you need to know chords off by heart, otherwise tabs won’t make any sense. If you’re learning a song, know it’s chords, but sometimes it can’t hurt to check out the tabs for the same song to give you an idea of fingerstyling.

By: Dario Sanchez

Dario Sanchez — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:47:55 +0000

Thanks for that, it’s given me a lot to consider. I bought Guitar Hero a while back, and have tried to get good at it so I can pick up the movements and stuff needed to play a proper guitar far easier.

What’s accelerated this though is that last week I saw my friend’s brother totally nail the solo on Hotel California and he even took time to wink at the (admittedly awful) ladies on the floor.

I tried playing a friend’s acoustic guitar, and after an hour, my fingers were actually bleeding from the steel strings on it. I cvan play the openings to a few songs, but nothing serious. I’ve been offered free lessons by the guy I mentioned above, so I’ll be reaching with open arms …

Just a few more questions:
- What’s a good, cheap starter electric guitar, if you can tell me?
- Any songs that would be good for someone to learn starting out?
- To begin with, tabs or chords?