Beginner to guitar...

[JulieC]

Was so happy to find Jamie's 'Guitar Principle's' mentioned in Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus...I believe it is what I need to get myself finally going on guitar. I have a lovely Taylor 410 acoustic and I've tried off and on for a few years to learn to play but teachers are few and far between in my rural area! I ordered Guitar Principles and have read it several times and now that my garden is in, I will be devoting time every day to learning the principles. I still feel at a loss as to what I should learn first...I know a good number of chords and a little bit of minor pentatonic scales. Most songs that I'd like to learn to play contain the dreaded F chord...I just wish I knew what to start with other than practicing the chords very slowwwwwly. I'd appreciate some direction or suggestions in what I "should" be doing first.

I'm almost 55 but I know I can the learn guitar but hopefully before I'm 75.

[Jamie]

Hi Julie, good to see you here!

First, you should get the Path, it has the right chords in the right order, with songs, to learn. That is your best bet in that direction. Here are some threads dealing on starting with the Principles.

viewforum.php?f=37

[JulieC]

May I ask what the songs are in the book? Unless I am somewhat familiar with a song I wouldn't know if it was "right" to my ear or not. I like mostly early Eagles, some Beatles tunes, Dylan, JD Souther, etc. I want to learn fingerstyle guitar so of course I love Tommy Emmanuel and Shaun Hopper (both of whom I've seen live several times).

I find learning chords fairly easy but making some of them will take more strength than I have at present. In order to hold all the strings down without buzzing takes a lot of strength for me and then I feel tense. I followed the link you provided, thanks! I will have to spend some time at the library to read through it all tho, I live in a rural area with no high speed except at the library and am on a 5 GB aircard so reading a lot of posts will likely be helpful but will use a lot of airtime...I know nuggets of wisdom are likely there but will take some time to find them to know where I should start...I feel like the knowledge is there and there are a hundred paths and finding the one 'I" should be on...makes me feel lost. I hope that makes some sense!

Thanks for your reply!

[Ruby6092]

Hi Julie,

The songs in the Path book (Chords & Rhythm) are incidental to what you will really be learning. Nevertheless, here they are:

Three Blind Mice
Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Dylan
Amazing Grace

You will be fine with these, but can utube any that you don't know. Then you can try the songs you love using what you have learned from this book. I encourage you to give it a try.

Marilyn

[JulieC]

Thanks, Marilyn...I just ordered the book. I have a good grasp of the GP book but still not sure what to do---I've been practicing changing chords slowly but other than that I don't know what I should be doing. I'll just keep doing that til the book arrives. Thanks again!

[Jamie]

Julie, why aren't you doing the exercises that are clearly explained in Chapter 3 and 4? That is the "doing" part!

[JulieC]

I am. But I thought there should be something else should be doing. But I am laying a foundation for playing songs and I think I was a little too impatient! Thanks Jamie.

[Jamie]

Julie, I would like to see a video of you doing the "right hand string shifting ex", parts 1,2, and 3.

Also, the series of left hand ex in Chap. 4. It would be very valuable to get my feedback on these. We want to clear up any flaws as soon as possible.

[Jet wang]

what you sharing is useful for me
i like the forum

[JulieC]

Hi Jamie--

Just posting back. I had a little accident back in May--I fell down some steps and broke my right pointer finger and sprained my wrist and dislocated my thumb. On my left hand I broke my middle and index fingers. Healing up now but don't want to rush getting back to guitar.

But I'm doing a lot of reading in the books I have and watching vids and reading essays on the site. In some ways maybe it's good starting over because I will likely have forgotten bad habits. I'll post back once I start again, which shouldn't be too much longer now...