To all you guitarists...

[LeonLionhart]

I was just wondering how in hell you guys got so good? How did you learn, and how long have you been playing?

[Testicle]

I'm a guitarist but i don't submit guitar music to the portal because i don't have the equipment, all i have is Fruityloops lol.
I've been playing since i was 8, i was in London with my family visiting my dads friends and one of them called Huw started playing the guitar and i asked him if i could have a go, and i picked it up and instantly felt like i connected with the instrument and by the time i was 9 i was pretty good already.
I could be a lot better now if i practiced but i got bored of it for a while and recently got a new acoustic guitar to get me started again.

I'd recommend learning easy chord structures first, G A D is good just to get started.
Learn some songs like Knockin on Heavens Door, Wonderwall or Driftwood (by Travis) and you'll progress well. After you've got some easy songs under your belt just keep challenging yourself and learn new chord structures. It's all about practice practice practice, but don't do it so much that it pisses you off, if you get tired of it, put the guitar down, simple :P

Good luck!

[DarKsidE555]

At 3/19/08 01:12 PM, LeonLionhart wrote: I was just wondering how in hell you guys got so good? How did you learn, and how long have you been playing?

You get good with practice that's all I can say on this matter. Even if you learn by yourself or get teached, the key is to practice. Playing for about 7 years now.

[Phoog]

I've been playing since February 1st 2008. I don't practise that much. I've been playing bass for a little less, I don't practise that much.
Depending on what music you listen to, it's fast to expand your ability by reading tabs of songs you like, going from easy songs to harder songs. I mean, a little over 2 months and I'm okay at playing metalcore.

Oh, but I'm not good :)

[spamwangler]

i learnt by playing blues standards with my dad, then by jamming along with old black sabbath stuff-

they have a good mix of easy riffs and fast solos to keep a begginer interested, and then just got guitar tabs of the web for danm near everything i heard- oh yeah and join a band

[mrdoosh]

I have played for 5 years now, mostly jazz funk stuff at this time, back in my early days was just all bout metal and progressive things...

Depends on hat u wanna learn to play, you must accomplish lots of things... having good ear, good technique, good tone in da fingers...lots of things...there are millions of instructionals videos of all kinds....right now in studying "Shred guitar manifesto" by rusty cooley and just watching over and over again the george benson instructional...dunno how is called

[Sialys]

From a guitarist of eleven years, entirely self-taught.
I HIGHLY recommend learning songs, but playin' around as well.

Also, and after a little while try figuring out songs by ear.
Work on stretching out your fingers and building muscle memory.

And whenever you need it, YouTube is always there for visual help.

Just stay dedicated, practice as much as you can, and above all: Have some fun.

[Kor-Rune]

It depends on the person playing and the determination, like I've only been playing for about ten months, but I've picked up on shredding and complexity on my sixth month, whilst my friend that's been playing for two years can't even keep a simple rhythm. Just kinda depends on how dedicated you wanna be.

I was taught for one month once every week learning basic chords and the pentatonic scale, and taught myself from there, practicing different techniques I see people using on live performances, and experimenting, and what not.

[sculpted-cold]

Practice with a metronome.

[VegetarianMeat]

I'm pretty interested in learning to teach myself, but where the hell do I start :P ?

[Nessbeatsfox]

At 3/19/08 10:57 PM, VegetarianMeat wrote: I'm pretty interested in learning to teach myself, but where the hell do I start :P ?

A good start would be getting a guitar =P.

I've been playing for about five years now. The trick is to just play, mostly whether you want to or not. Like anything, practice makes perfect, so you can't give up if you can't do it the first week you play.

[G9]

I think a better question is:

How long have you played guitar?

and

Of those years, how many were spent being taught, as opposed to self-instruction?

[sk8a-guy-thing]

Well private lessons REALLY help, but you should just get a guitar (If you dont have one already) learn how to tune it and get tabs from the internet. Learn open chords first even though you might think you wont need them. Then move onto the minor pentatonic scale and stuff...