Hi!! I hope you're having a lovely day :3 I was wondering if you know of any good online cheap/free resources for learning guitar? I've been wanting to learn forever and I keep putting it off cause I can't afford lessons but I think i must take matters into my own hands. Thank you!!!!
hiiii !! okay so like i'm predominantly self-taught through learning existing songs (u can literally search "[song name] lesson" on youtube and if it sounds good then it sounds good) and noodling around a bunch while i watched breaking bad. as such i can't really recommend too much in the way of resources outside of a couple of shredders on youtube (let's sayyyy chris zoupa and kiko loureiro). everything beyond that was just looking up tabs, watching random guys on youtube and grinding.
if i can offer a few things i wish i'd known at the beginning:
for the first six months (minimum) you will sound like shit, your fingers will hurt and you'll feel like you aren't getting anywhere. this is normal, we all went through it, do not quit.
brief list of basic essentials: major and minor open chords. major and minor scales. minor pentatonic and blues scales. palm muting. hammer-ons and pull-offs. bends. slides. power chords.
look up the CAGED system, it'll make moving around the neck much easier.
the only thing that guy on youtube has that you don't is practise (and possibly a whammy bar).
it takes hundreds of hours of practise to make it look easy.
the formula for learning anything is to play it super slow over and over until you can nail it every time. speed up slightly and repeat. use a metronome.
it's easier to learn things the right way the first time than it is to unlearn the wrong way ten years in.
at some point you'll think "i don't want to learn music theory, i want to have my own style". this is the devil talking. learn music theory or you'll sound like everyone else.
eddie van halen sounded like eddie van halen on any guitar. you don't need super expensive gear to sound good and anyone who says you do is selling you something or rationalising their own spending habits. tone is stored in the fingers.
guitar forum users like arguing online more than they like playing guitar, and can be safely ignored.
lighter gauge strings hurt less. if you're on an electric, start with 9s. keep a spare pack in your case because 9s break.
use a tuner.
wash your hands before you pick the thing up and your strings last forever.
a floyd rose style bridge is extremely cool but you need an engineering degree just to change strings and it costs money to repair. don't start with one.
if you have to choose between speed and accuracy, choose accuracy.
you don't need that much distortion.
half the tone you hear on a record is actually the bass guitar, don't worry about perfectly replicating it.
no practise is wasted. you'll play for two or three months without seeing any improvement and then wake up one day able to do something sick. guitar operates on the morrowind level-up system.
learn to solder BEFORE you open up a guitar.
do not even think about adjusting the truss rod, some things are worth paying for.
a used focusrite interface and a cracked copy of amplitube is cheaper than a pedalboard.
it's better to practise for 30 minutes every day than for 6 hours once a week.
if you're using a pick, hold it flat against the string rather than raking across it. just trust me on this.
the only person you're competing with is yourself.
