>Almost everyone who picks up a guitar, about 90 percent, abandons it within the first year, according to Mooney.
I'd guess that a similar 90+% of beginners quit the clarinet, violin, piano, drums, etc.
If the macro trend of hobbyist guitar playing has declined, I think it's correlated with its lack of prominence in current music.
For curiosity's sake, I just clicked through the top songs on Billboard Hot 100 chart[1]. As of today November 22, 2016, the top 20 songs do not have any obvious guitars. It's all synths, electronic beats, and other artificial sound effects. The first song with obvious guitars is the country song "May We All" by Florida Georgia Line sitting at position 30.
In previous decades with higher guitar sales, you had the popularity of 50s Elvis, 60s Beatles, 70s Led Zeppelin, 80s hair metal bands, 90s Nirvana, etc. It's easier for guitar novices to stay motivated when everything on the radio had lots of guitars in it. At the moment, the zeitgeist is electronic music until guitars make a comeback in mainstream pop. However, it's possible guitars will never become fashionable again and will recede further into isolated genres like country and folk music.
There are two distinct marketplaces for guitars, and almost any musical instrument. There is the 'beginner' level, which is basically school aged children where parents may purchase a guitar for them for school, or private lessons. This is where most big chain music stores aim at.
Then there is the high end collector market, who spend the big bucks, and often purchase multiple guitars to stash away. Most guitar companies (such as Fender) try to become the 'be all and end all' across this range. Fender do have a high end custom shop to cater for the more wealthy or boutique market, but at the end of the day, they are spread pretty thin with their Mexican range, USA Standard range, Custom shop range etc.
The biggest problem with the low end market is that kids these days just don't seem to realise the work ethic required to become proficient at guitar. I've played for over 40 years, I have two young sons who play, and I have done some teaching. Lots of kids seem to think that they can be playing at a performance level after only a couple of lessons (perhaps Guitar Hero has something to do with that?), and they quickly become disenchanted and lose interest once they realise the gruelling (boring) practice routine that they have to repeat over and over again in order to build muscle memory etc.
But for a lot of beginners who approach me, I try and model the same thing I do when learning a new programming language, i.e. the best way to learn - REALLY learn - a new language is to actually build something with it. Which is why I find that it is useful to get a kid to tell me his favourite song, and just work out the melody or the riff to the song and build on that, just to keep their interest going and make the inconvenience of the other exercises less of a burden.
The world is also sadly lacking in 'guitar heroes' these days. Not the game, but actual players. Guys like Hendrix, Page and Clapton inspired kids in the 60's and 70's. Van Halen etc. in the 80's, but then the guitar solo ceased to be a central 'thing' in most bands. Modern guitar players like Joe Bonamassa, Guthrie Govan or Julian Lage etc. just don't pull the crowds in like they used to.
I've recently got back into playing after a 10 year break. Back then I was learning from tablature online displayed in monospaced font, the quality of which varied from nothing like the music to pretty good.
Today, I find not a lot has changed, except the sites where I used to go to find tablature are now charging for the same material.
I'd like to pay for quality transcription of music (like the official music books) but available online or in an app.
If you're interested in guitar, it's worth looking at some music from West Africa. A lot of music from that region (at least a lot of what gets exported as "world music") relies heavily on guitar. Maybe the renaissance of the guitar just won't happen in the US / Western Europe.
> And people quit electric guitars more often than acoustic ones, he said, because of the pain factor: Steel strings hurt delicate hands.
Huh? I can only imagine that they meant s/acoustic/classical/, because both acoustics and electrics have steel strings (and, of course, steel strings on an acoustic have significantly higher tension than those on an electric). Classicals have nylon strings.
For me there's the pain factor and also the fact that when trying to set up barre chords or any chords for that matter my chubby fingers always seem to hit adjacent strings. I easily grokked the saxophone, clarinet, flute, and trumpet but it's much harder for me to physically make music on a guitar.
Yeah, I find it much less painful to play on electric than on acoustic. I don't play on electric that much because of the time it takes to get the cable, plugin in the amp, turn it on, etc...
I was surprised by this part, too, and I figured the same thing. I've been playing guitar for most of my life, and the lower tension on electric strings is why I recommend to pretty much anyone to start with an electric, even though the electric guitar seems like the more "advanced" instrument.
Not only strings tension but distance as well. As a 5 strings bassist with big hands I find painful any attempt to play a full chord on a guitar. 2-3 notes easy rock rhythm chords are ok but anything more complex forces me to push and bend fingers to an unsustainable level if I want to avoid mutes.
Maybe they were inferring the bending that one usually does more often on an electric guitar vs. an acoustic or classical - without calluses, a persons fingers can get chewed up pretty quickly on an electric.
Yes, I noticed that too. Perhaps the writer could have clarified and mentioned 'Classical guitar' or 'Nylon string guitar' as what he meant. Most 'acoustic guitars' are steel stringed, and have a MUCH heavier gauge than electric guitars, thus making it more difficult for a beginner to fret notes and chords.
But look at any entry level (sub $200) guitar and the biggest problems aren't going to be the type of strings, but rather the height of the action (distance from the strings to the fretboard), uneven frets or warped necks - all of which would even make a pro player curse and struggle.
Which is why whenever a parent or friend approaches me to ask what guitar they should buy their kids, I always say to avoid the really cheap ones and go for the mid range ones, which usually have markedly better build quality. That way also, when little Johnny or Susie decides guitar is not for them, there is better resale value in a mid range guitar.
Yup. While the steel strings will leave you sore for a while, the lower action largely compensates for that. The classical, in comparison, requires must more finger strength, more exercise, and generally more soreness.
Discovering guitar is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I was gifted a guitar at a very young age and haven't been able to put it down since then. Through high school and college I played in various local bands and now it serves as a daily therapy session. In fact, while I'm trying to figure out a complex problem (I work as a software engineer) I often pick up my guitar for inspiration.
Another way to view this is the reward at the end of the rainbow.
Back in the '60s and probably all the way to the '90s. There was a reward for young men to pick up that guitar.
If you played it enough and you got good, you could be a rockstar. And, yes, I suppose you have to start at the bottom, playing in small bands and doing gigs for peanuts but you could work your way to the top and be successful.
I can't imagine that incentive exists anymore for the average kid who doesn't love the idea of playing guitar for the joy of being a musician, but rather, for the promise of fame, money and girls. Especially if they are ugly dudes, like the members of Kiss, or Ted Nugent or all the guys from Metallica, or Tommy Lee etc, etc.
Which means, so what if you learned to play the guitar and you learned it well? How lucrative is it to be a lead guitarist these days? Do you have a good chance of getting a sweet record deal as a guitarists these days? Or will you be relegated to be the in the background, letting all your talent and potential be squandered playing pop song arrangements for Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande? Well either that or you can remain indie, beloved by many people whose financial support barely sustains you and always obscured by the shiny pop talent.
I think the modern version of the rockstar today is the DJ. It's much more rewarding to learn to be a DJ (or a producer for that matter) and whether it be for the fame, the money or the girls.
One thing that isn't often pointed out is that most music making is a social activity. Everyone I know that has stuck with music throughout their lives has actively played in bands/groups/ensembles. There's a misconception that music requires a lot of solitary practice before playing in groups.
I'd hazard a guess that most people don't stick with guitar because they don't have anyone to jam with. As a kid, I started playing in bands way before I got serious about practicing music as a discipline, and most musicians I know fall into this category.
I am not trying to undervalue the benefit of practice: in my 20s I practiced 3-6 hours a day pretty much every day. But, that was long after I had been working professionally as a musician and playing in bands.
What frustrates me about Fender and Marshall is a 100% dedication to "WE ONLY DO THINGS THE WAY THEY DID IN 1970" and 0 innovation in their amplifier and guitar designs.
Granted the 1970s set the bar of what good "guitar tone" sounds like, but no one has even tried to raise the bar as far as making it even better. As a result we still amplifiers that create blocking distortion, and we still have guitars that have intonation problems, and we still have guitars that pick up electrical noise. And why can't I change my amplifier settings from my pedalboard? That's some clever Adruino programming and some digital potentiometers.
None of these are particularly hard problems to solve, but it's frustrating as and engineer and musician to be stuck in another world.
Everything above is an opinion, not a fact, so take as you will.
I heard an interesting theory (alluded to in the story) that high-quality PC and console videogames caused a seismic shift beginning in the 1990s, as teens gravitated to an immersive, often collaborative indoor activity. If gaming (or apps, social media, whatever) are drawing away a large population of teens, not only are fewer people picking up a guitar or drumsticks but the number of available local bandmates declines, further weakening the allure of playing music. It makes a big difference if you have friends who also play. If your peers aren't doing it, music is more likely to be a solo activity which is not as much fun.
Another factor: from the 1950s to the early 2000s pop music heroes more often than not could also play guitar. I grew up in the 80s, and learned to play bass starting at age 16 by intently listening to cassettes of The Beatles, Who, Led Zep, U2, REM and the Sex Pistols so I could play with my friends and explore a new dimension of the music I loved. I was never a hotshot player, but did play in lots of cover and original bands through my late teens and 20s and some of my best friends today are people I played with decades ago.
My tween & teen kids have almost no interest in guitar-based pop music, although my daughter's middle school music curriculum included a segment on "90s music" which later prompted her to ask me, "Dad, did you know there was a song about a sweater unraveling?" (man, that made me feel old). They do listen to modern-day pop music, though, and sometimes to pop from previous decades that is not guitar-centric (Michael Jackson, etc.)
On the other hand, the apps and other tools that are now available to everyone--not to mention the ability to connect with like-minded people--can spark different types of musical creativity, collaboration, and insights. I did a double take a few months ago while listening to a radio special about Philip Glass and my son casually remarked that one of his pieces from the late 1960s "sounds like 'My Singing Monsters'." I hope my kids do get interested in creating music and find an opportunity to collaborate, but I accept that it may not involve rock music.
I wonder how instruments will fare in the "raise your family in a downtown studio apartment" world advocated here.
Instruments take space, and some amount of separation from neighbors (and other household members) seems necessary for practicing to be socially acceptable.
How does children's music practice work in tiny apartments with paper-thin walls? Do European parents rent space in communal practice rooms or something?
I've had a metallic blue electric guitar for ten years now.
Bought so many beginner materials and they're fucking awful. I can't understand jack shit.
The closest I got to sticking to anything were the eMedia programs, at least the acoustic one. I bought the metal one but I'm not sure it works anymore on current Macs and I didn't want to rebuy it.
Bought a piano and the situation is even more dire.
Music is awful for self teaching. Absolutely awful.
The best starting point is undoubtedly justinguitar.com. He offers a complete course in guitar, absolutely free of charge, with video lessons and transcriptions. His course will get you from "never picked up a guitar" to being a self-sufficient musician. He has glowing endorsements from Brian May, Steve Vai, Mark Knopfler, Tommy Emmanuel and Woz.
Moving on from the beginner-intermediate level, I recommend TrueFire. They offer a huge range of video lessons from expert tutors in most genres. An all-access pass costs $19/mo, which is outrageously good value IMO.
> Bought a piano and the situation is even more dire.
https://pianowithjonny.com It's awesome :-) I'm playing passable blues riffs and have taught myself to read music with the help of some free apps (Music Tutor on iOS).
There's also a great series of books by Joseph Alexander for the guitar (fretboard fluency, etc). Definitely worth checking out.
For me, the most important thing has always been motivation. Right now I want to be able to walk into a bar/hotel/train station and bash out "Great Balls of Fire" a la Goose in Top Gun. So damned cool... :-D
Ignore all that, sit down with your guitar and start picking out simple melodies by ear, note by note. Begin with "Happy Birthday" or the alphabet song. That's hard and scary, but you'll make more progress in a week than you did in your whole life. Most importantly you'll defeat your fear of music.
It's not awful. It's just hard. It takes a long time to get to anything like basic proficiency, and the first few months/years are spent stumbling around thinking "I am really shit at this."
If music was a video game no one would buy it, because the reward curve is so unrewarding.
At some point you have to accept that unless you're in the 0.01% of the population with genius-level talent, you will only ever make slow progress towards a distant goal. Because that's how it is for everyone who isn't a genius.
The people who can play are the ones who started as embryos, and/or are motivated to keep at it. Not everyone has that motivation or that background, and that's fine too.
In this context, I would like to recommend the excellent lecture series about the history of the guitar captured on video offered by Gresham College and Professor Christopher Page. They are very entertaining, with lots of historic background stories! It is mostly about England but the rest of the world is mentioned to give context.
> ...it has been almost universally forgotten that there was an intense guitar craze in England
> between about 1800 and 1835, spanning the lifetimes of Keats, Byron, Shelley and Coleridge, and a
> craze whose history has never been traced. Histories of English music and society in the
> nineteenth century continue to be written as if it never happened, and yet the instrument was
> cultivated from the royal family in the person of Princess Charlotte (d. 1817) down to the
> poorest laundress.
> This is much more than the story of an instrument and its music: the rise of romanticism, the
> creation of an urban poor hungry for self improvement, the proliferation of newspapers,
> serialised fiction and printed sheet music, the social position of women and other aspects of
> English society and culture in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars all have a place within it.
Have been playing guitar off and on for over five years, no musical training. I found the best way to keep playing is to play along to songs you know, and routinely practice them every day. Hours go by without you even noticing, it's great.
What's hard, though, are things like actually moving to the next step. Are you even practicing correctly, continually pushing yourself to new heights, or are you defaulting to the riffs or melodies that you like to play because they're easier?
The hardest part for me, currently, is trying to learn music theory on my own. I've tried getting into the creative side, writing songs and melodies, but so far, that process isn't very fun at all because of my lack of knowledge in scales, chords, and progressions.
> The hardest part for me, currently, is trying to learn music theory on my own
As someone who is currently learning piano and music theory as an adult, I can recommend the youtube channel of Shawn Cheek. This guy has posted something like 3000 videos on various piano and music theory subjects. A good starting point would be his series on the Circle of Fifths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdF-uIeM33o
I find this guy to be an excellent teacher, I like his teaching style, and could listen to his accent all day :)
I highly recommend at least learning the pentatonic scale. It's very easy, and it's the basis for most rock and roll lead guitar. If you're in the right key, you can noodle around on the pentatonic along to songs, and it will generally sound decent.
For learning chord progressions, learn all the basic major and minor chords, then experiment with putting them together. There's a lot of joy to be had in that simple exercise, and with practice, you'll start to get an intuitive sense about it. Once that starts to make sense, you can start looking into the more unusual variants on chords.
Also, lessons can be fun, especially early on, because a teacher can point you in a specific direction for practicing that will cause you to grow.
Try Yousician. It's an app for learning the guitar (I think they are working on adding the piano lessons). There are some theory lessons with practice sessions. I tried learning the guitar by tabs and accords of the songs I liked, but did not get too far. Yousician shows a clear skill progression (easy melodies->hard melodies) and provides some foundation for further learning and improvement. If only I had more time to practice :)
I play some instruments, including a semi-hollow electric guitar. I live in an apartment, so I have to carefully control the volume and which hours I play, I think this is a major difficulty for music in general nowadays.
The electric guitar requires an amplifier, and to use an amplifier in a low volume requires strict discipline. Sometimes I use over-ears headphones which while gives me a more clean sound it does not have the same feeling, and you cannot share the music with other people. It's specially bad when I'm playing with other people.
Apartments/Condos in US have paper-thin walls, they are becoming more common, it creates an extra difficultly to learn to play instruments, specially drums, bass and electric guitars.
I have given up on buying new guitars from Fender, Martin, Gibson and the other big names that peddle overpriced kit justified by the name stamped on it alone.
There's no reason their kit needs to be as expensive as it is. Lower end guitars from other brands are fine for beginners. Yeah Fender has $200ish Strat and Tele clones. But you can find those all over CL thanks to the focus of this article.
The days of arena rock are probably long gone. Fender wants to encourage people to take up guitar? Then get off your high horse and cut prices?
It's a piece of Americana most Americans can't even afford. It's their own damn fault.
Yep. As I got older and had a little bit of play-budget, I was able to buy a few guitars even though I only play occasionally. Even then, I didn't go for anything too pricey or "flagship" (although I might if I was gigging or recording).
Instead, I got a knockoff Les Paul style from a Korean company called Agile. It's not quite as nice as the high end Les Pauls but for under $400? Hell yeah and it sounds/plays better than the Epiphones of similar price.
Also got a Squier Jaguar off Craigslist for $150 because I always wanted a Jag...just not enough to shell out for the really nice ones.
Add in a cheap travel electric for campfire jam sessions, an absolutely crap bass that I only have because it was $10 at Goodwill (seriously the strings I bought for it cost more) and the cheap acoustic I bought for $50 as my first guitar in 1992 and I've got more than I really need for the occasional practice or just because I have a song stuck in my head and want to play along with the album for the hell of it.
Fender Squier guitars start at around $150. They've been a popular first guitar for decades. Fender sell a substantial quantity of "guitar starter packs" through retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco.
I wouldn't say that. The classic fender stratocaster is around $400 iirc. It's a great guitar for the price and that is by no means a high end guitar or high end fender. The other "classic" guitar is the Gibson Les Paul which start at $1500. If a beginner got THAT, the gifter would be loaded.
The ergonomics of the guitar are the main reason I don't play much anymore. I hit a roadblock where the amount of practice required to improve further wasn't really worth the physical discomfort. For example barre chords just push my fingers past their limits to stretch. No matter how many hours I practice them I can't make the ergonomics work. For other things that I've gotten pretty good at there's still some general ergonomic problems of sitting and repeating the same motions over and over. I fully understand the pain/gain required to improve but for a hobbyist such as myself it's hard to justify it past a certain point.
What I'd really like to see is Fender or some other company develop something like a SmartGuitar. I feel like there's a lot of potential to improve the ergonomics, accessibility and functionality if the strings were replaced with a multi-touch input surface with haptic feedback. Maybe the pick could be replaced with an input device that included an accelerometer, pressure sensitivity, and haptic feedback. On the software side the possibilities are endless. The multi-touch input could be 'auto-corrected' to make the fingering of complex chords more forgiving.
The top HN comment on this article is about how music teachers that focus on form and fundamentals are ruining young musicians' desire to learn. To me, your comment is the ultimate rebuttal of that.
Guitar is quite easy to play wrong; you can go a long way without learning proper form. I imagine having somebody show you proper posture, thumb placement, etc. would have helped you out. Nobody that wants to play rock music is going to learn sitting like this, though http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-...
Please just no. Part of the charm of the guitar is that its this kind of organic piece of wood and metal that you have to learn to master to make sound good. A lot of the different character and style of different players comes from their different technique and how they learned to play which I think would be lost if you could just easily make perfect notes by basically pressing a button. I guess this is the same reason why I prefer listening to instruments like guitar, piano (real piano, not electronic) and saxophone and synth/electronic music I find all sounds similar and lacks individual character.
Out of curiosity, what kind of guitar do you play? Different guitars have different necks have different characteristics; some thinner, some narrower, some with more curve, some flatter. I could imagine you'd be much more comfortable with a neck more suited to your hands.
A guitar is interesting because you can create different sounds depending on how you touch the strings. You can choose to fret with the tip of your finger, with the flat part of your finger, mute the string below, etc. This wouldn't be possible to do with an electric input device. What you are suggesting is an entirely different instrument, like a Midi / Guitar or something, and I'm sure there would be a market for this.
Barre chords are a large stepping stone for a lot of people, but there are a few techniques to doing them. Why not look at YouTube for guidance here?
Yeah, barre chords suck, no doubt about that. I've been playing for 12 years now and really I just avoid them. There are a lot of work-arounds for most music. I find I only might need one or two for a song. That makes it much more manageable. But for other chord forms, the dexterity takes practice. I haven't found a way around that. If the tips of your fingers are burning, stop and pick it up again tomorrow. Your finger will still probably hurt but after a month of that, you won't feel a thing and you'll be good to go.
I was fortunate to grow up with parents that played various instruments. Mom played the piano. Dad played the guitar and clarinet. Grandparents played the piano and the pipe organ at church. We kids were encouraged to pick an instrument we liked, and even though we didn't have much money, lessons were always something my parents figured out how to pay for. In return, we were expected to take it seriously, and learn both the instrument and the meaning of a commitment to something difficult. I took piano lessons from age 5 until 12, when they agreed that I could stop piano lessons if I took up another instrument, so I played the violin for 5 years with the public school's music & orchestra program. I quit playing altogether about the time I started driving, because having a car meant having a job, and that took the time I was using to practice.
Fast forward many years, through college, and a decade afterwards. I don't have the room for a real piano; keyboards & digital pianos just aren't the same for me. The violin is something I don't really enjoy any longer, especially without an orchestra to play in, and I do not have the time for such an endeavor.
In college, I fell in love with classical and flamenco guitar. Figuring that another instrument wouldn't be terrible to learn, since I already knew how to read music, I picked up a $200-ish classical guitar, some books of chords, and attempted to teach myself. After that miserable failure, I then attempted to find someone who could teach the style of guitar I wanted to learn, and teach it to someone who wasn't a little kid.
That turned out to be a nearly impossible task, and I think that's a big point of failure. The teaching methods out there have a focus on "kid music" to the exclusion of nearly everything else. On top of that, there is the assumption by most teachers that wanting to play guitar means you want to play rock 'n roll or pop-country. Those that don't assume that fall into the trap of thinking that you want to play in a gospel band. None of them were willing to sit down and teach the fundamentals without pushing me into playing extremely simplified versions of music I hate.
So my guitar sits in its case, in the back of the closet, unused. I gave up. Not because it was too much work. Because no one wants to teach what I want to know.
Have you looked at guitar stores that are luthiers as well? I bet they know someone that knows someone at the least. A good luthier has a lot of relationships with the flamenco and classical music community, since their entire living depends on it.
[+] [-] jasode|9 years ago|reply
I'd guess that a similar 90+% of beginners quit the clarinet, violin, piano, drums, etc.
If the macro trend of hobbyist guitar playing has declined, I think it's correlated with its lack of prominence in current music.
For curiosity's sake, I just clicked through the top songs on Billboard Hot 100 chart[1]. As of today November 22, 2016, the top 20 songs do not have any obvious guitars. It's all synths, electronic beats, and other artificial sound effects. The first song with obvious guitars is the country song "May We All" by Florida Georgia Line sitting at position 30.
In previous decades with higher guitar sales, you had the popularity of 50s Elvis, 60s Beatles, 70s Led Zeppelin, 80s hair metal bands, 90s Nirvana, etc. It's easier for guitar novices to stay motivated when everything on the radio had lots of guitars in it. At the moment, the zeitgeist is electronic music until guitars make a comeback in mainstream pop. However, it's possible guitars will never become fashionable again and will recede further into isolated genres like country and folk music.
[1]http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100
[+] [-] cyberferret|9 years ago|reply
Then there is the high end collector market, who spend the big bucks, and often purchase multiple guitars to stash away. Most guitar companies (such as Fender) try to become the 'be all and end all' across this range. Fender do have a high end custom shop to cater for the more wealthy or boutique market, but at the end of the day, they are spread pretty thin with their Mexican range, USA Standard range, Custom shop range etc.
The biggest problem with the low end market is that kids these days just don't seem to realise the work ethic required to become proficient at guitar. I've played for over 40 years, I have two young sons who play, and I have done some teaching. Lots of kids seem to think that they can be playing at a performance level after only a couple of lessons (perhaps Guitar Hero has something to do with that?), and they quickly become disenchanted and lose interest once they realise the gruelling (boring) practice routine that they have to repeat over and over again in order to build muscle memory etc.
But for a lot of beginners who approach me, I try and model the same thing I do when learning a new programming language, i.e. the best way to learn - REALLY learn - a new language is to actually build something with it. Which is why I find that it is useful to get a kid to tell me his favourite song, and just work out the melody or the riff to the song and build on that, just to keep their interest going and make the inconvenience of the other exercises less of a burden.
The world is also sadly lacking in 'guitar heroes' these days. Not the game, but actual players. Guys like Hendrix, Page and Clapton inspired kids in the 60's and 70's. Van Halen etc. in the 80's, but then the guitar solo ceased to be a central 'thing' in most bands. Modern guitar players like Joe Bonamassa, Guthrie Govan or Julian Lage etc. just don't pull the crowds in like they used to.
[+] [-] alexander-edge|9 years ago|reply
Today, I find not a lot has changed, except the sites where I used to go to find tablature are now charging for the same material.
I'd like to pay for quality transcription of music (like the official music books) but available online or in an app.
[+] [-] DanielStraight|9 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvVe1iKltAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gINDDDo3do8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW1s84p17ec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cimqPFZvo4c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7My5IpEzVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhL_asWgVTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-uq8cTF7o
[+] [-] mrkgnao|9 years ago|reply
Huh? I can only imagine that they meant s/acoustic/classical/, because both acoustics and electrics have steel strings (and, of course, steel strings on an acoustic have significantly higher tension than those on an electric). Classicals have nylon strings.
[+] [-] Yhippa|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] XCSme|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rglullis|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xxr|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] squarefoot|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arnold_palmur|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paublyrne|9 years ago|reply
I would say electric guitar is more comfortable for most people than acoustic, even nylon, as the actions tends to be harder.
[+] [-] cyberferret|9 years ago|reply
But look at any entry level (sub $200) guitar and the biggest problems aren't going to be the type of strings, but rather the height of the action (distance from the strings to the fretboard), uneven frets or warped necks - all of which would even make a pro player curse and struggle.
Which is why whenever a parent or friend approaches me to ask what guitar they should buy their kids, I always say to avoid the really cheap ones and go for the mid range ones, which usually have markedly better build quality. That way also, when little Johnny or Susie decides guitar is not for them, there is better resale value in a mid range guitar.
[+] [-] mfukar|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mping|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] niix|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] racl101|9 years ago|reply
Back in the '60s and probably all the way to the '90s. There was a reward for young men to pick up that guitar.
If you played it enough and you got good, you could be a rockstar. And, yes, I suppose you have to start at the bottom, playing in small bands and doing gigs for peanuts but you could work your way to the top and be successful.
I can't imagine that incentive exists anymore for the average kid who doesn't love the idea of playing guitar for the joy of being a musician, but rather, for the promise of fame, money and girls. Especially if they are ugly dudes, like the members of Kiss, or Ted Nugent or all the guys from Metallica, or Tommy Lee etc, etc.
Which means, so what if you learned to play the guitar and you learned it well? How lucrative is it to be a lead guitarist these days? Do you have a good chance of getting a sweet record deal as a guitarists these days? Or will you be relegated to be the in the background, letting all your talent and potential be squandered playing pop song arrangements for Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande? Well either that or you can remain indie, beloved by many people whose financial support barely sustains you and always obscured by the shiny pop talent.
I think the modern version of the rockstar today is the DJ. It's much more rewarding to learn to be a DJ (or a producer for that matter) and whether it be for the fame, the money or the girls.
[+] [-] pcsanwald|9 years ago|reply
I'd hazard a guess that most people don't stick with guitar because they don't have anyone to jam with. As a kid, I started playing in bands way before I got serious about practicing music as a discipline, and most musicians I know fall into this category.
I am not trying to undervalue the benefit of practice: in my 20s I practiced 3-6 hours a day pretty much every day. But, that was long after I had been working professionally as a musician and playing in bands.
[+] [-] exabrial|9 years ago|reply
Granted the 1970s set the bar of what good "guitar tone" sounds like, but no one has even tried to raise the bar as far as making it even better. As a result we still amplifiers that create blocking distortion, and we still have guitars that have intonation problems, and we still have guitars that pick up electrical noise. And why can't I change my amplifier settings from my pedalboard? That's some clever Adruino programming and some digital potentiometers.
None of these are particularly hard problems to solve, but it's frustrating as and engineer and musician to be stuck in another world.
Everything above is an opinion, not a fact, so take as you will.
[+] [-] ilamont|9 years ago|reply
Another factor: from the 1950s to the early 2000s pop music heroes more often than not could also play guitar. I grew up in the 80s, and learned to play bass starting at age 16 by intently listening to cassettes of The Beatles, Who, Led Zep, U2, REM and the Sex Pistols so I could play with my friends and explore a new dimension of the music I loved. I was never a hotshot player, but did play in lots of cover and original bands through my late teens and 20s and some of my best friends today are people I played with decades ago.
My tween & teen kids have almost no interest in guitar-based pop music, although my daughter's middle school music curriculum included a segment on "90s music" which later prompted her to ask me, "Dad, did you know there was a song about a sweater unraveling?" (man, that made me feel old). They do listen to modern-day pop music, though, and sometimes to pop from previous decades that is not guitar-centric (Michael Jackson, etc.)
On the other hand, the apps and other tools that are now available to everyone--not to mention the ability to connect with like-minded people--can spark different types of musical creativity, collaboration, and insights. I did a double take a few months ago while listening to a radio special about Philip Glass and my son casually remarked that one of his pieces from the late 1960s "sounds like 'My Singing Monsters'." I hope my kids do get interested in creating music and find an opportunity to collaborate, but I accept that it may not involve rock music.
[+] [-] closeparen|9 years ago|reply
Instruments take space, and some amount of separation from neighbors (and other household members) seems necessary for practicing to be socially acceptable.
How does children's music practice work in tiny apartments with paper-thin walls? Do European parents rent space in communal practice rooms or something?
[+] [-] sqldba|9 years ago|reply
Bought so many beginner materials and they're fucking awful. I can't understand jack shit.
The closest I got to sticking to anything were the eMedia programs, at least the acoustic one. I bought the metal one but I'm not sure it works anymore on current Macs and I didn't want to rebuy it.
Bought a piano and the situation is even more dire.
Music is awful for self teaching. Absolutely awful.
[+] [-] jdietrich|9 years ago|reply
http://www.justinguitar.com/
Moving on from the beginner-intermediate level, I recommend TrueFire. They offer a huge range of video lessons from expert tutors in most genres. An all-access pass costs $19/mo, which is outrageously good value IMO.
https://truefire.com/
[+] [-] estefan|9 years ago|reply
https://pianowithjonny.com It's awesome :-) I'm playing passable blues riffs and have taught myself to read music with the help of some free apps (Music Tutor on iOS).
There's also a great series of books by Joseph Alexander for the guitar (fretboard fluency, etc). Definitely worth checking out.
For me, the most important thing has always been motivation. Right now I want to be able to walk into a bar/hotel/train station and bash out "Great Balls of Fire" a la Goose in Top Gun. So damned cool... :-D
[+] [-] slazaro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cousin_it|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheOtherHobbes|9 years ago|reply
If music was a video game no one would buy it, because the reward curve is so unrewarding.
At some point you have to accept that unless you're in the 0.01% of the population with genius-level talent, you will only ever make slow progress towards a distant goal. Because that's how it is for everyone who isn't a genius.
The people who can play are the ones who started as embryos, and/or are motivated to keep at it. Not everyone has that motivation or that background, and that's fine too.
[+] [-] Noseshine|9 years ago|reply
"Men, Women and Guitars in Romantic England"
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/series/men-women-and-guitars-in-rom...
(I almost didn't find the video - it's at the top of each lecture page, I thought that's a static image.)
The lectures are also available on their Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GreshamCollege/videos
[+] [-] arkaic|9 years ago|reply
What's hard, though, are things like actually moving to the next step. Are you even practicing correctly, continually pushing yourself to new heights, or are you defaulting to the riffs or melodies that you like to play because they're easier?
The hardest part for me, currently, is trying to learn music theory on my own. I've tried getting into the creative side, writing songs and melodies, but so far, that process isn't very fun at all because of my lack of knowledge in scales, chords, and progressions.
[+] [-] jamestnz|9 years ago|reply
As someone who is currently learning piano and music theory as an adult, I can recommend the youtube channel of Shawn Cheek. This guy has posted something like 3000 videos on various piano and music theory subjects. A good starting point would be his series on the Circle of Fifths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdF-uIeM33o
I find this guy to be an excellent teacher, I like his teaching style, and could listen to his accent all day :)
[+] [-] mistercow|9 years ago|reply
For learning chord progressions, learn all the basic major and minor chords, then experiment with putting them together. There's a lot of joy to be had in that simple exercise, and with practice, you'll start to get an intuitive sense about it. Once that starts to make sense, you can start looking into the more unusual variants on chords.
Also, lessons can be fun, especially early on, because a teacher can point you in a specific direction for practicing that will cause you to grow.
[+] [-] open_bear|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] silveira|9 years ago|reply
The electric guitar requires an amplifier, and to use an amplifier in a low volume requires strict discipline. Sometimes I use over-ears headphones which while gives me a more clean sound it does not have the same feeling, and you cannot share the music with other people. It's specially bad when I'm playing with other people.
Apartments/Condos in US have paper-thin walls, they are becoming more common, it creates an extra difficultly to learn to play instruments, specially drums, bass and electric guitars.
[+] [-] gaveuponfendr|9 years ago|reply
I have given up on buying new guitars from Fender, Martin, Gibson and the other big names that peddle overpriced kit justified by the name stamped on it alone.
There's no reason their kit needs to be as expensive as it is. Lower end guitars from other brands are fine for beginners. Yeah Fender has $200ish Strat and Tele clones. But you can find those all over CL thanks to the focus of this article.
The days of arena rock are probably long gone. Fender wants to encourage people to take up guitar? Then get off your high horse and cut prices?
It's a piece of Americana most Americans can't even afford. It's their own damn fault.
[+] [-] soylentcola|9 years ago|reply
Instead, I got a knockoff Les Paul style from a Korean company called Agile. It's not quite as nice as the high end Les Pauls but for under $400? Hell yeah and it sounds/plays better than the Epiphones of similar price.
Also got a Squier Jaguar off Craigslist for $150 because I always wanted a Jag...just not enough to shell out for the really nice ones.
Add in a cheap travel electric for campfire jam sessions, an absolutely crap bass that I only have because it was $10 at Goodwill (seriously the strings I bought for it cost more) and the cheap acoustic I bought for $50 as my first guitar in 1992 and I've got more than I really need for the occasional practice or just because I have a song stuck in my head and want to play along with the album for the hell of it.
[+] [-] paulgrimes1|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdietrich|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reducesuffering|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dri_ft|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsz0|9 years ago|reply
What I'd really like to see is Fender or some other company develop something like a SmartGuitar. I feel like there's a lot of potential to improve the ergonomics, accessibility and functionality if the strings were replaced with a multi-touch input surface with haptic feedback. Maybe the pick could be replaced with an input device that included an accelerometer, pressure sensitivity, and haptic feedback. On the software side the possibilities are endless. The multi-touch input could be 'auto-corrected' to make the fingering of complex chords more forgiving.
[+] [-] ukyrgf|9 years ago|reply
Guitar is quite easy to play wrong; you can go a long way without learning proper form. I imagine having somebody show you proper posture, thumb placement, etc. would have helped you out. Nobody that wants to play rock music is going to learn sitting like this, though http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/images/Playing-Position-...
[+] [-] mcdevhammer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hoorayimhelping|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mathiasben|9 years ago|reply
It's a contraption that attaches to the neck of the guitar and enables those with clumsy fingers to play chords.
[+] [-] dizzystar|9 years ago|reply
Barre chords are a large stepping stone for a lot of people, but there are a few techniques to doing them. Why not look at YouTube for guidance here?
[+] [-] keeganjw|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtm|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gravityloss|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fotbr|9 years ago|reply
I was fortunate to grow up with parents that played various instruments. Mom played the piano. Dad played the guitar and clarinet. Grandparents played the piano and the pipe organ at church. We kids were encouraged to pick an instrument we liked, and even though we didn't have much money, lessons were always something my parents figured out how to pay for. In return, we were expected to take it seriously, and learn both the instrument and the meaning of a commitment to something difficult. I took piano lessons from age 5 until 12, when they agreed that I could stop piano lessons if I took up another instrument, so I played the violin for 5 years with the public school's music & orchestra program. I quit playing altogether about the time I started driving, because having a car meant having a job, and that took the time I was using to practice.
Fast forward many years, through college, and a decade afterwards. I don't have the room for a real piano; keyboards & digital pianos just aren't the same for me. The violin is something I don't really enjoy any longer, especially without an orchestra to play in, and I do not have the time for such an endeavor.
In college, I fell in love with classical and flamenco guitar. Figuring that another instrument wouldn't be terrible to learn, since I already knew how to read music, I picked up a $200-ish classical guitar, some books of chords, and attempted to teach myself. After that miserable failure, I then attempted to find someone who could teach the style of guitar I wanted to learn, and teach it to someone who wasn't a little kid.
That turned out to be a nearly impossible task, and I think that's a big point of failure. The teaching methods out there have a focus on "kid music" to the exclusion of nearly everything else. On top of that, there is the assumption by most teachers that wanting to play guitar means you want to play rock 'n roll or pop-country. Those that don't assume that fall into the trap of thinking that you want to play in a gospel band. None of them were willing to sit down and teach the fundamentals without pushing me into playing extremely simplified versions of music I hate.
So my guitar sits in its case, in the back of the closet, unused. I gave up. Not because it was too much work. Because no one wants to teach what I want to know.
[+] [-] dizzystar|9 years ago|reply