SG Broadband Community

I have a few questions about playing. I've started teaching myself, but have hit a few snags.

1.) How do you switch chords quickly while playing? I find that a Gmaj->Cmaj switch takes me a good three+ seconds to switch, which disrupts the flow of any song I'm playing. Any advice on learning to switch faster?

2.) I'm playing the guitar without a pick, as I don't know a good kind to get. For a beginner, what type of picks (guage, maker) should I be looking at?

Thank you in advance.

1. Practice will speed things up over time.

2. Light to a medium pick for starting out.

One other pointer....Lessons. This will keep you from developing some bad habits and actually speed things up.

Practice is the key to getting yer fingers to move quickly. They will learn. Practice practice practice.

Guitar picks, I liked mediums, notably the ones made of that Dupont plastic...Delrin. Most brands of pick makers sell them, such as Fender.

Learn the barre chords for the G to C change.... When you do, it takes but a split second.

downhill wrote:2. Light to a medium pick for starting out.

Any reccomendations on brands?

downhill wrote:One other pointer....Lessons. This will keep you from developing some bad habits and actually speed things up.

I'm using about.com right now for the basics, and one of the people I'm rooming with knows how to play as well, so he's teaching me some of the stuff.

Thank you, Downhill.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Practice is the key to getting yer fingers to move quickly. They will learn. Practice practice practice.

Guitar picks, I liked mediums, notably the ones made of that Dupont plastic...Delrin. Most brands of pick makers sell them, such as Fender.

Practice is working a bit.

Medium made from Delrin.. alright. I'll take a look for those.

Thank you, YoSC.

nepenthe wrote:Learn the barre chords for the G to C change.... When you do, it takes but a split second.

Barre chords?

Screw chords! Play Bass!

Paft wrote:I have a few questions about playing. I've started teaching myself, but have hit a few snags.

1.) How do you switch chords quickly while playing? I find that a Gmaj->Cmaj switch takes me a good three+ seconds to switch, which disrupts the flow of any song I'm playing. Any advice on learning to switch faster?

2.) I'm playing the guitar without a pick, as I don't know a good kind to get. For a beginner, what type of picks (guage, maker) should I be looking at?

Thank you in advance.

Just practice, your speed will increase between chord changes..
Any medium guage pick should be good.. I like fender and dunlop.

I make guitar picks out of cd-roms, and light plastic lids (like the ones on pringles potato chip cans.) Also wood ones out of fat popsicle sticks.

Light guage strings on your guitar might be easier to press down.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Practice is the key to getting yer fingers to move quickly. They will learn. Practice practice practice.

Guitar picks, I liked mediums, notably the ones made of that Dupont plastic...Delrin. Most brands of pick makers sell them, such as Fender.

Just as YOSC said....practice.

As for picks I use extra heavys. But that's just me

Paft wrote:Barre chords?

Barre chords are more common on Electric guitars.. but are also played on Acoustic. more commonly known as "power chords". Ussually 2 , 3 or 4 strings played at the same time.. The cool thing is that they are easy to play, up and down the neck of the guitar, rather then the chords you are playing are in the 1st / 2nd postion towards the guitar "nut"

ScottE wrote:Screw chords! Play Bass!

or just listen to Page from 69

I would pull some strings. Then slam the guitar into the ground. I've seen ppl do it on tv.

Your fingers will definately speed up with practice, like has been said. It's always going to take a little while to switch when you first start. I remember always having issues switching between G and C when I started out. Just wait until you try and throw F in there (without barring the chord).

learn slower songs to start, then play em faster
your fingys will hurt and you may bail out when you discover a blisster but things get so much better when you get callisses. right and and left hand speed need to be in sync and being in sink is key in developing speed.

what your experiencing is normal, learn to play well and tempo/speed will at your finger tips

btw when switching from bar chord f to open e major I still seem to get hung up

I always preferred the Jim Dunlop nylon picks, mediums usually.

Paft wrote:I have a few questions about playing. I've started teaching myself, but have hit a few snags.

1.) How do you switch chords quickly while playing? I find that a Gmaj->Cmaj switch takes me a good three+ seconds to switch, which disrupts the flow of any song I'm playing. Any advice on learning to switch faster?

2.) I'm playing the guitar without a pick, as I don't know a good kind to get. For a beginner, what type of picks (guage, maker) should I be looking at?

Thank you in advance.

As everyone else has said, practice and get callouses. Your fingertips will be raw when you first start after about a half hour or so.

I prefer Fender mediums for my picks.

Shinobi wrote:

Barre chords are more common on Electric guitars.. but are also played on Acoustic. more commonly known as "power chords". Ussually 2 , 3 or 4 strings played at the same time.. The cool thing is that they are easy to play, up and down the neck of the guitar, rather then the chords you are playing are in the 1st / 2nd postion towards the guitar "nut"

Actually, "power chords" are the lower two or three strings of a full barre chord.

You are correct that they make moving from one chord to another relatively easy. A G-maj to A-maj can be done by simply sliding down two frets with the same finger position.

Acoustic guitar can sound a little muddied playing barres. Open strings tend to ring differently. In addition, the transposing of the chord will be different. That is, the individual notes of the chords may be of different octaves.



david

David, do you give lessons?


Paft, about picks....For now get one that's flexable. Free works the best.

Someone suggested strings. As you get better with faster chord changes, you'll probably want to play around with strings. They can make or break how your guitar sounds and that helps with you picking it up if you indeed, like what your hearing.

Meanwhile, how much is too much practice? If your fingers aren't bleeding, your not there yet.

Kidding of course.

downhill wrote:David, do you give lessons?

Oral hygeine, yes..... Guitar, no.

Paft,

In addition, there are many tab sites on line where you can learn a favorite riff with relative ease. If nothing else, you can obtain some sense of accomplishment by playing one.

david

1) Practice, Practice, Practice .... oh yeah, and Practice

2) Jim Dunlop .73mm link

i use the dunlop tortex picks.... .75, .88, 1.5mm sizes....then I like a real thin .50mm for string picking....the thicker stuff is for power chords, heavy chunky sounding stuff.

look on ebay for a good variety of sizes/brands...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 21693&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 12884&rd=1

Check out this page for some good lessons on improving your fingering..

http://www.deanguitars.com/forum/viewto ... oa+lessons

Also check out Guitar Principles, sign up for the newsletter..the guy has a really good way of teaching...havent' gotten his books yet, but they get awesome reviews on how good he is.

http://www.guitarprinciples.com/

Get powertab if you haven't already, they have tons of songs from nearly any artist you can think of available for it.

http://www.power-tab.net - DL the program here

http://www.powertabs.net - Look for songs here

I like this site too for lessons

http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/not ... /index.php

good luck with your playing...practice practice practice!!

Practice: I'm practicing the guitar at least an hour every day, going back and forth between chords. Also playing "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" at the end of the practice, trying to get timing down.

I never thought about trying new strings, but I'll look into it when I have more of a disposable income. And THANK YOU for the sites.. all bookmarked and being read.

Just if anyone feels like it..

Could someone make an .mp3 (or whatever) of themselves playing the song "Piano Man" on an accoustic, so I can get an idea of the strumming patterns and such that I need to use? If ya'll feel like it, anyway?

Some tabs are here http://www.guitaretab.com/b/billy-joel/22637.html if you want to use them.