I start taking guitar lessons next Tuesday! I know that’s not relevant or substantive, but I’m damn excited.
I had my first lesson on January 8, 2006. I Don’t take lessons anymore though.
Trust me, if you love guitar, you remember the landmarks.
Have a good first lesson! Don’t ask how to play any Zeppelin.
@g00dm0urning: The first year is usually pretty easy to practice. It’s what comes after that shows if you really like to play. So far I have 5 years, going strong. Still loving every second of it.
Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was 15, and I’m 24 now. I can’t say I’m quite as obsessed with it as I used to be, but I keep it up. The main pleasure has gone from just fucking around to making music in a band. But playing around with different tones is still a guilty pleasure.
My first lesson was pretty brutal. I’ve been doing damn near everything wrong, and I’ve to essentially start from scratch. No more baseball bat grip for me (but what if I want to play a D chord fast and sloppy?) Oh well.
Heh, I had a similar experience at the beginning of this year, it’s definitely worth it to learn proper technique though, so stick with it.
Don’t feel too bad. Paul Gilbert started out playing everything on one string and using up-picking exclusively.
Odd, though, that the teacher would say no to the baseball bat grip. Many guitarists hold the neck that way, and it lends itself well to open-position chords and the B.B. King “bee sting” vibrato.
I actually started out with the thumb-on-the-back grip, the way classical guitarists do it. I didn’t know how to hold the neck and didn’t have anyone to tell me any different, so I copied the way I saw Eddie hold his guitar in pictures. I didn’t realize he did it specifically to maximize the spread of his hand.
I don’t have a specific preference as to how I grip my neck. If I play in a standard tuning or if I’m sweeping or alt-picking - really anything that requires dexterity - I play with my thumb on the back of the neck.
If I’m playing in a dropped tuning, cranking out some sludgy doom-type of shit, I’ll switch back and forth between ‘thumb on back’ or ‘wrap-around’. Just depends on whatever is the most comfy for the chord.
I figured while I’m under his tutelage, I’d humor him and do the thumb-on-the-back grip. I’d seen all my favorite guitarists hold the guitar baseball bat style, so naturally I emulated that (it also felt a lot more comfortable than thumb-on-back). Now, I’m having trouble comfortably fretting an open C chord.
Yeah, if you’re gonna play open chords, you generally won’t need the extra reach that you get out of ‘thumb-on-back’. If you’re looking to play like John Petrucci, then the baseball-bat grip won’t cut it.
But there’s a happy medium there. Look at Slash. He isn’t the most technically proficient guitarist in the world, but he’s still my all-time fav. Look at where he puts his thumb. It doesn’t quite wrap around… Looks pretty comfy, IMO.
I say play the best you can however it feels the most comfortable for you. And remember that guys that teach guitar lessons can only teach you THEIR way of doing things. And that might not ever mean shit to you. So, do it your way. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I don’t care what anybody says. Django Reinhardt would have lol’d big time, and nobody is ever going to doubt his skills.
I have small girl hands so the baseball bat grip doesn’t really cut it for me as I find it more comfortable and easier to play with the thumb on back. I think it’s personal preference, just as long as it doesn’t make your playing sloppy.
I’ll do behind the neck for shred-ish stuff, but slower, bluesy playing requires me to use the baseball grip so I can do large bends. Took me a while to get used to bending with my wrist as opposed to my fingers though.
edit (if anyone cares to read): The band I joined a couple weeks ago is doing amazing things for my guitar playing abilities. It’s been forcing me to learn new things, play on time, write music at a pace I never would have accomplished by myself. As for the band itself we’ve got 3 solid songs down so far (the other members are pretty experienced at gigging/writing) and once we get a good setlist down we’ve got a few places for gigging . I’ve never gigged before so I’m a bit nervous. 
I’ve been a pretty inactive guitar player for the roughly-4 years I’ve had an electric, but I’m still playing on some ass-end Ibanez and I’m getting tired of it lol. I need to invest in something with a thinner neck. I dunno if that’d be the best choice since I’m taking up goregrind but I just need something that feels good.
I started playing again after months of my guitar just laying around, and to get back into the spirit I got myself an EH Metal Muff. It’s so awesome! Fucking the sickest scoops I’ve ever heard. It’s seriously like… mind-vacuum status when it comes to drowning out the mids. And the Top Boost switch is just icing on the cake. 80 bucks well spent.
I play with thumb on back of neck, but when I get to the higher register, my thumb goes over the neck… and when I bend my thumb goes over automatically so that my wrist and bend the note.
You must have a G Ibanez or something. Ibanez are known for having the thinnest necks but their cheap G guitars have huge necks. High end Ibanez have wideeeeeeee necks that are super thin.
Guitar ID of the lead?
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Anyway. Fuckkkkkkkkk. A year later and I still haven’t amassed enough cash flow to get me a decent starter pickup. All I can think about is playing Guitar lately. I couldn’t play for shit, but I tool aroudn with my friends Acoustic all the time and its crack
Fender Stratocaster.
Ah its a Strat.
I thought I was pretty good at identifying those. I guess not.
I was thinking definitely something among the lines of Fender Jaguar
just found an old acoustic guitar in the closet. mostly been playing E F notes. thank god for this thread i will end up playing Panteras “walk” no matter what. Or twinkle twinkle little star, whichever s better.
Thats awesome dude.
It would be so cool if I could find a random bass Guitar or anything at this point.
They need an adopt a guitar foundation or something