How to prep for guitar lessons?

jck: How to prep for guitar lessons?
I’m a long-term fan of the guitar and piano and have finally been able to sign up for guitar lessons at school. My friend has offered to help me with the guitar. I don’t want to waste his time with the basics but I also dont’ want to learn the fundamentals wrong. I’ve never held a guitar and I’m not sure if the new teacher teachs notes or tabs. I understand how to read notes and I get the idea behind tabs but besides that, I’m completely in the dark.Any tips or suggestions are more than welcome! Thanks!

Answers and Views:

Answer by Steelhead
I’d concentrate on chords if it was me learning again…

Answer by Moth
Get into the mindset that you will need to practice like 3 hours a day. Also, you will most definitely get blisters.

Answer by bebopolis
learn your open chords. so E, D, C, A, Am, Em, Dm, G and barre chords. which are the shapes of the open chords just moved up. every scale or chord pattern can be transposed to a different key with a fret shift. also, do some chromatic exercises.

try ultimate-guitar.com for any tabs or chords or scales or tips too.

Answer by cconsaul
You are better off waiting for the teacher to answer many of your questions for the following reasons:

1. I have no idea if you are planning on learning fingerstyle classical, rock with a plectrum or pick, Jazz, Folk, or a combination of these styles.

2. I don’t know what style of guitar you have. Is it acoustic, electric, does it have steel strings or nylon, are your fingers and arms long enough to play in the traditional style or are you going to have to modify your approach based on your hand size and body type.

3. Will what I share with you be in conflict with what your teacher recommends?

You can begin by pressing the fingertips on your left hand, just above (toward the tuning pegs) the frets. Pluck the string after you get a good firm grip, and see if you get a clear tone. Start with the first fret (first finger) second fret (second finger) third fret (third finger fourth fret (fourth finger) up and down until you get a good clear sound from all four frets. Notice that your hand has to be perpendicular (more or less straight across) for your pinky (fourth finger) to get a good grip. It will also help if you curve your fingers and attack the fingerboard from above. The arch is always stronger than the flat approach. You should be able to look down at your left hand and see a tunnel.

On your right hand (only if you are interested in fingerstyle) put your thumb on the sixth string. Put your first finger on the third string. Put your second finger on the second string and your third finger on the first string. Play back and forth, Thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 Thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 – P, I, M, A, M, I – P, I, M, A, M, I

While you are doing this. Take your left hand and start doing the first exercise on the second string !, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 Very slowly at first. Let two or even three repetitions of the right hand go by before you change fingers. Then let one repetition go by. Build up in speed gradually as the process becomes more fluid. This is an excellent warm up and can eventually be done without even thinking about it. It will also help you build up callouses so you can practice longer. When yo begin, you should only practice for about five minutes at a time, several times a day. As your endurance builds up, increase the amount of time you play at each sitting, and decrease the number of times you pick up the guitar (if you have to)

Let me know if you need more, but check with your teacher first. I don’t want to get in the way.

Answer by wise1
Your thinking too much.

First off, you have knowledge of standard music notation and music theory!!!, you are way ahead of 95% of people who “play” guitar. No worries!

Second, Tab is just a visual representation of the guitar strings (low E/ the fattest strung on the bottom). Read it from left to right, the numbers just tell you where to press, which string when, in what order. No duration is given, it’s just a road map that people practice to learn to play their favorite songs. No music theory involved. Again, NO WORRIES, you are still way ahead.

Don’t over think it. You know much more than other people who are starting out. Just enjoy it. The hardest thing will be getting your fingers used to pressing the strings. Don’t worry about it, you’ll discover the simple things faster than the others, and grasp the more complex things in a way that will make the others dizzy.

The rock world is so full of cheats anyway. Power chords and drop tunings make the guitar so stupid easy that any 5 year old could be a super star. So many people use them and don’t understand the theory of how it works. What’s it matter, it still looks and sounds wicked awesome!!!>sarcasm<

Rock on!