Trying to play

[Jay!]

Prologue:

Two things happened recently:

1. For xmas, by bro-in-law got a acoustic/electric combo guitar and amp. This is in addition to the electric bass he already had.

2. I got him re-hooked on Weezer. In particular, I drilled the song Jaime into him every time he got in my car.

Story:

So I got home the other day and heard him playing the guitar from the back of the house, in my room (the only room w/ internet access.) I recognized it as Jaime right away, but it sounded like crap. The tabs he found online were WAY wrong.

I got online with him over my shoulder and we found a few other versions of the sone that random people had tabbed-out, until we found one that was halfway decent. I printed it out for him.

On the same page, I found a link to bass tabs for the same song. So I printed those, too, and went and grabbed his bass and other amp.

Now after about 3 hours of sloppy rockin', several fits of laughing at ourselves and one noise complaint from our neighbors, we can play the song, save for the guitar solo (because we haven't figured it out yet) and bass solos (because I can't play it fast enough.)

Of course, I'm not going to say I can play the bass, because I can't. I'm pretty much tone deaf and I have shitty rhythm. What I can do is remember a pattern and count to four a lot. Maybe after this, we'll tackle another Weezer song...


Is this how you learn to play an instrument?

[Amish_kid]

lessons work better than trying to teach yourself

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Oh yeah lessons are the way to go. Although a good friend of mine taught himself to play guitar the same way you are. He picked up a guitar and mimicked whatever he was listening to. From there on in he wrote his own songs and shit. Now, he wasn't the greatest guitarist and he can't read music, but thats how he learned.

[Rbraczyk]

Lessons mos def.

[chevydrummer76]

I took lessons for a while for a while for drums...but now i'm on my own for the time being

i've been teaching myself guitar for the past 6 months...

[dantheman00114]

i tried to teach myself guitar, but wasn't getting very far. i do really want to get started though. i get like ansy and stuff when i hear a really good song. like i just wanna go play it myself.

[-Davo]

I learned the basic theory, and chord progression, I only did half way through the "intermediate" guitar book, I quit in year 7 to learn Tenor Sax. I picked up guitar again 1 year later, and with in 6 months I had learned a few offspring and Metallica songs.
With an easy 3-4 hours PER DAY practice, I can pretty much play what I want, I taught my self everything from Tapping to harmonics, over 7 years I went from strugling on "Nothing Else Matters" to polishing up "For the love of god" in just 1 week.

[/brag].

You learn to play how ever is comfortable, if it teaches you to dicipline your mind and hands into learning it, then it's working.

[kublah]

Lessons are probably the best way for most people to start, but not everyone. I went to college with a guy who played the piano better than anybody I've ever known, but was completely self taught and could barely even read music.

Teaching yourself might be the best way to really develop your own style. I bet Jimi Hendrix never took lessons.

[raysoh8]

story- I have a friend, he taught himself how to play his sisters guitar which she bought for a piece of furniture, he taught himself how to play smoke on the water, fade to black, and some other songs. Today i went to his house and tuned his guitar, now he cant play anything.

Moral of the story- get lessons.

Also, this is how i learn- www.guitar-pro.com and www.mysongbook.com