I'm going to learn to play guitar at age 31. Help.

[JayTee]

Wilhelm, I'm looking at you.

I'm either going to buy an electric guitar or bass in a couple weeks. For sure. Always wanted to learn, I figure now is a good time.

What should I pick? I'd like to learn both, but is there an better progression? Like bass first then guitar? Or guitar then bass? Which is more fun and will not make me want to smash the guitar out of frustration, and not pure testosterone driven rock?

I'm also going to buy an electric drum set soon, but I can already play drums. But so long as I'm in an apartment I can't own the real thing

[Daisy]

bass is easier, but less satisfying unless you're in a band.

[Fetty APT]

Look up videos of victor Wooten playing amazing grace on the bass

I'm on my phone so I can't post cus I'm a fsggot

[JayTee]

bass is easier, but less satisfying unless you're in a band.

I want to be in a band eventually. I really want to join like a dad band type thing, cover band. Just for fun.

I want to learn both, but I've heard it both ways. Bass is easiest to learn, hardest to master. Guitar is harder to learn, but you never really "master" it because it offers so much freedom.

I think I'm going to start with bass, since there are fewer strings. I know nothing (Jon Snow) about notes and shit, so I think working my way from a 4 string bass to a 6 string guitar after I'm comfortable would be smart.

ALSO, I can play drums, so I think and have heard that bass and drums go hand in hand. I feel like it'll be a more natural learning experience because of my drum experience.

[JayTee]

Look up videos of victor Wooten playing amazing grace on the bass

I'm on my phone so I can't post cus I'm a fsggot

[Wilhelm]

It's just the freedom of divorce ringing in your ears.
Save yourself some time and money.
If you had the motivation/disicipline required to learn how to play guitar,
you would have done it already.

(Number of people over the past 2 years, who have talked about how they'd like me to teach them some guitar sometime: 36
Number of people over the past 2 years, who have bought a guitar, brought it over and sat down with me so I could show them some stuff: 1)

However, if we want to imagine that you won't give up after the 3rd time you try to play an F sharp minor,

Spoiler:

Heidi Huttunen5 months ago

how is that even physically possible.

haha

_____________

I'm either going to buy an electric guitar or bass in a couple weeks.

When we're talking about someone who isn't going off of raw, specific desire,
(someone who knows they fucking want to play the bassline from Tom Sawyer/someone who knows they want to be the new Eddie Van Halen)
electric guitar is the funnest. More fun increases the chances you'll stick with it.
You can explore low frequencies, mid-range frequencies and screaming high end frequencies,
play clean, crank up the distortion,
and wham all over with a whammy bar, or a slide

whereas with a bass, you can: play bass,
unless you get a fretless (difficult)
or one of those 8 string basses (expensive)
and bass is the funnest when you're part of the rhythm section for a band,
I would say.

This,

bass is easier, but less satisfying unless you're in a band.

I figure now is a good time.

Well, I guess that's a good point.

but is there an better progression?

Unfortunately, my feeling is that the best progression is,

- get an acoustic, steel strings, not nylon, learn how to tune it, change the strings and how to play a few chords by looking it up, at least D, C, G, E, A...and the minor version of each of those

- sit down with a song you want to be able to play, and try hard to figure out how to play it, just by trial and error, trying to play along, stopping the song and rewinding when you sound like shit playing along with it...until you don't sound like shit playing along with it,
and then, when you just can not make the guitar sound right, look up some tablature for the song, go: "OHHhhh..." and enjoy playing along with it and not sounding like shit, and then getting exciting about what else you could play along with!

- then get a cheap electric guitar and a shitty little amp

But it doesn't matter, that's just "ideal" in my mind.

Which is more fun and will not make me want to smash the guitar out of frustration

Electric Guitar
It is fun just to strike the low E string with one hand and let it sustain.
Go to 0:15 here:

...and see how any lobotomized pig-monkey can make an electric guitar sound like Satan's horse, for example.



If you'd like to be more than okay someday,
the best advice I can give across the internet,
is what my Dad told me when I was a kid,
which is,
USE YOUR PINKY.
Just from the start, when you look up a chord, try making it with your
middle finger
ring finger
pinky

instead of always making it with your
index finger
middle finger
ring finger

...and when you're making a chord with your index, middle and ring fingers,
try to slam your pinky down somewhere on any empty, neighboring frets where it sounds good.

It is like, it's better to teach a 3 year old how to speak English and Chinese,
than it is to teach a 40 year old English speaker, how to speak Chinese.
Just start out using your pinky all of the time.

See the guy's pinky at the very beginning of this:

All he's doing is playing a D chord, and then embellishing it with his pinky/middle finger,
by hammering his pinky down and lifting it back up while strumming a D chord,
while crappy people will just strum a D chord.
Start by learning how to play that song and you'll be forced to learn lots of basics.




Or, another good way to go is to say fuck everyone and just buy a guitar and start making up songs of your own.

[Erzengel]

[JayTee]

Yeah, so I reconsidered it when you said "what do you want to play".

I mean, I would give my left nut to be able to just sit around and shred Crazy Train. I'd say that's my goal, is to ultimately be able to play shit like that, or whatever. 80's rock, that's my goal. I want to cover and shred 80's rock and play with 90's stuff.

So I think maybe yeah, I'll have more fun with an electric guitar instead of bass, cause the day I can successfully play something even remotely resembling Crazy Train, I will feel like a god.

[Wilhelm]

P.S. - Beginner guitar-wise, I have played multiple Epiphone guitars (cheap) that sound just as good as, if not even better than, the expensive guitars they mimic (Gibson guitars).
and also, huge: If you buy a guitar, don't buy one from an asshole on Craig's List. Go to a guitar store and make sure to get it "set up" before taking it home.
That's where they make sure the frets don't buzz and that it's in-tune on the high notes as well as the low notes and that the space between the strings and the neck is right and stuff...
much more pleasant experience.

[Wilhelm]

Yeah, so I reconsidered it when you said "what do you want to play".

I mean, I would give my left nut to be able to just sit around and shred Crazy Train. I'd say that's my goal, is to ultimately be able to play shit like that, or whatever. 80's rock, that's my goal. I want to cover and shred 80's rock and play with 90's stuff.

So I think maybe yeah, I'll have more fun with an electric guitar instead of bass, cause the day I can successfully play something even remotely resembling Crazy Train, I will feel like a god.

This is very sad because I actually like to teach people to play Crazy Train.

the riff, not the solo, of course

I even stopped a busker downtown because he was playing it wrong and showed him how to play it correctly,
and his girlfriend thanked me, for correcting him, haha
(back when I was a drunk...no free lessons while sober)