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Joined:
November 2015
Posts: 20
| At the tender age of 65 I have decided I will learn to play the guitar. My new Celebrity Elite arrived yesterday. I have tuned it and am ready to go! Okay! I KNOW that face-to-face lessons with a good teacher/mentor are the best. And, I fully intend, as time goes by and I actually HAVE the time and funds, to get with a local teacher or two, take some lessons, or at least have a few sessions during which bad habits I'm developing might be corrected. But, for the meantime I need to do this on my own online, and I'm hoping a few of you Ovation-people will have availed yourselves of online instruction and be able to make suggestions / recommendations. I stumbled on Tomas Michaud http://www.tomasmichaud.com/ which sounds very complete and time-tested and then, googling around, there is Jamplay http://www.jamplay.com/ which on everyone's "best of" list. I will welcome all thoughts! Thank you. Jim in Maine |
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Joined:
November 2009
Posts: 152
Location: Corpus Christi, TX | Try yourguitarsage.com and justinsandercoe.com. Both have a ton of free content from beginners to advanced. They are both on youtube so search for them there. Also just search for beginners guitar lessons on youtube, you'll have plenty to keep you busy for hours on end. Also look for some steve stine stuff on you tube - great teacher. |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | Tom owns a music store in Alameda California. He sold me my first Ovations 32 years ago (Preacher, then upgraded to UKII). Actually, he let me work part of it off unloading shipments when they came in and helping around the store. A very good man... I didn't take lessons from him though. I took lessons from one of the teachers at the store named Dennis. I do know that everyone followed a teaching methodology from Yamaha. At first Yamaha used to be in the original name of the store until they were told they couldn't do that. The name changed to Starland Music I think.
Edited by Damon67 2015-12-05 1:07 PM
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Joined:
June 2012
Posts: 2320
Location: Pueblo West, CO | Since no one else has mentioned this, I will.
One thing that will really help out as you embark on your musical endeavor is to make sure your guitar is set up for easy playing. Unless you bought the guitar used and the previous owner had it already set up, then it'll need to be done. There's nothing more discouraging to a new player than a hard-to-play guitar that hurts their fingers to fret the strings.
While this is something you could do yourself, you'd be better off at this point taking to a local luthier and paying him to do it for you. Cost for a good set up should be somewhere around $30 to $50.
What they'd do is to make sure the action (string height off the fretboard) is correct and that the neck has proper relief. (bowing so the strings don't buzz on the frets)
Dan |
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Joined:
June 2012
Posts: 2320
Location: Pueblo West, CO | I like this guy's lessons.
http://www.licknriff.com/ |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Justin Sandercoe from Down-under has a bunch of good lessons.
YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe/playlists
Search around his channel...
And website... http://www.justinguitar.com/
They are Free, but he accepts Thank You gifts.
I learned a lot from this guy... I need to get back to it. 
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3614
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | What kind of ice cream do you like? There are literally thousands of videos & different approaches. The issue is, no pain, no gain. Given, we are "creatures-of-habit", you only get better, with repetition. So, pick-your-poison, but you gotta pick, & keep pickin'! And, the more you do it with other folks, the better. We are social critters, too. |
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Joined:
November 2015
Posts: 20
| Thank you all! I'm really enjoying membership here in the "Fan Club".
I'm leaning toward Tom Michaud and Starland Music. He does seem to have an organized "system" which might help to keep me on track. Though, before I plonk down my $$$$ I'm going to have a look at the above suggestions.
I'm looking forward to the ending of the pain, "I have blisters on my fingers!"
Jim |
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Joined:
June 2012
Posts: 2320
Location: Pueblo West, CO | Three words on finger pain: Guitar set up. And, three more: Extra Light Strings. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | And eventually those blisters will turn into callouses, but people our age tend to also have to deal with stiff joints and arthritis. After struggling with trying to fret the low E string with my thumb, I realized that my thumb just doesn't bend to a 90 degree angle like most people's. I lost my range of motion in my left wrist when I broke it and had a plate installed, but I never realized I lacked the full range of motion in my thumb. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Matt Smith. He's in Austin Texas, don't know where you are. Matt can do things online. Skype, FaceTime, etc. he has a section in the forum listings here. Worth checking out. By all means find a local guy too but Matt is a good start. Learn G, C, and D and find a local bluegrass jam. Usually not the greatest music in the world but it will get you used to playing with others, help you with your time and changing quickly from one chord to another Sometimes there is a fourth chord but don't worry about that, Moody hasn't learned that one yet either and he's been playing for a long time. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I always tell my beginning students to play for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, but do it three or four times a day. Withing a week or two you will have callouses instead of blisters. Not only does it work well for the fingertips, but it will reinforce what you are learning. If you play once a day your mind and your muscle memory will forget any gains you made the day before.
And yes, find a jam session to sit in on. You won't be able to keep up at first but just watch one guy's fingers and try to make those changes. Don't feel shy about it either. Usually there are enough guitars being played that no one can hear your mistakes, and you'll take home some new songs to practice too. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | Stephen t28 on this forum introduced me to Pete Huttlinger, who does fingerpicking instruction videos for Homespun Tapes. If you are into that sort of thing, he is very good and each dvd comes with tabbed music. I probably have 6 of his videos, although I've only really studied about half of the lessons on them. They might be too advanced for a beginner. There are also a bunch of Homespun Tapes by various other instructors of other genres that might be more basic. I never did too well with the books or online lessons. I spent too much time sorting through all the bad ones before I found one that was decent. Justin Sandercoe is good, but sometimes talks a bit too much for me. He might also be above the beginner level, but I typically find his stuff when I'm searching for a particular song. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5330
Location: Cicero, NY | Lessons aside (because you already know that that's probably the best and quickest way to get a solid foundation but also the costliest), I never learned half as much from tapes, dvd's, YouTube, online vids, yada, yada, yada, as I did from actually sitting in front of someone who could play and was willing to give me a little lesson here and there. As others mentioned, find a jam session or even one guy who plays, buy him a soda, a beer, or whatever he needs and work with him. Those other things can be ok and playing everyday to get your fingers moving is critical but one on one is really where it's at. Then have fun. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | I agree with Weaser, but just this once. The problem for me has been finding anyone who will jam with me on a regular basis. I meet plenty of old guys with similar tastes in music, but getting together never happens. Maybe it's the small town or maybe it's just that there aren't as many people my age that are still around. Most of my friends are retired, but they seem to be busier than I am and out of town a lot more. I spent a lot of time putting together a song book for a friend, but before we really started he ruined his eardrums scuba diving and quit playing. I think I've actually jammed more at OFC gatherings than I have any other times. Hence, Pete Huttlinger is my best bud. Even my guitar teacher is a bit too young. He's not too fond of the stuff I like, but he tries. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | To second what Beal said...
I actually owned a guitar in the 70's.
My joke was that I knew enough to sit in the pot circle... Four Chords.
And like Beal said... G, C, D and one other one. Either Em or Am.
Yeah, you need Em to play Locomotive Breath, and Am to play Knockin' on Heaven's Door. 
That will cover about a 1000 songs.
3 chords 30 songs
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January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Mark in Boise - 2015-12-07 5:49 PM
I agree with Weaser, but just this once.
Great...I just got a group message from Weaser: "SOMEONE AGREED WITH ME! SOMEONE AGREED WITH ME!!!"
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5330
Location: Cicero, NY | YES! Yeesssss.... It's happened. The streak is broken! Now I can drop the superstitions and turn my hat back around, walk forwards across the street and FINALLY give Giambi back this gold thong (look it up)! Hope he forgives that small burrito indiscretion. You were all present so there's no denying it and I will not accept any form of "duress" either.
You may now return to the original thread topic. Thank you. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | I was afraid that would happen, so I take back my agreement with Weaser. I had a weak moment after the one time he said something that made sense. I didn't realize that he was so desperate, but after this last post we can all see why. |
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Joined:
August 2011
Posts: 887
Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | I would jam with Mark on a regular basis if he were in the valley of paradise. Gotta be old stuff though. Me stuck in the 60's! |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12758
Location: Boise, Idaho | You're as close as anyone. I drove through your beautiful canyon country and toured most of the national parks around the first of October. I thought about trying to find you, but I didn't think the 3 people I was traveling with would appreciate a change in their schedule.
Personally, I'm pretty much stuck in the 70s, when I started playing guitar. |
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Joined:
December 2015
Posts: 20
Location: Castle Rock, CO | Hi, I'm going to add my voice to those who have recommended Justin Sandercoe. His website is justinguitar.com. Check out his lesson list. He covers everything from how to hold and tune a guitar to learning each chord shape, to playing rhythm and lead to some pretty advanced applied music theory. Each lesson is presented in both text/diagram form and video form. He also has a large section where you can download blank score/tab sheets and chord charts. His video lessons are well executed and entertaining as well.
I've been playing guitar for many years and I still find myself turning to Justin's website for learning new stuff or refreshing old techniques. Give it a try. G'luck! |
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Joined:
July 2014
Posts: 154
Location: Canberra, Australia | Another +1 for justinguitar.com.
I only picked up a guitar twnety one months ago after a couple of decades of wishing I could play and used Justin's stuff to get started. While I haven't religiously followed his whole course, I used it to get to a point where I was comfortable enough to branch on my own.
I also have to acknowledge a couple of other things that helped me as a beginner: - Joining a jam group for a while. It was predominately a bluegrass group, which isn't my cup of tea at all, but I enjoyed it for a while and playing simple songs gave me a good leg up. After about a year, I finally decided that it wasn't for me and have since dropped out, but it did help my confidence levels and kept me inspired enough to keep practicing so I could keep up with the group.
- Practicing EVERY day, even if it's only for a few minutes. The more I did this, the more hooked I got.
- Discovering ki ho'alu (or Hawaiian Slack Key), which got me completely hooked from the moment I heard it. It's a fingerstyle using alternate tunings, so it's like learning a different instrument at times, but I think it's definitely helped me come along after than I might have done otherwise.
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Beginner Needs Online Lessons Recommendations