I have been playing my acoustic guitar for about eight years(when I have time).

I know I wil not be a professional guitar player. Anyway, I have trouble with most of the chords. Any tips. I will be taking classes again, but we all know scool/college is not the best teacher. I am happy that I read music. I wish I could play by ear and learn to play all the chords.

[Edited 8/24/10 12:58pm]

zaza said:

Practice different chord progressions. Try to play some easy songs (for example some of The Beatles). And check out some youtube videos for beginners.

Thanks. I have to buy different books also. The one I was using from the class I took sucks. The teacher basically did not teach the class anything. He just told us to follow the lessons in the book. Then he tells me, that I am not a musician. Yeah! that is why I took the class. This teacher has a Ph.D from Yale, I do not think it is for music.

Dalia11 said:

I have been playing my acoustic guitar for about eight years(when I have time).

I know I wil not be a professional guitar player. Anyway, I have trouble with most of the chords. Any tips. I will be taking classes again, but we all know scool/college is not the best teacher. I am happy that I read music. I wish I could play by ear and learn to play all the chords.

Playing for 8 years. . . .

Your aren't practicing enough and your finger strength isn't what it should be? If you practice at least 15 mintues a day after 8 years I would think chords C, D, A, G F, E & F shouldn't be that much of problem.

Make sure your guitar is properly set-up and your frets level even. The other thing is you should consider string spacing and scale length. It's common these days for acoustic guitars scale length to be on average 25.5 . . . 25.4 or 24.9 may be more comfortable for you to play. Also, make sure your your nails on your fretting hand are cut/low so don't interfer/touch the frets.

Other than that I think Zaza is correct, start off with some easy chord progression and easy songs with open chords Acoustic Guitar Magazine in recent years has done a fine job of having 1 or 2 songs each month in their magazine with those basic chords with video and/or audio so you can hear how the song should be played and sound. My rule of thumb is still, I don't move on to another chord until I can play that chord cleanly, clearly, and smoothly . . . remember take it slow.

http://www.acousticguitar...s-620.aspx

[Edited 8/29/10 17:36pm]

TD3 said:

Dalia11 said:

I have been playing my acoustic guitar for about eight years(when I have time).

I know I wil not be a professional guitar player. Anyway, I have trouble with most of the chords. Any tips. I will be taking classes again, but we all know scool/college is not the best teacher. I am happy that I read music. I wish I could play by ear and learn to play all the chords.

Playing for 8 years. . . .

Your aren't practicing enough and your finger strength isn't what it should be? If you practice at least 15 mintues a day after 8 years I would think chords C, D, A, G F, E & F shouldn't be that much of problem.

Thank you for the information. That is true, I have not practiced enough with the chords. I mostly just practiced reading the notes/ playing the strings.

Make sure your guitar is properly set-up and your frets level even. The other thing is you should consider string spacing and scale length. It's common these days for acoustic guitars scale length to be on average 25.5 . . . 25.4 or 24.9 may be more comfortable for you to play. Also, make sure your your nails on your fretting hand are cut/low so don't interfer/touch the frets.

Other than that I think Zaza is correct, start off with some easy chord progression and easy songs with open chords Acoustic Guitar Magazine in recent years has done a fine job of having 1 or 2 songs each month in their magazine with those basic chords with video and/or audio so you can hear how the song should be played and sound. My rule of thumb is still, I don't move on to another chord until I can play that chord cleanly, clearly, and smoothly . . . remember take it slow.

http://www.acousticguitar...s-620.aspx

[Edited 8/29/10 17:36pm]

Dalia11 that's understandable, practicing guitar that is. Life, work, and maybe family can make it hard to find the time to play. I must admit learning the chords and scales can become boring when what you really wanna to do is play. But practice your chords and scales but also learn to play some easy songs, it keeps you motivated and focused. When you select a new teacher ( your former appeared to be clueless) he or she can help with focus and structure your practice time. As I said, 15 minutes tops learning and practicing chords and at late in the evening practice learning to play a song -15 to 25 minutes tops at the beginning. Believe me you'll see improvement in about 3 months.

Basically how I learned is a I played what I liked.

And composing your own songs, helps reinforce what you learn,

because then the chords become a part of you...

best bet, is explore what you like.

The worst thing you can do is stop and start playing,

what happens on a psychological stand point, is what you learn never fully gets reinforced and never passes your short term memory subconscious.

While the 15 minutes a day is enough to learn.

Any good musician knows that in order to really get your chops up you HAVE to do long sessions,

This is called "Wood Shedding" In this time you don't stop playing your guitar no matter what. A good woodshed session runs from at least an hour to 12 hours. Depending on how obsessive you are. If I were you... I would try to do 15 mins, then pick one day out of the week to woodshed.

And don't think that when your woodshedding its just a bunch of acoustic exercises, on the contrary, best way to learn is by doing. I only spend a few mins doing that, and spend the rest of time playing or learning new songs, chords etc... Or just run of the milling fucking around on the guitar

An orger, a few years ago Beauhall once posted the best way to practice is when your mind is on other stuff, like watching T.V. etc... I started doing this and my skills really started to come together. What it does is that It teaches your mind how to handle playing, using second nature.

And the most important thing

HAVE FUN...

alot of people make it a mission to play an instrument, and fail because they make it a chorse and they don't have fun. you have to remember, that whether your playing a chord progression or just a series of simplistic melodies,

your playing music...

and you love music.

Good Luck

[Edited 9/2/10 1:44am]

If your aren't practicing for whatever reason it's best to start at a point that you can actually finish . . . . . follow through. In other words, don't set a goal too high you'll never reach it. Depending on what your goals are I would agree at some point you'll have to put in the time. It's not uncommon people learning how to play instrument start and stop; one of the issues seems to be focus and discipline. Start out a workable time limit and build from there. (IMHO)

TD3 said:

If your aren't practicing for whatever reason it's best to start at a point that you can actually finish . . . . . follow through. In other words, don't set a goal too high you'll never reach it. Depending on what your goals are I would agree at some point you'll have to put in the time. It's not uncommon people learning how to play instrument start and stop; one of the issues seems to be focus and discipline. Start out a workable time limit and build from there. (IMHO)

I also play a little piano, so I was spending more time with that than the guitar. I will be practicing more with my guitar. Thank you for your advice.

EmbattledWarrior said:

Basically how I learned is a I played what I liked.

And composing your own songs, helps reinforce what you learn,

because then the chords become a part of you...

best bet, is explore what you like.

The worst thing you can do is stop and start playing,

what happens on a psychological stand point, is what you learn never fully gets reinforced and never passes your short term memory subconscious.

While the 15 minutes a day is enough to learn.

Any good musician knows that in order to really get your chops up you HAVE to do long sessions,

This is called "Wood Shedding" In this time you don't stop playing your guitar no matter what. A good woodshed session runs from at least an hour to 12 hours. Depending on how obsessive you are. If I were you... I would try to do 15 mins, then pick one day out of the week to woodshed.

And don't think that when your woodshedding its just a bunch of acoustic exercises, on the contrary, best way to learn is by doing. I only spend a few mins doing that, and spend the rest of time playing or learning new songs, chords etc... Or just run of the milling fucking around on the guitar

An orger, a few years ago Beauhall once posted the best way to practice is when your mind is on other stuff, like watching T.V. etc... I started doing this and my skills really started to come together. What it does is that It teaches your mind how to handle playing, using second nature.

And the most important thing

HAVE FUN...

alot of people make it a mission to play an instrument, and fail because they make it a chorse and they don't have fun. you have to remember, that whether your playing a chord progression or just a series of simplistic melodies,

your playing music...

and you love music.

Good Luck

[Edited 9/2/10 1:44am]

That is true. And I get bored easy. The book the class was using was boring, so that explains my problem. At least I know the notes, scales, melody e.t.c. Now I just have to learn to play All the chords. As you say, I have to practice alot, everyday.

Thank you for your time and great comments.

Dalia11 said:

EmbattledWarrior said:

Basically how I learned is a I played what I liked.

And composing your own songs, helps reinforce what you learn,

because then the chords become a part of you...

best bet, is explore what you like.

The worst thing you can do is stop and start playing,

what happens on a psychological stand point, is what you learn never fully gets reinforced and never passes your short term memory subconscious.

While the 15 minutes a day is enough to learn.

Any good musician knows that in order to really get your chops up you HAVE to do long sessions,

This is called "Wood Shedding" In this time you don't stop playing your guitar no matter what. A good woodshed session runs from at least an hour to 12 hours. Depending on how obsessive you are. If I were you... I would try to do 15 mins, then pick one day out of the week to woodshed.

And don't think that when your woodshedding its just a bunch of acoustic exercises, on the contrary, best way to learn is by doing. I only spend a few mins doing that, and spend the rest of time playing or learning new songs, chords etc... Or just run of the milling fucking around on the guitar

An orger, a few years ago Beauhall once posted the best way to practice is when your mind is on other stuff, like watching T.V. etc... I started doing this and my skills really started to come together. What it does is that It teaches your mind how to handle playing, using second nature.

And the most important thing

HAVE FUN...

alot of people make it a mission to play an instrument, and fail because they make it a chorse and they don't have fun. you have to remember, that whether your playing a chord progression or just a series of simplistic melodies,

your playing music...

and you love music.

Good Luck

[Edited 9/2/10 1:44am]

That is true. And I get bored easy. The book the class was using was boring, so that explains my problem. At least I know the notes, scales, melody e.t.c. Now I just have to learn to play All the chords. As you say, I have to practice alot, everyday.

Thank you for your time and great comments.

I will be buying some DVDS on how to play the guitar/tips from Esteban. He is often on the home shopping network(HSN). He got his first guitar at age 8. He taught himself to play. He later studied with legendary classical guitarist, Andres Segovia in Spain. He sells beautiful, high quality guitars at affordable prices. I will be buying a black electric guitar soon from his website. His website is: www.estebanmusic.com

Did anyone buy guitars or videos from Esteban ?