27 years old,,,,played as a teen and I need some serious advice from you fine gents.

[JMack]

OK,

The name is Jason and it seems like you have an unbeleivable site/forum here. There is some serious info here!

Well, at one time there were about 4 years leading up to 16 where I was playing guitar. But now that I am a little older I feel as if I aproached the whole thing completely wrong.

See, there was no better movie to me than "Cliff'em All", I was playing some serious power chords, all I played was power chords.

Now that I look back on it I feel as if I missed out and got locked into the whole power chord thing and never learned guitar. Not once did I practice scales, chords or anything. POWER CHORDS POWER CHORS POWER CHORDS! That was me. Now I am opening the door again and I dont want to limit myself to just one thing but rather learn things that will help me in general.

Well, here I am how many years later and I want to get back into playing. Am I wacked? I dont think so, I am a 27 but I still feel as I can learn and I am eager to do so.

What exercises can any of you recomend to a once again newbie? The though of being almost 30 keeps creeping on me saying that its too late to become any good at guitar now but I still want to jam out on one.

Went out bought a whole new rig. Got an Epiphone Les Paul Custom in black and gold and a Fender Champion amp which does what I want it to do.

Guys, I guess all I am looking for is a little direction and maybe some beginner tips and tricks. The online tutorials are great and all but I like talking with people and seeing what did and did not work for them.

Thank you all so much in advance.

Jason

[jaytee]

27 isnt old!

IM 27....hehe...and btw...not a gent.....

i cant teach you much cuz i SUCK! well at least i recognize it i guess :)

BUT...i want to tell you not to be so hard on yourself.....its never too late to learn....and youre never to old to jam!

--jt

[Jasper_e]

Yes, just keep on practicing and it'll come.

Jasper

[satch]

im new here to this site but had to respond i also fell into the power chord rut early on but i beleive that the most important part about learning guitar is to stay inspired. what ive done over the past 20yrs of playing is to always play along with your favorite songs,pick out a cool part you love and master only 1 small part of the song,with the help of tabs video good teachers etc... when you feel burned out move on to something else. you can always come back to it. stay inspired

[55'gibby]

27 is old... YIKES!!!! I'm 45 been playing for 35 years and still learn something almost everytime I play. My advise is to play as many different styles you can find, learn a song or two in each (even if you don't like that style). Then as your own style develops and you learn the songs you want to, those elements from other styles can give you a real boost. DON'T give up, just take it slow... jam with some freinds... listen to all different types of guitarists. Then you'll be able to create your style. oh yeah some on line lessons will be a big help

[satch]

excellent advice 55gibby, because different people excell in certain styles faster, some are naturally better at finger picking than others etc... this way you can try em all and decide from there or oops just naturally let your style decide.

[Coffee]

Hey Gibby, I know what you're talking about. Funny but at 42 seems that age now means nothing. I get along with almost everyone which to me means, I'm in everyones age group.

(Hey JT, take your own advice and ditch the "I suck" bit, I'll bet you do okay.)

The great jazz guitarist Howard Roberts said that most guitarists don't play the instrument, the instrument plays them. What he meant was that most learn a chord position and then simply slide it up and down the neck using that same position for every sixth over every ninth etc. Freedom comes with... THEORY.

If you just want to get a good start with understanding how chords are put together, get a general music theory book out of the library and read the section on chord theory. Don't go to deep, you'll get the idea really quickly. Then I'd recommend for a start, Mel Bay's Guitar Chords ISBN is 0871660903 Price is $5 US (at least the copy I have is). You can use the beginning of the book for the easier stuff but the payoff is the last 6 pages of the book which go over what they call modern rhythm chords. Walks you through several different chord forms showing you how to change them for your needs.

I don't know how deep you want to get but there's some great stuff out there to learn from. Howard Roberts put out a series of three books (cost me I think $ 75 US for the set) called the Guitar Compendium and his approach may be exactly what you're looking for. His method includes very practical information including scales, how they're used, how to construct your own chords and ditch the chord books, improvisation, and all in a way that the info can be applied to any style. They're great books and are full of excellent explanations.

The third book I'd recommend is Mel Bays complete book of Harmony, Theory and Voicing. This book will take anyone as far in chord theory as you can go and it is very heavy going. You must have a pretty firm grasp before you begin it. It starts out with drop 2 chord voicing and gives you four excellent forms to build from but takes you very deep very quickly starting with the need to be able to read the top note in the chord in standard notation plus the shorthand chord name, and quickly be able to decide which inversion is being used from this information. Page 10 already has you working with chord forms such as A7#5(b9). Like I say, it moves quickly.

Good luck man, It'll come back quick.

[jaytee]

hey coffee :)

no its true..i DO suck....but im okay with it :)

you know....about 8 years ago i had this friend who thought he was a guitar god...he was...well he was actually pretty bad...lol....but he talked alot...seems he was satisfied with what he was doing...ok for him.....but id kinda rather step back and say..."well i need improvement or work or just plain old basic knowledge about this and this and this..." than tell everyone im wonderful but really have nothing to say....you know? i wouldnt want to overlook my own weaknesses and never improve....

ok...ill try to stop actually saying it...but....cant help the truth :)

--jt

[Coffee]

Sigh. Jaytee!!!

It's great to recognize when you need improvement, just look at my tag line at the end of this post. We all need improvement. But when it comes down to it, I know that you have your strengths or you would have given up long ago. All I'm saying is, when someone hears you, (granted I haven't), and they say that was really great, Do not say "I suck", say "thanks" and smile that winning smile of yours (okay I haven't seen your smile either). Both of you will be happy about it.

[jaytee]

oh...ok :) (theres a smile for you...lol)

how bout if it say "im really not very good" or " i have alot to learn"...would that make you feel better? not that i would ever make anyone listen to me .....not right now anyhow...lol...

i suppose you are right...if i was at a total stalemate i would have given up.....seein as it has been...oh...a year and a half since i bought my guitar....i just feel like im going very slow....esp when i see kids say they have only played 4 months and they ask some question that im currently ignoring cuz it seems like alot of work....i know they have alot more time than i do to practice and that makes a big difference...but some of them dont have a teacher either! i dunno....ill just keep at it till i get it right... :)

--jt

[Coffee]

;) Right back atcha

[smfulla]

hey jaytee
I've been playing for about 4 years now
I remember when I had been playing for a year, I felt exactly the way you do, and I still do. I felt like there is soooo much to learn and that I'll never be able to learn a song or master a technique. But honestly, just wait about one more month and you'll find that you've already learnt something new. An easier way of doing things or just a new lick.

[treyphish]

wow! you sound just like me i'm 27 too same situation with the pwer chords and such.......the one thing that helped me was getting into the band phish......they changed the way i look at music and how i play.....now there is nothing better than getting into a long groove and there chord changes have helped me great deal. Now i understand phish isnt for everyone it seriously took me 6 months to really get what the hell they were doing, but those of you who know understand how powerful there music is.Listen and listen carefully and watch how much better your playing becomes. good luck brother.