A little help here please!

[gaggots]

Hello everyone,

ok I m not sure if this question belongs here.but anyhow....
I'm a beginner at the electric guitar.

I was just wondering, when you guys, or guitarists whom you know, play cover songs. Do you look for the tab/chords of the songs online, sight read musical notations, or play by ear?? Play by ear meaning listening and figuring it out slowly on the guitar.

Is it important to know the neck of the guitar very well in order to play guitar solos? Lastly, do you have any learning tips for me, since I m just starting out, and I've no idea how to be great at the electric guitar.

thank you so much all of you! Merry Christmas and God Bless you.

 

[Osensei]

Re: A little help here please!

Hello everyone,
Do you look for the tab/chords of the songs online, sight read musical notations, or play by ear?? Play by ear meaning listening and figuring it out slowly on the guitar.

I used to do the play by ear thing to learn all of my tunes. Of course I was young, had no money, and the personal computer had not been invented yet let alone the internet. Tabs and fakebooks cost money and as a youth I was plain broke!

Without fail, I would come across some sheet music of some tune I had learned. The sheet music would always reveal that I had missed something important by trying to figure out the tune purely by ear. Once I played what was on the sheet music, it would sound so much better as the subtle aspects of the tune would come out! So if you can get your hands on the sheet music , fakebook or tabs then I think you'll have a better chance of sounding like "The real deal"!

Is it important to know the neck of the guitar very well in order to play guitar solos? Lastly, do you have any learning tips for me, since I m just starting out, and I've no idea how to be great at the electric guitar.

thank you so much all of you! Merry Christmas and God Bless you.

The neck of the guitar is a beast! I envy pianists! Their patterns are so plain to see. Not so with the guitar! One note is on the white dot then move up a few octaves or change positions and now its on black! LOL! The neck is asymetrical like that! Consequently, you'll find many guitar players that simply visualize patterns on their necks that they learned from playing scales. They rely more on these patterns than having knowledge of where the notes actually fall on the neck. Ask em to finger a random note on the neck and then name that note and it might take em a second to figure out which note they have their finger on.

Look, learning to play patterns rather than actually knowing every note on the fretboard is OK, I guess. That method works well for a lot of people I suppose. But it's hell trying to learn to sight read that way. I must say however, that a player that knows every note on the fretboard has a tremendous advantage purely from a "knowledge" perspective. So the short answer is to do both!

Learning by pattern will get you playing much sooner IMHO. Plus you have to learn all of your scales, modes, arpeggios and chords anyway. So there is really no way to avoid patterns on the guitar or any instrument for that matter! :chairfall But at some point it is crucial to know the neck intimately!

 

[LesStrat]

Re: A little help here please!

Learn to strum the chords of a "simple" song. Sing along.

Rinse and repeat.

Eventually you'll begin learning more complex tunes.

Enjoy.

BTW, welcome to the forum.

 

[gaggots]

Re: A little help here please!

thank you Osensei and LesStrat!
Osensei-- I will heed your advice and thanks for the enlightenment on my questions.