Beginning Student

[leroylee68848]

Hello. I stumbled on this site after Dave N. suggested that I search the web for videos on learning to play guitar. I am 58 years old and have never learned to play an instrument. I am taking some lessons but we seem to focus on reading music and playing notes - which is great - but I sort of want to be able to play Midas Shadow before I die. So any suggestions on getting up to speed quickly and song suggestions to start practicing would be great. I have signed up for target lite. I have also purchased a ukulele and take that with me when I travel. It is great fun although I &$@# at that too!

[AndyT]

Never heard it, but a quick listen puts it in Dm. Not too difficult if you don't mind a bit of improv in your music, but could be more difficult if you want it note for note.

[daryl]

Start with Horse With No Name

You'll be playing a complete song in one night.

[fjeanmur]

Hi!

I have to say that I haven't heard of that song either, but welcome to TG!

There are loads of great songs, and there are many, some of them easier ones, that are on Neil's list of "must try" for every guitar player. Off hand I can think of "I'd Love to Change the World" and "Dust in the Wind." I'm sure other people on the site can think of other titles from neil's list. If you are a beginner, beginner, there are great easier things as well. I know that if you're a member of Target Lite, you have to choose wisely each month. But Neil only puts up songs that even if they're easy, are packed with great techniques to learn. It's very hard to go wrong.

So good luck to you and if you're looking for some added encouragement, check out my thread on beginning older players which I posted today to encourage my husband to give the guitar a try. I got a lot of really good replies.

Jean

[willem]

There's always a reason that the button turns on "I want to play guitar", don't know why it came to me but I guess i heard "the house of the rising sun" around the campfire in my youth, so started of on that song,I think a good choice cos it has many chords out of the key C or in this case the key of Am.
chords Am-C-D-F-Em,,, damn, now that I wrote the chords down I confuse myself cos of the D chord,do I have the key right?

Later on I was glad I learned this song 'cos it made "Hallelujah" by Cohen a bit ease'r
goodluck

Willem

edit:well even on this moment this song(HOTRS) brought me some more understandings a bout keys and modes, the D chord confused me so I did some research and now I know the song has a combination of keys and you could say the D chord is borrowed!! Also the E7(Em was wrong),"borrowed" from an other key, all that switching you can call "modal interchange".

[AndyT]

Your best bet is to go to the Master Menu of lessons and choose songs that have a 1, 2, or 3 rating. Those are the beginner songs and the best place to start for you. Get about 10 of those down then go for the Acoustic Genius series.

[TGNesh]

Hi Leroy Lee, just wanna welcome you to TG and the forum!

I see you already had some good suggestions, I second 'Horse With No Name'.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions here whenever you bump into something.

Enjoy the journey!

Vanessa

[webtvdan]

I found Midas Shadow on tabs.ultimate-guitar.com. The song can be played with very easy “Box Chords” (meaning no Bar Chords).

Neil hasn’t done a lesson on it here yet.

The hardest chord in the song is “F”. Bb (B flat) is not a common chord, but easy to play.

You should easily be able to play Midas Shadow after 3 to 6 months of lessons.

I’m a firm believer in learning to read sheet music – however if you’re bored with your guitar instructor – find another. At a minimum he should teach you songs you want to play.

[BigBear]

Leroy- a big welcome to the site! As a new player "learning the business" is very important. But remember, this guitar thing is supposed to be fun!! If it isn't fun, if it doesn't draw you back, then you are doing something wrong.

I schedule "fun" into every practice session. I may be working on a technique or a song but the last few minutes of every practice session is just to play some songs. I play stuff I know and try to stay fresh on them.

At 58 (I'm 60) if it isn't fun why bother? Sometimes it's very easy to forget why we took up this amazing and frequently frustrating instrument!! TO have fun!!

Happy playing and cheers! :cheer:

[leroylee68848]

Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. After a few months, I am getting to the stage of actually learning songs. I have been working on the House of The Rising Sun. It is great to apeggiate! I think I just made up a word. I can bar an "F" easier than play a "G" Chord. Very tricky for me and I have tried it different ways. Fingers feel stronger now. Strumming still pretty bad. I chose Jorge Harrison's SOMETHING and Al's Year of the Cat for this months Target Lite. Something tells me it will take the whole year of the cat to get these two down, although I can play the hammer on part of TYOTC now - lol. I am learning the Ukulele at the same time - they sort of feed on one another. I really like the Uke and will be visiting the Ukulele Forum. Good Luck to all!