Totally new moron seeks advice on purchase - or should I?

GSMetal · Sea Monkey Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 12

OK, I'm 43 (soon to be 44) and while I like all sorts of music I have never really played an instrument. In fact, I'm a white guy who has trouble keeping any type of rhythm. Razz

Last week I'm listening to my iPod and Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me" comes on and suddenly I'm thinking..."hmm..maybe I could play that". The song after that is another Tom Petty song.."So you want to be a rock n roll star" (done by the Byrds I believe.)

A sign from above? Hmmm...maybe.

So now I'm thinking about buy a cheap electric guitar and amp and giving it a whirl. Any thoughts on whether or not I should buy, rent, or just forget about it. Any advice on what to buy or instructional DVDs etc?

Herb · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the forum! Very Happy

It is never too late to start. However, as we get older we don't seem to have as much spare time to devote to things. Learning to play is time consuming and takes lots of practice and hard work. Most of the things you will have to learn for the first year or so will be tedious and boring, so you really have to have the desire and fire in your heart to get past it. Think about how far you really want to go with it. If you just want to play some chords along with songs and do Christmas songs at home during the holidays, get a decent acoustic guitar to mess around with. If you want to really learn to play some rock and blues and learn some leads, don't start with cheap junk, you'll just get rid of it later at a loss when you get good stuff. You can pick up a Made in Mexico Stratocaster fairly cheap on ebay, from $200 to $400 usually, and a good used amp for about the same. I may sound kind of harsh, but it is the truth of the matter; and I would really hate to see a guy that works for a living throw away money. Hope I helped.

PunkStar · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject:

Well, for analysis, here are some instructions on how to play the song (which we guitarists call tab)

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/tom_petty/you_wreck_me_crd.htm

While I haven't heard the song, it looks pretty simple. The Tab could have been formatted better. But if you listen for the changes it will be fine.

Certainly, there is no good reason why you can't learn to play it. Your age and experience in music is irrelevant. Basically, if you can think and analyze a little, you can learn to play.

A teacher of some kind will always make your life easier. But I learned a lot of my rhythm skills from a book and was the top rhythm guitar player in my grade at school. Rhythm is the style you will want for playing this song. So in regard to what resources to get, try "Progressive Guitar Method, Rhythm". It's one of the few good books I can get my hands on where I live. I lent it one of my friends who is starting guitar, and she is doing pretty well with it.

What you want to learn is rhythm guitar. Learn chords, how to play them and how to put them together.

As for getting a guitar. Follow Herb's advice. If you plan to stick with it, shell out a bit of extra money and get something you like and won't replace quickly. If you don't know if you will stick with it, then get something a bit cheaper, better to be safe than sorry. You can upgrade later.

markm2553 · Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:56 am Post subject:

Welcome to the board!

The very best time to start playing was yesterday, but today will work! Cool

I'll be 42 this year, and I really just started playing a few years ago.

Now is one of the best times to learn, with the internet today you have all kinds of free tools to help you learn. I tried 20 years ago, but just couldn,t find chords for any music I liked, now that is not a problem at all! Learn to play the music you like to listen to, gone are the days of the Red River Valley, unless you like that kind of stuff...

ACfixer · Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:26 am Post subject:

Welcome, hey give it a shot. It took me until I was 37 to seriously pick up the guitar (almost 45 now) but I don't regret it that's for sure. That song is about as easy as they get chord-wise but the strum will give you fits for a little while till you get the hang of it... sort of a down-down-up down-down-up down-down kinda thing. It's a feel that will come with time, but you can just play it with a normal strum at first.

Four chords to learn according to that TAB. D A E and G. Easy-peasy man! You can do it. Cool

By the way, once you've learned those chords and how to smoothly change between them, you've learned 12,845 praise and worship songs. Wink

As far as a guitar goes, I'd personally get the mexican strat or tele like herb said. You can get the whole deal with an amp second hand for about $500. Anything cheaper and you'll probably regret it. If you go the acoustic route then spend as much as you can and get a solid wood top guitar. You'll probably have to spend north of $300 to do it.... not sure.

dzsefi · Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:10 am Post subject:

hi everyone,

I'm in the same situation as the subject of this topic Smile

I'm 19 years old, been playing classical (acoustic) guitar for 4 years, back in elementary school.I decided to get back on the practicing, this time with an electric instrument.
I'm pretty low on budget (at least compared to US standardss, since I live in Hungary), so I would like a decent but not too expensive hollowbody guitar.
After a couple of searches, I found two candidates:
- Stagg A300-VS Jazz series
- Johnson JH-440

both are about the same price, and I heard various comments on them. What do you guys say? I know the best buy would be a Gibson, Washbur and the like, but I can't afford it right now, and besides, I'm planning to practice and learn on it, not gigging.
Thanks in advance!

music4relief · Newbie Alert Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 4

Go for it dude! If you are having trouble keeping rhythm you should try a metronome.