Relatively New guy with new (old) D25 SB

[jjl1118]

Hi Everyone, I am relatively new been mostly posting a few posts and "chatted" a bit with Scratch and Guardman. Anyway, I'm truly a rookie (an older one at that) trying to learn to play guitar. Came across Guild and decided I liked the sound so I'd go on my journey to find one. Found this D 25 sunburst locally here in SoCal and just rec'd it yesterday. Assuming I was able to load the photos (not sure I did) it looks much better than the photos (not so dark) and sounds wonderful. In great shape.

About me, I am a rookie still learning how to play chords cleanly. Should have started when I was a teenager. But, I'm becoming inspired by listening to many of your posts of songs and the new Guild should also help me. Any pro pointers are greatly appreciated. Maybe some sites to visit that help me along. Of course, it would help if I had some rhythm and didn't suffer so much from OCD. :lol: Hope the photos came through. If not I'll try to figure this out. You folks all seem great and mutually supportive and that is a wonderful thing.
Jeff
Ok, I wasn't able to load photos. Got to figure this out. Any help would be appreciated. Oh, I have a Mac if that makes a difference.

 

[killdeer43]

Jeff,
Welcome to the forum. You'll become more enlightened every time you visit.
As to a few of my own all-time 'best tips' about learning to play guitar:
*Play a little bit every day and some days play a lot.
*Ignore the sure-to-come pain you're inflicting on your fingers and work through it.
*Never waste time comparing how you play to the way someone else does. It's a joy killer. Just know that you're always better than when you first started playing.
*Enjoy the heck out of the music you make and play from your heart.

I could go on, but.... :wink:

Cheers,
Joe

 

[jjl1118]

Thanks for the words of wisdom. If you can help I'll post photos. I do tend to compare myself to others and you are right that is a joy killer. I'll remember your words often.

 

[Graham]

Hey Jeff, I just really started a few years ago too, but the folks here will encourage you at every step and make the process much more rewarding.

A site that helped a lot is Guitar Noise. It gets into playing, which is what I wanted to do. They do through in their theory as well, but you start playing right away and there are mp3s to help out.

Good luck with the journey and play a little every day and post every day. :mrgreen:

 

[Tunes]

Jeff,

Yet another slightly :!: older guy (+50) here who picked up the guitar about a year ago. However that has not stopped me from spending a whole lotta money on some fine guitars, and enjoying it.

Welcome to LTG - not your average guitar forum for sure.

I found the following site to be quite helpful - very good online lessons for free - totally. Please give if you can.

http://www.justinguitar.com/

Good advice has already been given - I just played a bit every day (30 mins to 1 hr. minimum) and improved quickly. I find it helps if you find simple 4 chord songs you really connect to, and it's just fun to learn to play them. I am up to 5 chord songs now. :lol: :lol: There are probably more of these types of songs than you would believe.

Most importantly - have fun and don't let anyone even your :evil: SIGNIFICANT OTHER :evil: tell you to stop playing now cause it's late and she has to work tomorrow even if you DON'T or there's gonna be trouble by god. (Was that my inside voice or outside voice ?)

 

[Graham]

I found the following site to be quite helpful - very good online lessons for free - totally. Please give if you can.

http://www.justinguitar.com/

+1 for Justin Sundercoe's site!

 

[GardMan]

Hey Jeff,
Congrats on the D-25!

You cannot post photos directly on LTG... they have to be "hosted" on a photo hosting website. Different folks use different photo hosts... I have been using Pbase.com for years. It isn't free, but it's cheap and there are NO ads.

Then, you start a message here at LTG. When you want to insert a photo, click on the "Img" button at the top of your message field. This will insert image "tags" into your message. Paste the URL (the address for the image you want to insert, from your photo host) of your pic in between the image "tags." You may need to add ".jpg" to the end of the URL, if it's not already there.

The pics should then appear in the message (please resize them first (perhaps to 800x600)! I, for one still use a 56K modem for browsing...)

Hope this helps...
Dave

 

[Ridgemont]

Congratulations on the D25 SB. I have seen the burst ones in the past (one available in Chicago at Chicago Music Exchange) and they look great. As for practicing, I agree with others. At the very least, you should get your hands moving every day, even if nothing more than to warm them up. Then all of a sudden, one day it will just click and sound so smooth.

 

[evenkeel]

Welcome from another new guy. Well new to LTG anyway. Congrats on the new Guild. Been wacking away at the guitar since the middle ages or at least it seems so. Still aspiring to mediocrity.

Re: posting. Photobucket.com is an easy and free way to post pics.

Lots of good learning advice already posted so I won't add much to the fray. Play with joy, be patient.

 

[kitniyatran]

Welcome aboard, & what they said.

 

[southernGuild]

THIS is why I love this place!! All you guys who have posted here...GREAT advice (Killdeer, I even wrote yours down into my little book of good things to remember!) As i am sure MORE great advice will follow. I am soon to check out those sites as well...as i too am working on my learning curve....and appreciating and enjoying it every single DAY .
The SUPPORT, kindness, fellowship, understanding, information, sharing, enthusiasm,...and down right FUN around here, make 'learning to play the guitar" something far greater than just chording out some songs......You guys make it a real all 'round 'learning' journey, NEW stuff, new perspectives, new challenges ,new IDEAS..........all great stuff. GOOd for guitar learning and growth, and good for the human spirit!
Welcome Jeff...........I think you already suspect, what I, another 'new guy' already know......You've found a GOOD PLACE TO BE!! and a fine Guitar to be rewarding your efforts.
ENJOY! Soutnern :wink:

 

[dreadnut]

Welcome, Jeff, and congrats on a fine guitar even though we can't see the photos yet. I'm always a sucker for a nice 'burst

Tunes has the best advice:

Most importantly - have fun

After awhile your guitar will become an extension of yourself (especially if you try the get-instant-fingertip-callouses-using-Superglue program I let somebody talk me into once)

I'm an old "ear" player, I don't read music so a good portion of my learning has come from jamming with other people. I've never taken lessons, but I sure have had a lot of people show me stuff. Always try to play with someone who can play better than you, you'll learn from them. Hopefully you can find someone who will spend that time with you.

Then spend some time alone practicing, the thickness of your callouses will be directly proportional to your determination. For me, the practice is fun, and its therapeutic. I get a great sense of accomplishment when I learn a new song or some new licks - a lot more than I got from, say, rescuing the princess from Bowser's castle :roll: But the time commitment is about the same, and just like Mario, you do it over and over and over until it becomes second nature, at least that's my experience.

 

[killdeer43]

When I was working on those calluses in the early 70s, I made up a little saying for myself and it went something like this:
"Degree of Difficulty is Determined by Desire."
I must have been playing everything in....D! :lol:

I still try to adhere to that basic philosophy about most things.

Cheerily,
Joe

 

[dreadnut]

I've actually had people say "You're so lucky to be able to play like that". I tell them "Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it", then I show 'em my callouses.

If you want to catch fish, you gotta spend a lot of time with your line in the water. I'm just sayin... :wink:

 

[jjl1118]

Thanks so much for the encouragement and for the tips and links. That is great. I'll try and get photos up so you can see the new addition. Just imagine how much GAS I'd have if I knew how to play like you folks. :lol: Was at McCabe's Guitar shop last night to see a show and strummed a Froggy Bottom. Thank goodness my skills don't support such a purchase or I'd really be in trouble. What a beautiful full and rich sound. Again, thanks everyone!!!!

 

[Ross]

Cheers Jeff:

Nice aquisition. I've got a 1982 D-25 SB, and it's truly beautiful. If you look on page 2 of this section, there's a thread about sunbursts, with photos (not mine).

Learning guitar is a pleasurable experience. Enjoy the journey!

 

[jphal]

Welcome aboard Jeff. I signed-up 3 months ago and in that time have purchased 2 guitars, sold 1 guitar and have had a blast in the world of Guild. I am from LA originally and took group guitar classes at McCabes - so that might be a good place to start (if they still offer them). After the classes and relocating back to Eastern U.S. I drifted in and out of playing on a regular basis - usually learning songs from chord books and never venturing out of the basement to play with anyone else. But since last December when I joined a Meetup group that sponsors a playing circle and open mike each week, I've been really motivated to play more on a daily basis and feel that it's helped me develop - very motivating and inspiring to be with supportive/encouraging people to help your playing. I also just got some training DVDs to learn a bit more about the technical aspects of music (note reading, the scales, practice drills) and like the way that this can be done at my own pace as I 'master' a particular aspect of playing the guitar.
Anyway, give my regards to McCabes and enjoy the world of LTG.

 

[kitniyatran]

I've actually had people say "You're so lucky to be able to play like that". I tell them "Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it", then I show 'em my callouses.

If you want to catch fish, you gotta spend a lot of time with your line in the water. I'm just sayin... :wink:

I hear you; it took a lot of work for me to develop "talent".

 

[jjl1118]

Photo post, take 2
Ok, this isn't working well at all. I used photobucket and tried to post with no luck. sigh. I'll need to work much more on this but not now. I'd rather practice.

I think I've done it!!!!! Anyway, here is photo 1. I'll try and get some better ones soon. Guitar needs a cleaning.

 

[GardMan]

Nice 'burst D-25! Enjoy! Dave