So, I bought myself a guitar…

[DeepInThoughtParticipant 2710]

So finally at 40 y/o i decided to learn how to play guitar.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn and master but either haven’t had the time, a guitar or some bulls~~~ excuse to rationalize it to myself. Well no more…

Today, I went and bought myself a $2,500 Maton ecw80c acoustic/electric guitar. I figured on spending this amount of money for 4 reasons:

1. It’s my hard earned money and I don’t have to spend it on some nagging fembot or being constantly reminded of the price.
2. If I buy an expensive guitar it will shame me enough within myself to make time, get off my ass and learn.
3. It is something I will have my entire life and sound better over time the more I play it.
4. I wanted it, I got it! Simple as that.

[megatoad69Participant 449]

The more s~~~ you learn, the more you want to play!

The interest builds on itself.

You can't reason with unreasonable, there; women, figured out, there is nothing to reason.

[RusskyParticipant 13503]

I have an acoustic, but don’t play it too often anymore. And then I heard about “Rocksmith” game on Xbox360, and I want to do it very badly. But I don’t know what kind of guitar I need to get for that. I wanna spend as little as possible I guess – any advice?

proud carrier of the 'why?' chromosome

[MetalHeadParticipant 40]

Nice buy! I’ve been playing guitar for about 15 years now and I have two electrics and an acoustic and worked in a music store for a number of years. Two things I’ll recommend if no one has already:

1.) Keep it in tune! I can’t tell you how many new players I encountered that thought they were doing it wrong or just didn’t have what it takes when they were simply trying to learn on an out of tune guitar. Every time you sit down to play/learn just take a minute to make sure all the strings are in tune first. Use the tuner built in the guitar if it has one or go buy one right away. Literally…every time. Guitars (especially acoustics) are sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. Which brings me to my next point…

2.) Keep that baby humidified. A guitar at that price range is going to have a solid top, it’s more flexible and not as resilient as a laminate top guitar but the sound quality is much better. Without keeping it humidified you run the risk of getting cracks in the top. Now, it’s not an impending thing you should get on top of right away. It’s like preventive maintenance and ensuring your investment will stay in good condition for a long time. The drier and more fluctuating climate you live in the more beneficial humidifying your guitar is.

Now that my technical hat is off just make sure you have fun with that thing! Play til your fingers bleed, have a beer, rest up and do it again the next day!

[MetalHeadParticipant 40]

@RusskyKGB, if I remember right you can use ANY electric guitar with Rocksmith. The game comes with the adapter to plug in to the guitar and the console. You could go to a pawn shop and get a used Squier or Epiphone for less than $100.

[DeepInThoughtParticipant 2710]

Thanks MetalHead.

Never heard about the humidifying thing with guitars. I live near the beach so we have a constant temperature and humidity scale.

I have bought a BOSS tuner and whilst tuning I train my ear to develop that area as well and not solely rely on the tuner. That said, yes I have forgotten how much the fingers hurt. Been a while!

Here are the details of the guitar:

http://maton.com.au/product/cw80

 

[lonestar77Participant 406]

I play my guitars every night to unwind from work.  No nagging wife or screaming kids wanting s~~~ the second I step in. I walk in, open my recliner chair, and play away. Just one of the many benefits of being MGTOW. You get to KEEP and PLAY all your toys. Once that bitch enters your life, bye bye guitar, bye bye motorcycle, bye bye fishing boat..see where I’m going here?!! It’s just not worth giving up the things that make you happy for ungrateful women who only care about their stupid s~~~!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me

[SargeslideParticipant 82]

I am self taught, and dyslexic on top of that! Been playing for about 30 years and nothing comes close to the joy of playing music. It is a stress relief and eventually a way to express yourself. I used to teach guitar for about 10 years, some advice:

Pick it up at least once a day if for nothing else, to get comfortable with how it feels in your hands and against your body

Learn your three finger chords, start with maybe G, C, and D. there are a million songs in that 3 chord progression. Don’t worry if it sounds bad now, after a week or so, they will be ok, and after a few weeks you will be able to change from one to the other pretty easy. Then move on to A, and E, they also go with D, now you have a million more songs you love that you can play. Strum up and down, very important! Feels odd at first but gets easier as you go

After a few weeks with A, C, D, E, and G, now try F, and B. I put those last because they require finger and hand strength you don’t have at first and will frustrate you. Start adding your Minor and 7th chords. it won’t take long, most are one note variations on the major chords you all ready know

Your fingertips will hurt for the first week or so, after that it won’t bother you.

After that, start looking at 5th chords, which are partial barre chords, using only three fingers. Learn the concept of the 1-4-5 chord progression, and how the guys you love to listen to use it. These chords make you familiar with the fretboard and build hand strength, stay on them for awhile.

Then you should be able to move on to Barre chords, and they can be tough when you start.

 

Don’t expect miracles, like anything else you mastered, it took time.

[Author]

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