West Ham Online

Learned to.play an instrument in.later life.? I am.learning the guitar.... Mostly with the help.of YouTube videos. If anyone on here can pass in any handy hints and tips it'd be most appreciated. I.know 4 chords but am.really struggling with reaching some if the chords. C major is a real.bastard. Cheers in.advanxe

*.patting

YC it feels like the musical.equivalent of trying to rub my head whilst letting my belly.

"Played guitar for many a year, but always fancied the piano. Enrolling on a course next week to learn Looking forward to it. Good for the brain"

Whu don't fancy playing any instrument I have to.blow

"I taught myself harmonica. Painful on the neighbours, as a wrong note on a harmonica sounds VERY wrong. Did the cliched Dirty Old Town to death, until getting to the point of being able to play along to Neil Young stuff fairly well. Ditto Nikki Sudden’s stuff, where the harmonica on that is quite different. Played at a festival once and only once, for a mates band, and my legs were shaking like a good ‘un. Improvised to songs I’d not even heard before and didn’t get booed off, which I was pretty chuffed about."

"I played the triangle in a reggae band for a number of years, I just used to stand there and ting!"

I am both classically trained and self taught on different instruments. Started at the age of 7. Made a living out of it amongst other things. I only have one piece of advice for all musicians. Make it sound like something ypu would like to listen to. Too many students focus on technique and not on the beaty of sound.

Yeah I am.learning Three Little Birds and there are lots of Am.to C changes and one E to.C as well. Hopefully it'll.help.

"Debs- that’s the annoying paradox with guitars for sure! You’d be mad to drop lots on one as a beginner but because they are obviously made more cheaply made they are usually somewhat harder to play. It’s usually the distance of the strings from the fretboard so you have to use far more pressure to fret a string. No real fix for it either especially if it’s an acoustic. Hopefully yours isn’t too bad in that respect. I totally second what mallard said. And going from A minor to C is great advice. Am is pretty easy to hold and then you’ll get loads of practice stretching your third finger. Loads of it is muscle memory as well as to where the fingers must go, after a while. Unfortunately you just have to plug away at it. There aren’t any shortcuts!"

I a..trying to.jist lean a dozen songs so.i can do.music therapy sessions with the residents at work.

I'd love to learn the steel guitar. Watching one on ebay but I just know it'd end up collecting dust.

Scorch I did buy a cheap guitar as I wasn't sure if I'd take to.it. I had a wobble and stopped practicing for a while but have taken it back.up.again.

"I've been a gnat's breath away from buying a synthesizer on several occasions. Can't play the piano, so I guess lessons would be in order. The only reason was that I built one as a school project when I was about 13/14 (when transistors had legs) and it actually got used (once, before it burnt out) in a school concert. I just love what they can do with sounds - nailed on I'd never actually get anything resembling music out of the thing, though."

Practice simple chord changes like C to Am where you only have to change one finger

Depends. If you have small hands and you’re Learning on a thick or wide necked guitar like a nylon strung acoustic then it will be a big stretch at first. You have to get your fingers used to being in an un-natural and stressed position. Also it’s not helpful if you’ve a guitar with a high action which means you’ll have to press harder on the strings which always makes it more difficult. Paradox that a cheap guitar is often harder to play as a learner than a good one when you’re better…