Beginner here. HELP!

[charles.ashley]

Whats up everyone? my name is Charles and I am 21. I have had this cheap little Kona brand acoustic/elec. guitar since I was 15 that I bought through inspiration from one of my favs., John Mayer. I have yet to learn how to play the thing though and have almost 8 different songs (lyrics) on my laptop and people have been telling me that I can sing pretty well. Can someone/anyone help me out? I just dont know what to do

[hunter60]

Welcome to GT Charlie. There are some free lessons here if you're not a full access subscriber. Check them out and see maybe upgrading to the full access would be something you would be interested in doing. There is a TON of information and lessons here on GT. If not, you can still post questions on the boards and you'll get plenty of advice and support. It's a great community.

You might want to consider finding yourself a local instructor to help you along as well. Do you have any friends or family that plays?

Whatever you decide, good luck and keep after it. You'll surprise yourself with how much you can learn. Again, welcome to GT. :)

H60

[ren]

Hi Charles... :)

Have you seen The Guide (http://www.guitartricks.com/guide.php)?

If you want to play guitar to accompany yourself singing, you'll need to know the open chords.... so start with that - many of them are discussed in the beginner's guide.

Hope that helps - let us know how you get on...

[charles.ashley]

Thanx a lot to both of you! I am gonna try an finish writing this one song fist and then I am gonna grab the guitar and see what I can do while after having read some things on here. :)

[Benoit]

I've had many discussion with guitar player / singer about how to sing along when playing. Most of the time it went down to learning the guitar parts so well that you don't have to thing about it. Then you can concentrate on your singing.

Having said that, creating music that will fit your lyrics can be very hard to do. I know I can't lol . I'm mainly a guitar player and altho I have a good voice, I've never learned to use it correctly.

One thing you can do right away is to try to hum a melody over the lyrics you've written. As you learn the open chords, you'll be able to play those melodies you were humming. First thing you'll know you'll create chord progressions that will fit with your lyrics. It sounds easy when I say it like that but it's not always the case :)

Give yourself time to learn those chords and in the meantime try to come up with melodies over your lyrics.

Let us know how things work out as you go.

Good luck.

[charles.ashley]

While I actually have been writing these songs (nine now) that I have told you about I have had these tunes going in my head as to how I actually want the song to sound and it is as if the whole thing is going in my head. I take it that is what you were talking about?

[Geeetar4Life]

Whats up everyone? my name is Charles and I am 21. I have had this cheap little Kona brand acoustic/elec. guitar since I was 15 that I bought through inspiration from one of my favs., John Mayer. I have yet to learn how to play the thing though and have almost 8 different songs (lyrics) on my laptop and people have been telling me that I can sing pretty well. Can someone/anyone help me out? I just dont know what to do
Well, you can't rush learning how to play guitar and it definitely won't just happen over night. Try to get some lessons, and look up tabs. You have to start from the beginning before right songs. Kinda like you have to learn to walk before you can run. Good luck with everything.

[charles.ashley]

I just wanted to say thanks a lot G :)