Hey

I just found this site and it looked like just what I'm looking for starting out.

I picked up a cheap acoustic about a month ago and have been fooling around on it since. I have since learned a few random easy songs (Stars Spangled Banner, a really simple version of Fur Elise) and a few riffs (Smoke on the Water, Sunshine of Your Love). I seem to have no musical talent and all I have is repeated, brainless practice. Now I wanna start chords but I'm finding it impossible to get anywhere even close. I've been practicing for more than a week and am not getting any better, at all. Any suggestions?

well man welcome to gt! you know it all starts with repeated brainless practice. it really does. but you need to keep pushing your limits, try to learn something you dont know how to play-then keep working at it till you have it down. thats the best way to learn by yourself. and if you have those things down in a week thats great. i always tell people to get a teacher. although its possible without one, its a bunch easyer.

heh, I spent about $30 bucks on the piece of junk they call my guitar, I really don't have the money for lessons, it just not in my budget. At least, not yet. I don't plan to put too much money into this until I get at least halfway decent. I was wondering if anybody has any ideas on what songs to try now? Or some suggestions on how to learn chords.

learn to read tab. This will help you read a chord chart. It's very simple. The first piece I learned was the star spangled banner as well. I've always wanted to play foo fighters-everlong and I never could for the longest. But hours of brainless practice later it's like, man this is kinda easy. Practice is the key. Learn your major chords first, power chords are pretty easy, bar chords are quite a bit tougher but you will get it. I bought a gripmaster, when I started playing, to strengthen my hand. Little booger really does work! Anyway, welcome to GT there is a whole lesson on chords and pretty much anything you want to know. Look under beginner lessons on the GT home page.

Well, when I learned the stars spangled banner it took me about 2 weeks, an average of 2 and a half hours a day, sometimes more, sometimes less, and it was pretty frustrating. But I could tell I was getting better, albeit slowly. With chords though, a week and a half later I'm still as clumsy as I was in the beginning. I can read tabs, it's pretty easy, and I memorized most of the chords. But changing chords I'm not gettting any better at, I dont' think I can do it any faster than when I first started out.

Start switching from E to Am.
e--0...
b--0...
g--1...
d--2...
a--2...
E--0...
E

e--0
b--1
g--2
d--2
a--0
E--0
Am
Its a pretty easy switch, just slide each finger down. Then as you get that down, try lifting your fingers then switching to and from. Also try strumming Good Riddance by Green Day, its a very easy chord change. If you need a good tab just send me a private message.

"Brainless Practice"...dude, I've spent the last seven years doing nothing but that!...When I first started I thought the Dsus2 was the greatest chrod in the world, (I still think that's true, but for different reasons).

As for learning chords, and anything else for that matter, I've found, (and still find) it's vital you persist. If you can't play F Major at the 8th fret, keep trying until you can. If you can't play Bbm/D - keep practising until you can...I've been playing songs for years and it's only within the the last three to four months I've actually got them right.

The important thing is not to expect instant results. When you see your favorite guitarist playing a solo or riff, what you don't see is the hours of practice that's gone into it...chords are the start; they seem impossible to to begin with, but once they're conquered, the world really is your oyster.

As for actual chord diagrams or lessons to help you learn, search GT for "Chords"; or, try www.guitartabs.cc - where there's a .crd file for ever chord you could possibly need. Let me know if you have difficulties find it and I'll post the full URL.

Hope that's of some use,

Regards,
Chris.