How can I get back in to guitar?

Ok so about 2 years ago I started guitar. It was going really well I was pretty good. Then I broke my left wrist and couldn't really play but I tried. Bad idea I ended up having my arm in cast for longer. Then I guess I just lost interest on guitar and didn't really practise anymore. i stopped for about a year (including the broken wrist time) and now I'm back and I want to pick it up again. I have been going through my old stuff and I am progressing pretty well...but how do i know when I have covered the basics of what I did then and know I am ready to move on to knew stuff? I am thinking of gertting an acoustic as well...that wouldn;t in anyway stop my progress would it?


Any help/suggestions?
Thanks,
Sophie

hi there,

i self taught myself the guitar, i have been playing with passion for over 7 years. i have never had a lesson...until i found this place yesterday!..

i found that i progressed very well by learning to play songs that i liked. i bought guitar tab books for oasis and the stereophonics as those were the bands that made me want to pick up and learn the guitar.

i taught myself to read the tablature (which is explained in the front cover of the books) and away i went.. the books had some easy songs and some hard..so it took me a good few years to be able to play them all exactly note for note....some of which i still struggle with and some i still have a few years to practice with..

others my disagree and have a better method of learning, but this is what worked for me..

my personal, but perhaps wrong advice to you, is find the tab books for the bands you love. persevere and learn to play them by the book....listen to the songs on cd and try where you can to play them exactly like the original artist, this will give you experience in thier unique style of play. the more artists you can try and copy, the more differing styles you will learn..and be able to shape your own unique style when you get to the stage where you can compose/improvise. patience is key, as is practice.

best of luck!

mark

I have trouble sometimes in motivating myself to play guitar.
I usually got out and listen to music in bar or a nightclub or I buy a music DVD.
I don't like acoustics, probably 'cause I was stuck with one for years when I couldn't afford an electric.
I've found that playing the guitar is not the whole problem - it's knowing what to play ?

Hi Sophie-

Sounds like you are definitely ready for some new material to work on! Even if you're still polishing the old stuff, there should be lots of other options of new stuff to play at a similar-yet-slightly-higher skill level, just to make it more fun and interesting for you.
Electric or acoustic are fine - but what kind of music turns you on? What would you like to be able to play? Put some thought into that, and then follow Grambo or Sharkfactor's good advice - or - bring your "wishlist" of new material to a good teacher and take a lesson or two to get you going in some new directions.
Good luck!
Lisa McCormick - Guitar Tricks Instructor

thesharkfactor summed it up in one sentence:

i bought guitar tab books for oasis and the stereophonics as those were the bands that made me want to pick up and learn the guitar.

This is the most important part of motivating yourself to playing again, if you start playing scales and arpeggios you are going to get bored, that can wait until you have been bitten by the bug again ;)

By the way I'm not saying don't practice scales, you are going to need to play lots of strengthing exercises to get those hands back in action properly, just make sure you are having fun!

thats exactly what happened to me, except i just got bored with it, not broke my wrist :eek: i got back into it and now im pretty good, just keep practicing

This is my first post, but Im kinda the same way. Except that I move around so much its hard to keep practicing. I took classical lessons from a Ukrainian teacher for about 3 yrs, then we moved and I stopped playing classical for a year and a half. I bought an acoustic but I keep getting bored with it. I hope to get an electric soon. What I just started doing is I got all my old music sheets and started practicing songs I haven't played in a while. It all comes back, believe me. And definitely work on scales and exercises.