New Member (Before The Guitar)

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to say that the last 5 hours on this website have been pretty much a life changing experience for me. I am the kind of individual that researches the heck out of everything before deciding.

I have always wanted to play the guitar, and have been known to get to the point to want to learn but then shy away because of the impending failure setting in.

I was browsing around on the internet for some "warrant guitar books" and stumbled on this site. I haven't left it in the past 5 hours, went from skeptic to registered user to full access video watching machine.

With the knowledge that you guys have given me already, it has allowed me to lose the anxiety and has given me the desire to go and get one of those intimidating 6 string wonders.

Since I am big on acoustic ballad type music and country music I am going to start with an acoustic. I can honestly see myself wanting to get an electric also after watching Christopher in the beginner videos.

Again just want to say thanks for helping me get over the initial anxiety stage. I am so thankful that I was able to stumble on this website!

John

Hi John,

Welcome! We are delighted you decided to join us. Please keep us posted on how things are going and how we can be of help.

Best wishes,
Lisa

Hi John,

Wow, that is great! Our webmaster, Jon Broderick feels the same way about being thorough and we love to hear about this kind of experience, welcome to Guitar Tricks!

John, this site will keep you busy in the best possible way for years to come. So much to learn that this site gives you for a mere few bucks a month. Enjoy, the folks here are very cool.

Well, that Neal dude is a real........er, um, nice guy...um, that's what I meant to say; a real nice guy.

:D

I have been a student for three months. I am completely amazed at the sounds commimg out of my guitar. Haven't been on forum until now. been busy practicing every second I can find.
I must have developed muscles in my left arm. what used to be painful like (Barre Cords) I can now play for an hour or more.
I look forward to meeting some of you. I will be here for a long time

Kelly Grebb

That's great Kelly, so good to hear.

Hey John,
It's good to hear you've joined us, I'm pretty sure you will find that the guitar is not quite as intimidating as you thought.

Kelly, we're glad you're hanging in there, and seeing improvement.

i've been playing guitar for a long time but have never really been formally trained. I've progressed over the years and have learned a bit through trial and error and i really could have benefited from a site like this when i started nearly fifteen years ago. I like to think I know my way around a guitar but i'm still getting a tremendous amount of information and it seems to be sinking in. I whipped through fundamentals 1 and 2 but i still learned a few things. In the very first lesson of fundamentals I (holding the pick) they specifically mention "a lot of new students hold the pick this way" but suggest another way. Well i'm one of those students and after the self leveling explanation it made sense. So, it's only been a week or two but i've tried it out. It doesn't slow my playing at all and i do think i actually get a little better sound and feel like with practice it will speed up my arpeggio's. You can't really learn some things from a book. Another example that I did already know but it took me three years on my own to finally realize is the change in the vibration you hear when playing a unison for tuning. Now, any of you musicians who aren't brand new know the importance of that information and how it doesn't just apply to tuning but to music in general. simple but crucial information to know day one. You just can't learn that from a book of tablature. Also, for me going through the basics including very basic theory has FINALLY turned on the light bulb in my head where I actually am excited to semi-study it (let's not get crazy now, lol)

Wow, I really sound like a Testimonial. I guess in that light I'll say, "Sure you can probably find all the information here on youtube or a collection of other websites, but $13 a month for the convenience of it all being in one place and neatly organized with the support of the forums and the actual video instructors really is amazing. I say if you are on the fence try it for a month. Unless you are a master of all styles there is more than a months worth of information on here for you. Forget about what it would cost you to sit down with a live teacher for these lessons that's not even comparable"

oh and for John. The basics are basic enough where you won't feel overwhelmed which i know is a big problem when just starting out.

Lots of us from Ontario and Quebec, that's pretty cool.

As for the site, I'm glad you joined. I think everyone's skeptical when buying stuff on the internet, but as I've been here over 6 months, you can figure out how I feel.

The real beauty of the site, much as with private lessons, is that you don't focus on a specific song the way you do when you're just learning guitar from sheet music. You break it down into chord progressions that sound good, scales you want to use, inversions if you want to get a different sound and all the technique you need to lay down a sweet rhythm and rock a solo.

Good luck.