Next level

Hey so I'm thinking ahead for when I'm done my Guitar Fundamentals and I'm presuming I need to choose a genre to go to the next level? I checked out a few and either they are much more difficult and or they are using an electric guitar. For instance the Rock level 1. Im confused what to do next after Fundamentals

Very timely tammielyn. That's exactly my situation as I approach the end of Guitar Fundamentals and wondering how to continue (and whether to sign up for another year).

I'll be watching this thread closely.

You don't have to choose a genre right now. Try going into the song library and learning some songs. Start with the ones that say made easy after the title. There are also many specific tutorials the instructors have in their threads that you could work on along with more in depth theory if you wanna get more into that. Christopher has a huge library of tutorials covering all aspects of guitar and music to delve into. [br][br]Lisa has a great fingerpicking program that's a lot of fun or expand your acoustic skills with Anders acoustic program. He'll take what you learned in gf2 and bring it to another level. So many areas you can explore, but it really comes down to what kind of music inspires you. What do you wanna play? Think about why you wanted to learn guitar in the first place. [br][br]

Have fun,

Moe

Originally Posted by: tammielyn.ts

Hey so I'm thinking ahead for when I'm done my Guitar Fundamentals and I'm presuming I need to choose a genre to go to the next level?

Moe offered you great advice & I agree with it! My suggestion for students that want to stick with acoustic guitar is:

1. Learn songs.

https://www.guitartricks.com/songs/acoustic

2. Anders' acoustic course.

https://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=acoustic1

Hope that helps! Please ask more if necessary & best of success finishing GF1&2!

Thanks so much everyone for the help. I had no idea there is a GF2. i'm still on GF1. So long way to go yet. Yes i am already doing Lisa's fingerpicking and looking up all kinds of things to keep it interesting. Learning songs outside of my comfort level as well. I just thought it seemed like such a jump (from 2 guitar difficulty to 4 and up) from fundamentals to moving to a genre of choice. Question, if i choose let's say to begin with rock, although i don't intend to stick to just one genre, there are many things i see myself doing from country to blues to spanish guitar and fingerpicking style songs, i peeked into the rock section and the teacher is using an electric, would i be able to do this 'rock' genre with my acoustic? I do want to buy an electric down the road that really interests me as well. And since i brought that subject up as well, how proficient should i be with acoustic to introduce myself to an electric guitar? Thanks everyone thus far for all the help. And Chris, i found a thread you spoke to someone else about question similar to mine and you gave so much helpful information, i've saved the thread.

Hi Tammielyn,

I will defer to Chris or one of the other GT experts regarding your help with proper learning path, personally I would recommend you do go straight to Fundamentals 2 right after you finish with 1 because there is so much more in there that might help bridge that technical gap ( 2 guitar to 4 guitar difficulty) you mentioned. Nothing wrong with challenging yourself with more advanced stuff, but having a solid foundation in the basics will make it a little easier.

You mentioned Rock as an interest and that will involve power chords which is covered in level 2. Lisa teaches it and she uses an electric, however you can learn on either acoustic or electric as chords and notes are all the same. The only difference is the sound and playability of the instruments. Electrics are much easier on the hands and fingers which is going to make Power and Barre chords a lot more enjoyable. I'm more of an acoustic player and my first guitar had terrible action on it, but I didn't really know it at the time and boy did I suffer. So much so that I kinda went through level 2 a bit too quick so I'm going through it again with my newer acoustic which is setup better to see if it would be easier to do the lessons and it is, but i'm still thinking of picking up a cheap electric just to try and rock out a bit on them power chords.

However, to answer your question there is no level of proficiency on one before going to the other. Heck you could even ditch the acoustic and do all the lessons on electric if you wanted. The learning methods are all the same.

Hope that helped.

Moe

That does really help in many ways Moe thank you. Would you mind describing the issue with your initial guitar specifically? I've had issues with my action on my guitar on the B and high E string at the first few frets. It was obvious to anyone with eyes they were much higher than the other strings. Yet the local music store luthier (repair guy) said nope. Can't lower the action. Which I could not understand. I changed strings to these Elixir I really don't like at all (I had light Ernie ball and loved them). So curious what issues you had. And what guitar you replaced it with? As for the electric I don't have a huge budget can anyone recommend a good beginner one with a lot of bang for my buck. (300$) That's all I can do unless that's not good I can save I guess. Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.

Hi Tammielyn

Regarding your quest for a good electric, I just finished playing my absolute favorite guitar - a Godin Session. It is a Stratocaster style guitar and why I enjoy it so much comes down to the neck. I just love this thing.

I have a few guitars and like them all for what they are but none feel better in my hands than the Godin.

It is a tough thing to do right now in some areas but if possible I would suggest trying out as many as possible and find one that feels comfortable and playable.

Good luck

Originally Posted by: William MG

Hi Tammielyn

Regarding your quest for a good electric, I just finished playing my absolute favorite guitar - a Godin Session. It is a Stratocaster style guitar and why I enjoy it so much comes down to the neck. I just love this thing.

I have a few guitars and like them all for what they are but none feel better in my hands than the Godin.

It is a tough thing to do right now in some areas but if possible I would suggest trying out as many as possible and find one that feels comfortable and playable.

Good luck

I am curious what it is about the Godin neck that works so well for you. Shape? Size? Or is it just feel?

Originally Posted by: DavesGuitarJourney

I am curious what it is about the Godin neck that works so well for you. Shape? Size? Or is it just feel?

That's a good question Dave, because it is a combination of shapes and sizes as well as feel.

The neck width at the nut is just between my Yamaha Pacifica and my Ibanez Gio at just shy of 42mm. So not a narrow neck but not as wide as the Ibanez. But like the Ibanez I would describe the profile as being flatter vs fatter. The neck is maple with a flat finish that never makes my hand hang up like on my Les Paul copies which have high gloss finishes. The action is really low and the guitar requires so little pressure to play it is really a treat. One thing I did do this morning is compare the frets to some other guitars. I would say here Godin has done a better job of polishing and rounding off the frets. For instance when I do a slide on the Godin my fingers slide easily over the frets whereas on the Pacifica I can feel some grabbing. And when I look at the differences between the 2 guitars, I would describe the Pacifica as having less rounded fret profiles and not nearly as polished.

And I find the strat body type very comfortable to hold with the exception of the Ibanez, which has too many square sharp edges. But since I picked up the Ibanez on the cheap I may take my router to those edge profiles and round them off.

Thanks for the detailed explanation of what you like on the Godin. Your response is, as usual, very educational.

Originally Posted by: tammielyn.ts

That does really help in many ways Moe thank you. Would you mind describing the issue with your initial guitar specifically? I've had issues with my action on my guitar on the B and high E string at the first few frets. It was obvious to anyone with eyes they were much higher than the other strings. Yet the local music store luthier (repair guy) said nope. Can't lower the action. Which I could not understand. I changed strings to these Elixir I really don't like at all (I had light Ernie ball and loved them). So curious what issues you had. And what guitar you replaced it with? As for the electric I don't have a huge budget can anyone recommend a good beginner one with a lot of bang for my buck. (300$) That's all I can do unless that's not good I can save I guess. Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.

Hi,

You can't see it too well, but it's in my profile pic. It had a bridge that was lifting from the bottom causing the action to be even higher. I could actually slide a pick underneath it in the corner. Common problem with lower and mid level guitars with thick laquered bodies. This was an Ibanez AEL 20. It was loaned to me and did it's job of getting me through the initial learning process, but boy it killed my fingers and hands when I got to Fundamentals 2 trying to learn Barre chords. Plus I was afraid it might eventually pop off all together and that would have been worse. It was fixable, but due to pandemic service departments and shops were either closed or limited hours so it would have been away for 3-4 weeks and I didn't want to wait that long without a guitar so I gave it back to person who loaned it to me and figured it was time to buy my own.

It's a Breedlove Discovery Concert ( blemished model) but looks, sounds and plays great to my novice playing abilities. It's Breedloves entry model. I have a pic and full writeup on the Gear Reviews thread. I'm happy with it and it made a difference in my learning, but I'm always looking at new guitars though and have my sites on the higher end Breedlove or Taylor, or Martin. I'm mostly an acoustic player cause I enjoy the sounds of it, but I can see the advantage of an electric for other styles of playing. I'm just not sure how much I want to spend on one. I used to play in my twenties so I've had my share of "Beginer level guitars" and I can already tell the difference in playability when you move up the price spectrum. From Bills writeup on his beautiful Godin I think he knows the difference as well.

By the way my last name is Godin, but unfortunately not related to the guitar family.

So that's my dilemna. Spend my money on one high quality acoustic or spread it around and get a decent electric to go along with my decent current acoustic.

However, with all that said chinese models have come a long way and if your budget is in the $300 range I would think you could pick up a nice Squire ( Fender copy ) or Epiphone (gibson copy) for that amount. Hell, I might even look at those. Go to your local Guitar Center stores. They have plenty in that range, but don't forget to budget for an amp and a strap. Play as many as you can and choose what's comfortable and easiest to play for you.

Good Luck,

Moe