
Introduction to Guitar - interconnector
https://www.coursera.org/course/guitar
======
rimantas
I have this deeper in the thread, but I'll repeat myself: go take a good look
at <http://justinguitar.com/> He offers beginners [1] and intermediate course
[2], technical stuff, jazz staff and much more. There you will also find
recommendations on _how_ to learn, what and how to practice. Justin has been
teaching guitar for a long time so he knows what's important, what people
struggle with and what to pay attention to. You will also find some songbooks
for purchase and some free video lessons to accompany them. Highly
recommended. No affiliation :)

[1] <http://justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php> [2]
<http://justinguitar.com/en/IM-000-IntermediateMethod.php>

~~~
cocoflunchy
This is _the_ definitive site if you want to learn guitar.

And it's not another scammy website where you have 2 free videos and then have
to pay for everything else, or where you're promised to learn the secret
technique that will make you play faster than Satriani in 2 weeks... Just take
a look at the lesson index:
<http://justinguitar.com/en/AA-000-LessonIndex.php> (all these are free except
the PR category).

By all means though, if you like the lessons, consider buying stuff to support
him!

------
UweSchmidt
Applicable for many here on HN: for analytical, curious thinkers learning any
instrument, I recommend the following approach in combination with other
resources:

Learn and play simple chords (e.g. take a-minor on a guitar), and then
identify the individual notes that are played by using any fretboard diagram
or guitar chord finder app.

Obviously chords are not magic but consist mainly of a root note, a third and
a fifth (look up "minor chords" and "major chords" if needed). You can find
other occurences of the relevant notes all over the fretboard and make your
own chords or at least understand what you are doing.

Example: For example, check out "Drive" from Incubus. What the heck is the
guitarist playing at the beginning and how did he ever come up with that?
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpwsuhOUAkk>

You can check out what he plays here and identify the names of the first
notes: <http://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/incubus-drive-tab-s327t0>

It's just another way to play e-minor!

The intros to Stairway to heaven, Nothing else matters, Bach
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6haO4rO7rk>? That's all just chord notes
played one by one. Don't hesitate, compose a legendary rock ballad intro
TODAY!

I'm writing that because most teachers and students feel that this is too
theoretical and complicated, and the classicaly trained musicians I know read
their sheet music, but don't usually identify nor instantly recognize the
chord that they're in while playing Vivaldi either.

I found it really helpful to understand that all that wonderful music is made
of basic bulding blocks that I can understand and play, and it's a nice
excercise that you can do while your hands recover from those little beginner
muscular cramps or pain in the finger tips cut by steel strings.

Then however switch it all off and just play :-)

~~~
recuter
One good and obscure pamphlet (basically) for this:
[http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-Reasoning-Behind-
Guita...](http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-Reasoning-Behind-
Guitars/dp/0962477001)

Any other recommendations in this vain?

~~~
arry
Justin has a series of videos on the fretboard organization [1]. From looking
at the contents of the linked book, I think it covers similar material. And he
sells an ebook Chord Construction Guide [2].

[1] <http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TB-030-CAGEDsystemVid.php>

[2]
[http://www.justinguitar.com/en/PR-011-ChordConstructionGuide...](http://www.justinguitar.com/en/PR-011-ChordConstructionGuide.php)

------
codewright
Really? No appearance from Zed Shaw? This is like a perfect storm of his
interests.

~~~
jiggy2011
Does it show you how to write a web server?

~~~
mcmire
Zed Shaw does other stuff besides programming you know...

------
tutysara
Which guitar model would the community recommend to a beginner who is used
only to computer keyboards ;-). Can we start with an electric guitar or an
acoustic guitar will work better for learning.

~~~
geoka9
I may sound counterintuitive, but if you really want to learn, I'd recommend a
high-end acoustic guitar for the following reasons:

\- you make a big investment (upwards of $2000) and it motivates you not to
give up

\- it sounds good, it looks good, it even smells good (rosewood, mahogany,
spruce, ebony - that kind of thing). If you're into guitars (or simply
beautiful things) it's hard to put down and you find yourself spending more
time with it than you'd initially planned. And that's the single best thing
for getting better at it :)

\- you get no excuse (like, "it's not the real thing, it sucks, that's why it
doesn't sound right even after many hours of practice"); it helps to remove
doubts and concentrate on practicing

\- if nothing else, it will make a decent long-term investment (high-end
guitars tend to depreciate in the first years after the purchase and
appreciate afterward). Some people even claim that it's a better investment
than real estate, but I don't know about that

Ask somebody to play it for you, ask their opinion of how easy it is to play,
have it set up by a good guitar technician... And keep on picking :)

Also, somebody mentioned justinguitar.com; it is a great site; the guy is a
great teacher and a wonderful guitar player. It's got a bunch of theory
lessons, but also lessons where Justin picks apart famous guitar songs and
teaches you to play them in a "dumb" way - some might say it's cheating, but
it surely helps to keep the fire burning when you can learn a tune or two
without pulling your hair out trying to transcribe without the required
experience (it's very hard, although that's what every guitar player should
try to learn eventually).

~~~
bmelton
I like this advice, but I don't necessarily believe that it has to be a high
end guitar. My first real guitar was a Seagull Cedar Maritime, and it's
basically what I taught myself on. I like it for a number of reasons, namely

\- It's pretty cheap. The SWS models can get up there (and I've since picked
one up) but you can get a decent Seagull for under $500, and it won't break
the bank.

\- Seagulls generally have wider nut widths, which gives a little more
breathing room between the strings, and is great for finger style and the 'fat
finger' feeling new guitarists have.

\- They sound AMAZING. For my last guitar, I was dead set on buying a Taylor
514CE, but playing it side by side next to Martins and solid body Seagulls, I
ended up getting another Seagull. Obviously, this is as subjective as the
ongoing 'Martin vs Taylor' holy war, but I took a neutral party to blind
listen to me playing so as to mitigate the confirmation bias, and they picked
the Seagull too (though obviously, I was more keen on the Seagull
architecture, which I'm sure did bias things).

All that aside, I don't think I got really serious about learning guitar until
I ultimately picked myself up a Les Paul (per your advice) to effectively "get
more skin in the game", as well as to know that whatever mistakes I made were
mine, and couldn't be blamed on the guitar.

Also, in addition to justinguitar.com, I would add Marty Schwartz, who has a
Youtube channel at <http://www.youtube.com/user/guitarjamzdotcom>.

He teaches a lot of beginner level, few-chord songs that people know and
recognize, and even though I know that it's a Youtube video, and not
interactive, the videos are recorded with a great deal of patience.

~~~
cpenner461
Second the vote for Seagull. I'm pretty sure they're all made with solid tops,
but are still affordable (last time I looked starting in the $300 range. I
think you need a "good enough" guitar that will stay in tune properly and
sound decent, but that doesn't need to be a $2000 guitar. There are a bunch of
big brands that fit this, but I think the Seagulls are some of the ones that
don't feel cheap while actually being affordable.

EDIT: for those not aware, a solid top is preferred to a plywood top for tonal
quality. Most of the cheaper guitars use a plywood top. That said, a lot of
plywood tops sound pretty good these days, but I tend to be a purist in these
sorts of things so greatly prefer the solid tops. :)

~~~
bmelton
Completely agreed. My first acoustic was a "made in Cambodia" Fender that
wasn't horrible, but really didn't compare well to pretty much any other
guitar of any quality.

My second purchase was aiming for something with a solid top, and the tonal
quality was apparent from the very first note I played.

My third purchase was aimed at getting a solid body guitar, which is trickier
because there isn't necessarily a noticeable difference between a guitar with
a laminate body and one with a solid body, though you can certainly find
guitars that sound different, neither is clearly better (by sound) on a new
guitar.

That said, as I'm told, the tone of a solid body guitar will age, like wine,
and sound better and better over time, so long as it's taken care of. A
laminate will, at best, stay the same, and more likely will dull over time.

This (and nostalgia, history, etc.) is the reason old, good guitars tend to
fetch so much money, because they were likely made from great stock to begin
with, and have since aged to sound even better. (I say with only anecdotal
evidence).

------
grinich
I recognize him from an incredible blues trio I saw in this tiny bar in
Harvard Square last fall.

The guy's got some serious chops. Had no idea he also taught across the river.
Check out his YouTube channel: <https://www.youtube.com/user/thaddeushogarth>

This class should be very interesting...

~~~
fakeer
Any such a course/link for Ukulele?

------
jjkmk
I have been playing the guitar for some time now, and wanted to offer my
advice for people looking to get a beginner guitar.

I would recommend a solid body electric guitar that has either a Tune-o-matic
or hipshot bridge (non floating bridge). The Ibanez RGA121 is an example of a
great beginner guitar: <http://tinyurl.com/dyjybwa> and they go for fairly
cheap on ebay.

This is for a number of reasons.

#1 Lighter string gauges and lower action makes it easier to fret notes, bend
strings, make chords.

#2 16 inch neck radius really helps with getting a comfortable feel and
starting to understand vibrato and legato techniques.

#3 Easy to tune / change strings / set up.

Unlike an acoustic guitar that uses thicker strings, with higher action, and
has limited access to frets you can get started fairly easily with an
electric, and you can pretty much play any style with it.

------
te_chris
Ignore all the advice about what books and what model of guitar to buy. Get a
guitar, whatever you can, then play as much as possible. Play with other
people if you can and often. I'm at my happiest when jamming with other good
musicians, I'm pretty sure, once you've got the muscle stuff down, you'll feel
the same.

A guitar is just a convenient way to express music. It's the music that you
make and the enjoyment that you derive from it that truly matters.

~~~
jamesrcole
> Get a guitar, whatever you can

I'm not qualified to judge this, but I've heard people say the opposite: to
get a good guitar, as a poor quality instrument is a big factor that tends to
put people off.

> Ignore all the advice about what books and what model of guitar to buy...
> Get a guitar... then play as much as possible

What does that mean? randomly mash fret positions and twang strings? Surely
you have to learn from something, and you don't say what.

~~~
leviathant
If you're just starting out playing guitar, you can get a perfectly
serviceable electric guitar off Craigslist for $100-$200. You can probably
find used acoustics for even less money. Cut your teeth on a cheap acoustic
guitar, and when you pick up a cheap electric guitar, it'll be so much easier
to play. Build up your skill on that, and if you feel comfortable, head to
guitar center and try out more expensive instruments. If the difference is
notable enough to drop $2,000 on an upgrade, go for it.

~~~
snorkel
ToysRus sells a First Act acoustic for $80. Plenty adequate for beginners.

~~~
Afton
I bought a first act acoustic for my daughter to learn on. It was untune-able.

I've been learning the uke for a year now, and after a few months, I've been
irritated by my uke on some chords. Talked about it with my uke teacher, she
pointed out that the string (the E string) isn't quite right (if it's in tune
on the open string, then the G on that string is sharp). These things matter
more than you might think.

~~~
wyclif
All true. Like I said, getting a cheap, toy guitar is only going to frustrate
you. It might even frustrate a kid, and you'll be tempted to stop playing.
What you want are two things: 1. Easy to play all over the fretboard, and 2.
Stays in tune.

------
icewater
This is fantastic, I love the content moocs are creating.

~~~
anigbrowl
Actually I'm a bit confused by this one, because this looks nothing different
from 100 books you can find at Guitar center (or your local music store) or
any of the many introductory lessons to various instruments on YouTube. In
fact, there's quite a few excellent private courses on YT with an abundance of
free material to get you started, so I'm having difficulty seeing the
rationale for this course.

~~~
DrewDev
I'm sorry, but by that logic there would seem to be little rationale for any
of the courses on Coursera. As someone who has dabbled in myriad mooc
offerings let me point out that signing up for a multi-week course that
follows a syllabus that's been thought through by someone who actually makes a
living teaching at an institutional level with regular assignments and quizzes
as reinforcement tools, it's a format of learning that's proved to be pretty
successful. Is it the only way to learn something? No. But I for one think
it's great that Coursera is branching into other subject areas.

And by the way, can you please explain how a video on youtube is a "private
course"? I'm also having trouble understanding the relevance of this abundance
of free material you speak of - last I checked, Coursera courses don't cost
money...

~~~
anigbrowl
I meant private courses that also publish some free material to YouTube. Just
go to that site and search for 'guitar lessons' and you'll see many videos
that link to structured offerings, both free and paid-for.

I know perfectly well what MOOCs are and what the attraction is. I'm pointing
out that I don't see anything especially distinctive or valuable about this
particular offering; rather it seems to lower the bar somewhat, by offering
rather less than existing alternatives.

Put another way, enrolling in a MOOC is an excellent way to participate in a
course that might not otherwise be accessible for reasons of cost or
geography. There's great value in learning about Machine Learning from
professors at Stanford or economics from the University of Chicago or (fill in
your own example here). But it's _not_ hard to find lessons in things like
playing the guitar. And because playing music is so interactive and
performance-oriented as opposed to abstract and cerebral, I actually think
most people would be rather better off studying it with a real person than by
enrolling in a MOOC. Even if one doesn't want to do that, this particular
Coursera offering looks _worse_ than existing internet resources for musical
instruction.

~~~
DrewDev
Well, I tried that. I had to click through four videos before finding one that
actually linked to any external site of "lessons". Once I did find it, it
linked me here: <http://www.guitarjamz.com/ytblues/>

You've got to be kidding me. Surely, you actually have some real examples of
learning guitar online that actually do compete, even a little, with what
Coursera is offering.

~~~
oblique63
There are some rather poor 'lessons' out there, but the best ones I've found
anywhere, have been from Pebber Brown's youtube channel:
<http://www.youtube.com/user/pebberbrown/videos?view=0>

and his site, which has all the materials and lessons organized, albeit
straight from 1995: <http://www.pbguitarstudio.com/GuitarVideoLessons.html>

(Also note, that this guy is the very instructor that taught Buckethead. If
that doesn't serve as a legit teaching credential, I don't know what does.)

~~~
anigbrowl
Wow, that's pretty awesome.

------
e7mac
For musicians who can read music and have to spend time organizing their sheet
music etc, check out <http://woodshed.e7mac.com> \- a tool I built for myself
that has saved me a tremendous amount of time. The goal was to put everything
you need for a practice session i.e.metronome, sheet music, spotify play for
original - on a single page.

------
nanook
If you're not an absolute beginner, you should check out all the REH/HotLicks
videos. Some really amazing lessons there - Petrucci's Rock Discipline, Paul
Gilbert's Intense Rock/Terrifying Guitar Trip etc.. lots of advanced jazz
stuff too. (Scott Henderson, Joe Pass, John Scofield's videos come to mind)

I doubt they're still available to buy online though. You should be able to
find them on youtube or torrent them.

If you're looking for a good book, check out Guthrie Govan's Creative Guitar
series[1]. They're wonderful!

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Guitar-Cutting-Edge-
Tech/dp/1...](http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Guitar-Cutting-Edge-
Tech/dp/1860744621)

------
bsstoner
I'm interested in what people think of this type of course vs. some of the
interactive guitar learning software out there?

Rocksmith - <http://rocksmith.ubi.com>

Rock Prodigy - <http://rockprodigy.com>

Ovelin - <http://ovelin.com>

Jamstar - <http://jamstar.co>

Miso Media - <http://misomedia.com>

Instinct - <http://getinstinct.com>

Disclaimer, I'm a cofounder at Instinct.

~~~
jaxonrice
I was about to post a link to Instinct [1]. I've recommended your site to a
couple of people after seeing it on HN when it launched, and both of them have
loved it. Congratulations on building a great looking site with a novel
approach to learning to play guitar from scratch! [1] <http://getinstinct.com>

~~~
bsstoner
Awesome! Thanks so much for the kind feedback.

------
rb2e
Take this with a pinch of salt but this is my ideal way of starting to play
guitar.

You'll need:

A starter Eletric guitar & Amplifer - Cheapest way is to buy a combined
Guitar/Amp package from the likes of Fender sold under their Squier range. Now
others may hate them but for the beginner they are ideal. At worst if you hate
it, stick on ebay or craigslist or if you handy with a soldering iron, upgrade
the pickups. Also makes sure the amplifer has a headphone socket and use
headphones for late night jams.

An electronic tuner - Guitars go out of tune. It will get you consistant
results sound wise. There is nothing more off putting for a beginner for a
guitar that is out of tune.

Now this is optional - get your guitar setup at your local guitar shop. It
will help sound wise and playability.

Buy strings - Don't worry about breaking strings. They are cheap. Easy to
replace. If you can upgrade the ram in your PC, you are competant enough to
change a guitar string. It's easy, nothing to be afraid of.

For instant results, learn how to play the intro riff to the Deep Purple song,
Smoke on the Water. It is easy and will give you an instant results. Then
learn "Power Chords". Will get you results that will please your ears.

There are tons of youtube tutorials on how to play the guitar. Start easy,
don't worry about not getting it right. Just take your time, relax and enjoy
it. The chords, scales will come in time. The main thing is to practise
rhythum.

An electric will give you results quickly compared to Acoustic and Classical,
which due to the way they are setup. Are harder to learn on. If you are not
sure, try them in your local guitar shop.

Some may hate what I suggest but I believe for a beginner, simple results will
encourage you further and make it enjoyable so when you do the course above,
it is not as scary.

A course like the above would be great and I believe if you add it in with
what I suggest, you'll be happy.

Remember nothing is set in stone. You can learn acoustic, electric and
classical at anytime in your life. Just have fun and enjoy it.

One last thing, /r/guitar sub Reddit is great if you have questions or your
local music shop. Don't be afraid of asking questions. That is how we learn.

------
wazoox
There's a reason why this can be more effective than many other online free
guitar courses: it requires you to put 6 to 8 hours every week, which is
actually a reasonable time to effectively learn to play an instrument.

When you spend only a couple of hours a week practicing, the progress is often
glacial or non-existent, which can be demotivating.

------
h4nnibal
I believe this course may give just a brief outline of what exactly music is.
6 weeks to master Music is really a short time. He may teach you alphabet,
words or even grammar.

But you will have to find your own way to write your own novel.

------
justplay
Unknowky i as waiting for long this long time. I am really very happy

