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Did You Want To Quit While Learning Guitar?


An1m

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F chord is kicking my ass. I don't want to quit but I can see why there's so many people on craigslist selling 6 month old guitars at 1/3 retail price. They all say things like "played 2 or 3 times, I wanted to learn but..."

I hate this F chord in "Sink Florida Sink" by Against Me! I've decided that it'll be a good first song for me since I know it so well and it's only four chords, but it's very hard for me to nail that one chord.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/agai...da_sink_crd.htm

There's the chords if anyone could shed some light on finger positioning for me
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QUOTE (An1m @ Mar 2 2009, 09:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
F chord is kicking my ass. I don't want to quit but I can see why there's so many people on craigslist selling 6 month old guitars at 1/3 retail price. They all say things like "played 2 or 3 times, I wanted to learn but..."

I hate this F chord in "Sink Florida Sink" by Against Me! I've decided that it'll be a good first song for me since I know it so well and it's only four chords, but it's very hard for me to nail that one chord.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/agai...da_sink_crd.htm

There's the chords if anyone could shed some light on finger positioning for me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755CdzvXp8E

This video looks helpful. I really want to learn how to play the piano though.
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I'll take a stab at this... the easiest way to play an f chord especially if your fingers aren't developed enough to actually bar the whole thing is to cheat! Take ur index finger and bar across the first two strings at the 1st fret, take ur next finger and put it on the G 2nd fret and then use ur ring finger on the d string 3rd fret... I know this isn't completely correct, BUT IT SOUNDS RIGHT and thats what matters! The finished product should look like this...

[attachment=3138:IMG_0506.JPG]

when ur pinky gets stronger you can add it and complete the chord... but for now this will do!
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If your just learning to play guitar i would recommend going to one of the many tabs sites and looking up alot of the basic exercises for speed and dexterity. if you can get your fingers used to moving fast, the theory will come like a breeze.
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QUOTE (voski @ Mar 2 2009, 01:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (An1m @ Mar 2 2009, 09:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
F chord is kicking my ass. I don't want to quit but I can see why there's so many people on craigslist selling 6 month old guitars at 1/3 retail price. They all say things like "played 2 or 3 times, I wanted to learn but..."

I hate this F chord in "Sink Florida Sink" by Against Me! I've decided that it'll be a good first song for me since I know it so well and it's only four chords, but it's very hard for me to nail that one chord.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/agai...da_sink_crd.htm

There's the chords if anyone could shed some light on finger positioning for me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755CdzvXp8E

This video looks helpful. I really want to learn how to play the piano though.

Thanks this video is pretty helpful, the best one I've seen on youtube

QUOTE (kvtaco17 @ Mar 2 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'll take a stab at this... the easiest way to play an f chord especially if your fingers aren't developed enough to actually bar the whole thing is to cheat! Take ur index finger and bar across the first two strings at the 1st fret, take ur next finger and put it on the G 2nd fret and then use ur ring finger on the d string 3rd fret... I know this isn't completely correct, BUT IT SOUNDS RIGHT and thats what matters! The finished product should look like this...

[attachment=3138:IMG_0506.JPG]

when ur pinky gets stronger you can add it and complete the chord... but for now this will do!


Ahh thanks a million, I asked my girlfriend to help me after we'd gone out and she gave me much the same advice. I really appreciate this reply and all of the effort you put into this. I think I need to work on the dexterity in all of my fingers some more also. Your fingers appear to be quite dextrous, how long have you been playing?

QUOTE (GNUWorldOrder @ Mar 2 2009, 05:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
i use to play acoustic since it was quieter but a string broke and i never got it fixed


wow man you can fix that yourself maybe you should jump back in

QUOTE (AKammenzind @ Mar 2 2009, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I very rarely play chords, I'm more into fingerpicking, but I do remember the f-chord being a pain in the ass... and never really sounding that great to me either, heh.


I've seen some crazy fingerpicking stuff on youtube. I think there's this guy named John Butler, he used to be homeless and he's absolutely ridiculous on the acoustic guitar.

QUOTE (clumsygrace @ Mar 2 2009, 11:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I tried to learn, but couldn't. I keep my nails long and I just couldn't cut them short enough to play.



QUOTE (SuburbanSmoker @ Mar 3 2009, 12:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If your just learning to play guitar i would recommend going to one of the many tabs sites and looking up alot of the basic exercises for speed and dexterity. if you can get your fingers used to moving fast, the theory will come like a breeze.


This I will definitely do, I was talking about wanting to find some finger exercises with my Girlfriend yesterday but I don't know which ones I should be looking into right now. My Girlfriend taught me how to play scales, power chords, and some music theory. She also taught me how to tune the guitar using harmonics, which is useful because I don't have a tuner yet.

Any reccomendations?

Edit: Thanks to help from everyone in this thread and my Girlfriend I can now play F chords, the one in that particular song is still a bit difficult for me but I don't feel so bad about cheating and leaving my pinky off for now and playing a slightly different F. Thanks everyone! Edited by An1m
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It takes a LONG time to get the guitar down. You have to teach your fingers to do stuff that fingers usually just do not do. Keep at it though. It will get better!
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I tried guitar out, found my fingers to be too big and not flexible enough, so naturally I tried bass. I've been playing for over a year now, it's a great instrument. So, I guess my point is... Well you might not want to give up on guitar, but try bass, it might come to you a little more naturally. If none of your friends have one, places like Guitar Center and Sam Ash will usually let you try out whatever they have in stock.
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QUOTE (Mephysteaux @ Mar 5 2009, 08:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I tried guitar out, found my fingers to be too big and not flexible enough, so naturally I tried bass. I've been playing for over a year now, it's a great instrument. So, I guess my point is... Well you might not want to give up on guitar, but try bass, it might come to you a little more naturally. If none of your friends have one, places like Guitar Center and Sam Ash will usually let you try out whatever they have in stock.


concur whole heartadly. i gave up on guitar the minute i picked one up. strings are way to small for me to even pretend to play. i played bass in jazz band for a year though and was awesome...recently ive gotten out of practice and need to start playing again.
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Hmm my girlfriend has electric and acoustic basses. My fingers are big and not flexible but I'd really like to learn guitar. If I just suck too badly I'll go back to drums but right now it's actually going all right.
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also learn a cool song that everyone knows, that way when you tell someone your learning guitar you can bust it out and play it. something pretty easy like the opening 7 notes for tank, the cowboy bebop song. something simple and repetitive that a lot of people know and/or sounds cool. this will also help you practice moving your fingers around on the string...
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QUOTE (An1m @ Mar 3 2009, 08:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (voski @ Mar 2 2009, 01:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (An1m @ Mar 2 2009, 09:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
F chord is kicking my ass. I don't want to quit but I can see why there's so many people on craigslist selling 6 month old guitars at 1/3 retail price. They all say things like "played 2 or 3 times, I wanted to learn but..."

I hate this F chord in "Sink Florida Sink" by Against Me! I've decided that it'll be a good first song for me since I know it so well and it's only four chords, but it's very hard for me to nail that one chord.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/agai...da_sink_crd.htm

There's the chords if anyone could shed some light on finger positioning for me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755CdzvXp8E

This video looks helpful. I really want to learn how to play the piano though.

Thanks this video is pretty helpful, the best one I've seen on youtube

QUOTE (kvtaco17 @ Mar 2 2009, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'll take a stab at this... the easiest way to play an f chord especially if your fingers aren't developed enough to actually bar the whole thing is to cheat! Take ur index finger and bar across the first two strings at the 1st fret, take ur next finger and put it on the G 2nd fret and then use ur ring finger on the d string 3rd fret... I know this isn't completely correct, BUT IT SOUNDS RIGHT and thats what matters! The finished product should look like this...

[attachment=3138:IMG_0506.JPG]

when ur pinky gets stronger you can add it and complete the chord... but for now this will do!


Ahh thanks a million, I asked my girlfriend to help me after we'd gone out and she gave me much the same advice. I really appreciate this reply and all of the effort you put into this. I think I need to work on the dexterity in all of my fingers some more also. Your fingers appear to be quite dextrous, how long have you been playing?

QUOTE (GNUWorldOrder @ Mar 2 2009, 05:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
i use to play acoustic since it was quieter but a string broke and i never got it fixed


wow man you can fix that yourself maybe you should jump back in

QUOTE (AKammenzind @ Mar 2 2009, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I very rarely play chords, I'm more into fingerpicking, but I do remember the f-chord being a pain in the ass... and never really sounding that great to me either, heh.


I've seen some crazy fingerpicking stuff on youtube. I think there's this guy named John Butler, he used to be homeless and he's absolutely ridiculous on the acoustic guitar.

QUOTE (clumsygrace @ Mar 2 2009, 11:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I tried to learn, but couldn't. I keep my nails long and I just couldn't cut them short enough to play.



QUOTE (SuburbanSmoker @ Mar 3 2009, 12:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If your just learning to play guitar i would recommend going to one of the many tabs sites and looking up alot of the basic exercises for speed and dexterity. if you can get your fingers used to moving fast, the theory will come like a breeze.


This I will definitely do, I was talking about wanting to find some finger exercises with my Girlfriend yesterday but I don't know which ones I should be looking into right now. My Girlfriend taught me how to play scales, power chords, and some music theory. She also taught me how to tune the guitar using harmonics, which is useful because I don't have a tuner yet.

Any reccomendations?

Edit: Thanks to help from everyone in this thread and my Girlfriend I can now play F chords, the one in that particular song is still a bit difficult for me but I don't feel so bad about cheating and leaving my pinky off for now and playing a slightly different F. Thanks everyone!


I've been playing for about 8 years on and off, never took a lesson in my life... but yeah I've been teaching on and off for the last 2 years. I'll post some finger exercises for you when I can later on...
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Awesome! Thanks for every reply all of this is very encouraging. When I'm at work I think about practicing guitar and sometimes hookahing but mostly practicing and I can't weight to get home and turn on my amp and start shredding... actually I kinda play a few chords and try to nail down the right timing but I can dream =D
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House of the Rising Sun -Animals

This is the picking pattern thru-out with chords.

Am C D F E
e|-----0-------------0-----------3--3------------1-1----------0--------
b|---1-^-1---------1-^-1--------2---^-2---------1--^-1--------^--0-----
g|--2----^-0------0----^-0-----3------^-0------2-----^-0-----1---^-0---
d|-2-------^-----2-------^----0---------^-----3--------^----2------^---
a|0-------------3------------------------------------------2-----------
e|--------------------------------------------------------0------------

Am C D F E
e|------ e|--0--- e|--3--- e|--1--- e|--0---
b|--1--- b|--1--- b|--2--- b|--1--- b|--0---
g|--2--- g|--0--- g|--3--- g|--2--- g|--1---
d|--2--- d|--2--- d|--0--- d|--3--- d|--2---
a|--0--- a|--3--- a|------ a|------ a|--2---
e|------ e|------ e|------ e|------ e|--0---


House of the rising sun - the Animals

Am C D F Am C E E

Am C D F
There is a house in New Orleans,
Am C E E
They call the Rising Sun
Am C D F
And It's been the ruin of many a poor boy
Am E Am
And God, I know, I'm one


and so on... its harder then the song your learning but take the time to learn these chords in addition to whats in the other song... with these chord shapes you will be able to play almost any chord and they are a good basis to build on. Plus I made a video to compliment it, which includes a how to clean ur hookah segment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXbQQ4e_oQs

Now back to my double apple...

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Are you kidding???? This is amazing. Thanks a million man!!!!!!! I also smoked double apple tonight and am about to finish the 45 minutes there should be left in this bowl. This must be a sign!
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