I got a gee-tar for my birthday (one week early) !

[Madrone]

Now I have to learn. It ain't as easy as it looks!

Starting by learning a 4-chord song, Learning to fly by Tom Petty. So far, I can't get through the intro. :P

It's not easy on the virgin fingers, either.

I figure since there's GOT to be freepers that can play, certainly a smart DUer like myself can do it! I only wish I'd started decades earlier.

[Strong Atheist]

1. ... and your b-day is

when?

[Madrone]

3. Next Saturday!

The big 3-7! :hi:

[Strong Atheist]

4. See you then!

:hi:

[Madrone]

2. delete - wrong spot.

durr.

[gmoney]

5. what kind? acoustic? electric?

Learn the I-IV-V progression, and you can fake 80% of pop songs (no, rap doesn't count) and about 90% of country pretty passably. That's like A-D-E or G-C-D etc...

Listen to the bass lines of songs and that can help figure out the chord progression, too.

[Madrone]

6. It's a used Ovation Ultra Series acoustic electric.

I know Ovation doesn't necessarily have street cred - and that people either love them or hate them but this one sounds NICE. And since good sound is the most important thing... it's a decent guitar.

Definitely good for a first learner guitar - better than a cheap $100 learner's one.

It also sounds really nice through an amp - although I don't have one.

I think it's a 1980's model?

[old mark]

10. Ovations are very nice guitars - When I need an acoustic/electric,

that's what I would get...saw a nice one in a pawn shop last year.
For an amp, try a used Peavey - they are all over eBay, very inexpensive and just great amps - around $100 will get you more than you will ever use.(I got one as an early birthday gift 2 weeks ago.)

I just turned 62 - I don't want to hear about 37...congratulations.
Oh, and welcome to the guitar. It's a wonderful instrument, and you can start anytime, and play all your life long.

mark

[Madrone]

7. I forgot to ask...

Whats the I-IV-V progression?

What I'm trying to learn now is the Learning to fly lead in - F (strum down up) C (up up down) Am (down up) G (up up down) x4. Once I get that nailed I'll move to the rest of the song. It's going to be awhile before that happens, I think. lol

[gmoney]

9. well, it's 1-4-5 or A-D-E

sort of a numbers to letters thing, because it's relative.

if you want to play the song in the key of A, then A=1 then D=4 and E=5, or start with C then F would be 4 and G would be 5 (like your song, but he threw in the Am, too.)

You can pretty much start anywhere (that is, in any key) and add the 4 and 5 chords. You may have to re-arrange a bit (1-5-4 or 1-4-1-5) but if you try to figure songs out by ear, this is a good place to start looking.

Like I say, this is VERY rough and a "fake" but can get you through a beach party. :)

[Iggo]

8. Yay!

There's two kinds of people in this world: People who play guitar and people who WANT to play guitar.

You are now a member of the first group. Congrats and Welcome!

[hippywife]

11. Gee! I wonder who got you that?

;)

My hubs got me a cheap 3/4 size for my birthday several years ago. I never did learn to play it because my fingers are still too short. :cry:

I hope you stick with it and get lots of enjoyment out of it. :hug:

Would this help you at all?

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/tom_petty/learning_to_fly_tab.htm


I'll be turning 51 the Wednesday after you turn 37. Enjoy every moment of the youth you still have.

[Madrone]

12. It was actually an old guy I've done computer work for!

He and his wife are customers of the company I work for, and I've done computer work for them on the side. I've known them for about 8 years now, and the man has gone severely downhill in health in the last few years. He has a handful of guitars, electric, bass, and the Ovation acoustic. I was over there a month or so ago and told him that if he ever wanted to sell that I was interested - I'd always wanted to learn guitar.

They knew my birthday was coming up - and they called yesterday to see if I would stop by to fix something in their email client. While there I was presented with the Ovation. :) It was a very nice surprise.

Thanks for the tabs! Dan (the old guy) showed me a couple of chords to start with - which I promptly forgot. When I got home I figured it would be easier to find a simple song to play and work on mastering it.

I ended up finding this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nu_xWU-eec , and this page to learn proper finger placement for chords - http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.php?ch=G&mm=&get=Gethttp://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.php?ch=G&mm=&get=Get

[GOPisEvil]

13. Holy crap!!

I expect a serenade when I come visit! :D

[NightWatcher]

14. I taught myself to play guitar, which sucked because I couldnt play for shit

and should not be teaching others.

Damn I miss Mitch Hedberg

[EvilAL]

15. Guitar is kickass. Ovations

are great acoustics too. They use good pickups as well so they sound great through an amplifier and they are relatively easy on the fingers. It's never too late to start. It will get frustrating and sometimes painful on the fingers, but once you start getting the hang of it you will find it difficult to stop. Hang in there, the reward of being able to play a tune on guitar and learn new ones is well worth the learning process.