[quote="htdcmsg"]i started three years ago (i practice every day of course). i never took any lessons... i learned to play tablature first, read various books, and had help from people i knew who already knew how to play guitar. i learned to play classical music first, so obviously that really helped me improve a lot (i bought an electric guitar after about a year of playing). it probably took me a few months from when i started before i actually started to sound decent.

i can play any pillows song, and i can learn to play songs by ear fairly well. maybe not something like naked shuffle, but i've learned a few number girl songs(日常に生きる少女, wave of mutilation, IGGY POP FANCLUB). i've also learned how to use max/msp/my laptop with my guitar...

and i've written a few songs (minus lyrics)...[/quote]

You know everyone's going to be bugging you for tablature now, right?

[quote="Blank"][quote="htdcmsg"]i started three years ago (i practice every day of course). i never took any lessons... i learned to play tablature first, read various books, and had help from people i knew who already knew how to play guitar. i learned to play classical music first, so obviously that really helped me improve a lot (i bought an electric guitar after about a year of playing). it probably took me a few months from when i started before i actually started to sound decent.

i can play any pillows song, and i can learn to play songs by ear fairly well. maybe not something like naked shuffle, but i've learned a few number girl songs(日常に生きる少女, wave of mutilation, IGGY POP FANCLUB). i've also learned how to use max/msp/my laptop with my guitar...

and i've written a few songs (minus lyrics)...[/quote]

You know everyone's going to be bugging you for tablature now, right?[/quote]

I won't bug him for tablature. I will [i]demand[/i] that he records himself playing Pantomime, Happy Slave, Koi no SPY ni kiwotsukero (Be Careful About Love Spies), and Lesser Hamster in Blue.

[quote="Blank"]You know everyone's going to be bugging you for tablature now, right?[/quote]
it usually takes forever for me to make a decent tab... maybe i'll tab them sometime though.

I've been playing for about ten years, though I went through a couple of several-month patches when I was first starting out when I got frustrated and didn't play at all. I didn't start actually trying to write my own songs until about two years ago.

I've taken a total of one guitar lesson, and the rest of the time just used tablature to learn songs I wanted to play. I never really learned any scales or anything, and I don't have a huge repertoire of chords. I can hold my own as a rhythm guitarist though, if I don't need to use any funky chords. It all depends on how serious you are about the instrument.


(Hint: I'm not.)

I've been playing almost six years. I never took lessons, but I did spend
countless hours playing. Usually 6-8 hrs a day for about two years.
You get out exactly what you put into the guitar. The problem with the
guitar or any musical instrument for that matter is, you are never satisfied.
I used to only want to play SRV blues stuff, but then I had to play like
YJM and Satriani and Gilbert, and then I only wanted to play like Bireli and Django Reinhardt.

And now I play the piano.

Basically, it can consume your entire life if you let it.

Because, you are [i]never[/i] good enough.

I started messing around with a guitar about 2 years ago, but about 90% of my progress has been made only in the last 6-8 months. When I first started I didn't really put much effort into it and never got past the basics. Then I decided to take the instrument more seriously and focus more on jazz (lol sup Steven). Now I practice about everyday and I can (almost) sight read really easy songs.

[quote="Sclone"]Basically, it can consume your entire life if you let it.

Because, you are [i]never[/i] good enough.[/quote]

story of my life.

i started a little over two years. and im decent. i know maybe six other people in my grade who play guitar, and im better than them at certain aspects, but not overall.

i think i made most of my progress summer 06. practiced almost everyday for a few hours with all the free time i had
i remember in summer 05 i tried to play come down with a friend and i couldnt sing and play. so i guess maybe a year into it i started to sound decent.

luckily, i played clarinet for 5 or so years before guitar so i knew a thing or two about music and had some dexterity to my fingers and could sync them somewhat.

so yeah, getting good really varies on how much you work at it. practicing a solid hour every day actually adds up to quite a lot of work.

[quote="AWPJudy"][quote="Sclone"]Basically, it can consume your entire life if you let it.

Because, you are [i]never[/i] good enough.[/quote]

story of my life.[/quote]

[Insert generic joke about your sex lives here.]

I've been playing about 5-6 years, and I would say that I was reasonably good after 2-3 years which included a year or two of lessons. Since the fourth year or so, though, I haven't put any serious effort into improving technically, so I could be better than I am. I certainly can't compare to Sclone and the other shredders, but I'm solid.

The bad thing, though, is that I kind of put aside lead playing for rhythm/vocals, but at college (for me at least) there's little time/privacy for that sort of practicing, so now my chops are rusty and my voice is a bit inflexible.

I'm not a shredder.


I'm sure your playing is good, from what I have heard atleast.

In fact, if you didn't live 10,000 miles away from me, we could have

started a band by now.

Alright, I've definately improved form the time I started this thread, but I'm not sure I can even say that I play guitar. First off, my knowledge of anything guitar related it very limited, and it always seems like I'm out of my league whenever I read tabs or discussions about guitars on this board.

I definately need improvement on speed, I literally have to stop for a second to place my fingers correctly when switching between chords.

I can't seem to remember all of the chords either. So whenever I play a tab, I have a hard time remembering all the finger placements, and it dissects whatever song I'm playing so much that is unrecognizable.

Any suggestions on how I could improve?

[quote="Utsuseru"]Any suggestions on how I could improve?[/quote]

PRACTICE

Hmm.... I've been for about a year and a half. I learned mostly through books and some instructional video. I mostly try to come up with my own stuff, I haven't really tried to learn scales and stuff like that but I come up some melodies of my own from time to time.

I started playing the guitar about 5 months ago. At first I was terrible and stopped playing. The only song I could play was the verses of Shiroi (simple chords). Since I started playing bass before then (3 months before), I continued to learn the bass.

Then late in the summer I really started trying again with the guitar. I wanted to learn chords better because I always gave up on them before. So the first song I started out with was "Bran-new love song". I can't do any bar chords without looking like a total noobface, but I can do basic chords with some efficiency. Basically, I just practiced playing the intro to Hailey's, Bran-new love song, Beautiful Morning With You, (Cake) It's Coming Down, (Animals) House of the Rising Sun.