Over Thanksgiving, I visited my aunt who was recovering from surgery. She's easily one of my favorite aunts, because she's such a character and has led such an interesting life. For one, she got a scholarship to Yale and eventually worked for an ad agency, doing research.
She's also the best storyteller in our family and I can listen to her talk for hours and hours. I've recorded a few of her stories and I'd like to record more, since she's already in her mid 80's.
One thing she does every year without fail, is to call up people in our extended family and play them "Happy Birthday" on her harmonica. I don't know when she got a guitar, but anyway, she gave it to me and I'd like to learn how to play it at least a little. I guess as much for myself as for her, but either way, I think it'd be nice if I could at least play her a little something on her birthday next year. I mean, I could honk it out on the sax, but a tenor isn't exactly something that sounds great over the phone, nor is it welcome in an apartment building.
I can't help you learn classical guitar, but if you have no prior musical experience you need to know basic to intermediate music theory. Keys, chords, chord inversions, and probably figured bass if youre a guitarist, though maybe not. Also, this.
Classical guitar is a beast. Good luck. Taught myself guitar by starting out with just basic scales in every position. Started with major diatonic (ionian), went to aeolian minor, then through the modes- dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, locrian. Can get monotonous, but it really hammers home proper fingering, note placement, voicing. That'll help with just guitaring in general. That said, I know nothing about learning proper classical guitar. Classical guitar generally uses its own pick/fingering technique. The strings are harder to push down because the action on those classical guitars (is it nylon?) is so high. And I still have yet to get the hang of a lot of chords on acoustic guitars, as my finger strength isn't where it should be. Eesh. So again, good luck. Beautiful sound, though, those nylon string guitars. I mean, you could always toss the idea of learning real classical and just learn guitar on the classical. It'll also make you a shredder on electric since that's so much easier to play.
I appreciate the perspectives on the different kinds of guitar playing. I remember when I was in a jazz trio in high school, my friend told me that he thought scales on guitar were easier than what he saw me doing on the tenor, since the shapes (his word) of the scales were pretty similar on the fret board, is that true? I do anticipate a whole lot of exercise if I'm to make any sort of progress with this thing. The strings for classical are nylon, but 4th-6th are wound. At the moment I'm gearing up to restring the damn thing. My buddy told me I should clean it all up first before I restring it, which makes sense to me. I do have a regular acoustic guitar and I figured I'd clean that one up too and restring that one so I can compare experiences. All I can say, is doing what I'm doing now seems a lot easier than getting my sax back into playable condition (there are so many tiny screws and springs!) not to mention the physical part of rebuilding my lung capacity (my fault) and embrouchure. Any scale/chord/arpeggio or right hand type exercises you'd recommend?
The scales are easier, yeah. Once you've learned a scale starting on one position from one particular string, then you can just work your way up the fret board and that position never changes. Kind of hard to describe, more of a doing thing. But the tricky thing about guitar that I think makes it a hell of a lot harder (and/or more fun): there are a ton of ways to phrase every scale. For instance, with major diatonic, you can play three of the notes on the first string, three in the same position on the second, three on the third, three in that position on the fourth, three on the fifth, three on that position on the sixth. You could just as easily play two on the first, three in a different position on the second, three in different on third... so on and so forth. Bottom line: every scale can be phrased umpteen ways, whereas, say, on the piano, C major can only be played one way ever, so you don't end up being paralyzed by choice. Eventually, this is a huge strength- as you play, you can choose whichever scale shape fits the phrasing of the song and where your fingers lie. But starting out... ugh. My best friend/best guitarist I know says that the best rule of thumb to go by is: pick the shape that requires the least amount of hand movement in terms of going up and down the fret board. This'll help insure that transitions from note to note and string to string are fluid. My favorite exercise was always:
(starting on the root)
1-3-2-4-3-5-4-6-5-7-6-1-7-2-1 and then back down. Once you nip that in the bud, it's fun to start mid-scale instead of the root.
I'm a pretty decent guitar player but I know nothing about playing classical guitar. Rock/pop/folk guitar and Classical Guitar are very different things. Good luck.
Technique is everything with a classical guitar. Don't follow the posture of your favorite rock star; they are bound to get a whole host of negative syndromes due to the way they hold their instrument. My guitar professor in college always brought up this point. Every musician faces some sort of long-term damage due to their art. For example, french horn players's faces start to cave in after decades of playing. Other brass instrumentalists develop problems with their jaws and lips. The point he stressed is that if done correctly, guitar is the safest instrument. You can learn 'Happy Birthday' with guitar tabs with no problem. If you continue to play, however, make sure you are doing it right. Nobody wants you to get carpal tunnel.
That's a great point. I've wondered about that; my lower lip is still a bit thicker than it used to be, from playing the tenor. In your opinion, what's the best way to make sure I'm doing it right? Is it something people can generally tell on their own?Every musician faces some sort of long-term damage due to their art.
I'd really recommend learning the basics from a guitar teacher, as they can really speed up the learning and can fix important beginners mistakes early on. But if that's not an option, Justin Guitar is quite good I've heard. I'd suggest to focus on chords as they are building blocks to a huge amount of songs. Once you know the basic chords (Am, C, D, Dm, E, Em, G and F) you can learn yourself some songs with something like Ultimate Guitar (select Novice songs, they are a good first step).but anyway, she gave it to me