Guitar Noob Help?

[3---Hit---U]

Hey, I recently bought a Schecter Sunset Deluxe with FR and it's amazing.

Except for one thing. The FREAKING FLOYD ROSE!

So, I've seen ways of fixing it (wood blocks, brass tool, and tremol-no), but they all require some modification, so I was thinking about getting a new guitar. Except I'm poor.

ANYWAY.

My brother is on better terms with my parents, and if he wants a guitar, and I help pay for it, we (I) can get a new guitar. :D

Now the problem.

My brother cannot play guitar.

For F****** Sh*t.

So, what are some really REALLY REALLY (did I say really enough?) basic songs (preferably hard rock/light metal) that nearly anyone can play. and my brother really sucks, like he cant even play the bass intro to Crazy Train (I know really sad)

And I'm probably just going to end up buying a new guitar when I get a summer job, so I WILL get mah new tremolo-less guitar sometime.

Oh, check me out on youtube by the way: http://www.youtube.com/user/09TheBigProjekt09

:D

EDIT: My brother actually does want a guitar, but he doesn't want to buy one if he can't play it.

[DreXxiN]

Smoke on the water.

Start with some Skillet / Three Days Grace songs. (Probably will need to drop the low E string to D tuning)

Play songs you like, or simple chord progression songs that play on the radio such as Second Chance by shinedown or that new one by Apocolyptica... (Can't remember the name for some reason.)

Also try playing cowboys from hell really slow and work your ways up. This helps with really beginner scaling sections.

[Nitro Vordex]

AC/DC is a great place to start with rhythm and solos. No downtuning, often the same scales and no nonsense.

[Lance813]

Why don't you just tighten down your FR, and unscrew the bar? I mean, that should solve your problem, unless you really want a solid bridge.

Beginner songs, lets see. Well this is how I started up.

Fresh off of the block I started learning some old Green Day songs to get rhythm down, such as Basket Case and Brain Stew. After you learn how to keep rhythm you can move on to simple scales within song such as Iron Man, and War Pigs by Sabbath. After playing those slow for a while you can start to increase your speed. After that, you can move up to some Zeppelin songs like Black Dog. The first few months of you playing will be increasing finger strength and speed.

When you can play all of those song fairly well you can move up to bands such as Coheed and Cambria, Rush, and Iron Maiden. You will be playing songs of this difficulty for a bit until you get your hands stronger and not as 'stupid'.

From there you can work on picking technique, such as alternate picking and sweeping. Bands like Trivium and Protest the Hero will help you on those. After that you can decide for yourself what to play.

If you need help with any kind of technique, youtube is your friend. Don't be afraid to use it.

[Blue-Hawk]

Stairway to Heaven. If you can't play that you REALLY don't belong even touching a guitar, much less looking at one.

[hyperacute]

You can easily hardtail a Floyd with a block of wood in the trem cavity. Still have to mess about with allen keys to restring it but it saves it detuning itself. Makes for better sustain too.

As for easy beginner songs, the riffs from Smoke on the Water, Sunshine of your Love and Louie Louie were the classic ones in my day. Most punk songs ( for example Pistols, Kennedys, The Clash) are basic chord work and easy to pick up. Should give a decent basic chord repetoire to get hands used to the positions and make learning other songs easier.

Drop the E string down to D and all of a sudden, you can play powerchords with one finger. Probably a hell of a lot of metal riffs you can play this way. Rammstein spring to mind for some reason XD

For something more melodic, picking up the blues scales around the 12th fret lets you noodle around and improvise a bit. Throw in a few string bends and a little vibrato for (almost) instant BB King goodness.

Throw a little distortion (all right, a lot!) on when practising and almost anything sounds better! I also used to find it easier learning the individual riffs from songs rather than trying to get the entire song note perfect in one sitting. You can string them all together once you're comfortable with them.

Fairly simple stuff really but it familiarises your hands with the instrument which in the early days is all you're really trying to do.

[3---Hit---U]

Thanks for all the tips!

I found my one friend knows how to block a Floyd, so he offered to do it for me sometime =D

Thanks anyways :P

[Syl]

Ew Floyd Rose. IMO to me it's never been worth it, so I stick to Tonepros bridges (especially through-body ones <3). Sure it's nice that my guitar can stay tuned, but it's always been awkward for palmmutes and I switch up my tunings ALL the time so in my case it isn't worth it at all >_>

Uh as far as easy bands... Green Day, Metallica, AC/DC, The Ramones, and Nirvana all come to mind. Easy power riffs and chord progressions, nothing that will make your hands explode or fall off :wacko:


Stairway to Heaven. If you can't play that you REALLY don't belong even touching a guitar, much less looking at one.

Unless I dunno... the song is boring as hell? I don't really care for that song, even though I know I can play it. Every guitar noob at one point will learn it though, so that kind of goes without saying.

[Nitro Vordex]

I never learned Stairway to Heaven.

[DreXxiN]

When you can play all of those song fairly well you can move up to bands such as Coheed and Cambria, Rush, and Iron Maiden

Woah, isn't that a pretty hefty jump there? :P. I mean, especially maiden...well ok, I learned the trooper and Hallowed be Thy Name early on guitar..but I wouldn't really expect him to be able to do the triplets/gallop picking really well in the early stages nor the sick trillwork of Dave's solo's XD.

[Lance813]

You can slow them down to make excellent practice songs... -.- Triplets most guitarists wont get for a while anyways.

Songs like 'Welcome Home' and 'Phantom of the Opera' are a great way to exercise your fingers. Most Coheed songs are fairly easy to learn. Actually, most Rush songs are fairly simple also.

[Nitro Vordex]

Learn to play Rock the Dragon.

It's good for alternate picking.

I'm serious.

[Syl]

You can slow them down to make excellent practice songs... -.- Triplets most guitarists wont get for a while anyways.

Songs like 'Welcome Home' and 'Phantom of the Opera' are a great way to exercise your fingers. Most Coheed songs are fairly easy to learn. Actually, most Rush songs are fairly simple also.

Gallops and triplets are a great exercise early on IMO for building up strength and rhythm, but not super easy to grasp right away. Once you get it though it's like stupid easy.

Unless of course it's in polyrhythm or confusing syncopation (Meshuggah *cough cough*), then you're fucked ;o

[Midicronica]

Awesome thread is awesome. Just bought a guitar on Thursday and I'm pretty excited to get it. I haven't played much because my hand has been bothering me pretty seriously for the past few days. I'm thinking it might be carpal tunnel since my hand gets numb and I feel serious pain in the joints at the end of the fingers.

So far all I've been doing lately is an exercise to strengthen the fingers and build dexterity. I'm getting a little better since I can play it a little faster. But I'm not sure what I should be trying to focus on besides learning chords and trying out a few songs that I know are easy.

Oh, here's the guitar I got. It's an Ibanez GSA60.
http://www.datemusica.net/tienda/images/uploads/gsa60_guitarra.jpg minus tremolo bar.

I'm loving this thing so far and I'm sure I'll like it even more when I buy my amp two weeks from now. :( It's killing me not having one. I've got my eye on the Line 6 Spider III 75w amp.

[Split]

I would get rid of the Floyd Rose if I were you...

[Lance813]

Unless of course it's in polyrhythm or confusing syncopation (Meshuggah *cough cough*), then you're fucked ;o

There are no other triplets as far as I'm concerned. The rest is just 'fast picking', haha.

Midicronica, That's a pretty good choice for a starter guitar. I'm not a big fan of Line 6(sounds too artificial for me). If you want a good distortion amp for cheap, then there really isn't anything better for the price.

[3---Hit---U]

Hey, thanks for all the tips!!

My brother apparently likes Greenday, so he'll be ok with learning for a while.



Woah, isn't that a pretty hefty jump there? :P. I mean, especially maiden...well ok, I learned the trooper and Hallowed be Thy Name early on guitar..but I wouldn't really expect him to be able to do the triplets/gallop picking really well in the early stages nor the sick trillwork of Dave's solo's XD.


I love triplets. I don't know why, but they just seemed "easy" to me. As for gallop picking (sweep picking?) I suck. Bad. But I'm a rhythm guitarist, so it doesn't really matter.

A few more questions:
1) What are some good songs to work on technique? (mostly scaling and some other "lead" things, because I'm pretty good at rhythm) Currently I'm trying to learn a few Lamb of God songs (Ashes to the Wake album) and I really don't care what I learn, I play alot of metal and hard rock, so I prefer that, but I would like to experiment with some other stuff (To be honest, I'll even play some classical or country music if you give me a few songs :p) Oh, and if possible, keep the list to E standard or Drop D. Or anything on acoustic.

2) Give me some "mainstream" music. Being able to play guitar pretty good and having no one respect you because you play metal (//.-) is sorta annoying.

3) I found an acoustic guitar in our storage room, (yeah, it's like old) so what are some cool unplugged songs I can play.

4) Finally, what are some easy songs to sing (and I mean freaking easy, I can barely sing on rock band on easy :s) and play, like "romantic" I guess. Because I plan on asking out this girl and I thought a nice song would be... nice?

Thanks everyone!

[Midicronica]

Man, not having an amp is killing me. I was trying to play Blitzkrieg Bop and it just wasn't working for me. Besides that, I've been doing finger exercises and trying to memorize chords. Right about now I can hardly remember any of them aside from the A and G chords. I can't play A properly because of my sausage fingers and G makes my hand hurt. From what I've read that won't be a problem later on but I dunno...

[Split]

Man, not having an amp is killing me. I was trying to play Blitzkrieg Bop and it just wasn't working for me. Besides that, I've been doing finger exercises and trying to memorize chords. Right about now I can hardly remember any of them aside from the A and G chords. I can't play A properly because of my sausage fingers and G makes my hand hurt. From what I've read that won't be a problem later on but I dunno...Trust me, it won't matter! I have the worst sausage fingers but I've been playing for five years and loving every second of it. I actually think it helps to have thicker fingers - it's it easier to form any chord that requires barring (regular barres, 9ths, 7ths, etc.) when your finger fills the entire fret.

Speaking of which, A is easier to make if you just bar the second fret and strum strings A through B (and it's not really a cheap shortcut since it sounds exactly the same). Also, remember that E and A minor are the same shapes, but with A- every finger is up one string (so the middle finger is on the D, second fret, the ring finger is on the G, second fret, and the index finger is on the B, first fret). So basically, that's two chords and only one shape to memorize. Then for the E- all you have to do is remove your index finger. F is a little tougher since it requires a two string bar with your index finger, but you'll be ready to learn it in no time, I'm sure.

Also, you would do well to memorize the note every string makes in standard tuning:

EADGBE, respectively, starting from the lowest string to the highest.

All this sounds complicated now, but if you just stick with it, it'll be cake in no time. That's the main problem many people have with starting an instrument though: lack of commitment. If you can start out practicing the basics for about an hour or so per day, eventually it'll become really fun to play. There was nothing like the first time I could recognizably play a song (Scar Tissue by RHCP - still remember it). I would play it nonstop - of course after everyone else heard it the first time they would start getting really annoyed - and started to realize that it is much more fun to play music than to listen. Really, it's true. You don't have to make it your life, but just keep at it! I can't emphasize that enough. Best of luck to you, man.

EDIT: Almost forgot, It's best to start with an acoustic guitar because it builds up finger strength and calluses. Just my opinion.

EDIT2: At OP: House of the Rising Sun is a really basic progression, but once you improve a bit you can move onto doing the picking pattern that goes with each chord instead of just strumming. It's a really versatile beginner tune (for your brother, of course, like you were asking for. Also, don't worry about sweeping, that's not what's important. Bluesy Zeppelin/Traffic/Hendrix style classic rock lead is where you'll find the truly musical sounding stuff. There are plenty of insanely coordinated and mathematically minded Asian kids on youtube (not that there's anything wrong with Asians...or math...or youtube) that can sweep through five different scales up the entire neck in time with a metronome that sounds like a frigging automatic rifle, but most of them don't have an ounce of creativity in their body. It's good to throw in like a four or five string sweep every once in a while if it leads into a lick with a few hammer-ons and things like that, but even for metal too much sweeping just sounds impressive, not good.

[DreXxiN]

Hmm...mainstream....


Well an easy one that I guess is "leadish" is Mr. Brightside by the Killers...not sure why but that song is just fun to play to me. XD. (it's actually still a challenge for me because of my finger size..)

Another easy one? Kryptonite by Three Doors Down is easy as well.

You might also want to try some popular hair/80's metal riffs.

EDIT: Oh, and what the post above me said. House of the Rising Sun. Except you're going to fucking hate that F chord as a beginner.

[Nitro Vordex]

2) Give me some "mainstream" music. Being able to play guitar pretty good and having no one respect you because you play metal (//.-) is sorta annoying.
Here's a good list of mainstream songs.

1) Hell's Bells- AC/DC. It's very easy, and it just requires you bounce back and forth between the strings. The chords are a little finger stretching, but that's good because you'll need to be able to stretch your fingers.

2) Aerials - System of a Down. Okay yeah, it's in Drop C, I'm aware. But this is a very good excercise for your picking. If you learn this, your speed will be pretty good and it requires you to rememebr the rythm and play with it.

3) Metro - System of a Down. Okay, not really mainstream, but it's a good song to learn nonetheless. Now, you can try this one instead of Aerials, since there's a tab somewhere for standard. I can't look it up at the moment, but it should be on Ultimate Guitar. This is a nice scale to learn, I don't actually know if it has a name, but it's very good. Also, this would be a good song to sing as well. The solo in this song is reasonably easy, so it's nothing insane, as it's more like a bridge than a solo.

4) The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana. Again, not really mainstream, but DOO EET. :wacko: I chose Nirvana's version for a couple reasons. Cobain's voice is actually tolerable in this. Sorry, it had to be said. The song is in E flat tuning if I recall correctly. It's a faily simple song. The chords will help you with rythm as well. The solo, again, isn't terribly difficult. (Also learn Smells Like Teen Spirit, more chord and rythm goodness. Plus a little bit on lam muting I do believe.)

5) Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm. This song is really easy, it just requires some moderate chord playing. Personally, it hurts my hands to play this, but that's becuase I've got a wicked Hitchhiker's thumb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiker%27s_thumb#Hitchhiker.27s_thumb), think almost 180 degree range. Back on topic, the song itself is really fun to play, both on accoustic and electric.

I'll post more when I'm actually near my computer music library.