Moi?
A cheap acoustic guitar from Amazon… That’s what happens when you’re unemployed, you waste that little money you have… I can’t even play it, I though it would be easy to at least pretend to play it but nope, even those “easy to play songs” on YouTube are impossible for me and I’m negated in learning chords, now is a pretty dust collector that I want to destroy.
Also I guess cyberpunk 2077. That game isn’t what it promised to be.
Edit: people, you also can ask about the game, not just the goddamn guitar. Seriously, stop asking about the guitar, the post wasn’t even about music advice.
The guitar (any instrument) is not like learning any other thing. It is a part of your life and something that you care enough to have or not. It is okay to suck at it and still enjoy it. There are a great many reasons to play that do not involve any social context. I tell people all the time, you do not hear of all the concerts people play using the masterful compositions of Albert Einstein, yet he played the violin.
I never play a guitar with or for other people. It is my emotional refuge. I’ve sucked at it for many years, but I simply do not care to make it an academic like pursuit so far in my life. I enjoy zoning out to my thoughts while my fingers move without.
I haven’t made any regretful purchases in a long time. Maybe some woodworking gear (planer/jointer) I’m unable to utilize well due to space constraints.
I’m the same way. I play music solely for fun, by myself. I love playing with others as well, but even in the times in my life when I was lucky enough to be able to do that I still would play music by myself. Common attitudes about music are really toxic imo. Music is at its best when it is free, live, amateur, and enjoyed alone or with close friends, not for an audience with outsized expectations based on the ubiquity of recorded professional music.
I care about playing the music that I like but without sounding like dog shit though. That’s the difference between you and I. For me is not okay to suck for so long.
Ask yourself why and address it. Maybe try lowering tension on the neck and finding strings that work at lower height and tension. I play with an acoustic that has nearly the same action dynamics as an electric.
There are also some minor things that often do not get communicated. Hold the pick near the tip of your index finger and not near the middle or upper joint/segment. Keep the end of your thumb on your fretting hand behind the guitar neck; don’t palm the neck. Most pattern-like music that you use TABs to play are accuracy exercises someone heard and made a song out of. One of the first songs I learned was December by Collective Soul. It happened to be TAB’d in a magazine and I played it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6exsatE-DUk
The first dozen or so songs you learn are harder, but choose them wisely, you will not forget them for your entire life. They will stick harder than anything else you learn.
3 Doors Down’s Kryptonite is another song based on both an ultra simple strumming rhythm that may not feel natural but will expand your understanding of strumming, while the picked line is another simple practice/pattern training system.
The Alice in Chains acoustic album’s Rooster is a simple chord and picking combo of two chords that are overly rewarded for their simplicity.
You’re being nice, but I’m sorry. I’ve seen similar videos anyway, and the lowering thing requires tools and certain knowledge that I’m just not capable, plus I’m broke. That’s why I put the guitar in a “things that I instantly regret buying” you know?
Some people are just fucking stupid, dude. My mom can’t use a phone or a remote control, I cant learn guitar.
To say you can’t is a convenient way to explain it. It’s okay to say you don’t have enough motivation to learn it. Even once you can play an instrument you still need the motivation to keep playing, and if you don’t, then that’s all good. No one thing is for everyone.
No need to say you’re stupid or incapable, you’re absolutely smart enough and capable, you just don’t have the motivation to overcome the learning curve, and that’s completely acceptable.
Man, you don’t know me. I’m stupid and negated.
I mean, I’ve seen you on here enough to know that your brain trends towards negativity and that there’s a solid chance that if you put the time in you could get somewhere with it, even if it’s just average.
I’m not saying everyone can just be Eddie Van Halen, I’m also not saying that you should just bash your head against the wall and learn if you don’t want to, but learning the basics of guitar is not intellectually difficult, it just requires dedication, and it’s cool if you like the sound of guitar, but don’t want to learn the technique, (which isn’t musical at all, it just ends up producing music).
Life is hard enough as it is, try not to be hard on yourself.
Cmon man, I’ve heard that before for like a decade now. Some people are just destined to fail. I accepted it. Is a hard fact.
As you get older, your perspective will likely shift to where “can’t” as a concept changes. It is a matter of mental focus and persistence. There are lots of things I won’t do or am too lazy to do but could if I apply myself for long enough. This is really true of almost anyone. I largely learned to overcome my impatience by doing auto body work. There were countless barely passable jobs where I let my impatience override my reality before I could overcome myself. Most people could not see my mistakes because they do not know what to look for, but I knew.
You’ll likely encounter some aspect of life that alters your perspective in this area. You already made the purchase. This is one commitment that will impact your view of yourself for the rest of your life. There is no hurry or time limit for learning. Ultimately, it is only 12 notes.
I’m already old.
Me too
How long is “so long”?
Weeks
Oh, dude. It takes years to get good at guitar, unless you’re one of those very rare, exceptionally gifted people. Although with the right practice routine you should start sounding pretty decent by the 6 month mark. Musicians have a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice before they ever step into a recording studio.
The issue with guitar is that it takes a week or two for even the most extremely basic stuff starts sounding right. The reason is simple: Your fingertips are too soft.
And that leads me to another common beginner problem; You’re probably gripping with the underside of the fingers (as in, the opposite side of where your nails are), because that’s the natural way to grip things. Don’t try to play any songs yet (sure, you can, but it probably won’t sound right). For now, rry focusing on the easiest chords, C, G, D, A, E (all of those are in Hey Joe, by the way), and make sure you use your actual fingertips. That way you won’t accidentally mute any adjacent strings.Don’t overdo it. When it starts to hurt, give it abrest for a few hours. Wait until the next day if you need to. After a while, you’ll notice that the sound gets cleaner with your fingertips getting harder. At the same time you can practice moving between the chords. Don’t worry if it sounds like shit - it always does for a beginner.
If you stick to it, I’m willing to bet that you can play a few of the simpler songs in a few days, and they’ll start sounding good in a couple of weeks.
Footnote tip: Learn the basic chords, because the others are mostly just variations of them. That list of chords above only needs minor adjustments for you to be that guy who plays Wonderwall at parties.
Dude I tried. I suck. Wonderwall Is fucking impossible, i wanted to play that because apparently it’s a kid level song, IS NOT. I hate the internet for lying.
Yeah. You do suck. Why? Because you just bought the damn thing and gave up on it when it wasn’t as easy as guitar hero.
Everyone that plays guitar went through the same shit you’re experiencing now. The only difference between them and you is perseverance.
Practice.
People sucked at Guitar Hero the first time they played it too. But it was a game, so they kept practicing. Treat learning a real guitar the same way you’d treat the game, and practice!
Dude, on GH I could play music that I actually like in an hour. Don’t compare it with a real guitar
They make a real guitar, guitar hero game for ps3 if you buy a special cable. Idk if they have updated ones for the newer consoles, but maybe check that out. Maybe you just need some gamification.
Rocksmith is the game, for anyone interested in this. It’s also on Xbox 360 and PC. Though I have never actually tried it so I can’t say anything about what it’s like
Eh, Wonderwall sounding right is really not a kid level song. I struggled for some time with it. Lady in Black is the absolute beginner song. Good for practicing a 4/4 strumming pattern and 2 of the easiest chords (Em and D).
You need to remember that those are guitarists saying it’s a kid level song. You’re not a guitarist, you’re a day-one student. Take your time and learn the basics. You would never enroll in a motocross race the day after you bought a dirt bike, why would you expect to be able to play an entire song with just a few days of practice?
It’s impossible NOW. It won’t be once your fingertips have hardened in a week or two. And if that’s the song you’re aiming for, I might as well give you the updated chord list.
Verse/Chorus: Em, G, D, A (all of them with the addition of your pinky on 3rd fret on the lightest string)
Bridge: C, D, Em (repeats a few times) followed by C, D, G, D, C, A7 (If I remember correctly)
If you want to play with the record, add a capo on the 2nd fret, as the recorded song is actually in F#. If you don’t have and can’t get a capo, tune your guitar up two semitones.
I have no clue of what are you saying, I can just read basic tabs dude.
Obviously practicing goes a long way, but for some easier targets; power chords. You got like 2 main fingerings that you can move up/down the fretboard and strings (depending).
You always hear the joke about punk rock being 4 different (power) chords. It is true at least some of the time. Look up some Ramones or Green day if you’re into them.
But also regular (open or bar) chords will help you out a lot. So many songs use 3-5 different open chords.
I know it’s hard not to get discouraged, but just keep at it. You can do it.
So you bought a guitar but learning is hard so now you regret buying the guitar?
Makes sense doesn’t? Why I should get frustrated even more? Takes an excruciating amount of time and effort plus some dexterity that I don’t have.
You should try juggling. It’s a cheap hobby!
Do it at the store, then you don’t need bags, if your ever see me in here buying apples, I don’t need a bag, but I can only do 3, so if you are me buying more than 3 apples, bag it up!
What?
Well, not the guitar… unless you wanna buy two more.
Because that’s how you learn…literally…that is the process for learning.
I only learn stuff that I’m FORCED to learn. If I’m not enjoying it then I’m done with it
So how did you think you were going to be able to play the guitar? You have to learn an instrument to be able to do anything with it.
Actually with a piano you can do shit by copying in 15 minutes.
Also the thing was 30 euro
What, like ‘put your fingers here, here, and here to play a chord’. That’s how you learn to play guitar too
Don’t try to fool me dude. On piano you don’t mute shit by moving your fingers half a millimeter and you don’t strum, is more like a using a keyboard
You are a product of the current generation…can’t be taught anything, thinks they know everything, doesn’t want help but can’t do anything.
Good luck surviving…
False and I’m far from being the current generation dude.
Yeah, thats probabwhy you are unemployed. Maybe try to put some effort into something even if it’s not instant fun.
How about no? You don’t know me dude. You don’t know WHY I’m unemployed. Stop assuming shit.
The dexterity gets developed through practice, it’s not something that people just naturally have. If you type a lot then you’re probably already better off than people who don’t. Practice!
I don’t type at all.
So how long did you actually try?
I bought a shirt with a funny print. I wanted to wear it tomorrow to my last day of work before vacation. It gets delivered on saturday.
Wear it on your first day back. To extend the vacation a little bit.
I had that exact same plan. I was already streets ahead
Tell your boss this: “Aahm… I’m gonna need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow. Oh, oh, and I almost forgot, aaah, I’m also gonna need you to go ahead and come in… on Sunday too, ok? You lost some people this week, and… you need to sort of, like, catch up”
Source: Lumbergh
Went camping but when I got to the site, I thought I’d lost a part I needed to set up the tent so I booked a (expensive) last minute hotel. I noticed I had the piece almost as soon as I hung up. But I couldn’t cancel as no one was picking up when I called and their policy only allowed cancellations until midday.
Next time that happens, just throw your sleeping bag on top of the tent on the ground and enjoy the stars!
You can do it! Start with one chord, then two, then you’re on your way to most songs.
you’re on your way
Don’t know where you’re going
You’re on your way
Taking your time, but you don’t know why
Goodbye Rosie! She’s the queen of Corona.
Singing me and Julio down by the school yard
Sorry, that’s the first thing that popped into my head when I read about being on your way.
I can’t do chords at all dude. It’s impossible.
It sounds like you spent an hour looking at YouTube videos then gave up? Guitar takes time to learn, and it’s even more difficult on a cheap acoustic than say a mid priced one from a good brand. If you spend 15-20 minutes a day on it you’ll be surprised how soon you make progress
That’s already a lot. Plus extremely boring, because you’re not doing anything remotely sounding graceful. You get annoyed really fast.
Just an example, a couple of years ago I also bought an electric guitar and after 2 years I could only badly play one song that doesn’t use chords at all. I’m not doing that shit again. The acoustic is even worse to hold and feel. That’s why I almost instantly regret buying it.
Plus extremely boring, because you’re not doing anything remotely sounding graceful
It’s something every single musician has to go through.
Actually it’s something everyone has to go through when learning anything.
Would you also quit learning a second language because you can’t immediately have a full conversation with a native speaker? Quit working out because you don’t start with the ability to do pull-ups? Quit any game you try if you don’t win your first match?
The excitement is in seeing yourself progress from the point of being a complete beginner. You are depriving yourself of a great joy by abandoning the project at the first sign of any friction
It sounds like OP might have ADHD. Which makes it even harder to both focus on something that isn’t immediately gratifying as well as keep a schedule. It’s still possible (I’m learning guitar slowly myself) but it definitely takes more effort than a NT person may have.
I’ll second that. We love to try new things!
In fact, we love it so much, that we instantly stop caring about all the old things that we’ve tried.
Just ask my Magic cards, D&D books, homebrewing equipment, lock picks, camping gear, axe & knife throwing range, video & board game collection, and whatever else is collecting dust at my house.
I’m not a musician. I don’t get paid for suffering reading and researching boring tutorials on YouTube plus the hundreds of hours trying to hold the guitar correctly.
I wish musicians actually got paid lol
So you mean you actually had no intention of even trying to learn the guitar? Hmm… Yeah, that would make me regret buying one too lol Did you think it would just magically play itself?
I tried already. That’s my point.
If you spent an hour looking at YouTube tutorials and expect to be able to do much, you’re just going to frustrate yourself. I’ve been playing guitar for almost 30 years and I’ve also taught plenty of beginner guitar lessons, and to get anywhere with it you need to practice at least for a few minutes on a regular basis.
It doesn’t have to take up a big part of your day, you don’t have to spend hours and hours on it, but you do need to do it regularly. For the people I’ve taught I recommend half an hour of practice every day, but even 15 minutes a few times a week will get you to where you can comfortably play simple songs within a month.
The fact that you’ve bought two guitars now sounds like you really want to learn, but it is going to take work. Even playing as long as I have I still practice often and I still find new things to learn all the time!
This holds true across pretty much everything, you’re always better off doing a moderate amount of effort regularly over a longer period of time than going all-in for a short period, it’s just being human. Ever since we were hunting mammoths by slowly walking behind them, rather than sprinting.
Well the ukulele is easier then electric guitar, and wonder wall will still sound nice in it
Fun fact for anyone that wants to apply this, if you have a capo and a guitar then you can sort of play ukulele. Capo on the fifth fret in standard tuning, ignore the two thickest strings. Take them off altogether if you’re really committing to the bit. You now have ukulele, basically! Well, you have a four string guitar in GCEA tuning, the most common one for ukes. All the fingerings will be the same.
It sounds like you really do want to know how to play the guitar, but have had a hard time learning from YouTube. You’d probably really benefit from some actual lessons, from an in-person instructor. You can often find group lessons on Craigslist for pretty cheap. I took piano lessons once with a bunch of kids in some guy’s house. I was the only adult there, but I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed it. It was fun talking to the kids too, and comparing progress with them.
Aside the fact I’m broke, there’s nobody here that teach guitar. I wasted enough money
I guess it’s not for you then. Good luck with your next hobby! I hope you find something you like.
Start with just root notes then! So if it says to play a D chord, just play a D note. Once you can do that along with the song, start doing power chords. Power chords are a sort of mini-chord on only two strings, and they are everywhere in rock and metal. Once you’re comfortable doing power chords along with the song you’re 90% of the way to playing the full chords
All songs require chords dude. Otherwise they sound disgusting. And require certain natural dexterity than isn’t for everyone. Why do you think artists like lil Wayne (yes he’s an artist, and quite smart, watch his interviews) can’t play for shit despite having all the money in the world plus great gear?
Seven Nation Army is single notes during the verses and it’s arguably the most famous guitar riff ever. Smoke on the Water is double stops, which are much easier than full chords, but the riff totally works with just single notes too. The first song I learned on guitar was the Hindu Times by Oasis because I really liked the riff and it’s msingle notes. Atomic by Blondie. Half of the Black Keys’ catalogue. Almost all of Knights of Cydonia by Muse, which isn’t a perfect example since the middle doesn’t fit but I bring up mostly because of how fun the rest of it is, and those parts are single notes.
But I’m not saying that you should just play root notes and be done. I’m saying that root notes are a useful stepping stone towards being able to play what you want. Can’t do chords? That’s okay, simplify it until it’s in a form you find approachable. Get comfortable with that version. Root notes aren’t interesting by themselves, but they sound good if you play along with the recording of the song. Once you’re comfortable, step it up a level and play power chords. They’re easier than full chords, but they sound good, and if you can play them then you have the entire world of rock guitar open to you. Once you’re comfortable with that, then making the step over to full chords is far easier than going there straight from nothing.
Why do you think artists like lil Wayne can’t play for shit
Lil Wayne can’t play for shit because he never learned to. It’s as simple as that. There are some people who are genuinely unable to, but for the vast majority of people it’s just a matter of developing a specific kind of dexterity that you otherwise haven’t trained at before. If you can type on a keyboard at a reasonable speed then your fingers are capable of doing the things that you need them to do to play guitar.
It’s okay if you don’t actually want to learn. Playing an instrument isn’t for everyone. The point of my comment is that trying to do chords straight away is like trying to run up a mountain on your first day of training for a marathon. Maybe try running one mile first. It’s okay if it doesn’t sound as good yet. Find interesting one-mile runs to do (songs that still sound pretty good with just single notes).
My point is that if someone as talented and that has music as his business as lil Wayne can’t play at all, it makes sense why I can’t play at all, especially such an impossible instrument.
“Musical talent” is not how anyone gets good at an instrument. Some people can get better a bit faster, some do it slower, but absolutely everyone without exception has to put in the work if they want to develop the skill. The only reason Lil Wayne plays guitar like he does is that he never learned much of how to play guitar. The fact that he knows a lot about other aspects of music does not change that. But what he plays seems to make him happy, so maybe he doesn’t need to learn any more.
Similarly, I’m a terrible violinist. I’m a good guitarist, I’m a competent bassist, and I know my music theory to a decent level. I’m still shit at violin because I haven’t practiced enough yet. You could have the musical prowess of Mozart himself, you’ll still be shit at guitar when you first pick it up.
Knowledge of musical theory helps, but you have to take the time to learn that anyway. Playing other instruments helps your sense of rhythm and your dexterity, but you still had to take the time to learn them. The only shortcut is if you have already done the work on a really similar instrument, but the point is you had to do the work on the first instrument.
I hold some grudges against a microsoft surface… I bought it at a time where microsoft was looking calm, but soon after things started going south. On top of that the table is slow af, and I installed linux, but it hasn’t been so great that way either.
The surface studio looks like a hell of a form factor. But (ignoring that I can’t stomach Windows), I really can’t trust any hardware Microsoft makes.
It really is! It’s a great piece of hardware. It’s the only device in my house that I tolerate Windows on. I bought it for drawing, and it works outstanding for that, but it also doubles as my laptop, and my out of town computer.
I also kind of hate Windows pens. It feels so much worse than the Apple Pencil to me.
Give me a 24/28 inch iPad or Apple Silicon Mac with Pencil support and I’d spend way more than I can afford on it.
I haven’t tried the Apple Pen before, so thankfully I don’t have that comparison. I looked into getting an iPad instead, but they run iOS, and the Surface Pro is a full -fledged computer, complete with desktop OS, not a mobile OS. So I felt that it would be better for day-to-day use outside of my drawing. So far I’ve been very pleased with it, other than my normal complaints about Windows. What’s odd is that a lot of the annoyances I had with Windows on my desktop aren’t present on this Surface. They don’t re-enable all the privacy shit I turned off every update, they don’t show me ads, and a lot of other things. Idk why that is, but I’m glad.
I read that Linux doesn’t do very well on the Surface Pro. My Surface is the only Windows machine that I own now. But it’s such a great piece of hardware that I keep using it. I refuse to update to 11 though, so I’ll probably give Linux a try on it when support for 10 dies.
A puppy. We love him, but holy fuck, I forgot how much work puppies are, especially working dog breeds.
working dog breeds
What in the world are those?
They belong to a union and bark things like dogs rights. Also, wear turtle neck for some reason.
Dogs that were bred to do specific jobs. Border collies, standard poodles, huskies, Doberman pinschers, and weimaraners are all examples of working dog breeds. They usually have incredible amounts of energy, and can be very focused at specific tasks. We got one because I do a lot of hiking and backpacking, and I wanted to be sure that our doggie was a great backpacking buddy.
need a lot of mental or physical activity to help settle them, usually daily otherwise they can go nuts and start tearing shit up.
I have played guitar for 30 years. I even played on stage and had a decent following at one point.
Everyone sucks in the beginning. It’s not personal. It’s very rare that anyone picks up an instrument and is instantly good. The suck is part of the journey.
You keep up with it because the pain is worth the outcome. It’s an outlet. Don’t do it for the results. Do it for the journey.
The best teacher is a game called Rocksmith. It scales with your ability. Seriously worth checking out.
Whatever the current stand-in for the former Linksys Wrtg whatever router. I kept that (the old one) cheap piece of crap because I could pull it out of storage as an emergency test device if my real router ever borked out for well over a decade. It finally stopped being useful because I couldn’t flash the firmware (at least not as easily as in the past) and just go. Bought the new one and it felt like garbage in my hand. Cheap and light af and wouldn’t let me set it up for wired only (had to create a WiFi network to activate it). I boxed it back up and threw it at the front door. It was returned the next day.
cant you put tomato on that linksys?
Alternative firmware is what I should have said. It’s been a couple of months and I only spent maybe an hour on it, but OpenWRT or whatever the hell else is what I tried (don’t recall all details). Browser certs and too little RAM is what got in the way, I think. I just don’t care enough to make that work when I can spend a few bucks to replace it after so many years of awesome service. Too bad the new ones are garbage.
A cat toy, that attaches to the floor using a suction cup. The auction cup came bent, which rendered it entirely useless.
Hot water, then flatten while it cools.
You can buy suction cups, if you want to put a new one on.
A bag for bycicles, gets you free Transport in parts of the EU for the bike, not used it once, its been months
I ordered a pipe fitting and then realized that it had a different type of threaded connector than the one I needed.
Not the end of the world, I suppose.
With enough Teflon tape and/or torque, anything is possible :D
To be honest, in this economy, anything past the essential needs feels extraneous. Which leads to some big frustrations and regrets. I know it’s the debbie downer answer, but it’s how it is nowadays.
I loved / love cyberpunk. What didn’t you like about it?
THANK YOU. Finally, not about the stupid guitar.
The game is boring as shit, dull world, the NPC’s are lifeless and act weird, uninteresting story, I didn’t cared about the big guy dying (the game act like it’s a huge deal) the menu and controls are HORRIBLE. What’s the point of clothes if you can’t see your character? The buff and abilities are pointless when you can just shoot everything, I don’t see the point of sneaking. Worst car handling ever.
Just compare it with a GTA, RDR, hell, compare it with assassin’s creed, it’s night and day.
Are you a bot stuck in 2020 or something? Seriously complaining about Cyberpunk and using lazy talking points from its launch still? Jesus.
Dude still as unfinished. Is more stable and rebalanced, that’s it. Idgaf if you don’t believe me
Well you clearly haven’t actually played the game so you do you.
Typical fanboy response.
