Classical Guitar Online Lessons Academy

I want to teach myself how to play the accoustic guitar. I want to now are there any good tips or websites taht can help.
I can play this piano and the alto sax, could that knowledge help me with the guitar just a bit?

Well, not that i know off, but i can give u a few ^^

As a begginner , i would start of with a easy song.

On your guitar, on the neck (the long thing with metal bars going across it), there will be metal bars across it. This divides the frets. The first fret would from the nut (the white thing going across the top of the neck) to the first metal bar
and from that bar to the second metal bar will the second etc etc…

Tuning your guitar:
There are several methods for tuning a guitar, but simplist one, in my opinion would be the where you play on the 5th fret
and play an open A that just plucking the 5th string from the top. Those two notes should sound, just about the same, if not then one is out of tune. On the 5th string again, play the 5th fret 5th string and do an open D, that the fourth string from the bottom. Those two should sound the same to. Now its 4th , 5th fret, and playing G the third string from the bottom, they should nearly sound the same…

Now on the third string (G string.. lol ^^) its 4th fret this time, and simply pluck the second string from the bottom, (B string)
but then its back to 5th fret second string and plcuking the first string (the highest pitch, E string)

I can understand that being complicated, but you’ll get the hang of it.

I would buy a book, which helps you learn the notes on the guitar ( saying e.g. 5th fret 5th string is really for begginers)

As you develope your skills a song which i’ve always like to play is Classical Gas by Mason Williams.

Also, accoustic guitar sounds alot nicer when playing chords ( that playing more than one note at a time e.g. D, when playing melody, your not really heard. So songs with chords would be suitable. That could be like Oasis, Dont look back in anger, or Amazing grace)

Hope i helped

I play guitar and i’m not as good as i’d like to be. Any exercises or stuff i should look into? I play Metal and Rock stuff.

You will have to accept the fact that there are many methods but no real shortcuts. You must accept the fact that to be truly as good as you can be means dedicating lots and lots of your personal time to practising every day. At least an hour a day at a minimum. You will be a better musician if you take lessons from a teacher, preferably one who can teach you the classical method. It will seem extremely boring and repetitive at first, but that as they say is paying your dues. One other thing to keep in mind. You will never be as good as you would like to be, because the better you get the better you want to be and there is always another level to strive for. Good luck. Hope this helps.

Years ago I took lessons using the Noad books on beginner guitar playing. I always had difficulty reading sheet music. Back then, I was studying every day so I was able to get my reading / playing up to a decent level. It’s been years since I’ve picked up the guitar and I want to play again but I’m starting at square one with reading notes again. Any ideas to make note reading easier and tips so I won’t forget how to read? Are there any books that address this problem?

The way I would go about this depends on how much you remember. If you remember absolutely nothing, pull out the Noad (or buy it or an equivalent, like the Shearer method) and go through it again. You’ll pick it up a lot faster than you did last time because you are remembering instead of learning.

If you remember a bunch of notes but forget a bunch, too, you may be able to skip the first step. Try reading an online tutorial and then grabbing a book of graded studies, such as the Introductory Book of the Royal Canadian Music Academy series. The idea here is again, to just get reading notes again. You could do the same thing with music found online, but you have no idea what the difficult level will be going into it. Even easy pieces have sections that are difficult for reading music.

A general tip would be this: Instead of trying to remember all the notes on the staff and guitar, just remember where a few notes are. Maybe it is easy for you to remember where D is. Then, when you see something a step away D, but aren’t sure what or where it is, just figure it out in relation to the D, rather than go through FACE or Every Good Boy Does Fine, or whatever other method you have. If you have a few of these spread out over the staff and the neck of the guitar, its faster to get to notes and eventually the other notes will fill themselves in.

I want 2 learn how 2 play the guitar for spanish genres (specifically BACHATA). Any1 have any info they can give such as recommended brands or info on learning to play?

Buy a Yamaha classical, or a Cordoba, and also buy a method book if you can’t afford a teacher, make sure that it is one that has a Cd in the back of the book so that you can make sure your progressing correctly. I think this is what you are asking ! Go on goolge and type in how to play ________ whatever style that you want to play, and I’m sure hundreds of sites will come up that you can follow, some of them have books, Cd’s, and DVDs that you can buy, or even get lessons on line.
http://www.billbrutal.com/
http://www.theguitarsuite.com
http://www.justinguitar.com/
Hope this helped.

I have recently picked up guitar a couple months ago. I am really into 90s grudge and rock i grew up with it. but i realize that jazz and classical music has some of the best musicians in the world. so if someone could recommend anything it’ll improve my skills quickly(couple months) that would be great.

Make haste slowly.

I am very impressed with the Hal Leonard Guitar Method books. This will require you to go back to the ABCs for a while, playing Mary Had a Little Lamb single note in first position on the first three strings sort of thing for a few days, but while you are doing this you will be learning to read orthodox notation in a way that you will see the notes on the staff and immediately know where they are on the fretboard.

This fretboard knowledge is essential for both Jazz and Classical.

In the meantime check your available libraries for books on music theory, as this is also required knowledge for Jazz, and valuable for Classical particularly if you plan to write your own transcriptions.

Find the metronome device that you feel most comfortable practicing with, and use it regularly.
Be patient with yourself; One fine day will come when all of a sudden information that you have learned that seemed unrelated will all of a sudden start coming together in your mind and you will start learning at a breathtaking pace. That day will come, but only if you lay the foundation for it with the fundamentals.

I’ve been playing chords for a long time!!! I seem to be stuck in the blues scale/pentatonic!!! How can I gravitate to more classical type scales without digressing back to my old habits?

My first suggestion is to learn to read and write music notation. Your ear may be great in duplicating certain songs coming your way, but buying the sheet music to varied songs and styles and playing them is a sure way to progress.

Tablature works great in exact fret positioning that a composer recommends, but music notation will pull you toward ultimate advancement.

Learning the varied scales is a great way to improve your playability, but scales aren’t the end-all to music finesse. Buying old and current songs you enjoy, learning the basic melody and chords via the sheet music, and then improvising to suit your individual tastes, will get you to the next level.

Once you’ve learned music theory try writing your own songs, measure by measure.

This method worked for me; it could work for you.

So yeah. After summer break I’ll take guitar lessons and in the meantime I am teaching some things by myself. I am doing this with a guitar pick, though, and I am afraid that my guitar teacher won’t accept the fact that I’m using one.

So what’s your opinion?
Get out, troll. I just thought it would be weird to use a guitar pick with an acoustic guitar.

An acoustic guitar is just one that isn’t electric, so we don’t know whether you have a classical or a steel-string. Steel-strings can be played with fingers or a pick (a pick is probably commonest). Using a pick on a classical might not be acceptable to your teacher, though. The approved method of playing a classical guitar is with the fingers.

I wana learn how to play guitar by teaching my self, is it very hard to do that?

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, it depends on your hand to eye coordination, sense of self discipline, short term and long term memory skills, kinesthetic development, and the overall quality and playability of the instrument. First of all, you have to get out of the mindset that you are doing it yourself. You really need to start thinking about the fact that you will be learning from everyone. You are going to need lots of tips, reinforcement, and mentoring, and you have to be receptive to that

Second. We only practice on days that end with a "Y!" We only play on days that we eat, feed the body, feed the mind, feed the soul. Every day that you play, you are a player. Every day you come up with a reason not to play, even a great one, you are a wannabe. Wannabes turn into Wish I was’s. You meet them every day. I wish I did this and I wish I did that. No they don’t. If they really wanted to do something, they would have found a way to do it, period.

Third. you need to keep track of everything you learn, if only so you don’t have to learn it twice. Write down every chord, every lick, and every tip and trick you pick up. That way you can go back and review when you seem to be at a plateau. Record yourself, audio or video or both, doesn’t matter. It is to go back and look at when you feel like you aren’t making any progress. One look at those tapes (or VCDs or DVDS or Memory sticks or whatever) and you will realize that you are farther down the path than you thought you were.

Finally. Get a method, get a bunch of methods. If you can’t buy one, look at my page and look at guitar questions like yours. If you can’t get there, ask me and I will send you more links than you know what to do with. Decide:

1. What style or styles do you want to play?

2. What do you want to do with it?

3. Who are your heroes? (You’ve already learned something from them by the way, what you like!)

4. What kind of guitar do you want to play on?

5. What kind of guitar are you going to learn on? (Acoustic builds chops faster, electric is a little easier to push the strings down on at first, classical gives you a little extra fretboard room to move in.)

6. How much time are you willing to devote every day. A little every day is better than a lot all at once.

7. Is this an investment in your future, or just a hobby?

that’s enough questions for now. Good luck with your journey and if I can help you more, don’t be afraid to give me a shout.

There are Travis, Carter, Chet Atkins, Emmanuel, and others.

I want to play love songs and country music songs finger picking. I took 2 years of standard guitar lessons so I know about 60 barre chords including open chords.

Am I ready to take on finger picking lessons or do I keep taking standard guitar lessons to learn more chords and rock style soloing before going finger style and finger picking?

Why limit yourself like that? Narrowing things down to such restrictive labels… ugh, it’s just pointless.

A decent classical player could play with all those styles/methods and not think twice. A good player is versatile. It shows control. If all you can do is Travis picking (or any of those other things) then you’re not a very versatile player. You’re limited.

So I have a classical guitar and I was wondering which one is better for the type of string: Nylon or Steel.

If Nylon, should I get a D’addario (Pro-Arte Normal tension or extra hard tension) or another brand that’s of Nylon. And if Steel, what then?

NEVER put steel strings on a classical guitar!! You can severely damage the guitar that way! Steel strings have way too much tension to be put on a nylon string guitar. You will severely warp the top, and it can even RIP the bridge right off!! (I have seen it happen more than once!)
Pro-Arte are excellent strings. Either normal or hard tension are fine. There are many good brands available, so feel free to experiment with different brands. Nylon strings do require a special tie method to put on. If you do not know how than let your local music store do it for you. There are also nylon strings available with ball ends (ernie ball black trebles) These are easier to put on but are not as good as a more expensive brand.