I'm thinking about buying a guitar and teaching myself to play.

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I feel like I need to do something besides photoshop my life away and play video games constantly. I feel that a guitar will be a good release for me. I can play a few songs, but never owned a guitar. Hooray for me and a guitar.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Buh buh that's so *old*, Chris. You need to get yerself some vinyl, two turntables and an MC! (Or get MC - Marcello Carlin, much better!)

― nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Do it! And the sooner, the better! It really is wonderfully rewarding in a way that few other things are. And so much better for your brain than video games. (I'm not being facetious or ironic here, I'm really trying to be encouraging!)

― kate, Friday, 10 January 2003 14:32 (twenty-three years ago)

am i too old to be cool with a guitar? 28. Ahh, look at Keith Richardss, he's walking dead.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:33 (twenty-three years ago)

oh nath you silver tongued charmer ;-) get yr tickets for DJ Punctum now! i promise not to be miserable and stare meaningfully at the decks all night unlike mj cole and will not forget to bring any, uh, music, unlike adam f.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 10 January 2003 14:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"Hi -I'm DJ Punctum. Yo! Lonnie Donegan in da area. C-c-c-Cumberland G-g-g-gap"

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 10 January 2003 14:48 (twenty-three years ago)

It's great. Do it. (And it wouldn't hurt, actually, to take a few classes--unless you're super-ultra-self-motivated, you'll be able to figure out more for yourself if somebody teaches you not just the basics but the principles behind them.)

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 10 January 2003 15:19 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah i've got a friend of mine that has been playing all his life and he is damn good. he just doesn't have the patience to sit down and teach me. He taught me the few things I know back in college. If he could teach me some Nick Drake tunes, I'd be happy. But I guess his songs are a bit hard to play. The tunings are all wacky.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 10 January 2003 15:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Once you learn the D chord and do the pinky thing with it the entire folk rock song book will be revealed to you.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 10 January 2003 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah do it. There's a learning curve and it'll be frustrating at first, but like all good things once you get the hang of it you'll be glad you did. You should mess around with open tunings. Because you can always play an open chord and it sounds nice!

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Yay! Go for it! If nothing else, a guitar greatly improves the decor of any room.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Sarahs right. I have a white 12-string Danelectro that looks perfect sitting the corner of my living room.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:12 (twenty-three years ago)

arrhar, i only learned to play so i could get a fender jaguar to brighten up my flat. jaguars = sexiest guitar evah.

― g-kit (g-kit), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:15 (twenty-three years ago)

LAKE PLACID BLUE!!!

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:17 (twenty-three years ago)

i want an acoustic. any good starter guitars for $200 or less? I want to be the brooding depressed singer in the coffee house.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:18 (twenty-three years ago)

This thread makes me feel very guilty. I have the BEST GUITAR EVER with godlike genius running through it and I still can't play it - AND a totally heavy metal bass which I can't play either (apart from the odd Pixies/Manics/Pavement/NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL!! riff) so agrharhhrhahrr.

― Sarah (starry), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

lake placid blue? not for me. spangly red (aw, i don't know the real colour name... cherry red?)

― g-kit (g-kit), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

with matching headstock?

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I've lived with musicians (hiya, DB!) but never had the patience to learn anything. I am the happy musical consumer. I'll work with words instead. So if you've got the patience, Chris, I salute you! Go for it indeed. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I shall play with it tonight.

Then again after my credit card STILL hasn't PROPERLY CONFIRMED my bloody payment I don't trust putting it in the machine tonight so after I walk home in the freezing BLOODY DARK AND COLD my fingers will probably be bloody frozen off anyway bloody hell I'm in a bad mood.

― Sarah (starry), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:35 (twenty-three years ago)

wear gloves! but not when playing guitar!!! This is my message to you.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:39 (twenty-three years ago)

with matching headstock?

arrr, yep.

― g-kit (g-kit), Friday, 10 January 2003 16:41 (twenty-three years ago)

i hear those yamaha pacifica wood-finish guitars are a pretty nice budget option but i don't have one nor do i possess ears or axe skillz good enough to tell such things so don't trust me

i've had a guitar for many years and remain unable to play a damn thing on it, not even barre chords properly, every time i pick it up a slurry of slow-motion power-chords or same-two-frets-on-four-strings pentatonic wank falls out, hell i can't even play blitzkrieg bop at more than 1% of original speed and i don't even look good holding it, but i still daydream of turning into some kind of guitar genius... should i pretend i only got it for christmas and get lessons (i will end up not practising ever and anyway just being innately no good at it and it'll all be very expensively embarrassing) or just shoot myself?

(i've been pissing around with music software for a decade and remain unable to write anything worth a damn, should i, uh... oh, only one option. oh no! well, if i'm honest about the "buying more gear will not make me suck less" option, but i'm not gonna start thinking like that now, no. for a miserable bugger i've got a pretty neat line in hopeless optimism, huh?)

― serf, Friday, 10 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Rockist.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 10 January 2003 19:53 (twenty-three years ago)

what kate said.

― kephm, Friday, 10 January 2003 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)

1. Don't tune to drop D
2. Learn to play more than just power chords

As long as you can do that then have at it.

― Curtis Stephens, Friday, 10 January 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I got one. I bought it off of my friend mentioned above. He's here now. Say hello to Wayne-O everyone. Its an Ovation? Its cool, he's teaching me to play Love.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Saturday, 11 January 2003 01:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I suggest a 12-string:
http://www.bunnybass.com/pictures/amusing/weird12guitar.jpg

― Tom Millar (Millar), Saturday, 11 January 2003 03:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Playing on a guitar is fun. Also for some reason it's easier to figure out a melody by ear on guitar than piano. And unlike pianos, guitars are totally awesome because they're PORTABLE. Hooray! (heh, I should practice again. I can only play three songs.)

― Maria (Maria), Saturday, 11 January 2003 04:31 (twenty-three years ago)

**I have a white 12-string Danelectro that looks perfect sitting the corner of my living room.**

I have a black Fender Tele that's been sitting out too long, so I think I'll just...WHERE'S MY F***ING CASE??!??!!!

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Saturday, 11 January 2003 08:46 (twenty-three years ago)

funny thing, this thread ... because i'm thinking about going back to the piano, or plunking down some money for a synth

― Tad (llamasfur), Saturday, 11 January 2003 08:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I am excellent, so take my advice. Play along with as many records as possible, TV, radio, whatever. All the time. That works.

― dave q, Saturday, 11 January 2003 09:22 (twenty-three years ago)

"I have a black Fender Tele that's been sitting out too long, so I think I'll just...WHERE'S MY F***ING CASE??!??!!!"

Yeah, about that case. I was making a large amount of gravy and I didn't have any room to store it so I used your case. I'M USING YOUR CASE TO STORE GRAVY. It's that simple.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Oddly enough, my parents have just suggested they buy me a guitar. Because they think it will cure transsexuality. Um, yes, OK.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

It's an obvious 'cure'!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I am learning to be a guitar god. I am not and never have been a transsexual AT ALL.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:27 (twenty-three years ago)

It's an obvious 'cure'!

The Parents seem to think that transsexuality is a symptom of depression; therefore they keep suggesting things to Cheer Me Up. "Learn the guitar!", "Join a photography club!", that sort of thing. I think they're still trying not to have to get used to the idea really.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:33 (twenty-three years ago)

That's one of the symptoms I've missed. The two transsexuals I've known have suffered more than their fair share of depression, but I took that to have been caused by the stresses of being transsexual, not vice versa.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, exactly. I think they've got their causes and effects a bit muddled.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i need to learn to play better. urrgh. not enough time.

― di smith (lucylurex), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:44 (twenty-three years ago)

but yeah chris, do it, it is totally fun and rewarding.

― di smith (lucylurex), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:44 (twenty-three years ago)

And it will make you comfortable with your gender.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 13 January 2003 22:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Bonus!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 13 January 2003 23:08 (twenty-three years ago)

will not forget to bring any, uh, music, unlike adam f.

reminds me of when Dan The Automator and Prince Paul came to our college station to DJ on some guy's show, were hungover as fuck and didn't bring any vinyl. 'uhhh...we'll just use what you've got', except all our rap vinyl was stolen so they had to content themselves with Everlast pre-'What I Got' 12"es and clean versions of Too Short songs (which really just amounted to the instrumentals with a very insistent beeping over the top).

oh yeah, play guitar chris. it's fun. make sure you get an ugly-lookin 1980s hair metal monster, though, for the ladies' sake. i have this orange beast with big horns on either end, it looks like i was the rhythm guitarist for Poison in a past life. works like a charm.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 13 January 2003 23:28 (twenty-three years ago)

my fucking fingers hurt from practicing. I almost have "Alone Again Or" down. Slowly...

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 14:56 (twenty-three years ago)

good song to start with, Chris. keep it up.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 15:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I've moved on to Archer Prewitt "I'll Be Waiting". I pretty much have "Alone Again Or" down. Not 100% but close.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 17 January 2003 13:18 (twenty-three years ago)

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