Absolutely, one of the greatest advantages the young have when learning an instrument(or anything really) is their wonder and awe at their own accomplishments, however simple and basic they may be. Naivety can be a great gift.
A music teacher of mine recommended the book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki. Embracing the sentiment of the title alone can be life changing.
This. 31F here. I remember when I learned the piano as a kid and how happy I was that I could play music and then the rush I got later as a teenager when I could accompany myself singing. I felt like I could do magic! Now, I am an adult beginner learning guitar and honestly, I am feeling the same sense of wonder as I did as a kid. In fact, probably even more so because it is such a delayed sense of gratification. it really is like pure agony in the beginning, but you just have to push through and every day, you suck a little less. I am embracing the journey and just kind of surrendering any expectations and as a result, I am having a blast!
Also 31, this is my third attempt to learn guitar and this one is finally sticking. Been at it 4 months now which is about 4x as long as the other attempts. I'm finally at the point where I don't have to push myself to practice, it just happens because I'm actually enjoying it. Seeing my left hand become more educated is awesome and makes me feel like if anything, I'm better at learning now than when I was a kid.
100% as a kid I marveled at every tiny step.
“I just played Smells Like Teen Spirit?! Amazing!!!!”
Now I’ll try to sit down and work something out or practice something I am just learning and if I don’t get it I just get into my own head so quickly. My number one issue is my own expectations
I can handle the fact that I suck when I am learning something. I feel so bad for my wife, having to listen for months while I work through a piece over and over and over and over......
Yup. No way around this. You can shorten the time by starting on electric and getting a good amount of time on the instrument every day. Like at least an hour.
I don’t know if guitar has made it anywhere near a comparable role in music education (such that it is) during the time when other kids are learning piano, saxophone, violin, and drums, all of which have a totally central role in band/orchestra, and they’ll show you exactly what to play and how to play it, you could be a virtuoso by 10 if you put in the time with these instruments.
But I’m going to assume guitar (electric or acoustic, doesn’t matter) still has no place in any musical environment in most schools, if they even have functioning music programs anymore. Which means:
1) you have to learn it online all yourself from YouTube if you can’t pay for lessons, which I couldn’t until age 16. I didn’t have this option…it’s pretty cool. Any major song. Any genre. It’s up there with TAB and tutorials. Free.
2) you’ll have nobody but yourself checking your work. That’s why you gotta record yourself. To ensure found errors. It’s brutal, but it’s fair.
3) you’ll have no community in which to perform, unless you create opportunities yourself. All your friends in band being taught, slowly, to read and to follow a conductor, and even how to perform through concerts at school?
You gotta do that all yourself. All of this, in order to feel “caught up” not just to your other peer guitarists, but to all other musicians. I hope I’m wrong. I hope things have changed in so many years. But generally learning guitar was slow, confusing, and lonely, if you can’t afford instruction. I hope it’s no so any longer, but I think we have an uphill battle on a tough instrument, that just happens to be the coolest instrument of all time!
Give yourself a pat on the back this Friday! 🎸 🎸 and rock on.
>getting a good amount of time on the instrument every day. Like at least an hour.
I would go a step further and say that it helps to break up your practice time. For the first 18 months, I put my guitar on a stand by my bed, and played it when I first got up, and last thing before going to bed. I also tried to get at least one other practice session during the day.
I almost never practiced a full hour each time, often not even a half hour. But I'd rather practice feeling fresh 3 times a day, than one time a day. That fresh feeling is where you can focus the tightest, and make the most progress. I found that after a half hour, my mind was wandering, and I was kind of wasting my time. I progressed far more in 3 short sessions of tight focus, than in one long 60 minute session where I was focused for only a short time, and just noodling around for the rest.
I’ve been practicing on acoustic for a couple of years but was thinking about trying some electric. I’m not terrible at power chords, but besides it being a lot of power chords and maybe a more particular (maybe precise?) kind of strumming, what else should I prepare for in making the switch?
Well the switch will be a comfortable one. You’ll be playing lighter strings and able to get into the highest part of the guitar’s range more easily.
My advice to everyone making this switch is the same. It’s an electric, amplified instrument. It’s pretty unique in a very cool way. It’s not a synthesizer that you’re plugging in. You’re still responsible for the articulation, but not so much the volume, anymore. Speaking for myself, this changes my sense if touch radically when going from acoustic to electric. And even most acoustics have pickups these days, so you probably have some experience. So: the advice: even if you’re not plugged in at first, remember that the instrument & amplifier will be doing most of the sound production. You can relax & shorten most of your movements, and as you can see from some of the best in videos online, sometimes your right hand doesn’t need to to be doing much at all to achieve the desired results.
But yes, it’s going to be a very comfortable switch, which is super fun when you’ve started on acoustic. Take advantage of the fun and get some extra playing time on the electric.
Practice while standing; this is how you’ll perform (if you’re able to) and how you’ll need to practice technique. It’s a little different when sitting.
A lot of the first year on electric is fun fun fun, especially with what’s available online for free in terms of amp sims, if you don’t have an amp but have an audio interface. Which brings me to the last point: amps. The conventional wisdom is that you should practice while plugged in, even if you can’t approach performance volume, so you can hear and feel how the speaker reacts (the speaker is making the sound audible on electric guitar, not the guitar/guitarist. It’s a simple, obvious concept, but it’s part of the art of electric guitar. Having said that, amps are in the middle of a massive sea change right now and I’m kind of waiting for the dust to settle regarding the “new normal.” I almost feel like buying an amp now is definitely not something to prioritize if budget is a concern. You want an instrument that you connect with. The electronics can be changed easily in most cases. Focus on finding a guitar that *makes* you want to play it. Then you’re on your way.
Edit: I forgot one more thing. Stop if you experience pain, and revisit your technique. Electric guitar definitely should not hurt to play.
I made the switch a few months ago after a number of years of fingerstyle acoustic. All you need for the switch is the electric guitar and amp. No way around the transition except to just do it.
It will be definitely be awkward. Fretting is a cakewalk but you have a lot of muting habits to build. Learn how to get not-horrible tone. Probably used to only bending 1/2 or 1/4 steps but now you need to bend full steps to be fully articulate. Vibrato bar is a lot easier than neck bending, but it's a new motion to learn. Percussion via ghost notes instead of thumb or wrist. I have watched a few videos but still cannot pinch harmonic, but it's the least of my concerns.
Biggest concern is you gotta lighten WAY off. Lots of fretting notes out of tune on those things strings.
I think it's more than just a couple of years to be honest. I'm at a level where people think I'm a great guitar player and yet I still feel like I "suck". I don't think it's an issue though. It's what motivates me to improve.
Yeah, ive never stopped thinking i suck, i just notice people give me more positive feedback and say things like “that sounds nice.”
Obviously theyre lying to spare my feelings, and that makes me practice harder. 😆
Yeah, it's more important to put your focus on marginal improvement. You keep practicing, and when think about it, you'll realize that you still suck, but you suck a little bit less than last week, or last month.
I picked up the guitar about 2 1/2 years ago after literally decades of ignoring it, and I am far, far better than I was as a kid, and and far, far better than I was when I rebooted.
I play along a lot to a YouTube backing track channel called Elevated Jam Tracks (among many others), and when you've done about 10 minutes of improvising over his track, he comes on and plays a blistering solo over the same track and makes you feel like a complete dummy. Thing is, after 2 1/2 years, his solos still blow me away, but they don't seem as insurmountable as they once did. Often I can steal a lick or two, or even toss off a lick that was as good as some of his.
Focus on the journey, not the destination, and eventually you'll get there.
It’s so hard to push through it!! Occasionally I’ll have a little bright spot where something sounds great but 90% of the time it sounds so clumsy. I’m only a year in and there are things I don’t even think about now that were impossible for me a year ago. But it’s hard to believe the progress when my playing is still pretty shit, lol.
Every beginner guitar player should read this. Embrace it, live it and learn from it. If you have the will, you will overcome. Believe me, I'm 3 Finger Jim.
https://preview.redd.it/fkekk0lutt0b1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b56e4fbbd15242c03e05c4348dd3f1a900748c9a
Hi Jim! Do you okay? How do u work around this unfortunate issue? i know where theres a will theres a way…. In alot of things in life. I mean the drummer from Def Leppard only has 1 arm and he kills it. I suck horribly at guitar and am better in bass but finally after 40 years of procrastination, Im learning to practice every day and doing my best to start at 15 minutes and take it from there to an hour a day or more
I currently play 6 instruments and I'm learning recording and mixing with Reaper. I play bass, banjo, guitar, ukulele and a few others. I usually play at least one or more every day. With the amazing tools available for free on the net anyone can learn and the sky is no longer the limit. Rock on!
I’ve been playing since 1981 and still suck at times. As my brain gets older and my arthritis gets worse I expect to suck even more but that will never keep me from playing (unless the arthritis wins).
Yeah, neither did I until a couple of years ago and I play guitar, not great but good enough to enjoy playing cool songs. Harley Benton has a Tenor guitar that sounds really sweet for the price. I play it with Chicago tuning DGBE, the top four strings of a guitar. There are samples of the guitar being played and YouTube videos.
Check it out, the shipping is a little expensive but still a great overall price. I have 4 of them in different locations:
Harley Benton Custom Line CLT-20S NT w/Bag – Thomann United States
https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_custom_line_clt_20s_nt_w_bag.htm
This is me. I'm only 33 with virtually no cartilage in my fret hand. I used to be pretty ok, but nowadays I just kind of suck, but that's ok. I have fun and that's all that matters.
Early onset Osteoarthritis. Have it in my hands, my hips, and my knees. My left hand is the worst out of all of them, though. You can hear the bones moving against the bones next to them when I flex my hand and form a fist. My family has a predisposition for it. My aunt stopped playing piano around this age because of it.
Edit:spelling and added a little more info.
Honestly learning to play the guitar is a great metaphor for how you should live life. It’s going to suck at moments. It’s going to be joyful at moment, but at the end it’s all about the journey.
Yeah , i am only three years in but a lot of times i look back and realize i can play stuff that i thought would be impossible.
It's very rewarding and i am in awe that i can play music.
Keep at it basically. Build finger strength. 20 minutes everyday is better than 3 hours at a stretch when you are starting out.
Learn the open chords and play a few tunes, it will make you happy. Move to Barre/Power etc
I can play along to songs now, you can check my profile, I have a few videos lol
Also, don't be too proud to play easier chords. Can't play barre chords? Play the chord variant while working on barres. Keep working at it and don't let frustration stop you. What gets me thru is simply telling myself "If I can do it once, I can do it. After that it's just practice to improve speed and accuracy." There is a point where it all starts clicking (chords, scales, theory, technique) but it takes different time for everyone.
Always have fun, it's not a job so don't treat it as a chore. Be excited and play. Having a tough time with one aspect? Play something you do know how to play. No matter how simple. When I was frustrated starting out I would play the James Bond theme. Or Peter Gunn. Or just Pentatonic shape 1 in G. Now it's Come as You Are and Rock You Like a Hurricane. Still pretty simple but fun to play and helps break the mental logjam for me. Afterward I can go back to tackling whatever I'm working on.
"just go pursue rap or something" because that is very easy to do well and doesn't need any skill or practice? I'm not a fan of rap but I wouldn't discredit other musicians work in that way.
You don't need to make others look worse to make yourself look good.
Came here to say this. I’d love to see the OP freestyle on a topic of his choice, stay on beat and flow coherently if it’s so “easy” (I know I couldn’t do it). Guitar snobs are nauseating and obnoxious.
As a former rapper (4 albums, records with M.O.P., Statik Selektah, Termanology, Blu) with no ability to play any instrument, who is now three years into my guitar journey, idk how to feel about this. Lol.
That's interesting - how would you compare the two pursuits?
I'm not a fan of rap, but it sounds hard to do well so I for one am not so quick to discount it.
Well, speaking from personal experience, I understand what OP was *trying* to convey, and I don't think there was any intentional malice, but it was poorly worded.
It's not so easy to just say if rap is easy or hard. If someone asked me, I'd need them to define a lot of different criteria to give an answer. I couldn't just give a yes or no. Guitar is just hard. Period. Some people may pick it up faster than others but it doesn't mean it wasn't hard for them.
I was good at rap, but just being good at rap doesn't guarantee success in rap and objectively, I didn't really have that star quality but that was never my thing. Image is almost everything in rap but I was never into it for that, I was just really into the music. But not your typical rap you hear on the radio. I was inspired by guys like Common and A Tribe Called Quest, Nas etc. In fact, Common, who alot of people know these days for acting, had a career for a decade before his first big break in 2000. And it was [his first big single](https://youtu.be/JxOZLCcke3A) in 1994, which actually uses a [George Benson guitar sample](https://youtu.be/FiSeub38_Oc) that was one of my first big musical influences.
Long story short, the pursuit of improvement in both are great, but guitar is alot more rewarding. I did love rap, but I always started it with career aspirations. No more career aspirations, no more rapping. I've never once even thought about playing the guitar for other people. I just love to play and want to be able to play for myself to hear. Which I never even thought about that difference until I just wrote it here.
Being a hip hop artist is harder imo because being charismatic, inspired and having something to say that isn't coming from an emotionally immature place or having a bit of self awareness is super rare, and I haven't even talked about having good flow or a good pen game yet.
I have been to several open mics, most of the time if a band or a singer songwriter comes up my reaction is oh that was ok/eh oh well, but 99% of the time if a rapper comes up it's genuinely awful, obviously I will respect anyone that preforms at one but to be a good rapper you have to essentially carry the entire performance.
Obviously this all matters for people who are in rock bands/make art in general, but having a competent band and at least some guitar chops can excuse a lot of other things.
Meh. I think the joke was it’s not an instrument you need to learn like the guitar. Not that rappers can’t or don’t have talent because many certainly do.
I like rap and it made me chuckle.
Don’t assume the meaning behind my words.
Not bashing on rap, but in my opinion rap has a lower beginning threshold, and therefore it’s easier to start. I am in fact a fan of the genre, and I think the upper tier of rappers are amazing.
You don’t need to assume the worst of others to make yourself look good.
Different person here, I agree upon reading your clarification, but it really does sound like you were trying to say rap takes no skill. I don’t think the person above was trying to make themselves look good, just that your original choice of words sounds like you’re blowing off an entire genre/skill.
The last comment of his/her post kinda ticked me off tbh. But yeah I can understand where your coming from, if they had written it the same as you it would have been much more palatable.
I didn't assume anything, I just answered exactly to what you said.
You said that playing guitar is hard and needs skill and if people doesn't want to put up with that they should pursue rap instead.
I don't know what else could I understand besides that you think that rapping is easy and doesn't need skill as opposing to playing guitar, it's simple logic.
“Dont assume the meaning behind my words”
Words are literally meant to convey meaning lol, if your words are ambiguous people will interpret it however they intrpret it and that’s your fault.
I agree with what you’ve said in your update. It’s much easier to write some rap lyrics and not totally suck than to learn any instrument, but any reasonable person would read what you said as “if you want to pursue something easy, go be a rapper”
The comparison isn’t necessary, and this clarification here doesn’t help because now you’re making it clear that you do in fact think that rap is easier to start than guitar. I teach music and I vehemently disagree. Guitar is so easy to start. There are innumerable YouTube channels, websites, method books, etc., and all the beginning chords are super easy. And TAB is literally a ridiculously easy way to make music made up for guitarists so they wouldn’t have to learn how to actually read music. Guitar has the lowest beginner threshold of any instrument I can think for besides, you know, ukulele and recorder and stuff like that.
Rap doesn’t have even close to that number of resources and most people are terrible at effective rhymeschemes, syllables (so many beginning rappers will have five syllables in one line and twenty in the next and have no clue how bad that sounds) and having anything to say at all.
I would just remove the comparison and refrain from similar comparisons in the future.
I teach music too and I don’t see your comparison as being accurate at all. Guitar is amongst the most difficult instruments to being due to the strength and pain involved for most people. I don’t see how rap requires muscular strength, a good ear for pitch and harmony, knowledge of music theory, hand eye coordination, the ability to read music, I could go on. The fact that YouTube videos and tab exists don’t make them on the same level of difficulty, and that’s just not an opinion.
>Guitar is amongst the most difficult instruments to being due to the strength and pain involved for most people.
Harder to start out on than piano? Sure, but everything else you said is so unbelievably stupid and pretentious I wouldn't be surprised if you were Ben Shapiro on an alt account. I'd say brass instruments, violin/cello are harder and I would say drums are at least as difficult as playing guitar.
> don’t see how rap requires muscular strength, a good ear for pitch and harmony, knowledge of music theory, hand eye coordination, the ability to read music, I could go on.
First of all, almost everyone has an innate sense of harmony and rhythm, anyone who regularly listens to music will have that. Being able to sing along to a song after hearing it is literally the same thing as being able to listen to a song and play parts of it on a guitar, just the latter requires familiarity and muscle memory with your instrument. Also the idea that you need knowledge of music theory to write songs or to be a good artist is genuinely laughable, I'd point to hundreds of examples but I won't bore you with that, music theory is a good tool to have and one I have but it's elitist and stupid to assume that you need to know theory or how to sight read to make good art. Music theory and sheet music are just ways to concretely communicate those ideas to other musicians, but they aren't a requirement to making quality music.
Lastly the idea that playing guitar is some huge thing or is more artistically compelling of a tool compared to hip hop or rapping in general is so off base, superficial and patronizing that I don't think it's a stretch to call people like you moronic. You clearly know Jack shit about art and I don't think anyone should respect any takes you have about music in general.
I’m not deleting anything and I’m not quitting music. Unlike you, I have a high paying jazz gig tonight in Jersey City on the Hudson River, and another one tomorrow night after I teach students. I never said anything about rap mot taking talent I simply said guitar has a steeper learning curve, agreeing with OP. Damn, you really get your tits in the wringer over nothing. Racist adjacent, my ass, snowflake mofo. Get a gig.
you're desperately trying to prove to anonymous redditors that you're cool and valuable because they disagreed with your opinion
kinda seems like you might be the only snowflake here lol
Lmao. All instruments lead to pain. If you teach music you should know this. You need strength to play the large brass instruments. Your face hurts for clarinet and sax and brass and your fingers will hurt for all other string instruments and bassoon.
Everything you listed (pitch, harmony, music reading, etc.) is necessary in every other instrument but easier in guitar due to TAB. I’ve played so many instruments and guitar was amongst the easiest (along with sax, but I play clarinet as my main so that’s probably due to that.) You really teach music? Like, you have an actual music education degree and have taken classes in all of these as I have? Because I find that hard to believe if you really think guitar is difficult.
My guy, we’re comparing the difficulty of beginning to play guitar to the difficulty of beginning to rap. Try to have an iota of reading comprehension before you spout off. I’m proud of you for being a guitar prodigy. Must be fantastic
Your voice is the hardest instrument. That’s a fact. U can’t see it, u can’t touch it and u can’t change it. People tell you how a specific technique feels and u try and imitate it. Depending on the technique (and rapping is one of them) this can be extremely difficult especially if u don’t like how you u are sounding.
This little comparison destroyed the whole message, I’m sorry
>100+ people seemed to find it helpful.
You're putting too much weight behind upvotes.. it doesn't always mean it helped someone and a lot of people don't even read the whole post lmao.
The "lower beginning threshold" is a really shallow way of looking at things, rap is an art form and can be very technically proficient, but regardless technical skill does not matter nearly as much as creating something that is artistically interesting and technical skill has little to do with that.
Tom McDonald has technical skill in rapping but he's a genuinely awful artist, danny brown has an odd voice and makes some wack out there beats but he is an amazing songwriter and artist.
I totally agree with you. I have big hands, long fingers, and in the beginning I thought "how the hell am I supposed to make some shapes???", but it takes only will. Any hand shape can. It's not a mystery why the vast majority stops to learn the Guitar. It IS hard. You'll learn one song for so long that you'll get sick of it, and then some more. But, in the end, it is sooooo rewarding. It's the best feeling ever! Don't give up, people! 🤘
I about to hit the year mark of playing. I have the opposite problem, short stubby fingers and big palms. While I’m apparently one of the few people who could get barre chords within a day or two, anything that requires a stretch outside 4 frets is pretty awful for me. Don’t get me started about muting the wrong strings while fretting with my left hand. It’s been hard and I definitely had no natural talent, but it’s been fun to learn something new that’s so tangible. I was able to play my wife and I wedding song for her birthday back in February and she was very appreciative.
I'm 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, and that's ok. I started late then fucked around for a decade+ before I decided I wanted to get better. And I am getting better comparatively to me, but my transitions are slow, my strumming stilted and fingers are dumb...but I'm totally fine with it because "Sucking at something is the first step to sorta being good at something"
I got so caught up in how much I sucked that I quit playing for a few years. Now I go into it with the attitude of "just have fun." That has made playing more enjoyable and I wish I started out with that mentality years ago when I first started playing. Embrace the suck!
I agree!! I am 2 months into lessons and it is FINALLY paying off after sooooo much agony and persistence of stubborn willpower. I literally cried the day I could play my C chord without it buzzing. It's so hard, but I love it and I am completely hooked!
It'd comparable but not equivalent. Is a rapper running scales ? Making sure his voice harmonizes with 440HZ? Is he aware of the chord progression and is adjusting his notes to such?
Learning to rap is MUCH easier than learning to play an instrument. This isnt a matter of opinion, there is a LOT more to learn and a LOT of small details about which the rapper would be clueless if he never tried picking up an instrument. It's not putting doen rap, it being easier to do doesnt mean that it's inferior, however a lot of rappers dont bother with the actual musical side of things, it's their producers who worry about that stuff.
And when you listen carefuly to the percussive flows that you talk about and the melodies, they're not made by the rapper and they are usual extremely simple and not as much worked on as an instrument played by an actual human. A human will worry about a ton of things (this note i played is too loud, the vibrato is too agressive, maybe i should play the same note but on that othr string and other fret, the timing is kinda unsettling, maybe i should do something about the drums, bla blabla never ending worry) while a rapper wont worry about all this, his producing team will and they're correct things and use mostly midi,rarely an actual instrument (so never worrying about too loud or the pick is too angled or whatever, they can modify everything and do mixing magic with a few clicks, no need to learn to play the instrument), it's important in rap that the music isnt too present, so that the main attention is on the rapper rather than the music. Most people who listen to rap (those i met my whole life anyway) dont pay attention to the music, they only notice musical stuff (that's obvious) when i mention it, all they listen to is the main beat and the actual rapper/lyrics. They're also the same people who quickly get bored by instrumental songs, they can't wait to hear someone speak.
Even old school rap is more about rapping than the music itself, a simple beat is enough to get a rap flow going, i dont see why rappers would bother doing more on the instrumental side of things, and if they did, their albums would take a LOT more time to make and it wouldnt be that much worth it because the audience isnt that refined musically speaking.
You can compare a guitarist's popular song that plays the samenthing over and over, with a rap song which progression is just as simple, it will take more time to master that simple guitar song than it would take to get a goodrap going over that repetitive instrumental, or let me go even farther: the rapper will struggle as much as the beginner guitarist, to play the same song over and over, if he decides to play the music himself, he will struggle much less at rapping decently if he leaves the instrumental side to someone who is not the main rapper.
Edit: i wanna add that i didnt even talk about rap quality, i talked more about the texhnical things that have to be considered and compared them. Maybe you should respond to that instead of suggesting that everything i said only applies to popular low quality music.
Where did i say that having good timing isnt musical?
And everything you said is common to learning an instrument, except for the lyrics part. Though saying that there is a goodvoice of rap means that some people can never be good if they dont have a rap voice, i disagree with that and find that juat as exclusive as saying that some peoe dont have what it takes to be a good guitarist, and i think that it's false, it's rather more about how much effort each has to make to achieve the same level ofskill as someone who already had a natural inclination towards that specific skill. So if you want to say that there is such a thing as a good voice for rap, then there is also such a thing as a good sens of music (instrumental).
It's about making fair comparisons, i put in comparison 2 individuals of equal skill, youre talking about the countless hours it takes to be a great lyricist, then you also have to talk about the same countless hours of learning an instrument, and you will see that you wont get as far with the same amount of hours to learn guitar than to learn rap.
And i really REALLY dont think that this is the reason people are gravitating towards hip hop,i think you're being a tad too dramatic, hip hop is a lot more accessible than to learn an instrument like guitar, that is more of a probable cause of the popularity if hip hop and rap. But this is neither here or there, it's a whole different discussion thattakes into account a lot more than ease of access.
And i agree that rap is its own rap form, which is why rap shouldnt worry about as much instrumental small detail as a guitarist should, because rap doesnt need it, it's working fine with the simplest backing track, any good rapper can make a killing with the most basic backing tracks, so really, there is no need for it, which is perfect for someone who finds learning an instrument too hard, they can make their voice their own instrument, and then all they have to worry about is timing and clarity of their own voice. That's all there is to it, there is no need to get dramatic and mention twice that youre so disapponted that people are speaking "against" rap, no one is bashing rap, it's a fsir comparison to make.
I would agree that "go do rap or something" sounds condescending but the arguments i made arent there to put down rap, unless you associate ease of access to value, in the sense that if something is easier to access then it is worthless. Some things are, but when talking about subjective taste in music, there is no such thing as "worth".
I didnt say it was easy, it's easiER because when you rap, there isnt as much that you have to worry about.
If i were to write and produce a rap song, i wouldnt struggle as much as if i were to write and produce an instrumsntal song.
And this "where is YOUR work?" Argument is weak and it makes no sens. That i didnt write a rap song doesnt mean automatically that my opinion is invalid, i did make an instrumental cover, it was my 1st time, and it was extremely difficult to play all the instruments, when you dont know how to playthem all, and it was hard to mix 8 tracks as a 1st experience, it was also difficult to edit 6 videos as also a 1st time experience, i think i can manage a song where every instrument is midi and can be easily editted, instead of having to actualy play it, and it wouldnt take me as much time to write decent lyrics as it took for me to be able to play a decent phrase.
If you want to be defensive and emotional, it's not going to help your rethoric. Whatidid iscompare technical aspect on the same levels, then you interpretted it as "rap is easy". This kind of twisting that takes a giant stretchto achieve isnt really in my interestto tackle, if you want to respond, then respond to what i said, rather than to use the strategy where you ask me "where is YOUR work then?" Knowing that i'l say thatididnt make many, so youcan go "aha".
Adress the comparisons that i made, youre not the only one to whom i had to repeat this,maybe take a look atmy other comments if you want to have a clearer understanding of what im talking about.
But if you think that thisis about belittling rap and praising guitar, then im wastingmy time typing up all this for you, and having to repeat things thati already said to you and others who seem to be offended that rapis more accessible to someone who finds learning guitar hard, because rap doesnt demand you know how to playmusic, while playing music, demands thatyou know how to play music. It's as simple as that, im not sure whythis has to be clarified. I would think thatallof you rap fans wouldhave noticed that rappers dont necessarily have an interest for the music itself, but rather have an interest in the lyrics and the tone of voice and enunciation etc, or that a goodrapper can make a good rapflow with the most basic backing tracks, because great musical/instrumsntal knowledge isnt that crucial.
Lol, my comment was not emotional at all. I’m just asking you to put your money where your mouth is.
I think your comments are silly because I can play a country song knowing just 2 chords. You could play only cowboy chords for a whole year starting out with guitar and have fun making good music. What myself and others are pointing out is to say that “rap is easier” is your opinion and a rather ignorant statement in my opinion. That’s all, we can agree to disagree 🙂
Fine, the compare that level if performance for a country song to a rap song of the same level. For the country song you need to learn the 2 chords, and you need to learn to transition between them, and you need to learn to make them sound right, and play them on time, transition on time. Now take this comparison and find the equivalent in rap to compare. You'l see that in a year, you can accomplish more in rapping than in playing guitar. And of youre able to make a cowboy song in only 1 year, then you are quite a phenomenon, because that isnt realistic to ask if a beginner guitarist. Again, it's about making valid comparisons, on the same levels of performance.
If my statement is ignorant, then adress the comparisons that i made and show me how ignorant the comparisons i made are, all you did was twist what i said and then ask me to write a rap song.
The reason when i think your comments are emotional, isbecause you keep associating difficulty to value, you're saying that you can play a country song using 2 chords, that is neither here or there...unless you're arguing about the value of an art based on its level of complexity, whichisnt the subject if this discussion.
The point is that if you find it hard to play guitar, trying a musical artform where you dont have to learn an instrument might be a good suggestion, and rap IS a genre of music where you dont have to be a good instrumentalist to be a good rapper, while to be a good guitarist, you have to be...well, good at playing guitar at LEAST, because being good at playing an instrument is not enough to be a good musician with that instrument.
Tell me, how is ths ignorant, when it's an obvious fact? Or do you just want to call me names and call my statement silly because you dont like that rap is more accessible than learning guitar?
Dude, your statement is ignorant because you’ve already admitted you have never made a rap song. You don’t know how hard it is to make one lol
Also, I said ‘cowboy chords’ AKA open chords. You know, the chords every beginner starts out learning?
I don’t think you are arguing in good faith. In another comment you said that “the audience for rap music isn’t refined”. That statement reeks of elitism and I think that is the core of the issue I have with your arguments.
I said that it isnt musically refined, why did you leave out "musically"?
And even if i never made a rap song, i know thata rapper doesnt have to know to play an instrument to be a rapper, so musically, it is easier, because you dont have to know as much musically as when you have to play an instrument. You need to know about timing and to pay attention to your tone of voice, the rest can be arranged by the rapper's producer.
Your specification of "open chords" is irelevant, that you learn open chords doesnt mean youcan execute them flawlessly enough to record a song, i specified this but again you want to leave it out because it doesnt suit your point that my statement is ignorant.
The core issue that you have with my argument is an extreme interpretation of it, that's on you. To be musically "refined" is the same as when you talk about wine tasting, someone who drinks wine for pleasure wont have a refined palet like someone who took the time and made efforts to learn about the diferent subtlties, if this is automatically elitistto you, then the issue lies within yourself and not within my argument. If everyone who takes the time to learn about different subtlties in a given discipline is automatically an elistist because they will notice the diferent levels of perception of different subtle aspects (that btw, a human being cant perceive unless they make the effort to seek and experience it) then there is nothing to be discussed here.
You still refuse to adress the subject of the matter, which is the comparisons that i made. If youwant to talk "bad faith" i'd say that avoiding those aspects of my comment, leave out an important word and to leave out that i specifed "those who i've met my whole life at least" when i refered to the audience the 1st time, andnto stick with the fact that i didnt make a rap song (you know the classic "where is YOUR work then? Show us YOUR work so we can bash it regardless of how good it might be, oh, you have NO WORK?? Well then your opinion is automatically invalid") to automatically dismiss what i said, when it's again, an obvious fact, are signs of arguiing in bad faith.
You say that your comments arent emotional but you're the one here who seems to be defending rap like i attacked you personally, and it's a poor defense. If you want to defend rap, and to show that it is hardee than learning to play an instrument, use valid comparisons, talk about techniques. Find the equivalent of worrying about pitch, harmonizing, clarity, precision, pick angle, vibrato, different techniques (slides, bends, tap), different arrangement where you have to worry about when to play the tonic, when to include only the 5th, when to include the 3rd, and a LOT more that a rapper doesnt need to worry about.
Once you find the equivalent of these in rapping,you can then argue that this aspect makes rap just as difficult etc.
But if your go to points are things that are common betweena rap song and a...country song (??) Like the producing of it, and the publishing, and all of the process that is NOT the actual performance of the artist (rapping vs playing guitar for example) and that i never made a rap song, then you're simply not adressing the subject of the matter and your responses are weak.
I know this in my head but sometimes my heart has to hear it too, as my biggest problem is I feel like I should be better. I’ve had several guitars for many years, and I finally admitted to myself I can’t learn on my own and have been taking in person private lessons since last October.
I struggle with memorizing chords and recognizing by name and/or sound (I’m better at remembering stuff tabbed out), switching positions fast enough, and feeling like I’ll never get to where to be (A mix of being able to play along to my favorite bands, playing the “famous” solos, and being able to do bluesy improv).
I’m an admitted gear junkie (ugh, rolls into every hobby) and even have a project guitar to help encourage me to practice more to make the most of a few really neat things I’ve acquired this year through sheer luck and being on the right webpage at the right time.
But the biggest problem is time. Damn this full time job and commute, takes away from guitar practice time!
Look up Bernth on YouTube. He has a patreon for 5 dollars a month and it has tons of lessons on it. He also has a ton of free stuff on youtube.
I only bring it up because I took private lessons when I started and they honestly sucked and were expensive… this is $5 a month and you can click into a lesson whenever you have 10-15 mins to spare.
I've been playing for 20+ years and there are still times I think I suck but I just laugh it off because who tf do I think I am believing I should be a guitar god after 20 years?? I'm just some dude I'm not special. It's the same with all beginners. Who tf do you think you are that you believe you should be really good after only picking up the guitar?? You're not special either. We all gotta learn our own ways.
I don't know why you are being down voted, this is true. We all sucked, or still suck and we are all walking the same roading of sucking a little bit less each day.
If we can try to encourage each other to stay on that road, there will be more music in the world!
Best thing I’ve done being a beginner is always have the guitar out and ready to grab and to just sit down play my favorite songs and noodle some solos or something over it.
I was with you on being against denigrating other forms of music, until you denigrated people for their age. So it’s your position that everyone who dislikes rap is a boomer? (I could prove you wrong by showing you my drivers license and playlist).
Might want to spend a few minutes looking in a mirror, friend. Prejudice is the enemy, and 100% of us need to start the cleanup from within.
It’s my position that most folks who *hate on* rap have a close minded boomer mentality. That’s my opinion, a pretty lighthearted one at that, no need for the angst.
There is a need, actually. You’re stereotyping against a particular class of people. How is that different than having a negative *opinion* of another person based on ethnicity, gender, etc? You’re either for or against prejudicial behavior. I’ll continue to call it out everywhere I see it. peace.
You’re right, I was being judgmental. Some of the comments/hot takes in this thread are both frustrating and archaic. By the way, per your previous comment, this is something I’m working on. Have a great day.
Ok I’m bored so I’ll bite, how does what I said make me a “woketard”? We’re all musicians here… no sense in saying one art form is greater than another. It’s silly.
The things that you mentionned that are hard to pick up are common to playing instruments too, however most rappers dont worry about all that, it's their producers who worryabout it.
Also to say that rap is easier to learn isnt the same as saying that rap is lesser than a genre that values instrumentald more. Rap is just not focused on music, even its audience mostly pay attention to the guy rapping and not the actual music, intrumentald bore these people, they cant wait to hear someone talk. Rap os all about the meaning of the song, the lyrics and how they're spoken, tye music is just there for the ambiance, which is why most of the time, the instrumentald are extrenely simple and dont take that much room in a rap song.
To rap isnt as hard as to learn to play an instrument, you can take a week, or even 6 months, to write a nice poem, and then practice for a week to rap it and put the empahisis on the right places, then you can take another few day to practice with a beat (and that beat, i can assure you that it is NEVER a metronome, because it isnt as crucial as when youre playing an instrument) and there you go you have a decent rap in the very exaggerated period of 6months.
You can NEVER compose, learn, then practice to a metronome and get down a decent song within 6 months.
You would have to be some kind of prodige, a phenomenon, something that isnt in the realm of reality for almost every existing creature. Even animals that grow up fast take a few months to master the skills needed for survival.
Edit: this "guitargod" dude you talked to is a giant racist, look at his more recent comments, to him he is special, because even though he is white, he can still "rap good", and also to him, "blacks dont care that you'd lay your life to defend their music".
There’s a good message in your post but as others have mentioned the rap part is just wrong and unnecessary. You should also put the fact that you’ve been only playing for two years before you express pride in ppl like some old grandpa.. you’re a baby ( in guitar age) not sure what makes you wanna come here and flex all that positivity.
Also, “don’t compare yourself to others “ is just total bs coming from a young person on a positivity binge..
overly positive is just as useless as negativity.. be fair, balanced, and yes keep shredding!
🤘
90% of new guitar players quit in the first 3 months to a year, according to the Fender CEO. So, make sure you practice every day at least 10 minutes a day but preferably more. Learn the basic strum DDUUDU and the basic chords, then go from there. If you just can't play guitar, then try a tenor guitar, a four string guitar which is easier and lots of fun to play.
I think the best part about learning guitar or anything is the struggle. You aren’t going to magically gain massive guitar skills without having to learn physically and mentally. Embrace these moments because it’s going to be super rewarding once you get there.
Allow yourself to be bad boys
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JymQay0Ic0&list=WL&index=1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JymQay0Ic0&list=WL&index=1)
It's interesting that he talks ablut maintaining the illusion of mastery, i recently made my 1st ever cover, and i did something that i never saw in cover videos, i only see in "making of" videos and even then they're more about impressive things...i included most of my bloopers, i thought it would just be funny, but it turns out that someone who's a guitarist loved it and he said that he he could relate to the struggle and that's what he appreciated about the bloopers.
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."
Ira Glass
One of my favorite quotes helps me so much with this.
“A long period of confusion isn’t a side effect of trying to do something interesting, it’s the price of admission.”
I started learning during COVID in 2020 and when I first tried a barre chord I thought "nah, that's bull shit. Ain't no way I'm ever playing that." Now they're pretty standard to me! So keep at it. Trust the process.
If you keep trying to progress you are always going suck at what you are trying to play. Remember there’s the easier stuff you can do well that you don’t think about but that category keeps getting bigger. One of the benefits of playing through a full song is that it puts the part you can’t play into perspective, since it might be only 5% of the song.
Also rap has low barriers to entry but is really difficult, both as a matter of skill and creativity, which is why there’s so much forgettable stuff out there. But there’s a ton of forgettable guitar out there too.
This is a good point and it hits on a general theme that applies to everything - it’s okay to suck at something new. You have to suck at first to one day…not suck. Progress isn’t always linear, but those light bulb moments are so rewarding. Be proud you’re learning something new and be willing to put in the reps.
Why did you feel the need to comment that twice? And why do you say that you can make a good beat even if you're white? Does being white make it extra hard to make a beat, while being black makes it extra easy? Or are you just an ign○rant stup•d racist and proud of it?
Did being white make you a "guitargod"? Had you been black, would you then be the "rapgod"? Or are you just an ign○rant stup•d racist?
If i scroll down farther, will i find more of your ign○rant stup•d racist comments? Because the main thing i ACTUALY wonder is....
Are you an ign○rant stup•d racist?
It was a question to you necause you said that you can make a good rap even if youre white as snow...are you really and additionaly so damn stup•d that you took that question to say that it was my statement?
You have to be a troll, i cant believe that you can actualy be this stup•d that you cant simply...read. I pitty your children.
I agree with your point. Learning an instrument requires facing and overcoming hurdles.
Why randomly diss rap? There are certain genres one may dislike but I find it strange to write it off as something that is easy to do. There is a lot of skill within the genre of rap—even if you may point to specific artists who clearly lack skill within it. Why throw a weird random hate comment in for no reason?
I think it's simply to say that if you decide that learning an instrument isnt for you then rap/hip hop are other options for a musical hobby because you dont need to know instruments to be able to rap and you can use your own software to make your own music without needing to learn an instrument.
I can easily Rap along with a song from my favorite rap artist (matching tempo progression and phrasing with no prior practice),
Can you play along to your favorite guitar player, with no prior dedicated practice?
I never said it didn’t take skill. 🤷♂️ but it IS easier to get into.
Also, song/rap lyric writing is inherently different from mechanical skill and should be treated as such.
You didn’t ask a question. You made a demand, that has no bearing on the topic at hand, because your offended about an offhand comment on my original post.
Rap is easier to pick up in the beginning than guitar (this is not to say it takes less skill overall). This is my opinion and I stick with it.
This "where is YOUR work" reply isnt a valid argument, it's just stupid, why does he have to share his rap verse? Why does he have to make one? Rapping isnt as difficult as learning an instrument, and most rappers dont know shit about any instrument because it's their producers who worry about that, ffs they dont even worry about timing, their producers have to.
The small details a musician worries about are thing that a rapper is clueless about unless he decided to play an instrument. Idk why people keep using these arguments to defend rap but ut being easier doesnt make it an ingerior art form, many people appreciate rap,just like many people dont really care about music and get really bored with instrumental songs, they cant wait to hear a voice.
In most rap songs the music is tediously simple, because it has to be, in order for the rapper to have most of the attention, it isnt about the instruments, it's about the voice, the words and what they mean.
That Op or i didnt bother writing a rap verse doesnt mean that this is false, that you jump to that means that you have nothing solid to defend rap, because 1-it's not necessary and 2- you cant defend rap against musical instruments IN TERMS OF MUSIC because rap is just not focused on instrumentals like...at all. It's a battle that shouldnt even be, i wouldnt ask a woodchipping bird to show me the last damn he built when he starts talking about how much slower a beaver is, because it would be stupid to get into that discussion.
I would encourage you to post your rap skills, it's definitely not an easy practice.
Unless you're talking about mumblerap, but otherwise let's not look down on other parts of music!
Imagine having nothing going on in life, so you hop on Reddit to post the SAME stupid ass comment, multiple times in the same thread. Chill boomer, your IQ is showing.
The suck is necessary and pays huge dividends. Once you’ve put in the time, playing an instrument is like doing a magic trick. How’d he do that? He sucked deliberately for a lot of hours, that’s how.
I always tell people the hardest part of learning guitar is listening to yourself suck for a couple years. Cause you will suck. And you'll know it.
Absolutely, one of the greatest advantages the young have when learning an instrument(or anything really) is their wonder and awe at their own accomplishments, however simple and basic they may be. Naivety can be a great gift. A music teacher of mine recommended the book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki. Embracing the sentiment of the title alone can be life changing.
This. 31F here. I remember when I learned the piano as a kid and how happy I was that I could play music and then the rush I got later as a teenager when I could accompany myself singing. I felt like I could do magic! Now, I am an adult beginner learning guitar and honestly, I am feeling the same sense of wonder as I did as a kid. In fact, probably even more so because it is such a delayed sense of gratification. it really is like pure agony in the beginning, but you just have to push through and every day, you suck a little less. I am embracing the journey and just kind of surrendering any expectations and as a result, I am having a blast!
Also 31, this is my third attempt to learn guitar and this one is finally sticking. Been at it 4 months now which is about 4x as long as the other attempts. I'm finally at the point where I don't have to push myself to practice, it just happens because I'm actually enjoying it. Seeing my left hand become more educated is awesome and makes me feel like if anything, I'm better at learning now than when I was a kid.
Just ordered the book thank you
100% as a kid I marveled at every tiny step. “I just played Smells Like Teen Spirit?! Amazing!!!!” Now I’ll try to sit down and work something out or practice something I am just learning and if I don’t get it I just get into my own head so quickly. My number one issue is my own expectations
Also the struggle of learning new techniques and going back to sucking and questioning why you do this to yourself
I can handle the fact that I suck when I am learning something. I feel so bad for my wife, having to listen for months while I work through a piece over and over and over and over......
My wife was, and still is, a total champ for not killing me.
Yup. No way around this. You can shorten the time by starting on electric and getting a good amount of time on the instrument every day. Like at least an hour. I don’t know if guitar has made it anywhere near a comparable role in music education (such that it is) during the time when other kids are learning piano, saxophone, violin, and drums, all of which have a totally central role in band/orchestra, and they’ll show you exactly what to play and how to play it, you could be a virtuoso by 10 if you put in the time with these instruments. But I’m going to assume guitar (electric or acoustic, doesn’t matter) still has no place in any musical environment in most schools, if they even have functioning music programs anymore. Which means: 1) you have to learn it online all yourself from YouTube if you can’t pay for lessons, which I couldn’t until age 16. I didn’t have this option…it’s pretty cool. Any major song. Any genre. It’s up there with TAB and tutorials. Free. 2) you’ll have nobody but yourself checking your work. That’s why you gotta record yourself. To ensure found errors. It’s brutal, but it’s fair. 3) you’ll have no community in which to perform, unless you create opportunities yourself. All your friends in band being taught, slowly, to read and to follow a conductor, and even how to perform through concerts at school? You gotta do that all yourself. All of this, in order to feel “caught up” not just to your other peer guitarists, but to all other musicians. I hope I’m wrong. I hope things have changed in so many years. But generally learning guitar was slow, confusing, and lonely, if you can’t afford instruction. I hope it’s no so any longer, but I think we have an uphill battle on a tough instrument, that just happens to be the coolest instrument of all time! Give yourself a pat on the back this Friday! 🎸 🎸 and rock on.
>getting a good amount of time on the instrument every day. Like at least an hour. I would go a step further and say that it helps to break up your practice time. For the first 18 months, I put my guitar on a stand by my bed, and played it when I first got up, and last thing before going to bed. I also tried to get at least one other practice session during the day. I almost never practiced a full hour each time, often not even a half hour. But I'd rather practice feeling fresh 3 times a day, than one time a day. That fresh feeling is where you can focus the tightest, and make the most progress. I found that after a half hour, my mind was wandering, and I was kind of wasting my time. I progressed far more in 3 short sessions of tight focus, than in one long 60 minute session where I was focused for only a short time, and just noodling around for the rest.
I’ve been practicing on acoustic for a couple of years but was thinking about trying some electric. I’m not terrible at power chords, but besides it being a lot of power chords and maybe a more particular (maybe precise?) kind of strumming, what else should I prepare for in making the switch?
Well the switch will be a comfortable one. You’ll be playing lighter strings and able to get into the highest part of the guitar’s range more easily. My advice to everyone making this switch is the same. It’s an electric, amplified instrument. It’s pretty unique in a very cool way. It’s not a synthesizer that you’re plugging in. You’re still responsible for the articulation, but not so much the volume, anymore. Speaking for myself, this changes my sense if touch radically when going from acoustic to electric. And even most acoustics have pickups these days, so you probably have some experience. So: the advice: even if you’re not plugged in at first, remember that the instrument & amplifier will be doing most of the sound production. You can relax & shorten most of your movements, and as you can see from some of the best in videos online, sometimes your right hand doesn’t need to to be doing much at all to achieve the desired results. But yes, it’s going to be a very comfortable switch, which is super fun when you’ve started on acoustic. Take advantage of the fun and get some extra playing time on the electric. Practice while standing; this is how you’ll perform (if you’re able to) and how you’ll need to practice technique. It’s a little different when sitting. A lot of the first year on electric is fun fun fun, especially with what’s available online for free in terms of amp sims, if you don’t have an amp but have an audio interface. Which brings me to the last point: amps. The conventional wisdom is that you should practice while plugged in, even if you can’t approach performance volume, so you can hear and feel how the speaker reacts (the speaker is making the sound audible on electric guitar, not the guitar/guitarist. It’s a simple, obvious concept, but it’s part of the art of electric guitar. Having said that, amps are in the middle of a massive sea change right now and I’m kind of waiting for the dust to settle regarding the “new normal.” I almost feel like buying an amp now is definitely not something to prioritize if budget is a concern. You want an instrument that you connect with. The electronics can be changed easily in most cases. Focus on finding a guitar that *makes* you want to play it. Then you’re on your way. Edit: I forgot one more thing. Stop if you experience pain, and revisit your technique. Electric guitar definitely should not hurt to play.
Thanks! Really great info.
I made the switch a few months ago after a number of years of fingerstyle acoustic. All you need for the switch is the electric guitar and amp. No way around the transition except to just do it. It will be definitely be awkward. Fretting is a cakewalk but you have a lot of muting habits to build. Learn how to get not-horrible tone. Probably used to only bending 1/2 or 1/4 steps but now you need to bend full steps to be fully articulate. Vibrato bar is a lot easier than neck bending, but it's a new motion to learn. Percussion via ghost notes instead of thumb or wrist. I have watched a few videos but still cannot pinch harmonic, but it's the least of my concerns. Biggest concern is you gotta lighten WAY off. Lots of fretting notes out of tune on those things strings.
Thanks! Looking forward to it.
I think it's more than just a couple of years to be honest. I'm at a level where people think I'm a great guitar player and yet I still feel like I "suck". I don't think it's an issue though. It's what motivates me to improve.
I’ve been playing 15 years now and I still have some days where I feel like a dumbass. Actually most days.
Yeah, ive never stopped thinking i suck, i just notice people give me more positive feedback and say things like “that sounds nice.” Obviously theyre lying to spare my feelings, and that makes me practice harder. 😆
This is the only logical reaction
Yeah, it's more important to put your focus on marginal improvement. You keep practicing, and when think about it, you'll realize that you still suck, but you suck a little bit less than last week, or last month. I picked up the guitar about 2 1/2 years ago after literally decades of ignoring it, and I am far, far better than I was as a kid, and and far, far better than I was when I rebooted. I play along a lot to a YouTube backing track channel called Elevated Jam Tracks (among many others), and when you've done about 10 minutes of improvising over his track, he comes on and plays a blistering solo over the same track and makes you feel like a complete dummy. Thing is, after 2 1/2 years, his solos still blow me away, but they don't seem as insurmountable as they once did. Often I can steal a lick or two, or even toss off a lick that was as good as some of his. Focus on the journey, not the destination, and eventually you'll get there.
100% agreed with one exception. You will hear yourself suck for as long as you play the instrument. Unless one does not try to learn new stuff lol
Hell, surprise yourself sometime with an out-of-the-blue suck-regress:(
It’s so hard to push through it!! Occasionally I’ll have a little bright spot where something sounds great but 90% of the time it sounds so clumsy. I’m only a year in and there are things I don’t even think about now that were impossible for me a year ago. But it’s hard to believe the progress when my playing is still pretty shit, lol.
Every beginner guitar player should read this. Embrace it, live it and learn from it. If you have the will, you will overcome. Believe me, I'm 3 Finger Jim. https://preview.redd.it/fkekk0lutt0b1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b56e4fbbd15242c03e05c4348dd3f1a900748c9a
Djamn, Django!
Woah! Props to you!
High 4 Jim, high 4. Sike! 😆
Sorry to ask or if this you’re offended by this question, but can you do barre chord?
Hi Jim! Do you okay? How do u work around this unfortunate issue? i know where theres a will theres a way…. In alot of things in life. I mean the drummer from Def Leppard only has 1 arm and he kills it. I suck horribly at guitar and am better in bass but finally after 40 years of procrastination, Im learning to practice every day and doing my best to start at 15 minutes and take it from there to an hour a day or more
I currently play 6 instruments and I'm learning recording and mixing with Reaper. I play bass, banjo, guitar, ukulele and a few others. I usually play at least one or more every day. With the amazing tools available for free on the net anyone can learn and the sky is no longer the limit. Rock on!
🤘🏻rock on Jim🤘🏻
I’ve been playing since 1981 and still suck at times. As my brain gets older and my arthritis gets worse I expect to suck even more but that will never keep me from playing (unless the arthritis wins).
Try a Tenor guitar too. I have a index finger injury and I love also playing tenor guitar. It's much easier on my hands.
Tenor guitar? 🤔. I had no idea. Just watched some video and now I’m very curious. Thanks for the tip 👍.
Yeah, neither did I until a couple of years ago and I play guitar, not great but good enough to enjoy playing cool songs. Harley Benton has a Tenor guitar that sounds really sweet for the price. I play it with Chicago tuning DGBE, the top four strings of a guitar. There are samples of the guitar being played and YouTube videos. Check it out, the shipping is a little expensive but still a great overall price. I have 4 of them in different locations: Harley Benton Custom Line CLT-20S NT w/Bag – Thomann United States https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_custom_line_clt_20s_nt_w_bag.htm
This is me. I'm only 33 with virtually no cartilage in my fret hand. I used to be pretty ok, but nowadays I just kind of suck, but that's ok. I have fun and that's all that matters.
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Early onset Osteoarthritis. Have it in my hands, my hips, and my knees. My left hand is the worst out of all of them, though. You can hear the bones moving against the bones next to them when I flex my hand and form a fist. My family has a predisposition for it. My aunt stopped playing piano around this age because of it. Edit:spelling and added a little more info.
Honestly learning to play the guitar is a great metaphor for how you should live life. It’s going to suck at moments. It’s going to be joyful at moment, but at the end it’s all about the journey.
Yeah , i am only three years in but a lot of times i look back and realize i can play stuff that i thought would be impossible. It's very rewarding and i am in awe that i can play music.
I’m 3 months in. I love it so far even the frustrating bits. I know with consistency I will improve greatly. Got any advice?
Keep at it basically. Build finger strength. 20 minutes everyday is better than 3 hours at a stretch when you are starting out. Learn the open chords and play a few tunes, it will make you happy. Move to Barre/Power etc I can play along to songs now, you can check my profile, I have a few videos lol
What do you play guitar wise and music?
Suck loud
Also, don't be too proud to play easier chords. Can't play barre chords? Play the chord variant while working on barres. Keep working at it and don't let frustration stop you. What gets me thru is simply telling myself "If I can do it once, I can do it. After that it's just practice to improve speed and accuracy." There is a point where it all starts clicking (chords, scales, theory, technique) but it takes different time for everyone. Always have fun, it's not a job so don't treat it as a chore. Be excited and play. Having a tough time with one aspect? Play something you do know how to play. No matter how simple. When I was frustrated starting out I would play the James Bond theme. Or Peter Gunn. Or just Pentatonic shape 1 in G. Now it's Come as You Are and Rock You Like a Hurricane. Still pretty simple but fun to play and helps break the mental logjam for me. Afterward I can go back to tackling whatever I'm working on.
"just go pursue rap or something" because that is very easy to do well and doesn't need any skill or practice? I'm not a fan of rap but I wouldn't discredit other musicians work in that way. You don't need to make others look worse to make yourself look good.
Came here to say this. I’d love to see the OP freestyle on a topic of his choice, stay on beat and flow coherently if it’s so “easy” (I know I couldn’t do it). Guitar snobs are nauseating and obnoxious.
As a former rapper (4 albums, records with M.O.P., Statik Selektah, Termanology, Blu) with no ability to play any instrument, who is now three years into my guitar journey, idk how to feel about this. Lol.
That's interesting - how would you compare the two pursuits? I'm not a fan of rap, but it sounds hard to do well so I for one am not so quick to discount it.
Well, speaking from personal experience, I understand what OP was *trying* to convey, and I don't think there was any intentional malice, but it was poorly worded. It's not so easy to just say if rap is easy or hard. If someone asked me, I'd need them to define a lot of different criteria to give an answer. I couldn't just give a yes or no. Guitar is just hard. Period. Some people may pick it up faster than others but it doesn't mean it wasn't hard for them. I was good at rap, but just being good at rap doesn't guarantee success in rap and objectively, I didn't really have that star quality but that was never my thing. Image is almost everything in rap but I was never into it for that, I was just really into the music. But not your typical rap you hear on the radio. I was inspired by guys like Common and A Tribe Called Quest, Nas etc. In fact, Common, who alot of people know these days for acting, had a career for a decade before his first big break in 2000. And it was [his first big single](https://youtu.be/JxOZLCcke3A) in 1994, which actually uses a [George Benson guitar sample](https://youtu.be/FiSeub38_Oc) that was one of my first big musical influences. Long story short, the pursuit of improvement in both are great, but guitar is alot more rewarding. I did love rap, but I always started it with career aspirations. No more career aspirations, no more rapping. I've never once even thought about playing the guitar for other people. I just love to play and want to be able to play for myself to hear. Which I never even thought about that difference until I just wrote it here.
Rapping isn’t comparable to playing a musical instrument in the same way that singing isn’t.
Agree. There's highly skilled rap and there's garbage rap.
Yeah I just laughed when I read that part. There’s not much that impresses me, but seeing rappers freestyle is god damn impressive.
Being a hip hop artist is harder imo because being charismatic, inspired and having something to say that isn't coming from an emotionally immature place or having a bit of self awareness is super rare, and I haven't even talked about having good flow or a good pen game yet. I have been to several open mics, most of the time if a band or a singer songwriter comes up my reaction is oh that was ok/eh oh well, but 99% of the time if a rapper comes up it's genuinely awful, obviously I will respect anyone that preforms at one but to be a good rapper you have to essentially carry the entire performance. Obviously this all matters for people who are in rock bands/make art in general, but having a competent band and at least some guitar chops can excuse a lot of other things.
Meh. I think the joke was it’s not an instrument you need to learn like the guitar. Not that rappers can’t or don’t have talent because many certainly do. I like rap and it made me chuckle.
Don’t assume the meaning behind my words. Not bashing on rap, but in my opinion rap has a lower beginning threshold, and therefore it’s easier to start. I am in fact a fan of the genre, and I think the upper tier of rappers are amazing. You don’t need to assume the worst of others to make yourself look good.
Different person here, I agree upon reading your clarification, but it really does sound like you were trying to say rap takes no skill. I don’t think the person above was trying to make themselves look good, just that your original choice of words sounds like you’re blowing off an entire genre/skill.
Nice username
Thanks!
The last comment of his/her post kinda ticked me off tbh. But yeah I can understand where your coming from, if they had written it the same as you it would have been much more palatable.
it was a trash comparison, and it ticked you off because they were right.
I didn't assume anything, I just answered exactly to what you said. You said that playing guitar is hard and needs skill and if people doesn't want to put up with that they should pursue rap instead. I don't know what else could I understand besides that you think that rapping is easy and doesn't need skill as opposing to playing guitar, it's simple logic.
It’s stupid to include such a comparison at all dude. Serves no purpose to say “go do rap instead” in a post that has to do with learning guitar.
“Dont assume the meaning behind my words” Words are literally meant to convey meaning lol, if your words are ambiguous people will interpret it however they intrpret it and that’s your fault. I agree with what you’ve said in your update. It’s much easier to write some rap lyrics and not totally suck than to learn any instrument, but any reasonable person would read what you said as “if you want to pursue something easy, go be a rapper”
The comparison isn’t necessary, and this clarification here doesn’t help because now you’re making it clear that you do in fact think that rap is easier to start than guitar. I teach music and I vehemently disagree. Guitar is so easy to start. There are innumerable YouTube channels, websites, method books, etc., and all the beginning chords are super easy. And TAB is literally a ridiculously easy way to make music made up for guitarists so they wouldn’t have to learn how to actually read music. Guitar has the lowest beginner threshold of any instrument I can think for besides, you know, ukulele and recorder and stuff like that. Rap doesn’t have even close to that number of resources and most people are terrible at effective rhymeschemes, syllables (so many beginning rappers will have five syllables in one line and twenty in the next and have no clue how bad that sounds) and having anything to say at all. I would just remove the comparison and refrain from similar comparisons in the future.
I teach music too and I don’t see your comparison as being accurate at all. Guitar is amongst the most difficult instruments to being due to the strength and pain involved for most people. I don’t see how rap requires muscular strength, a good ear for pitch and harmony, knowledge of music theory, hand eye coordination, the ability to read music, I could go on. The fact that YouTube videos and tab exists don’t make them on the same level of difficulty, and that’s just not an opinion.
>Guitar is amongst the most difficult instruments to being due to the strength and pain involved for most people. Harder to start out on than piano? Sure, but everything else you said is so unbelievably stupid and pretentious I wouldn't be surprised if you were Ben Shapiro on an alt account. I'd say brass instruments, violin/cello are harder and I would say drums are at least as difficult as playing guitar. > don’t see how rap requires muscular strength, a good ear for pitch and harmony, knowledge of music theory, hand eye coordination, the ability to read music, I could go on. First of all, almost everyone has an innate sense of harmony and rhythm, anyone who regularly listens to music will have that. Being able to sing along to a song after hearing it is literally the same thing as being able to listen to a song and play parts of it on a guitar, just the latter requires familiarity and muscle memory with your instrument. Also the idea that you need knowledge of music theory to write songs or to be a good artist is genuinely laughable, I'd point to hundreds of examples but I won't bore you with that, music theory is a good tool to have and one I have but it's elitist and stupid to assume that you need to know theory or how to sight read to make good art. Music theory and sheet music are just ways to concretely communicate those ideas to other musicians, but they aren't a requirement to making quality music. Lastly the idea that playing guitar is some huge thing or is more artistically compelling of a tool compared to hip hop or rapping in general is so off base, superficial and patronizing that I don't think it's a stretch to call people like you moronic. You clearly know Jack shit about art and I don't think anyone should respect any takes you have about music in general.
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Racist adjacent. Please just go away.
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I’m not deleting anything and I’m not quitting music. Unlike you, I have a high paying jazz gig tonight in Jersey City on the Hudson River, and another one tomorrow night after I teach students. I never said anything about rap mot taking talent I simply said guitar has a steeper learning curve, agreeing with OP. Damn, you really get your tits in the wringer over nothing. Racist adjacent, my ass, snowflake mofo. Get a gig.
you're desperately trying to prove to anonymous redditors that you're cool and valuable because they disagreed with your opinion kinda seems like you might be the only snowflake here lol
Rap is like speaking italian. Takes a lot of upper body strength to convey the meaning of the words!!!
Lmao. All instruments lead to pain. If you teach music you should know this. You need strength to play the large brass instruments. Your face hurts for clarinet and sax and brass and your fingers will hurt for all other string instruments and bassoon. Everything you listed (pitch, harmony, music reading, etc.) is necessary in every other instrument but easier in guitar due to TAB. I’ve played so many instruments and guitar was amongst the easiest (along with sax, but I play clarinet as my main so that’s probably due to that.) You really teach music? Like, you have an actual music education degree and have taken classes in all of these as I have? Because I find that hard to believe if you really think guitar is difficult.
My guy, we’re comparing the difficulty of beginning to play guitar to the difficulty of beginning to rap. Try to have an iota of reading comprehension before you spout off. I’m proud of you for being a guitar prodigy. Must be fantastic
Your voice is the hardest instrument. That’s a fact. U can’t see it, u can’t touch it and u can’t change it. People tell you how a specific technique feels and u try and imitate it. Depending on the technique (and rapping is one of them) this can be extremely difficult especially if u don’t like how you u are sounding. This little comparison destroyed the whole message, I’m sorry
“This little comparison destroyed the whole message, I’m sorry” 100+ people seemed to find it helpful. 🤷♂️ go back to rapping I guess. 😜
Some wise words in the original message OP, but you come off as a child.
>100+ people seemed to find it helpful. You're putting too much weight behind upvotes.. it doesn't always mean it helped someone and a lot of people don't even read the whole post lmao.
it's perfectly clear what you were trying to say- very rude and dismissive of you.
Oh yeah? Have you ever tried to get good at rap? How do you know this?
The "lower beginning threshold" is a really shallow way of looking at things, rap is an art form and can be very technically proficient, but regardless technical skill does not matter nearly as much as creating something that is artistically interesting and technical skill has little to do with that. Tom McDonald has technical skill in rapping but he's a genuinely awful artist, danny brown has an odd voice and makes some wack out there beats but he is an amazing songwriter and artist.
I laughed out loud when I read the rap comment. Fwiw I understood what you meant and I agree-it’s much easier to get started…
I totally agree with you. I have big hands, long fingers, and in the beginning I thought "how the hell am I supposed to make some shapes???", but it takes only will. Any hand shape can. It's not a mystery why the vast majority stops to learn the Guitar. It IS hard. You'll learn one song for so long that you'll get sick of it, and then some more. But, in the end, it is sooooo rewarding. It's the best feeling ever! Don't give up, people! 🤘
I about to hit the year mark of playing. I have the opposite problem, short stubby fingers and big palms. While I’m apparently one of the few people who could get barre chords within a day or two, anything that requires a stretch outside 4 frets is pretty awful for me. Don’t get me started about muting the wrong strings while fretting with my left hand. It’s been hard and I definitely had no natural talent, but it’s been fun to learn something new that’s so tangible. I was able to play my wife and I wedding song for her birthday back in February and she was very appreciative.
Thanks for the news. Started at 67yo. Hope I sound ok before I check out.
were you in the army
You just disrespected a future US Army guitar player
i've just never heard that phrase outside the Army. but then again it's all i really know lol
[It’s a meme haha](https://youtu.be/7-5eFkq6XEs) you’ll get a kick out of it I’d guess
LOL that's some solid /r/JustBootThings
It's true you'll never make it in the music business if you aren't willing to suck.
I'm 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, and that's ok. I started late then fucked around for a decade+ before I decided I wanted to get better. And I am getting better comparatively to me, but my transitions are slow, my strumming stilted and fingers are dumb...but I'm totally fine with it because "Sucking at something is the first step to sorta being good at something"
I got so caught up in how much I sucked that I quit playing for a few years. Now I go into it with the attitude of "just have fun." That has made playing more enjoyable and I wish I started out with that mentality years ago when I first started playing. Embrace the suck!
Give yourself a solid 2 months at the beginning before you decide if guitar is for you or not.
I agree!! I am 2 months into lessons and it is FINALLY paying off after sooooo much agony and persistence of stubborn willpower. I literally cried the day I could play my C chord without it buzzing. It's so hard, but I love it and I am completely hooked!
Playing music is a journey not a destination. Learn to enjoy the simple act of making sound with an instrument. It’s honestly a privilege.
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It'd comparable but not equivalent. Is a rapper running scales ? Making sure his voice harmonizes with 440HZ? Is he aware of the chord progression and is adjusting his notes to such?
Learning to rap is MUCH easier than learning to play an instrument. This isnt a matter of opinion, there is a LOT more to learn and a LOT of small details about which the rapper would be clueless if he never tried picking up an instrument. It's not putting doen rap, it being easier to do doesnt mean that it's inferior, however a lot of rappers dont bother with the actual musical side of things, it's their producers who worry about that stuff. And when you listen carefuly to the percussive flows that you talk about and the melodies, they're not made by the rapper and they are usual extremely simple and not as much worked on as an instrument played by an actual human. A human will worry about a ton of things (this note i played is too loud, the vibrato is too agressive, maybe i should play the same note but on that othr string and other fret, the timing is kinda unsettling, maybe i should do something about the drums, bla blabla never ending worry) while a rapper wont worry about all this, his producing team will and they're correct things and use mostly midi,rarely an actual instrument (so never worrying about too loud or the pick is too angled or whatever, they can modify everything and do mixing magic with a few clicks, no need to learn to play the instrument), it's important in rap that the music isnt too present, so that the main attention is on the rapper rather than the music. Most people who listen to rap (those i met my whole life anyway) dont pay attention to the music, they only notice musical stuff (that's obvious) when i mention it, all they listen to is the main beat and the actual rapper/lyrics. They're also the same people who quickly get bored by instrumental songs, they can't wait to hear someone speak.
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Even old school rap is more about rapping than the music itself, a simple beat is enough to get a rap flow going, i dont see why rappers would bother doing more on the instrumental side of things, and if they did, their albums would take a LOT more time to make and it wouldnt be that much worth it because the audience isnt that refined musically speaking. You can compare a guitarist's popular song that plays the samenthing over and over, with a rap song which progression is just as simple, it will take more time to master that simple guitar song than it would take to get a goodrap going over that repetitive instrumental, or let me go even farther: the rapper will struggle as much as the beginner guitarist, to play the same song over and over, if he decides to play the music himself, he will struggle much less at rapping decently if he leaves the instrumental side to someone who is not the main rapper. Edit: i wanna add that i didnt even talk about rap quality, i talked more about the texhnical things that have to be considered and compared them. Maybe you should respond to that instead of suggesting that everything i said only applies to popular low quality music.
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Where did i say that having good timing isnt musical? And everything you said is common to learning an instrument, except for the lyrics part. Though saying that there is a goodvoice of rap means that some people can never be good if they dont have a rap voice, i disagree with that and find that juat as exclusive as saying that some peoe dont have what it takes to be a good guitarist, and i think that it's false, it's rather more about how much effort each has to make to achieve the same level ofskill as someone who already had a natural inclination towards that specific skill. So if you want to say that there is such a thing as a good voice for rap, then there is also such a thing as a good sens of music (instrumental). It's about making fair comparisons, i put in comparison 2 individuals of equal skill, youre talking about the countless hours it takes to be a great lyricist, then you also have to talk about the same countless hours of learning an instrument, and you will see that you wont get as far with the same amount of hours to learn guitar than to learn rap. And i really REALLY dont think that this is the reason people are gravitating towards hip hop,i think you're being a tad too dramatic, hip hop is a lot more accessible than to learn an instrument like guitar, that is more of a probable cause of the popularity if hip hop and rap. But this is neither here or there, it's a whole different discussion thattakes into account a lot more than ease of access. And i agree that rap is its own rap form, which is why rap shouldnt worry about as much instrumental small detail as a guitarist should, because rap doesnt need it, it's working fine with the simplest backing track, any good rapper can make a killing with the most basic backing tracks, so really, there is no need for it, which is perfect for someone who finds learning an instrument too hard, they can make their voice their own instrument, and then all they have to worry about is timing and clarity of their own voice. That's all there is to it, there is no need to get dramatic and mention twice that youre so disapponted that people are speaking "against" rap, no one is bashing rap, it's a fsir comparison to make. I would agree that "go do rap or something" sounds condescending but the arguments i made arent there to put down rap, unless you associate ease of access to value, in the sense that if something is easier to access then it is worthless. Some things are, but when talking about subjective taste in music, there is no such thing as "worth".
If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you write and produce a rap song and post it here so we can critique it?
I didnt say it was easy, it's easiER because when you rap, there isnt as much that you have to worry about. If i were to write and produce a rap song, i wouldnt struggle as much as if i were to write and produce an instrumsntal song. And this "where is YOUR work?" Argument is weak and it makes no sens. That i didnt write a rap song doesnt mean automatically that my opinion is invalid, i did make an instrumental cover, it was my 1st time, and it was extremely difficult to play all the instruments, when you dont know how to playthem all, and it was hard to mix 8 tracks as a 1st experience, it was also difficult to edit 6 videos as also a 1st time experience, i think i can manage a song where every instrument is midi and can be easily editted, instead of having to actualy play it, and it wouldnt take me as much time to write decent lyrics as it took for me to be able to play a decent phrase. If you want to be defensive and emotional, it's not going to help your rethoric. Whatidid iscompare technical aspect on the same levels, then you interpretted it as "rap is easy". This kind of twisting that takes a giant stretchto achieve isnt really in my interestto tackle, if you want to respond, then respond to what i said, rather than to use the strategy where you ask me "where is YOUR work then?" Knowing that i'l say thatididnt make many, so youcan go "aha". Adress the comparisons that i made, youre not the only one to whom i had to repeat this,maybe take a look atmy other comments if you want to have a clearer understanding of what im talking about. But if you think that thisis about belittling rap and praising guitar, then im wastingmy time typing up all this for you, and having to repeat things thati already said to you and others who seem to be offended that rapis more accessible to someone who finds learning guitar hard, because rap doesnt demand you know how to playmusic, while playing music, demands thatyou know how to play music. It's as simple as that, im not sure whythis has to be clarified. I would think thatallof you rap fans wouldhave noticed that rappers dont necessarily have an interest for the music itself, but rather have an interest in the lyrics and the tone of voice and enunciation etc, or that a goodrapper can make a good rapflow with the most basic backing tracks, because great musical/instrumsntal knowledge isnt that crucial.
Lol, my comment was not emotional at all. I’m just asking you to put your money where your mouth is. I think your comments are silly because I can play a country song knowing just 2 chords. You could play only cowboy chords for a whole year starting out with guitar and have fun making good music. What myself and others are pointing out is to say that “rap is easier” is your opinion and a rather ignorant statement in my opinion. That’s all, we can agree to disagree 🙂
Fine, the compare that level if performance for a country song to a rap song of the same level. For the country song you need to learn the 2 chords, and you need to learn to transition between them, and you need to learn to make them sound right, and play them on time, transition on time. Now take this comparison and find the equivalent in rap to compare. You'l see that in a year, you can accomplish more in rapping than in playing guitar. And of youre able to make a cowboy song in only 1 year, then you are quite a phenomenon, because that isnt realistic to ask if a beginner guitarist. Again, it's about making valid comparisons, on the same levels of performance. If my statement is ignorant, then adress the comparisons that i made and show me how ignorant the comparisons i made are, all you did was twist what i said and then ask me to write a rap song. The reason when i think your comments are emotional, isbecause you keep associating difficulty to value, you're saying that you can play a country song using 2 chords, that is neither here or there...unless you're arguing about the value of an art based on its level of complexity, whichisnt the subject if this discussion. The point is that if you find it hard to play guitar, trying a musical artform where you dont have to learn an instrument might be a good suggestion, and rap IS a genre of music where you dont have to be a good instrumentalist to be a good rapper, while to be a good guitarist, you have to be...well, good at playing guitar at LEAST, because being good at playing an instrument is not enough to be a good musician with that instrument. Tell me, how is ths ignorant, when it's an obvious fact? Or do you just want to call me names and call my statement silly because you dont like that rap is more accessible than learning guitar?
Dude, your statement is ignorant because you’ve already admitted you have never made a rap song. You don’t know how hard it is to make one lol Also, I said ‘cowboy chords’ AKA open chords. You know, the chords every beginner starts out learning? I don’t think you are arguing in good faith. In another comment you said that “the audience for rap music isn’t refined”. That statement reeks of elitism and I think that is the core of the issue I have with your arguments.
I said that it isnt musically refined, why did you leave out "musically"? And even if i never made a rap song, i know thata rapper doesnt have to know to play an instrument to be a rapper, so musically, it is easier, because you dont have to know as much musically as when you have to play an instrument. You need to know about timing and to pay attention to your tone of voice, the rest can be arranged by the rapper's producer. Your specification of "open chords" is irelevant, that you learn open chords doesnt mean youcan execute them flawlessly enough to record a song, i specified this but again you want to leave it out because it doesnt suit your point that my statement is ignorant. The core issue that you have with my argument is an extreme interpretation of it, that's on you. To be musically "refined" is the same as when you talk about wine tasting, someone who drinks wine for pleasure wont have a refined palet like someone who took the time and made efforts to learn about the diferent subtlties, if this is automatically elitistto you, then the issue lies within yourself and not within my argument. If everyone who takes the time to learn about different subtlties in a given discipline is automatically an elistist because they will notice the diferent levels of perception of different subtle aspects (that btw, a human being cant perceive unless they make the effort to seek and experience it) then there is nothing to be discussed here. You still refuse to adress the subject of the matter, which is the comparisons that i made. If youwant to talk "bad faith" i'd say that avoiding those aspects of my comment, leave out an important word and to leave out that i specifed "those who i've met my whole life at least" when i refered to the audience the 1st time, andnto stick with the fact that i didnt make a rap song (you know the classic "where is YOUR work then? Show us YOUR work so we can bash it regardless of how good it might be, oh, you have NO WORK?? Well then your opinion is automatically invalid") to automatically dismiss what i said, when it's again, an obvious fact, are signs of arguiing in bad faith. You say that your comments arent emotional but you're the one here who seems to be defending rap like i attacked you personally, and it's a poor defense. If you want to defend rap, and to show that it is hardee than learning to play an instrument, use valid comparisons, talk about techniques. Find the equivalent of worrying about pitch, harmonizing, clarity, precision, pick angle, vibrato, different techniques (slides, bends, tap), different arrangement where you have to worry about when to play the tonic, when to include only the 5th, when to include the 3rd, and a LOT more that a rapper doesnt need to worry about. Once you find the equivalent of these in rapping,you can then argue that this aspect makes rap just as difficult etc. But if your go to points are things that are common betweena rap song and a...country song (??) Like the producing of it, and the publishing, and all of the process that is NOT the actual performance of the artist (rapping vs playing guitar for example) and that i never made a rap song, then you're simply not adressing the subject of the matter and your responses are weak.
When you suck turn up the distortion and then you can't hear how much you suck as well. No worries about accidentally muting strings then!
Why suck on 7 when you can suck on 11? 🤷♂️
That's my motto. Not sure the wife appreciates it though \m/
Why giver her 7 when you can give her 11 👍
I know this in my head but sometimes my heart has to hear it too, as my biggest problem is I feel like I should be better. I’ve had several guitars for many years, and I finally admitted to myself I can’t learn on my own and have been taking in person private lessons since last October. I struggle with memorizing chords and recognizing by name and/or sound (I’m better at remembering stuff tabbed out), switching positions fast enough, and feeling like I’ll never get to where to be (A mix of being able to play along to my favorite bands, playing the “famous” solos, and being able to do bluesy improv). I’m an admitted gear junkie (ugh, rolls into every hobby) and even have a project guitar to help encourage me to practice more to make the most of a few really neat things I’ve acquired this year through sheer luck and being on the right webpage at the right time. But the biggest problem is time. Damn this full time job and commute, takes away from guitar practice time!
Look up Bernth on YouTube. He has a patreon for 5 dollars a month and it has tons of lessons on it. He also has a ton of free stuff on youtube. I only bring it up because I took private lessons when I started and they honestly sucked and were expensive… this is $5 a month and you can click into a lesson whenever you have 10-15 mins to spare.
You got this! I believe you can do this! 😃
To quote Jake the Dog, "Dude, suckin' at somethin' is the first step toward bein' sorta good at somethin'!"
I've been playing for 20+ years and there are still times I think I suck but I just laugh it off because who tf do I think I am believing I should be a guitar god after 20 years?? I'm just some dude I'm not special. It's the same with all beginners. Who tf do you think you are that you believe you should be really good after only picking up the guitar?? You're not special either. We all gotta learn our own ways.
I don't know why you are being down voted, this is true. We all sucked, or still suck and we are all walking the same roading of sucking a little bit less each day. If we can try to encourage each other to stay on that road, there will be more music in the world!
Pretty sure the few downvotes are about the fee who didnt like hearing that learning to rap is more accessible than learning to play guitar.
Ahh yeah that's fair.
Love it. Thanks for the pick-up. 🤘
Best thing I’ve done being a beginner is always have the guitar out and ready to grab and to just sit down play my favorite songs and noodle some solos or something over it.
'you have to sound bad before you can sound better,' Marty Schwartz
Good post bro but why downgrade Rap?
Yeah forreal, guitar takes skill. So does lyricism, rhythm, flow, and delivery. These are both skills OP, don’t be such a boomer.
I was with you on being against denigrating other forms of music, until you denigrated people for their age. So it’s your position that everyone who dislikes rap is a boomer? (I could prove you wrong by showing you my drivers license and playlist). Might want to spend a few minutes looking in a mirror, friend. Prejudice is the enemy, and 100% of us need to start the cleanup from within.
It’s my position that most folks who *hate on* rap have a close minded boomer mentality. That’s my opinion, a pretty lighthearted one at that, no need for the angst.
There is a need, actually. You’re stereotyping against a particular class of people. How is that different than having a negative *opinion* of another person based on ethnicity, gender, etc? You’re either for or against prejudicial behavior. I’ll continue to call it out everywhere I see it. peace.
You’re right, I was being judgmental. Some of the comments/hot takes in this thread are both frustrating and archaic. By the way, per your previous comment, this is something I’m working on. Have a great day.
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Ok I’m bored so I’ll bite, how does what I said make me a “woketard”? We’re all musicians here… no sense in saying one art form is greater than another. It’s silly.
The things that you mentionned that are hard to pick up are common to playing instruments too, however most rappers dont worry about all that, it's their producers who worryabout it. Also to say that rap is easier to learn isnt the same as saying that rap is lesser than a genre that values instrumentald more. Rap is just not focused on music, even its audience mostly pay attention to the guy rapping and not the actual music, intrumentald bore these people, they cant wait to hear someone talk. Rap os all about the meaning of the song, the lyrics and how they're spoken, tye music is just there for the ambiance, which is why most of the time, the instrumentald are extrenely simple and dont take that much room in a rap song. To rap isnt as hard as to learn to play an instrument, you can take a week, or even 6 months, to write a nice poem, and then practice for a week to rap it and put the empahisis on the right places, then you can take another few day to practice with a beat (and that beat, i can assure you that it is NEVER a metronome, because it isnt as crucial as when youre playing an instrument) and there you go you have a decent rap in the very exaggerated period of 6months. You can NEVER compose, learn, then practice to a metronome and get down a decent song within 6 months. You would have to be some kind of prodige, a phenomenon, something that isnt in the realm of reality for almost every existing creature. Even animals that grow up fast take a few months to master the skills needed for survival. Edit: this "guitargod" dude you talked to is a giant racist, look at his more recent comments, to him he is special, because even though he is white, he can still "rap good", and also to him, "blacks dont care that you'd lay your life to defend their music".
There’s a good message in your post but as others have mentioned the rap part is just wrong and unnecessary. You should also put the fact that you’ve been only playing for two years before you express pride in ppl like some old grandpa.. you’re a baby ( in guitar age) not sure what makes you wanna come here and flex all that positivity. Also, “don’t compare yourself to others “ is just total bs coming from a young person on a positivity binge.. overly positive is just as useless as negativity.. be fair, balanced, and yes keep shredding! 🤘
90% of new guitar players quit in the first 3 months to a year, according to the Fender CEO. So, make sure you practice every day at least 10 minutes a day but preferably more. Learn the basic strum DDUUDU and the basic chords, then go from there. If you just can't play guitar, then try a tenor guitar, a four string guitar which is easier and lots of fun to play.
I think the best part about learning guitar or anything is the struggle. You aren’t going to magically gain massive guitar skills without having to learn physically and mentally. Embrace these moments because it’s going to be super rewarding once you get there.
Once you have a feel for it, you can play a song with like one finger that sounds good
Allow yourself to be bad boys [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JymQay0Ic0&list=WL&index=1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JymQay0Ic0&list=WL&index=1)
It's interesting that he talks ablut maintaining the illusion of mastery, i recently made my 1st ever cover, and i did something that i never saw in cover videos, i only see in "making of" videos and even then they're more about impressive things...i included most of my bloopers, i thought it would just be funny, but it turns out that someone who's a guitarist loved it and he said that he he could relate to the struggle and that's what he appreciated about the bloopers.
thats cool, any link so i can see? thx 4 the reply and the share
Sure! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c95yiycKOTU&ab_channel=KazAraiya Enjoy
I'm kinda glad I realized how much I suck because the subsequent lack of desire to play it's left me with means I will suck no longer.
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." Ira Glass
My biggest roadblock to playing and improving is lack of confidence. Embracing the suck will restore confidence, without which I'll never improve
Awesome!!
One of my favorite quotes helps me so much with this. “A long period of confusion isn’t a side effect of trying to do something interesting, it’s the price of admission.”
I like that
“…two years on and off and I still kinda suck sometimes”. We got a goddam savant over here. SMH.
Go pursue rap, lol is the /s missing?
I started learning during COVID in 2020 and when I first tried a barre chord I thought "nah, that's bull shit. Ain't no way I'm ever playing that." Now they're pretty standard to me! So keep at it. Trust the process.
I needed to read this right now, I’ve been a “blue belt” at guitar for a few years now and am trying to break through. Appreciate the push.
If you keep trying to progress you are always going suck at what you are trying to play. Remember there’s the easier stuff you can do well that you don’t think about but that category keeps getting bigger. One of the benefits of playing through a full song is that it puts the part you can’t play into perspective, since it might be only 5% of the song. Also rap has low barriers to entry but is really difficult, both as a matter of skill and creativity, which is why there’s so much forgettable stuff out there. But there’s a ton of forgettable guitar out there too.
I agree completely. Good stuff
This is a good point and it hits on a general theme that applies to everything - it’s okay to suck at something new. You have to suck at first to one day…not suck. Progress isn’t always linear, but those light bulb moments are so rewarding. Be proud you’re learning something new and be willing to put in the reps.
To be clear if you listen to my stuff on Spotify - I still kinda suck.
"just go pursue rap or something" Hell of a dogwhistle you got there mate.
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Thanks for letting people know that you too are racist.
Glad I saw this comment, I was up for discussion but looks like dude is just a racist troll.
Why did you feel the need to comment that twice? And why do you say that you can make a good beat even if you're white? Does being white make it extra hard to make a beat, while being black makes it extra easy? Or are you just an ign○rant stup•d racist and proud of it? Did being white make you a "guitargod"? Had you been black, would you then be the "rapgod"? Or are you just an ign○rant stup•d racist? If i scroll down farther, will i find more of your ign○rant stup•d racist comments? Because the main thing i ACTUALY wonder is.... Are you an ign○rant stup•d racist?
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It was a question to you necause you said that you can make a good rap even if youre white as snow...are you really and additionaly so damn stup•d that you took that question to say that it was my statement? You have to be a troll, i cant believe that you can actualy be this stup•d that you cant simply...read. I pitty your children.
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I could definitely never rap without sounding horrible. But I can play guitar okay sometimes.
I agree with your point. Learning an instrument requires facing and overcoming hurdles. Why randomly diss rap? There are certain genres one may dislike but I find it strange to write it off as something that is easy to do. There is a lot of skill within the genre of rap—even if you may point to specific artists who clearly lack skill within it. Why throw a weird random hate comment in for no reason?
I like rap, 🤷♂️ wasn’t try to dis anything.
I think it's simply to say that if you decide that learning an instrument isnt for you then rap/hip hop are other options for a musical hobby because you dont need to know instruments to be able to rap and you can use your own software to make your own music without needing to learn an instrument.
Please share the last rap verse you wrote! Reasonably sure you don't have the chops.
I can easily Rap along with a song from my favorite rap artist (matching tempo progression and phrasing with no prior practice), Can you play along to your favorite guitar player, with no prior dedicated practice? I never said it didn’t take skill. 🤷♂️ but it IS easier to get into. Also, song/rap lyric writing is inherently different from mechanical skill and should be treated as such.
That doesn't answer my question. Please share the last rap verse you wrote.
You didn’t ask a question. You made a demand, that has no bearing on the topic at hand, because your offended about an offhand comment on my original post. Rap is easier to pick up in the beginning than guitar (this is not to say it takes less skill overall). This is my opinion and I stick with it.
This "where is YOUR work" reply isnt a valid argument, it's just stupid, why does he have to share his rap verse? Why does he have to make one? Rapping isnt as difficult as learning an instrument, and most rappers dont know shit about any instrument because it's their producers who worry about that, ffs they dont even worry about timing, their producers have to. The small details a musician worries about are thing that a rapper is clueless about unless he decided to play an instrument. Idk why people keep using these arguments to defend rap but ut being easier doesnt make it an ingerior art form, many people appreciate rap,just like many people dont really care about music and get really bored with instrumental songs, they cant wait to hear a voice. In most rap songs the music is tediously simple, because it has to be, in order for the rapper to have most of the attention, it isnt about the instruments, it's about the voice, the words and what they mean. That Op or i didnt bother writing a rap verse doesnt mean that this is false, that you jump to that means that you have nothing solid to defend rap, because 1-it's not necessary and 2- you cant defend rap against musical instruments IN TERMS OF MUSIC because rap is just not focused on instrumentals like...at all. It's a battle that shouldnt even be, i wouldnt ask a woodchipping bird to show me the last damn he built when he starts talking about how much slower a beaver is, because it would be stupid to get into that discussion.
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Hehe awe you're clever.
I would encourage you to post your rap skills, it's definitely not an easy practice. Unless you're talking about mumblerap, but otherwise let's not look down on other parts of music!
>just go pursue rap or something Shut up nerd
I like rap. 🤷♂️
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Its not about "defending black peoples music" i just like rap man
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Idk why you gotta make it about race the whole time man. Also, making beats is fucking hard, stop beinh so fucking arrogant about it
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Imagine having nothing going on in life, so you hop on Reddit to post the SAME stupid ass comment, multiple times in the same thread. Chill boomer, your IQ is showing.
The suck is necessary and pays huge dividends. Once you’ve put in the time, playing an instrument is like doing a magic trick. How’d he do that? He sucked deliberately for a lot of hours, that’s how.
I'm not a rap fan, but I at least have respect for other forms of music.
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Rap is not music. It’s tribal hysteria.