I just got a guitar but don't know how to play it. I am really desperate to play YUI's song, so can anyone provide me with sites that teacher how to play a guitar or how to read chords, tabs, etc. Basically, i need to know the basics of guitar.

Thanks~~

ps. i am sorry that i posted this post here, because i can't find any area except this guitar related room. thanks~

Um... I'm only speaking from experience so I don't know if what I say will be reliable but anyways.

I never had a guitar teacher, so self teaching myself was a little hard. A site that is pretty useful for me is http://chordfind.com/ . I guess just practicing the major chords like C,D,E,G,A is useful for me because I was told that most of the chords are centered around those five. The most important thing to fingering the chords is the strength in your fingers, if you don't hold it down tight enough, it'll sound horrible.

I think there are two parts to guitar playing. one is learning the chords (duh), but I think the more important part is the strumming. As I have no teacher, I can't really figure out how most of the songs are strummed (since there are usually two or three parts playing together in songs).

What I would suggest is to just go with it. You like a song, you know the chords, then go with it. If you feel like you should strum downwards, the go it. As long as the beats are not messed up, it'll sound fine.

thanks for telling me these information, however i don't really have any music backgrounds except some piano lessons when i was around 10 years old (now 17), therefore, what should i do before getting started?

I found a really good tutorial at about.com. It's almost like the real lessons I'm taking
now. Try it out:

http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm

Good luck to you. :)

thanks for the site, am also starting to learn how to play the guitar but am having trouble figuring out the strumming..

i hav a question...when u bar a chord...any special method to bar ...cause
exp..
1
2
3
3
1
1
when i strum..i cant hear the tone of the 1st 2nd...(the highlighted tones)
i tried various ways like adding more strength...it works..but damage ur hands alot

and even slunt my barring finger....

thanks

sorri guys..but i found my error...

a hint to make sure your chords are right is to hold down the chord and then pick out each note just to make sure they make a sound, and if they dont it means youre not pushing hard enough, also place your fingers closer to the bottom of the fret for nicer cleaner sounds <3 obviously the barre frets will be super hard at first because your fingers wont have enough strength to get used to them but just keep doing it over and over again XD doesnt happen overnight!! XD for yui songs i just recommend you practise strumming patterns and the basic chords coz mostly thats what she uses with a few barre chords every now n then ^^

If you are struggling, check out this website for tutorials www.ultimate-guitar.com
Its a good site for tabs and tutorials. If you still find it difficult then get a magazine such as total guitar from Pommieland or somefing

For barred chords, play close to the fret. You use less strength because the distance between the fret and the strings are closer than the distance between the strings and the neck.

thx guys...ur tips help..^^

one more problem....i cant catch harmonics perfectly...i mean..cant even make one (0.0)....any tips?

ahaha dont know if theres actually a way to iimprove this..i guess if you listen to the song repeatedly on the train or something XD itll subconsciously get knocked into your head!

Hey,you're just like me =D i bought a guitar like 2 weeks back? Have been practising really hard but i've got friends who teach me so its abit simpler on me :) Currently i can play a few notes from "tokyo" but sometimes it sounds funny and out of tune but i'm still practise-ing hard :toast Hope to play as well as YUI one day XD But any tips on how to make a note sound clear & defined? When ever i play G or D there always seem to be a extra "very high pitch" sound at the end and its makign the whole note go off-tune. Tokyo requires "back-strum" right? :huh: as in strm forward then backwards. I don't really catch the strumming of "Tokyo" could someone teach me? tnx XD

try to keep your fingers near the bottom of the fret line to get the cleanest sounds, this is especially important in chords coz you have like lots of fingers at once, its easy to have 1 finger not near the bottom of the fret...just for a test hold the chord and play out each note to see which one youre not doing right o.o

the strmming patterns you use doesnt hafta match what YUI plays exactly ^^ as long as it goes with the music and sounds good XD the pattern i use is

down down.....down up down up down...down up... down down... down up down up down....down up..etc...for the verses

Oh haha i get it now :) i'll try your style. My friend taught me down,down..down,up,down,up,down only i'll try play extra two behind =D

yeah its pretty much the same XD just the extra down up strum at the end for that extra spice transition into the next pattern

hmm...i replied to a lot of these questions in other forums. i guess im gonna have to type away again on this one :lol: . well, the first thing to learning the guitar is DONT GET FRUSTRATED AND STRESSED, HAVING FUN, and DEDICATION. these are very important cause i have several friends that wanted me to teach them guitar, and they just kept crying about it the first day and it really irritated me...eventually they ended up quiting.

this isnt really recommended, but starting off with a NYLON GUITAR is the best option. i started off with a nylon guitar and i think its the best way to begin. your fingers wont hurt as much as playing with an acoustic (i never had any bloody fingers). once you build calluses from that, then you can move on to acoustic or electric without any problems.

if you have plans to become a great musician, then i recommend you not using tabs and FIGURE SONGS OUT BY EAR. i have never in my life used tabs nor do i have any intentions to, and it actually helped train my ears because i spent so much time transcribing and figuring out songs. figuring out songs by ear will seriously train your ears and give you so much better understanding on how music works which is one of the things you need to become a better musician. also, MEMORIZE THE SONGS...listen to everything: the guitars, bass, drums, vocals, the way the background vocals harmonize with the main vocals, the way how the guitar and bass work off each other, etc. this is very important cause if you memorize the songs and stick it in your head, then figuring out songs will come so easily, trust me...this will also help you when figuring out other songs. rhythm is definitely important as well. i also recommend scale books and chord books (but the scale book can come later). WATCHING LIVE PERFORMANCES is good too...see how the artist plays it, im sure you guys can find a lot of YUI performances on youtube B)

most important is when you play guitar, dont think of it as a competition like 'im better than you in guitar'. its not about how many songs you can play...its about playing a song and making it sound like music. always practice and dont get frustrated. and dont stick to one genre of music...cuz if you do, then your creativity wont expand and youll be very limited...it wont hurt to step out of the boundary and try learning some different songs

i only paly drum but not guita, if there is a chance, i would learn it.