Hello all,

I'm a "retired" accoustic guitarist for my church youth worship section - haven't seriously played since then (about 3 years I think). As such, I'm mostly familiar with the "normal" kinda playing, y'know, maj/min/2/sus4/7/maj7, mostly with the lower end of the fretboard as I had no reason to go up. Can pluck some, but rusty like heck now. Prefer to use the pick instead of fingers.

I'm now kinda thinking about relearning the guitar and expanding my knowledge to the more "exquisite" type of chords, y'know, to create the "wow-nice-chord-but-wth-is-it" kinda feel. I always feel that whenever I listen to songs nowadays. My final goal is the Tommy Emmanuel style of playing - one accoustic guitar to do everything. Still prefer normal pick to thumb pick tho.

I've tried looking for online resources but the problem is there's just too much. A guitar teacher would be great but I don't have the cash yet. So if I could get some help from some kind sifus here, some guide as to where exactly I should go, some song recommendations (with tabs/chords and etc of course) and etc would be great. Cos I'm now kinda too noob to decide what is best for me now haha...

Many thanks!

~Michael~

Yeaps... best is get a guitar teacher...

or try learning songs... u can get the tabs online... and the more diff type of songs u play will eventually expand your horizon on chords etc...

It's just a matter of discipline man. Even if you get a teacher, you will still need discipline to practice.

practice is not a problem, it's the DIRECTION that i don't have... i know i can learn from tabs, i've written some myself but the thing is, i have no focus. i can read everything and try to learn everything but in the end i could probably learn zero cos no focus.......

i need direction man.

lol no one can give you directions man. You just need to know your own focus. What is it you really want? Do you want to play Tommy emmanuel style? Do you want play tommy emmanuel for the rest of your life or score gigs doing so?

I know cause i am like that myself. I was so obsessed with all those crazy techniques i went to learn a handful of it, but it all boils down, techniques mean nothing if you don't have musicality. So i try to set aside my hunger for techniques now, focus more on producing good music. Either writing my own, or creating riffs, licks whatever.
Thats my focus now, thats what i want to do. Technique, however important must come second.

My advice is if you want to learn all this, you can look up Kotaro Oshio on Youtube. Learn his Wind Song for starters just to get your fingers moving. Theres also a tutorial video on his song, Hard rain. You can learn quite a number of techniques from that song too. But don't be obsessed by it. Good techniques does not necessary make you a good musician. Took me a long time to realize that.. -__-

@Ryuuga

will give kotaro a try. forgot there's always youtube to turn to haha. there's my direction right there thanks buddy

@batuapi

lolz

if theres too many things online and you dont know where to start, do it the old school way.

go to a bookshop like kinokuniya, invest money in books, set a time in your everyday schedule and practice. that way, you'll have a better lesson/practice plan. most, if not all, books go in stages to being more difficult. its almost a definitely you will improve, as compared to blindly searching for lessons in youtube that has no follow up.

thanks for the good advice. will consider that when my paycheck comes in end month haha, but for now, oshio's generous tab will do. wind song is great and at standard tuning, perfect starting ground for now. thanks for the advice.

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Added on January 6, 2009, 12:26 amby the way, just to ask, noticed ur sig that u teach too. how much would you charge me, just curious? and where?

This post has been edited by tajukagebunshin: Jan 6 2009, 12:26 AM

Best way to learn is to play with ears...

BEST way play with ears? lol
we are all learning to play music. your ears should always be on. no matter what technique you use to learn, dont lose the fundamental which is to listen to whatever you're playing

Commitment plays an important role too.
If u'r commited to play that particular song, then u better stay on track from start till d end.
And not stray to other songs midway.

Cheers...

This post has been edited by crysania: Jan 6 2009, 09:07 AM

been playing with ears for years but i realise i need the foundation to go higher... thanks to all advice, is noted and hopefully i can stay on track

Heres the tabs
http://eudoran.blogspot.com/2006/09/kotaro...music-tabs.html

You are the hero is a sweet song albeit difficult to play hehe >.>

thanks ryuuga, actually i meant i found those tabs thru one youtube vid, already downloaded some and i'll focus on wind song for now, tycho next but thanks for the link nonetheless

You do get what i meant right? It will be good if you can learn a song just by listening to them. Reading tabs does help, I read tabs too. But, learning by listening will give better training...

what i meant was you should always be listening with your ears all the time.

its like wanting to learn how to read, then everyone get caught up in understanding abc, buying books, proper way to flip the pages correctly, but in the end do not read. we are learning to play music, whether we are reading tabs or notation, your ears should always be listening and learning.

i guess this is the syndrome for guitarists who learn after the internet wave came. looks like listening has become 'a better training/technique' to learn, when its supposed to be there all these while.

yeah i agree with echobrainproject, both components should be there but both are equally important. no point being able to listen but dunno how to translate into notes, likewise useless knowing the notes but need to refer tabs every time...

i got the ears, now lacking the technical parts

maybe you could try doing some pentatonic scales

urgh not scales please heck no hahaha some other day some other time will stick to chords and the normal scales for now lol