I don't mean to be discouraging but.......

You want to learn Wonderwall after playing for 3 days?

You really should start off with the basics first and allow your fingers to gradually improve in toughness and strength. Of course, there's nothing *wrong* with attempting very challenging pieces of music (sometimes it's a good thing), but learning something that is more appropriate for your current level of playing is always a good idea.

Justin Sandercoe is a wonderful teacher with lots of free video lessons:

JustinGuitar

Also, I can say that 90% of acoustic players here don't have their guitars set up (adjustment of action, neck relief, etc.) properly, so their instruments are often much harder to play than they have to be. Sadly, many local so-called guitar techs don't have the tools and/or expertise to do this either.

I even know of teachers who purposely don't set up their students guitars to "encourage" them to buy new ones (that obviously, they are selling). That just makes me sick

This post has been edited by mmmaak: Feb 13 2009, 11:35 PM

ahahaaa....well, no, I am talking about a different school

But I won't be surprised if those teachers at the "place that starts with the letter M" (errhmmm) do so as well

As I said, most shops don't even know how to set up an acoustic guitar properly, so even if they do adjust a student's guitar, most of the time it doesn't make much of a difference or makes things worse anyway

Since you say you've only been playing for 3 days, then yes, you definitely need to seek the help of a qualified guitar tech. This is because you don't have the experience/expertise required to do a good setup, not to mention the specialist tools it involves, e.g. nut files:




If you have normal-sized hands, I would suggest using custom light gauge strings (011 e). If you have very small hands and fingers that aren't strong, you might want to start off with extra lights (010 e). Try not to use anything lighter than that as the string tension will be insufficient to properly drive an acoustic guitar top.

It really depends on who the YouTube teacher is and how professionally the videos are made. Some of these professional players that I know (especially those from the US) are excellent teachers.

Of course, it's always better to take lessons from a good, real-life teacher. The problem is, where can you find a good teacher and can the student afford one? If you know of any (good acoustic teachers) in the Klang Valley, please tell - not for me, but for my previous students that I had to stop teaching due to work-related matters.

I would definitely recommend some instructional DVDs if you can't find/afford a good teacher. I haven't had an instructor myself for the last 14 years, so yes, it is entirely possible to learn on your own if you have enough commitment and the right material.

This post has been edited by mmmaak: Feb 14 2009, 10:49 AM

Sadru....email me if you're still interested in the capo