hey yall i jsut got my first bg guitar about six months ago and ive got the basic chords but i dont no where to go from here if u could help me it would b awsome thanx to all of yall that decide to help me

Hey Noob,

If you can do it find a teacher. A good teacher will help you learn more quickly and easily than on your own. Try music stores or the web for a local teacher. Colleges with music programs are a good source for cheap lessons.

If lessons aren't possible, then do the book and CD thing. Go to melbay.com and pick out a lesson book that also has a CD so you can hear how what you are doing is supposed to sound. There are literrally millions of them. If you don't have a musical background then also think about a book on music theory - just knowing where to put your fingers is only a small part of the battle. If you can understand a little theory and train your ear a bit then you can begin to figure out songs without the sheet music and learn to solo or make your playing more interesting. A lot of this stufff is made up on the spur of the moment because the player understands which notes fit with others and what are the OK chords to play and what are the one's to avoid. It is when it gets really fun.

Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, find other people to play with, hopefully ones that are better than you. You will find that most musicians are extremely accomodating - they love to play regardless of how good their mates are, so they will help you and make you comfortable right away. I know it is intimidating to try, but all of us went through it and there is a strong sense of the strong helping the weak in music circles. Playing with other people helps you with tempo and feel and is a huge part of guitar playing.

Good Luck - you will have a ball with this. We all do!!

Joe

"There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't."