Best Guitar Advice You Ever Got

[mumpcake]

Am the only one who finds it funny that a post on "don't look at your hands" is followed by a picture of a true temperament fretboard?

[jens]

No, you're not!

It's too bad btw that nobody told Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn (and countless others) not to look at their fingers while playing...

seriously: the kind of absurd, nonsensical rules wannabe-experts sometimes come up with is mind-boggling.

[mountainmaster]

“Son, hold the guitar so the strings face away from your body” - my tone really improved after that!

Doesn't that depend on the size of your belly?

And don't even try it with a lapsteel.

[vurt]

"playing the guitar, is very much like, making love to a beautiful lady..."

[(blacklight)]

Can’t remember where I read it but it was along the lines of ‘3/4 of your tone comes from your fingers’ as in don’t over rely on pedals etc to hide bad playing. Full disclosure I’m still an at playing and hide my bad playing behind pedals.

[Uncle E]

"playing the guitar, is very much like, making love to a beautiful lady..."

http://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk

[vurt]

Can’t remember where I read it but it was along the lines of ‘3/4 of your tone comes from your fingers’ as in don’t over rely on pedals etc to hide bad playing. Full disclosure I’m still an at playing and hide my bad playing behind pedals.

my fingers are fat and useless, give me pedals!!!

[vurt]

"playing the guitar, is very much like, making love to a beautiful lady..."

http://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk

nice...

[MadDogE134]

best advice i can give to beginners of all ages... buy the best guitar you can afford and have it setup professionally (and have them show you how and what they did if you can) then learn on it to avoid embedding bad habits due to compensating for faults. those bad habits will only have to be broken in the future. best to avoid them from the start. sure you can learn on anything but you are only making it harder on yourself

cheers

[guitarzan]

Shut up and play your guitar! Best guitar advice ever.

[The Noodlist]

"playing the guitar, is very much like, making love to a beautiful lady..."

Start slow and use a metronome?

[revvy]

Seems fine to me to learn to not look at your hands when you play. Certainly helps if you’re ever learning to play a new song via reading music (lol).

I did this with keys, want to do the same with bass.

Suppose you could play with a torch in your gob on dark stages if you have to look at the fretboard …

[mumpcake]

Not really advice, but my first teacher used to play a few licks on my guitar every lesson. I think the point was to show me that I could still sound good on an entry level instrument with enough practice or that gear wasn't as important as playing well or something like that.

[8Len8]

Don’t setup the guitar by a measured value, set it up by feel.

[Bombadil]

Do not neglect vibrato;
Play songs, not just scales.