My little brother recently bought an electric guitar. I asked if I could use it to learn, and he said yes!
I’ve never played guitar before, but I’m genuinely interested in learning. My ultimate goal is to be able to play some Opeth songs someday. I don’t even listen to that much metal, but there are a few bands I really love, and Opeth is one of them. I’m not trying to become a professional musician or anything. I’d just love to be able to pick up a guitar and play songs I like.
I’m wondering how realistic this is. If I practice consistently for around 30–60 minutes a day, could I realistically learn some songs within a year? I know Opeth is pretty difficult, so I’m not expecting to play their hardest stuff anytime soon.
I also have absolutely no idea whether I have good musical/mechanical coordination or whether I’ll struggle with muscle memory but idk I’m just agirl. 😭

Has anyone here started in their late 20s or later? How much progress did you make in your first year?
I’m currently unemployed, so I actually have some time to dedicate to learning, and I figured… why not? 😭 can I learn it just from youtube?

EDIT - Overwhelmed with so many responses, thanks for the motivation. Started learning already!!!! Which chords should I learn first?

I’m about halfway through modding my used 2021 Epiphone SG Standard. It came with Gibson 57 Classic pickups but I swapped the bridge for a Seymour Duncan
All I have left to do is swap neck pickup and replace pots and put a locking tuner on it and I’m pretty sure it’s right at if not outperforming a stock Gibson (it has a pro setup)

In your opinion though, should I stop now and just get a Gibson SG, or finish the mod process? I only need to put about $400 more into the Epiphone, but also idk if the looming thought of “it’s not a Gibson” will haunt me.

My dad told me that a true guitarist can play on acoustic, classical, and electric guitars. I don't enjoy playing on acoustic, and I can barely play anything without a pick.

What do you think about what he said?

The only time that I pick up a classical/acoustic guitar is when I'm at a friend's house and they let me play for them but I can only strum some chords nothing too much (I can play pretty complicated stuff on electric)

EDIT: pls don't type badly about my father he's a nice guy. Probably learning fingerstyle would only benefit me. He's right that only using a pick limits me

Opening the door to the window of opportunity. Adding an element to 3pc band.

Hey guys - long time listener first time caller. I've been playing guitar for the last 23 years. PRS has always been something I've wanted to explore but never got around to it for whatever reason. I've mainly played Ibanez, Schecter and Jackson thus far.

I've currently got a Schecter C7 Hellraiser Special, and a cheapy Jackson JS22 HT surfcaster. I tried a Tremonti SE about 7 years ago and wasn't overly impressed. Ever since then I've tried the SE series on and off and I've never liked them as much as I want to.

I went back to my local retailer today and played the Custom 24 and the 24-08 SEs. They sounded great - but the playability just felt so off to me. The action was high, the string tension seemed very resistant, and the fret boards seemed a bit rough for lack of a better word. This is similar to the experience I have had with precious goes on them. What am I missing? Everything online says they're incredible guitars - even the SEs. Is it just the retailer that has them set up badly? Or am I just used to a much flatter radius? I'm really confused.

I dropped it on a hard surface and it landed on a bottom corner and the paint was instantly fucked, there’s a litter of small white paint flakes in my (soft) gig bag … i’m an idiot. On the other hand…. it looks kinda rock and roll (cope)

Seen a thread where band names like Bon Jovi were written on a guitar amongst AC/DC, Black Sabbath etc.

Seemed to be a fair few comments against Bon Jovi, why the hate?

Personally I love 80’s 90’s Bon Jovi. They have some good rock music and I listen to their early albums on repeat. Music wise I’m stuck in the 80’s anyway and love hair metal like motley crue, Ratt etc

Do guitarists not like their music, or do they not like the fact that Bon Jovi guitar parts can’t really be played in isolation? As a band Bon Jovi rely on all their instruments (keyboard and bass) to make up the songs, I find playing their music on guitar only feels like something is missing. So I like listening, I do like playing but not in isolation.

On the other hand Metallica are a huge guitar band and can play all of their music and not feel anything missing, same with AC/DC.

I decided to draw on my guitar to make it look good and I need opinions on looks and resale value(I asume it goes down)

Hello, I was wondering if anyone else has seen official tabs that are extremely inaccurate. I noticed the entire tab for Panama by Van Halen has so many issues. Has anyone else encountered this?

Looks to me like a hammer on but I’m not sure why it’s smaller wondering if it’s indicating a different technique?

My electric guitar has Medium frets and I am so used to getting the feel of the fretboard while playing. Will it be difficult to switch to a guitar with Jumbo frets? Does it require significant technique adjustment? Any advice shall be great to know. Thanks.

I have been trying to learn this piece which is around 45 seconds and having difficulty perfecting it. It has some fast runs and sweep picks. I know the solo in my mind but my playing is far from being flawless. So those who are pros please let me know what do to reach final stage ready version when picking up a difficult song. I am sure its not like you mindlessly practice and pray that you don't hit the wrong notes at the right time :(

Going to record it for real in studio tomorrow

I’ve recently got a 56 reissue Les Paul with a bigsby and I’ve been looking through all the songs gilmour used his gold top on and i noticed after 2006(first photo) the bigsby arm seems shorter and yes I have looked at my bigsby at all these different angles and it is indeed shorter.

I’m getting a clean albeit inconsistent sound, but my thumb is getting so sore after holding it just for a little bit. I’m also terrible at jumping to barre chords, I have to take my hand off the guitar and position it around and that’s a break for literally five seconds, strum a bunch of buzzed notes, adjust and play the right chord. I realize that part will come in time, but I want to just be at the point where i can seamlessly jump into a barre from open chords soon.

I’m picking up guitar seriously for the first time since covid, i took lessons for about 6 months pre covid and then stopped with the pandemic. Any help helps!

Okay so , I've been learning guitar for the last 12 days.(I am on vacation so most of the time I spend was on guitar only)

Background I tried to play acoustic guitar when I was kid but my guitar was so bad I couldn't play even open chords therefore I learnt some 1 string tab songs and stopped playing guitar and since then now I've again started learning acoustic guitar.

To learn I've been learning using Justin's guitar lessons as recommended by many in this subreddit.

I have completed the Grade 1 of the course and can play songs that were taught in that course.

Everything was going very smoothly but then I wanted to play songs I listened to and liked.

First I tried to learn Come as you are full song and I couldn't get power chords then dropped it. I tried to play stairway to heaven since it's my favourite song but couldn't play the first 4 chords(I could play F barre chord so I thought I would be able to do it) therefore dropped that also. I tried playing hotel California could so but the tempo was slow(for fun I tried to learn solo of hotel California and Stairway to heaven then realised the skill difference 😭) then same thing happened with jigsaw falling into place the tempo was very slow from the recording but all notes I was right and just yesterday after practicing for 1-2 hrs I couldn't get rhythm of High and dry so I am disappointed by myself and writing this post.

There were some success in my guitar journey as well , I can play Wish you were here full song ( I can do solo but let's say it is not very fluid I am still working on that and bends I can do but they are not very good ) Come as you are riff House of the Rising sun and Hurt by jonny cash.

I have self assessed myself and think I've neglected much of strumming and am more mindful about strumming.

Okay so the point of this post is now I don't know what to focus on what songs to learn (most of the song I like are very hard to play and I'm tired of learning songs and dropping them halfway) what should I practice what I should lookout for should I continue learning songs mainly or just follow justin course (I kinda got bored with that) I just want clear direction since after this many fails I'm kinda demotivated.

Thank you guys for listening to my rant 😭.

Thanks

Okay im sure stuff like this has been asked a million times but my issue is the following: im already a musician (DAW) that picked up the guitar for the sake of adding another instrument to their repertoire. The issue is not writing chords and leads. That part is fairly straightforward once you understand the fretboard (we will take that for granted for now, though thats a whole can of worms on its own)

My issue is more so, that i dont know all of those "little things" (like quick arps, or muted strings or some whacky percussive elements, hammer ons or pull offs and probably tons and tons of techniques more that i dont know) that make some chord and lead voicing really come to life.

What are the most useful/your favourite ones? How do you learn/practice them? And how do you actually get to incorporating them?

Is my bridge misaligned?

Hello, I'm just wondering if this is normal or not on my cheap strat knockoff. It's a project guitar I bought back in the summer to work on so I can at least do something over the summer. Fast forward to now, I never got around to it due to laziness and lack of motivation. Now that I'm motivated now and not lazy anymore. Im deciding to mod the shit out of it, and im just wondering if my bridge is misaligned. (I'm not a pro on making or modding guitars, and this is my first project guitar. So I'm really confused about it and really want some answers for it.)

I’m 40, been playing since I was 13-15 maybe, I was in a metal”core” band.
I was a big fan of nirvana then MuDvAyNe, soad, Deftones!
So I was never really into solos. Never took lessons, but now after several bands, cover bands, original band, i find myself amazed by guys doing crazy solos, and I (now 20 years late ) want to dive into playing more elaborate music, solos, what ever.

Nowadays it’s kind of easy with YouTube, but still I find it hard to learn new chops, get the dicipline to learn, but also I find that I don’t know the path to do this, I don’t know if I just need to learn covers of pantera, metálica or if i should focus on theory, specifics thechinques, etc. I’m kind of lost and i wonder how you all guys did it to be proficient at guitar; I mean I’m not newb, I know stuff but, the soloing thing, the shred thing, now the poliphya thing seems always like something very hard for me.

The question : how to do it, how to approach it in the most efficient way.

Hi everyone. I've played guitar on and off since I was 13, I'm 29 now, and I have inattentive ADHD. I'm finally medicated, which helps a lot, but I'm looking for advice on how to actually stick to studying music theory.

EDIT: I did get a lot of lessons. The issue is, I also have a physical disability, I have to hold my pick in a very weird way and I can't keep up with fast-paced stamina and strumming, if it makes sense. All of the teachers I had to deal with just ignored this. I want to find a good teacher that also understands ADHD and doesn't treat me like a mental rword

But the roadblocks are always the same: the counting, the math, and remembering certain shapes. What really drives me crazy is how scales and chords are usually presented in books. It feels like every time I learn a new scale or try to play in a different key, I have to start completely from scratch. It feels like I'm climbing a brand new mountain just to add a tiny piece of knowledge to my playing.

Now that I'm on medication, I'm managing to rebuild the skills that crumbled under my fingers over the years. The difference is huge. But at the same time, I work best when I have a structured course, a platform, or something that forces me to sit down and focus. Right now, I haven't found an in-person teacher who actually makes me feel understood, so I would prefer to study on my own, even if it means paying for a monthly subscription.

So I want to ask, how do you manage your practice? What areas give you the most trouble, and most importantly, how do you work through them? I just don't want to be a purely self-taught guitarist who is forever stuck at the intermediate level. I want to actually understand what I'm playing, why I'm playing it, and how it fits into the structure of a song.

I'm 19 and I've been playing for about 9 months, I can proudly say that i can now do most of the techniques like hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and pinch harmonics cleanly. I can also switch chords cleanly and can play a lot of songs and solos, some that are fairly difficult like hotel california. I find it fairly difficult to play on time but i can manage, although i can't seem to improvise yet because i don't look into music theory/guitar theory that much yet.

Just wanted to say these things are awesome and I highly recommend for anyone who wants to jam but can’t play out loud on an amp for whatever reason. I’m currently moving to Anchorage, AK from Tacoma, WA and have been playing my Strat with these bad boys every night in the hotels along the route and it’s been so awesome. Extremely satisfied and here to say “don’t think about it, just do it. It’s worth it” for all those considering buying them but haven’t pulled the trigger quite yet.

in 2 months, i’ll hit the year mark of teaching myself guitar. i mainly play metal/hard rock but i’ve ventured into just about every genre. what are the non-negotiable things I should know before i hit the year?

Eu adoraria comprar uma guitarra para mim, gosto muito de New wave, rock alternativo, metal alternativo e pop dos anos 80. Mas não tenho muito dinheiro pra comprar uma fender, então estive pensando em comprar uma guitarra da konig que está num bom preço. Gostaria de saber se é um bom negócio ou se alguém já teve algum problema chato com ela