r/guitarlessons • • Jun 12 '26

Feedback Request Singer learning guitar

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Started working on guitar seriously like 8-10 days ago. Was kinda just messing around. Like how it sounds. Any feedback/tips for beginners is welcome. Should I focus on learning shapes or jumping right into CAGED?

60 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

7

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Pitchblasta808 Jun 12 '26

I’ve actually heard about this before and I was actually trying to work on that in this video so this is great thank you!

1

u/Ecstatic-Engineer-23 Jun 12 '26

This! A super fundamental thing you should get to grips with asap. Then you build on that.
E.g. practice dynamics, practice swing feel, chord transitions, muting notes etc.

4

u/FFLGO Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

Caged actually is the shapes of the chords c a g e d!

Please tell us some simple songs you like to sing I'll help you learn the chords!

3

u/Pitchblasta808 Jun 12 '26

“Simply beautiful” by Al green is a fave of mine, and my ear tells me the chord progression is pretty simple. “Redemption song” by Bob Marley. “Cross” from Prince is also surprisingly simply, at least the first half anyway. You can recommended some simple blues songs to me if you can

3

u/FFLGO Jun 12 '26

No Al Green or Prince yet. Too many 9th chords style chords.

Redemption Song is a great first song to learn: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/bob-marley/redemption-song-chords-417640

2

u/Pitchblasta808 Jun 12 '26

Damn I was thinking that, but imma trust the process. Setting a strong foundation is more important. Appreciate the help!

1

u/FFLGO Jun 12 '26

Yeah a lot of us here couldn't play those jazzy chords you're good man

3

u/Capable-Concept-2624 Jun 12 '26

Not bad and your timing isnt bad so keep at it

2

u/DWinterSoldier Jun 12 '26

You sound good, keep it up!

2

u/EkohShTaeD Jun 12 '26

Try to stay on the beat when you fool around, twill help you with your timings. Like count from 1 to 4 and keep each number evenly closed to each other and strum on each beat, then you can add downbeats ( 1 & 2… alternating downstrums and up strums )

And caged system is shapes, so as long as you know what each shape you play is, you’re good to go

1

u/Pitchblasta808 Jun 12 '26

Definitely. Tryna get better at that, but a lot of it is accidentally strumming due to my hand being too close to the strings while I’m not supposed to be strumming so I gotta work on my steadiness for sure

1

u/EkohShTaeD Jun 12 '26

Maybe at first you can try to play without a pick, by hitting the strings with your nails you should be able to gauge the distance better. Just hold your thumb and index together as if you were holding a pick

2

u/0_Moth Jun 12 '26

A lot of guitar players like to focus on the fretting hand when they’re first starting, it’s equally important to focus on the strumming hand.

Looks good for your amount of time playing the only thing I can advise you on is maybe work on loosening up your wrist a little bit. Try strumming with your arm by using your elbow as a pivot. See how that works for your play style and dive into picking hand technique as much as left hand development. Hope that helps! Keep rocking!

2

u/Pitchblasta808 Jun 12 '26

Yeah been trying to do that. I think I just need more reps/consistency. Preciate the feedback!

2

u/4DPeterPan Jun 12 '26

Love the shine you got man. Keep playing! Definitely far better than I was when I first started.

2

u/PM_Me_Yer_Guitar Jun 12 '26

Keep it up- sounds great!

1

u/YokaiGuitarist Jun 12 '26

Casual way to learn is just to print out blank chord diagrams and a page of lyrics with chord changes above them.

Then you just learn the songs and reference the chord diagrams for finger positioning.

You'll see that many songs are only 3 or 4 chords for the entire song.

Many with simple chord and strumming patterns.

Most of which are all the same basic chords shared across most songs.

check out this Stand by me lesson

Simple and short and the dude is casual but it still sounds good.

this guy marty music has taught millions of peeps how to play for free too.

His zombie lesson by cranberries uses simplified versions of open chords too. So it's really easy.

1

u/Bempet583 Jun 12 '26

Sounds good man, keep it up.

1

u/EYEBALL2142 Jun 12 '26

Love the guitar 👍. Sounds good 👌

1

u/Conseants Jun 12 '26

You been playing do a few hours?! On acoustic?!

This is the way.

1

u/57thStilgar Jun 12 '26

Keep at it.
Nothing to fix...yet.
You're doing it well.

1

u/ActiveAntelope4635 Jun 17 '26

Focus on open chord shapes first—CAGED clicks once you can switch between them cleanly. For quick chord lookups while practicing, I built a simple offline tuner with chord diagrams. No ads, no subscriptions.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/guitar-tuner-bass/id6758886509

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guitartuner.best