Best products from r/LearnGuitar
We found 23 comments on r/LearnGuitar discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 21 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. The Rosetta Pattern: An Intuitive Guide To Scales And Modes
- Addison-Wesley Professional
3. Martin MSP4100 SP Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings, Light
- Gauges: .012 - .054
- Bronze alloy for brilliance and long life
4. DR Strings Zebra - Acoustic-Electric Round Core 11-50
5. DR Strings Pure Blues Pure Nickel Wrap Round Core 10-46
6. Guitar: Fretboard Mastery - An In-Depth Guide to Playing Guitar with Ease, Including Note Memorization, Music Theory for Beginners, Chords, Scales and Technical Exercises (Guitar Mastery Book 2)
7. Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)
- Tablature: Yes
- 104 pages
- Size: 12" x 9"
- Author: "Tom Kolb"
- ISBN: 063406651X
8. Guitar Chords: Easy-to-Use, Easy-to-Carry, One Chord on Every Page
- Silver chronograph and day date dial
- Black rubber strap
- Automatic-self-wind movement
- Case diameter: 45mm
- Water resistant to 330 feet
9. D'Addario EJ40 Silk & Steel Folk Guitar Strings, 11-47
- Designed and gauged for fingerstyle guitarists who prefer a warm, mellow tone
- Silk interwindings for soft, easy feel on fingers
- Corrosion resistant packaging for strings that are always fresh
- Made in the U.S.A. for the highest quality and performance
- String Gauges: Plain Steel .011, .014, Silk & Steel Wound .023, .028, .038, .047; Set of Six strings Musical Notes E,B,G,D,A,E
10. Fred Kelly Picks D3-M-8 Delrin Speed Medium Guitar Pick
11. Herco HE112P Flat Thumbpicks, Medium, 3/Player's Pack
12. Dunlop 9002P White Plastic Thumbpicks, Medium, 4/Player's Pack
13. Modern Chord Progressions: Jazz & Classical Voicings for Guitar
- Modern Chord Progressions Book
- The Modern Chord Progressions book from the Jazz Harmony Series gives readers an explanation of many different types of important chord progressions for the intermediate and advanced guitarist
- The Modern Chord Progressions book from the Jazz Harmony Series gives readers an explanation of many different types of important chord progressions for the intermediate and advanced guitarist
14. Absolute Beginners Guitar: The Complete Picture Guide to Playing the Guitar
16. COWEEN Pocket Guitar 6 Strings Portable Guitar Practice Gadgets 6 Fret Pocket Strings for Beginners
17. Planet Waves 4CSH6-5 Finger Picks
The Planet Waves 4CSH6-5 is a 5-pack of large-size, shell-colored finger picks produced from the highest quality celluloid.
Celluloid is one of the most popular guitar pick materials today. It's available in a wide variety of shapes, colors and thicknesses, and provides a natural feel and warm, fat tone. A man-made material, celluloid was first introduced in the early 1900's as a substitute for natural tortoise shell picks.
Planet Waves, part of the D'Addario family of brands, is known for innovative, problem-solving, quality musical accessories. Planet Waves offers a complete line of award-winning accessories including cables, picks, tuners, capos, straps, humidifiers, maintenance tools and more.
- 5 picks per package
- Large-size finger picks
- Shell-colored
- Premium quality celluloid provides natural feel and warm, fat tone
- Available in multiple gauges
18. 100pcs Acoustic Electric Guitar Picks Plectrum Various Colors 6 thickness 0.58/0.71/0.81/0.96/1.20/1.50 mm + Pick Box
- Assorted Various Thickness And Colors
- Quantity:100 Pieces
- Material:ABS
- Thickness:0.58mm 0.71mm 0.81mm 0.96mm 1.2mm 1.5 mm
- Come With 15 Grid Case (Dimensions 7 x 4 x 1 inch)
Wow, there is some great advice in this thread! Theory is not particularly hard, but we've imposed some frameworks on it that are efficient, but obscure.
The fact that major/minor, sharped/flatted, diminished/augmented all refer to adding or subtracting a semi-tone from a note, or that 'dominant' can refer to the fifth note in a major scale, or the fifth chord in a major key are at the root of the confusion.
There should be a guidebook.
It's wise to take the broader view and start with what you're currently playing. If you're playing open chord songs that consist of major and minor chords, learn what the distinct notes are for each chord. Then go look up what the notes are if you change that chord from a minor to a major or vice versa.
(All of the below examples are based on the A Major Scale, from which all of the chords in the key of A Major are derived: A B C# D E F# G#)
You'll find that only one note changes, and it's the note in the middle of the alphabetic sequence. We call that note the 3rd and you'll find that the minor chord has a 3rd that is a semi tone flatter than a major. Work that out for all the chords you know. Do that as you learn new chords.
Example: (The A major triad: A C# E, the A minor triad: A C E - see that we've 'flatted' the C# to a C)
You've probably learned that major and minor scales are seven tone scales. A lot of theory is based on what we do to those individual tones. Major and minor (triad - three note chords) are based on the 3rd tone of the scale (See example above).
As an aside, pentatonic scales are a subset of major/minor scales, where they've removed the two tones with the highest chance of clashing.
Diminished and Augmented chords are based on the 5th tone of the scale.
(Although we typically don't diminish three note chords, if we did, we might get; A minor diminished: A C Eb) I don't want to get into diminished too much - it's an outlier because there are subtleties.
Major 7th, Minor 7th, Dominant 7th are, you guessed it based on the 7th tone of the scale. And yes, there are 9th, 11th, 13th chords.
(Example: A Major 7th: A C# E G#, A Minor 7th: A C E G, A Dominant 7th: A C# E G)
We also have suspended chords where we might substitute the 3rd tone with a 2nd, 4th, or 6th.
(Example: A sus 2: A B E, A sus 4: A D E)
We might even just throw those rules out and have Major Minor 7ths.
So yeah, there's a lot going on, but if you try to learn as much about the current chord set you're playing, you'll find it starts to make sense.
Also, Barbara Wharram wrote a great book that Royal Conservatory teachers use as a theory primer called: Elementary Rudiments of Music. It's a very approachable workbook. https://www.amazon.ca/Elementary-Rudiments-Music-Barbara-Wharram/dp/0887970044/ref=sr_1_2/168-4402758-7301632?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481846745&sr=1-2
Guitar strings are hugely preference based and also dependent on the individual guitar. Someone could love x brand y gauge strings on one guitar and hate that same brand and gauge on a very similar guitar.
That said I have an Ibanez Acoustic-Electric so I'll chime in anyways. If you play it plugged in a lot you can try the DR Zebra strings. Lately though I've been partial to [Martin phosphor bronze] (http://www.amazon.com/Martin-MSP4100-Phosphor-Acoustic-Strings/dp/B0002D0CA8) strings for my Ibanez.
As far as electric guitar strings. I like DR pure blues. They bend nicely and they have a great feel to them.
Oh! Also I've linked relatively light strings gauges since you said you're getting back into guitar. But you can get more volume and tone out of thicker gauges! Try experimenting with that once you get back into it more.
Good luck!
Fellow 43 year old here, started a few months ago. I'd say just have fun. And when you practice, have a specific focus. JustinGuitar and YouTube have been a great help. Plus a book by the name of Guitar Fretboard Mastery.
Do you know about this other subreddit? https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarlessons/
Yes, a chord book, this is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857752634/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_nBdIxbWEN7B01)
Go to one of the less expensive options. $15 is a little much for the default one that links.
Also, I forgot about this book too, which I also picked up a while ago but haven't thumbed through much of it yet. From what I did read though it is a great tool:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KDdIxbJN5506K
Try silken string, they're more or less the same as metal strings, except they have a silk core so they're a lot easier to play. I picked these up and it was a huge upgrade: https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-EJ40-Steel-Guitar-Strings/dp/B000OR88JE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=silk+string+guitar&qid=1550197516&s=gateway&sr=8-1
I've been using a thumb pick, and I find it much more conformable, and my picking technique has improved.
Maybe try a couple out?
Here's a variety of some depending on what you like:
https://www.amazon.com/Herco®-HE112P-Thumbpicks-Medium-Players/dp/B0002OOMWQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1481761779&sr=8-6&keywords=thumbpicks
https://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-Plastic-Thumbpicks-Medium-Players/dp/B0009R3I8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481761855&sr=8-1&keywords=thumbpicks&refinements=p_72%3A2661618011
https://www.amazon.com/Fred-Kelly-Picks-D3-M-8-Delrin/dp/B00JA4T7HE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481761926&sr=8-2&keywords=speed+pick
The Rosetta Pattern https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1794677976 really helped me figure out how to name modes and scales easily and to move between diatonic, pentatonic and blues scales. It's a great framework.
Check out a Modern Chord (https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Chord-Progressions-Classical-Voicings/dp/0898986982) Progressions by Ted Greene to start. Then just Google and find any number of sites explaining scales and modes. It's a good idea to try to come up with your own scale patterns and arpeggios based on the chord shapes in the book - figuring those out on your own will help you make sense of it in your own way and ingrain that fretboard knowledge.
I am finding GCH Guitar Academy helpful
Like you I tried a lot channels that just didn't explain in a way I could take in.
I would also suggest Absolute Beginners Guitar
I'd just buy a blues fake book (maybe http://www.amazon.com/Real-Blues-Book-Leonard-Corp/dp/1423404513/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426142710&sr=8-2&keywords=blues+fake+book) then work at the songs in them. It'll be slow going at first trying to play the melody and chords at the same time, but you'll eventually get the hang of it and every song you learn will sound better than the last.
With finger picking, unless your goal is to play complex fingerpicked music, you can get by without fingernails. And you can always just buy a set of finger picks
Most teachers would say to start thin, so the pick has more room to bend against the string, and work to thicker ones as your accuracy increases across the strings. As you begin to play faster lead parts a thin pick will hurt your playing as the little bit of time where the pick bends will screw up your timing. I recommended buying these www.amazon.com/dp/B01H31ITWE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_I29BzbA5Z4S8E
Here is the mobile version of your link
https://www.amazon.com/Rogue-RA-090-Dreadnought-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/B005PFPNIO
Very cheap, but does the job...
I also found that a finger trainer helped me develop the muscles in my fingers:
http://www.amazon.com/Gripmaster-Hand-Exerciser/dp/B0085MX3SG