[to_be_released]

Originally Posted by MisterDominator

with a kaiser capo, every chord is moveable! woo hoo! though I know that's cheating, it feels so right to knock a D chord out while capo'd on the 9th fret... and I can practically hear all the music geeks calculating in their heads to see what actual chord that would be without the capo...

I actually wrote a song with my band in which I used capo 9, but I also tuned my guitar to DADGAD. Fun open B chords abounded.

The same song also featured wah on my acoustic. Weeee!

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by 1/2-Fast Player

The Guitar Handbook by Denyer is an excellent resource. Good info on theory as it relates to the guitar, chapters on guitar maintenance and electronics, a chord dictionary, etc.

Amazon.com: The Guitar Handbook (0029156960907): Ralph Denyer: Books

I bought a copy of that book back when I was 15 years old and I still refer to it when teaching others.

[lespaul59]

I've been thinking about checking out the Guitar Grimoire books myself and would like to know what you guys think of those. Personaly I've also been thinking of taking lessons because not only do I think the lessons would improve my playing but I 've developed a few bad habbits with my playing and I would hope that a teacher could help me fix those bad habbits.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by lespaul59

I've been thinking about checking out the Guitar Grimoire books myself and would like to know what you guys think of those. Personaly I've also been thinking of taking lessons because not only do I think the lessons would improve my playing but I 've developed a few bad habbits with my playing and I would hope that a teacher could help me fix those bad habbits.

I've been a musician my whole life, but guitar is a recent addition to my tools, first thing after getting some caluses built up playing basic open chords was take lessons... Great investment. I am just trying to be a decent rhythm player and it takes a lot to learn everything you need to know on a guitar.

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by lespaul59

I've been thinking about checking out the Guitar Grimoire books myself and would like to know what you guys think of those. Personaly I've also been thinking of taking lessons because not only do I think the lessons would improve my playing but I 've developed a few bad habbits with my playing and I would hope that a teacher could help me fix those bad habbits.

My opinion is probably biased since I'm a guitar teacher, but I think that taking lessons is very beneficial IF you actually put the necessary time into learning whatever it is that you need to learn.
This is true regardless if you're learning from a book or video or teacher and so on.
The added benefit of having a teacher is the personal feedback, critique and correction in, like you mentioned, helping a player break bad habits and develop good ones.
Still, it takes time apart from the lesson to unlearn the old and learn the new.

[cakirby]

Instead of dedicating a ton of time to learning theory, try learning tablature of songs from bands like hillsong and chris tomlin, and you'll be able to play some lead relatively quick without spending too much time

[heymelbs]

Originally Posted by cakirby

Instead of dedicating a ton of time to learning theory, try learning tablature of songs from bands like hillsong and chris tomlin, and you'll be able to play some lead relatively quick without spending too much time

Where is a good place to get these tabs?

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by cakirby

Instead of dedicating a ton of time to learning theory, try learning tablature of songs from bands like hillsong and chris tomlin, and you'll be able to play some lead relatively quick without spending too much time

And I'd suggest at least balancing out the musical diet w/ theory, too, because most musicians that I know do not communicate in tab.
Also, learn to use your ears. Listen to yourself and listen to others. Your ears are, imho, more valuable than your hands.

[cakirby]

Ultimate-guitar.com is a good place, as is guitarpraise.blogspot.com, altho the latter is incorrect occasionally (which stinks cuz there are no ratings on them like there are on ultimate guitar)

[jeepnstein]

Originally Posted by gtrdave

And I'd suggest at least balancing out the musical diet w/ theory, too, because most musicians that I know do not communicate in tab.
Also, learn to use your ears. Listen to yourself and listen to others. Your ears are, imho, more valuable than your hands.

If you don't know a bit of theory you'll be hopelessly lost when it comes time to start playing with others. Assuming everyone will always play this or that song in the same key or that your singers can handle it is not a good plan. Most of what I play these days comes from lead or chord sheets, not tabs. I'm also one of the few I know who can read standard notation and translate it to guitar. You'd be amazed at what that does for you.

Tabs are fun. They're easy. They can also paint you into a corner musically.

[cakirby]

I'm not saying to NOT get into theory, I'm saying that beginning to play lead is easiest by learning tabs (not communicating in tabs or anything, just pulling up tabs and learning songs quick). Theory is definitely a great thing to learn, but takes a ton of time to eventually pick stuff up, whereas learning tabs is as simple as pulling up a tab, memorizing a song, and start playing. If you are going to start playing lead in a church, its the fastest way to do so. then go through theory (after learning tabs, which takes 2 minutes), and you will start being able to make up leads and such on your own.

tip for learning tabs - also know the key of the tab you are playing, so that you can change keys if necessary. Also, I am assuming you know where the notes are on a guitar, and how to play chords and such, which you implied in your post. In that case, you can pretty much ignore any part of a tab that uses chords if you are going to have a chord chart in front of you when you play.