newby advise needed on chords and such

[Galeongirl]

Hello all,
I just started playing acoustic guitar (it's all I have atm, can't afford electric) and am trying some U2 tabs... while I've read that AIWIY is supposed to be the easiest song, I can't seem to get it to sound right I can do Sunday bloody sunday and miracle drug intros however...
I have a few questions

where do you get your tabs?(what is the best site, most accurate and such)

can somebody give me a basic explanation of chords? since I don't really know what they are

Which songs are easy to play acoustic for a beginner?

my father tuned my guitar for me, but I'd like to know how to do that myself, can anybody explain that to me if possible?

and last question, for what songs do you need a guitar pic, and what songs are played by hand?

hope you guys can help me with this!

 

[TheClash253]

"where do you get your tabs?(what is the best site, most accurate and such?"

i own most of u2's sheet music and tab books, so those help me the most. however, a quick google search will allow to find a tab (you never know how good it'll be though)

"can somebody give me a basic explanation of chords? since I don't really know what they are"

a chord technically is when you play two or more notes together. for example a D chord would look like this:

e--2--
b--3--
g--2--
d--0--
a-----
E-----

"Which songs are easy to play acoustic for a beginner?"

the first song i learned with chords was In God's Country. it's very simple;

the intro and verse is:

D Am

and the chorus is:

Em G D

1) Desire involves easy chords, but requires fast switching between them.
2) One involves chords you probably haven't seen yet, but it sounds great.
3) A Sort of Homecoming is Sunday Bloody Sunday picked differently (although there is a lot more involved, and it can get confusing)
4) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is very, very easy
5) The First Time is another simple one. I posted a tab for this recently so you can check that out if you want to play it.

i wouldn't try staring at the sun, stay, and stuck in a moment until you learn more chords. they involve easy chords, but a lot of them.

"my father tuned my guitar for me, but I'd like to know how to do that myself, can anybody explain that to me if possible?"

i'd recommend getting an electric tuner, i've been playing for a while and still find it hard to tune by ear.

"for what songs do you need a guitar pic, and what songs are played by hand?"

i don't play any u2 songs without a pick except for the intro of Original of the Species.


i hope this helps.

 

[Galeongirl]

yes it does I'll try WGRYWH, but I hope it'll sound decently on accoustic....
I'm playing more bass songs these days, so I'm not sure if I want an electric or bass guitar yet...

can you direct me to a site where I can learn the chords and such?

 

[Barkeeper]

http://www.u2station.com/tablature/index.php
That is one hell of a good site.

 

[europop2005]

hey GG...good job picking up the guitar!

alright...a great place to learn chords is

www.chordfind.com

it displays all the chords with dots to tell you where to put your fingers

the site where i learned my first songs was

www.e-chords.com

type in U2 under artist...but click where it says "no barre chords" this will give you some easy songs to learn with...and when you float your mouse over the chord names it gives you a handy diagram telling you where to place your fingers...the easiest song I learned was "Running to Stand Still" or "Still Havn't Found" lemme know if I can be any more help to you

REMEMBER: when reading a chord diagram, it is actually upside down...so when you see dots at the bottom it actually means they are at the top.


TUNING A GUITAR:

to tune a guitar the easiest way is to hold a string on the 5th fret (a fret is the square on the neck of your guitar) and pluck the open (open means you're not holding it) string directly under it, the two strings should have the exact same sound when tuned, the strings go

E
A
D
G
B
E

now...pluck all on the 5th fret EXCEPT the G String which you will hold on the 4th Fret and then back to the 5th for the B string...so it goes

E- 5th
A- 5th
D- 5th
G- 4th
B- 5th

a guitar pick is optional...it usually helps to amplify your songs and give them a much more twangy sound...if you want your songs to sound very soft, try picking it with your thumb

again if you need any more questions i'm here :-D

 

[Galeongirl]

REMEMBER: when reading a chord diagram, it is actually upside down...so when you see dots at the bottom it actually means they are at the top.

yea, somebody should've told me that when I started!

I so completely didn't know that! it was thanks to the WOWY bass tab that I found out... since there are two E strings, I figured I could play the low E for it too... and then SBS suddenly did sound right on guitar

*is so retarded*



thanks for all your info I'll print the tuning stuff so I can try that later on

 

[Pero]

you're really retarded

did you have any lessons at all??
it's not really necessary but it helps when somebody shows you things.

try to play all i want is you, very easy.
and may i suggest you something that helped me a lot. learn all of u2 riffs, well not all but as many as you can. that will help you stretch your fingers and you could then easier play chords and all other.

 

[europop2005]

getting a teacher was the best investment i made...really worth it...he shows you things that other books or people wont

 

[Galeongirl]

yes but you can't get a teacher without money or time...

I'm trying on the riffs now... I can do vertigo and sbs, but way too slow ofcourse... miracle drug is ok too...

 

[LemonMelon]

yes but you can't get a teacher without money or time...

I'm trying on the riffs now... I can do vertigo and sbs, but way too slow ofcourse... miracle drug is ok too...

You're moving along so quickly!

For beginners, I would have to recommend...

For chords:

Bad
All I Want Is You
The First Time (which you can medley with every/all of the songs above, because they are in the same key)
In God's Country
Running To Stand Still

For riffs:

Dirty Day
Sunday Bloody Sunday
I Will Follow

Best of luck!

 

[europop2005]

Yahweh acoustic is REALLY easy...4 simple chords

C, G, Em, Am...just repeated through the whole song

 

[Galeongirl]

Can somebody please tab this for me? I got the rest of the song in tabs, but I've been searching for half an hour for the chorus and can't find it!

Chorus:

C G Dsus2 C
Where do you go when you're lonely

C G Dsus2 C
Where do you go when you're blue

C G Dsus2
Where do you go when you're lonely

Am C
I'll follow you

When the stars go blue G D C 2x



Chorus: 2x

C G Dsus2 C
Where do you go when you're lonely

C G Dsus2 C
Where do you go when you're blue

C G Dsus2
Where do you go when you're lonely

Am C C
I'll follow you yeahhhhhh!


When the stars go blue G D C 4x

C G Dsus2 C
Where do you go when you're lonely

C G
Where do you go when you're blue