I am a beginner guitar player, and I'm hoping there are DVD or online Surf Guitar courses. Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks!

If you are a beginner just learn to play the guitar as an instrument and not a surf-genre prop. Learn how the notes are laid out on the fretboard, where to find a chord on the neck three different ways, etc like a teacher would make you. All that STANDARD guitar stuff. Unless you just aim to play a great deal in Am and Em and a lot of songs that are derivative of the major surf tunes you will either end up moving on in educating yourself anyway from wanting to grow as a musician or just stay a beginner forever. I have seen in person or on vids some of the first wavers who still play three chords with terrible technique as they did when they were teens (no names, please if you respond in agreement). It's kind of sad really. All that time and never quit playing, but what did they do with it? Don't be that guy- never stop learning and start now.

www.jetpackband.com
https://www.facebook.com/JetpackTheBand

Last edited: Oct 30, 2012 15:41:53

Mr. Moto is good for left hand technique- fret and string jumping.
But this perfectly relates to what I said above. Paul Johnson. Really became an accomplished guitarist! Said in an interview (if I am not mistaken) that the three opening chords should have been two, but he couldn't transition well enough and ended up blending them by dragging his finger as an error. He was only 14 when he wrote it, I think. So yeah, learn it. I love it too. Great song. But also keep in mind that it is a recording of a teen and one who messed it up at that (and they also said eff the bassist- roll it!) So this is another example of surf music being great and yet, meh, not really that great.

www.jetpackband.com
https://www.facebook.com/JetpackTheBand

Great advice Jetpack. Surf is a relatively easy genre to participate in but you do need a baseline of guitar knowledge in order to swim with the fishes.

It's important to learn the notes of the most common major and minor triads. Think of that as learning your times tables. Once you know them, it helps you in all kinds of ways.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Man youtube is a gold mine for learning most anything! I only wish we had something like that when I was cuttin' my teeth.

METEOR IV on reverbnation

BlackRockJohnny wrote: I am a beginner guitar player, and I'm hoping there are DVD or online Surf Guitar courses. Anybody have any suggestions?

I am believer in private lessons. I think lessons from a qualified instructor are the best way to learn to play. An instructor gives structure to your learning process. A trained pair of eyes will detect improper technique and bad habits. Uncorrected those will hinder your ability to progress. If you are serious about learning to play, I feel lessons are the best way to learn.

Sure a lot of old timers learned on their own. I did. Not by choice. There were no rock guitar teachers around where I lived as a kid back in the 50s. Learning on your own is a steep learning curve. I do not recommend that approach.

Until you can get some real lessons, here are some things you can use.

1) Video lessons. This guy has a series of 12 video lessons on Youtube. The lessons are targeted for absolute beginners. he covers the basics pretty well. He uses to send them to you. Now all 12 are on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxhxIV0I5T8&feature=related

2) Tabs. You need to learn to read tabs. Tabs is a short hand method of writing guitar music. It is widely used these days. Fortunately it is quick and easy to learn.
http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/lessons/the-basics/how-to-read-guitar-tab/

3) Song lessons. This guy has a bunch of song lessons on Youtube. We have mentioned him elsewhere in the forum. His lessons look all right to me. He does not show you tabs. You have to pick up what he is playing from watching his fingers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlkfzMby0jQ

Also, Martin Cilia has some tabs, lessons for some of his songs and backing tracks at his web site. He is one of the best surf guitarists on the planet. (He is a SG101 member by the way)

http://www.martincilia.com/

There is some stuff to get you going. If you are truly serious about learning, you will find a way to get some lessons.

Talk to you later,
Norm

I'm going to mix things up and say disregard everything written above and suggest that you listen to a lot of surf music and don't actively try to learn any of those songs or watch instructional videos. Just try writing songs that convey what the surf music you think the songs you are listening to mean. Or just write songs that come from you with shitloads of reverb. That is what surf music should be(and that is what the good stuff is!).

I've learned stuff from tabs before and it just isn't fulfilling, to me at least. I've become a much better guitarist since I stopped trying to learn others songs.

JakeDobner wrote: I've learned stuff from tabs before and it just isn't fulfilling, to me at least. I've become a much better guitarist since I stopped trying to learn others songs

Jake,
I agree with what you said about doing covers not being as rewarding as creating your own music. But I don't think that works for a beginner. A beginner needs to learn how to play before he create. The beginner needs a good foundation in how to play the guitar before he can experiment and push the boundaries. Sort of like learning to walk before you run. Also, I would venture to guess there are a lot of players who don't crreate their own music. I have played with a lot of guys who never wrote a song. They could play songs I wrote better than I could. But they had no interest in creating new works. I've written songs since I was 7. But not everyone shares that interest.

I suspect you do agree with me that any surf guitarist needs to know as much about how to play a guitar as possible. The more tools you have in your bag, the more you can put into your music to shape it to your own taste.

Talk to you later,
Norm

I'm just getting back into guitar after a long absence. I picked up guitar a 25 (I'm now 47), so I'm a late starter. I took lessons for a while then started learning on my own, played in a few bands (I sucked!), but had a lot of fun learning basic tunes and writing originals. Right now I'm just learning more surf stuff on my own. To start out though, I suggest doing a lot of finger exercises on the fret board and learning your scales. I'm devoting a lot of time to that and surrounding myself with surf music. I like a lot of the ideas here, so listen to these guys! Jake, I agree with you.

Either you surf, or you fight.