I 'm not a very good player, (here in England my playing would be described as "crap"), but I really enjoy playing and just love that surfing sound.
What's the best way to learn to play? Book? DVD? Online lesson? I would welcome any tips and advice. Is there a website which is a good source of surf tabs? I need a hellava lot of practice!

Cheers

I've had good luck with figuring out the "scale" from Misirlou, transpose it to other keys (and more than one string) and playing that in different positions. Something else I've been playing with a lot lately is to use the notes of these chords in a "scale": open E, F in the 1st position, open G and Am in the open position. Definitely try to figure out some of the simpler songs on your own, it's easier than you think. As far as the sound goes an outboard reverb tank makes a huge difference no matter what amp you're using.

Jeff,

I'm in the same boat as you- wanting to learn. Here in the US my playing would probably be described as sub-crap. I'm taking the acaddemic approach and trying it from books:
http://www.surfguitar101.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5172
I've had one now for about a week and I think it's a good approach for starting to get a feel for the general style of things in some surf songs. Playing these tabbed songs along with a CD to hear what they're supposed to sound like... for me, at least, it's a quicker way to learn a little than trying to tab out songs by ear. That wouldn't go well for me at this stage. Although I will give it a shot when I'm a little better.

Good luck.

-Jon

JakeDobner
This may sound patronizing, but I don't intend for it to sound so.

Don't try to learn surf guitar. Just learn to play guitar first. If you love surf rock then, as you get better that is what you will be able to play. It is near unlikely to just try and learn surf guitar if one has little skill, due to the lead driven nature. I would suggest learn chords first and how to strum a couple tunes before one tries surf. If one can't play a variety of rhythms then there is going to be little hope in playing anything that isn't straight 1/4 or 1/8th notes, like the intro to Baja, Walk Don't Run, et cetera.

Jake is absolutely right. You really need to learn to walk with Chuck Berry before you can run with Dick Dale. There are more ways to learn basic guitar technique out there than ever before. It really boils down to your learning style. Get a teacher, a couple of method books, dvds, software, take online lessons or any combination of the above.

I'm a big believer in learning songs by ear and writing them down yourself if need be. It is the best way to learn and you will be amazed at how quickly you will develop that way. Given the ability to slow down songs, pause and loop parts while your trying to learn them makes it all the easier. Imagine trying to learn songs from a 45 in 1962 vs putting a cd in a guitar trainer or your computer. You should be able to get it together in no time.

If surf guitar is really where your heart is start with basic stuff like Duane Eddy, the Fireballs, the Revels, Tornadoes (bustin' surfboards Tornadoes), Astronauts, the easier Ventures tunes. A lot of the great surf/instro stuff from back in the day was written and recorded by teenagers. Few of whom would be considered prodigies or virtuosos by today's standards. The music is awesome, but it is in all reality fairly basic. Start learning the rhythm guitar parts if the leads are too hard at first. Be patient and have fun with it.

I'm far from a great guitar player and have only been playing seriously for a couple of years, but this approach has worked for me in spades.

The Exotics 1994-Current
The Chickenshack - www.wmse.org
www.thedoghouseflowers.com
www.uptownsavages.com

JakeDobner
...Don't try to learn surf guitar. Just learn to play guitar first.

Jake has great advice here...besides books, DVD, playing along with tunes, and teachers, you might consider finding a friend who knows about guitar (or bass) and try working out some things together...playing together makes practice way more fun...

also, if you have any recording gear (even a simple cassette recorder will do) you can record how things are progressing and really listen to what you are doing. Really learning to hear and listen is one of the least mentioned aspects of learning to play guitar, but, in my estimation one of the most critical. Learn how to tune-up properly...by ear...
Play your major and minor chords 1,000,000 times forwards and backwards (A,B,C,D,E,F, G Am, Bm, Cm, Dm, Em, Fm, Gm)...learn your barre chords!

good luck,
-dp

A metronome, or something like it, is sometimes handy. I have an old mechanical windup "Taktell" metronome (somewhere in the house) but it's more fun to use my old Yamaha Portasound keyboard/synth, with its built-in percussion rhythms. None of them are very good for Surf, but I can use some of the simpler Rock patterns, and I can adjust the tempo to whatever I want.

Otherwise, I tend to slow down on the hard parts and speed up through the easy parts.

It depends. some tunes call for a bit of swing, where it doesn't follow a clock-like perfect tempo.

I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.