Share some tips on learning to play the guitar

I started out by learning all of the open chords as it teaches you to hit/mute certain strings to get them sounding as they should. You'll find endless songs that just use these chords, and after a while your left hand will be fluent enough to change between these with ease.

Then move onto the barre chords. Although hard to get right at first, after a while they will become second nature. However, having a good guitar that is setup right is important because of the pain that you will get when first doing them. You'll find that your thumb may ache quite quickly and may feel uncomfertable at first, but that should soon go too.

After this, you should be able to play every chord that is either major or minor, as well as have a good strong left hand for playing power-chords which are very similar to play.

The most important thing will be remembering notes on the guitar. Learn the E and A string(s) and then you will know 50% of all of the notes on the neck already.

:)
 
m3csl2004 said:
Make sure your guitar is tuned, obvious one, but so important, learn what each note sounds like, so you can tell its out of tune without grabbing a tuner everytime, good ear training.
When learning a guitar at first it should be as fun as possible.

Personally I really wouldn't bother with this until a year or so into playing. I have never bothered learning it perfectly myself. Whilst it is a great skill, its not needed, especially for a begginer who has enough on their plate already.
 
I started to learn (self taught) over 10 years ago. For most of that time I've seen next to no improvement. My single piece of advice is get some sort of structured program that will keep you progressing, whether that's formal tuition, getting a book or whatever.

Oh and get someone that knows what they're doing to keep an eye on you, hopefully nipping some bad habits in the bud. Once you've started those habits it's hard to get rid of them. I only just found out I've been holding the guitar wrong all these years.

Edit: and don't skip the basics so you can go onto something more interesting. You'll regret it later.
 
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