Starting out learning to play the guitar is easy. You will need to get some knowledge together first. Some open chords, some scales and some strumming patterns to play rhythm. You can buy guitar tutor books at your local music store but any guitar lesson you need is available for free online.

You will already have some idea of which songs you want to learn and you will find tab for almost any song in the universe in the free online tab archives. If you are able to spare the practice time, learn some songs outside the boundaries of the genre you’re most interested in. There are many simple pieces you can learn in classical, folk or jazz repertoires and your ability to play unusual pieces will keep your audience interested.

Here’s a video showing some very easy guitar chords for beginners:

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A classical guitar instruction book will take the student from theory straight into simple pieces, graduating to more complex guitar music without learning chord shapes or improvisation. A jazz instruction book, on the other hand, will be chockablock with exotic guitar chords and scales. A rock or blues guitar instruction book will take you through such stepping stones to improvisation as the pentatonic scales and the CAGED chord system.

For the purpose of this article we will assume you are a complete beginner who wants to dip his toe in the cold and forbidding waters of guitar playing to eventually discover the warm currents of musical satisfaction.

Beyond Bedroom Guitar by Spencer Westwood is an introduction to guitar that immediately leads the student to a certain way of looking at guitar playing. This book is aimed at the medium or advanced guitarist and the beginner guitarist who has got to the stage of being able to strum a few chords. The guitar instruction is based on changing the way we approach learning in general and contains some techniques derived from the field of self-hypnosis. If you want your guitar instruction to be a life-changing experience, give this book a read.

The Only Basic Guitar Instruction Book You’ll Ever Need by Jack Wilkins and Peter Rubie starts at choosing your first guitar and moves to tuning and holding the guitar and guitar music theory. We then move onto some songs and chords plus basic fingerpicking. The book’s structure alternates between theory and practical guitar work, taking us into more advanced ideas and techniques as we practice what we have learnt from the previous chapters.

Guitar Lesson World: The Book by Patrick MacFarlane is compiled by the founder of guitarlessonworld.com which has been giving us free guitar lessons since 1996. The book is inexpensive and comprehensive and is backed up by audio files that you can find on the website. The only snag is that it is very much based in theory, so if you would rather learn chords and songs without the whys and wherefores, you should probably give it a miss.

Each of the three guitar instruction books I have listed in this article stand out for its unique approach to teaching guitar. They are aimed at guitar students who have already found a serious commitment in themselves to learning how to play guitar. If you are looking for something simpler or for a particular genre, there are many books that will get you started.

If you are interested in what you can find in guitar instruction books, take a look at Google Books search results for guitar instruction books

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Some people will learn guitar at music school for a couple of years. This will mean taking the guitar a little more seriously and learning a great number of chords and some music theory. You will be learning the guitar from books and DVDs, maybe augmented by some online guitar lessons. You will realize that the guitar is a fairly difficult instrument to learn if you are planning on really mastering it. Playing a few chords for some easy songs is okay but it could take years to get your head around reading sheet music and understanding guitar music theory.

Some people concentrate on learning the notes on the guitar fretboard – where all the notes are located. If you use this approach you could stick with learning where all the natural notes are because once you know those, the sharps and flats will be obvious. Once you have an understanding of the major and minor scales and how their intervals work, you should be able to play in all keys.

You will also learn about barre chords. This is a technically demanding part of your quest to learn guitar and many people tend to shy away from it, but once you get the idea of the basic chord shapes that you can move up and down the fretboard, it will not be so daunting.

Here is a video on finding and learning barre chords:

For many, many guitar players the minor pentatonic scale is the beginning, middle and end of learning guitar. If you know the root note of your song or chord you can match it with a minor pentatonic scale. So you are using five notes to compose and improvise guitar solos. What this means is that inside of a year you should have a reasonable mastery of the guitar and the question of how long does it take to learn guitar has changed for you because you know that every time you play you learn something new.

You could speed up your progress by taking advantage of the enormous number of guitar lesson videos and written tutorials available online. But no matter how much help you have, your progress is not going to be rapid. There’s no magic bullet, you will learn guitar at your own pace, whatever that happens to be.

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The very basic thing you need in your first guitar lesson is to learn how to hold your guitar. Playing the guitar is a physically demanding activity and if you do not learn to hold your guitar properly you could be making your guitar practice a dreary and painful routine. You also need to learn the basics of how to hold your plectrum and how to strum the guitar.

Any guitar course is structured to teach you how to read some form of written musical notation, either tablature or sheet music. Tablature, or tab, is based on a picture of the guitar neck with the frets you have to finger to get the appropriate notes marked on it. It takes a few minutes to get the basic idea behind tab and maybe half an hour’s playing around to make sure you have got the principle well enough to start reading tabs for your favorite songs.

Sheet music is the conventional music notation that has been around for hundreds of years and is used for all musical instruments. The advantage with sheet music is that you can pick up any piece of music written for any instrument and pick out at least the basic melody on the guitar. The downside of sheet music is that it takes a little time and effort to learn because it entails learning some musical theory. If you are anxious to start playing your guitar real quick you probably think learning music is a bad idea, and many guitarists will tell you they do not miss knowing musical notation. But at the same time alot of guitarists will tell you that they are glad they took the little extra time and effort to learn theory and sheet music.

Basic guitar lessons are all about playing chords. Chords are written in the form of chord charts which tell you where to put your fingers to play the notes, and which strings are included in the chord. Some chord charts even tell you which fingers to use to fret the chord’s notes. Chords can also be written in tabs or in sheet music notes. If you want to play accompaniment for songs, you will probably only need to learn your basic chords and how they relate to each other. This info will enable you to get together a collection of chords which will let you play thousands of songs. You will also learn about chord progressions which is how chords interact with each other in songs.

So that is it. The guitar is a chord-oriented instrument and if you are taught chords and how to read them, that gives you the basic lesson content for the guitar. Of course, the guitar has alot more to offer than just basic chord playing but once you learn chords and strumming you can decide where you want to go from there.

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The advantage of books is that the printed page is a record of information that you might learn today but need to refresh your memory at some time in the future. Video guitar lessons are a fantastic way to learn to play the guitar but the written word has its own way of expressing thoughts or helping you with your approach to music, and you do not have to go through the laborious process of fast forwarding through countless videos to remind yourself of something the teacher said. Also a book can be read when the power is down and you have to practice on an acoustic guitar by candlelight!

So let us look at a few really excellent how to books for guitar. An example of concise, easy to understand, useful guitar info is The “Guitar Book” – For Those Who Have Just Landed On The Planet Earth! – Learn How To Play Guitar! by Chris Lopez. This book not only contains all the solid information you need to begin your life as a guitar player, you will find it is an inspiration to share in the author’s obvious passion for the guitar. This book has everything for the beginner guitar player: basic chords, changing from major chords to minor, chord progressions, playing blues guitar through to slightly more advanced but extremely useful stuff like transposing a chord progression if the original key is not right for your voice. If you are sticking with playing chords to accompany your singing or if you want to get into solo guitar, this book should be by your bedside.

The Everything Guitar Book: From Buying the Right Guitar to Mastering Your Favorite Songs (Everything: Sports and Hobbies) by Ernie Jackson promises to have you playing like a pro in no time. It certainly contains all the basic information like some history of the guitar and the names of all the parts of the instrument, and all the basic chords. This is the kind of stuff you would expect to find in a how to play guitar book. You also have a reference guide for the information you will need to keep in your head as you learn how to play guitar. The circle of fifths is covered,as are scales and arpeggios. You are introduced to playing songs by getting to know what you can play on the treble strings first, then you are introduced to bass patterns.

“The Everything Guitar Book” also introduces you to guitar players you should know about in whatever musical genre you are interested in whether it is classical, jazz, blues, flamenco or whatever is in between. The book then gives you an intro to playing electric guitar, buying an instrument and finding a teacher. Like any book that covers everything, there are some spots that you will need to explore elsewhere but this is a good first book for a beginner guitarist.

Frederick Noad is a classical guitar player and teacher who wrote a famous classical guitar tutor called “Solo Guitar Playing”. He also wrote a book aimed at the wider world of guitar players called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Guitar (2nd Edition). This book carries a heavy classical guitar orientation but it also gives a good start for playing blues and flamenco. So it is a book for acoustic guitar players, but it is by a guy who know how to get the best from his instrument without causing severe injury to his hands and back and without using amplification. If you are a rock guitarist, do not skip past this book. There is a bunch of stuff in here that will help you become a great guitarist, and you probably will not find this kind of material anywhere else. Get it.

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One of the first things you think of if you contemplate beginner guitar lessons is the cost. What is a fair price to pay for guitar lessons? If you are thinking about taking lessons from a local guitar teacher, then the first thing you should know is that this has become the most expensive way of taking lessons on the guitar. Prices charged by guitar teachers vary widely so you are likely to be charged more in Sydney, London or New York than you are in a small town in Outer Slobovia. And we have not even started to talk about how teachers vary in quality and experience.

If you are not confident about learning guitar from a book or an online course, then you will need to make some kind of value judgement about whatever guitar teachers are available and sign up for whatever the minimum number of lessons is. Once you have gotten the basics from your teacher, try learning from books or online courses. If it does not work out, you can always go back to your teacher. The cost of guitar tutor books will depend on whether you buy new or secondhand. Chords, scales and songs are just as good in the books you pick up at the local garage sale or markets. If you find a book that has the material you want to learn, then buy it and work on it for a while.

How you choose your book or online course depends on how good your teacher has been at guiding you in your choice of musical style, and your understanding of how far you need to go as a beginner guitar student. During your first few lessons with a teacher you will probably have decided whether you are going to learn to read musical notation or guitar tablature. You will probably also have an idea about how to tune your guitar even if you are not good at it yet. If you do not know these things then you will need to go investigating online.

An ongoing concern should be keeping your guitar in tune. If your guitar is not kept in tune then your friends will not want to hear you play. In fact your playing might make them want to hurt you. You can find guitar tuners online. You can even find tuners that you can save on your computer. A metronome is also essential, so find and download yourself a free metronome and get into the habit of using it as you practice. You can set the metronome for very slow speeds to begin with and increase the speed as your technique gets better.

Warming up is as important for a beginner guitar player as it is for an athlete. You can do serious damage to yourself by holding your guitar in a way that puts too much strain on your back, plus the way you make chord shapes or use the plectrum could also be leaving you open to repetitive strain injury. If you do not know anybody who can give you advice on this subject, do an internet search. The principals are the same for typists, musicians or anybody who does fine, repetitive work, so read up on it wherever you can. This leads onto the subject of guitar strumming patterns. Once you have learnt a few chords you will need some strumming patterns to practice. This is as much to keep your learning chord changes fresh as for learning strumming itself.

As guitar strumming is not as simple as it seems, here is a video that should help you out:

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Giving a child guitar lessons is a great way to introduce him to the joys of music. At the same time it is a bonding experience for the family because a child does not learn the guitar in isolation. The main thing that should be guiding you and your child towards guitar lessons is your child’s enthusiasm. There are generations of adults who wince when they think of their enforced piano lessons under the eye of a grim and unforgiving teacher.

As for the question of what at what age a child can learn the guitar, many people think that three- or four-years-old is around the time to start. This fits in with the Suzuki method which has been a successful piano teaching method for many years. At what age a child SHOULD begin learning guitar is up to your gut feeling on the issue. Maybe you would even like to try teaching your child yourself. In that case start them off on simple songs or nursery rhymes perhaps focusing on the D G and A7 chords. You will need to be meticulous about keeping your child’s guitar in tune.

For a very young child guitar lessons will involve games and activities designed to help with ear training and physical coordination. The younger the child is the more the parent will need to be involved in guitar practice time. If you feel that you are unwilling or not confident of your abilities in this area then leave the guitar lessons till your child is around seven years old.

No matter how enlightened we feel that we are as parents our own preferences and prejudices will come into play when we think about a choice of instrument for our children. If you wanted to have guitar lessons when you were a child but never got the chance, then it is natural for you to want to see your child take guitar lessons. If you think that maybe you are imposing your own needs onto your child then have another think about what your child wants (if anything) in music lessons.

If your child expresses interest in a the guitar of his own volition, fine. Maybe that is your decision made for you, but you will probably find that there are opportunities in your town to take your child to check out some musical instruments close up. If you have a local brass band or symphony orchestra then take your child to recitals. Let your child take a look at guitars in a music store. If he expresses interest in electric guitars or steel string acoustics you will need to explain that he should start off on a nylon string acoustic till the tips of his fingers get toughened up.

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Of course most beginning guitar players do not want to be guitar virtuosos. Maybe you are one of those people who go to social and family gatherings where somebody says, “Let’s sing a song” and somebody else says, “Yeah! Who can play the guitar?” So you think to yourself “Maybe I can learn to play the guitar”. Or maybe you just feel the basic human need to make a good impression on friends and acquaintances, and playing the guitar is an easy way to get people to notice you. If you are in this slice of the human race, a course of one-on-one guitar lessons might be too expensive and time consuming to consider, but online guitar lessons for beginners will fulfill your needs quite well.

Online guitar lessons are great for people whose job and social life take up too much time for them to consider investing extra time in travelling to and fro to take guitar lessons. The internet is ready to teach you how to play the guitar when you are ready to learn, and you can fit your practice time around your other commitments.

So if you are wondering what kind of knowledge is given away in these guitar lesson courses, here is what you can expect from your average guitar website:

Even strumming chords takes some skill and precision, so your guitar lessons should include information, and perhaps exercises, showing you how to hold the guitar without placing undue strain on your shoulders, arms and back. The very first lessons should show you how to hold your plectrum and tell you the names of the various parts of the guitar along with some explanation of their functions. Some simple chords and a song or two should round off your first couple of lessons.

Strumming patterns are the tools of the singer/guitar player and when you are beginning guitar lessons you will be shown a few basic strumming techniques and maybe some info on how to make up your own strums. The next step in your guitar course will contain stuff like the difference between major and minor chords and what the notes on the open strings on the guitar are called. By this time you will know how to read chord charts and you will be able to make up your mind about whether you want to learn to read music or tabs.

Beginning guitar is a big step for someone who has not learnt music before and it is important to keep in mind why you decided to learn the guitar in the first place. To have fun.

Here is a link to an excellent collection of guitar lessons for beginning guitarists at the Beginner Guitar Lesson Archive at about.com

And some basic chords in this video from YouTube:

. . . and from the feedback form . . . here is a link for Mike who asked about buying your first guitar

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Maybe you have thought about computer guitar lessons. If you could order your own tailor-made guitar lesson course for your computer, what would you request? It might help to think about the basic requirements of computer guitar lessons. Basically your lessons need to show you how to hold and play the guitar, how to read guitar tabs, sheet music or both, and some way of checking your progress. So let us look at some of the computer guitar lessons out there and see how they fulfill our requirements.

Learn And Master Guitar has a one-hundred page book, twenty DVDs, five CDs featuring backing tracks plus they offer free support. The structure of this course follows the basic principles of all computer guitar lessons: you have your learning material that you get from the book and from the DVDs, and you practice what you have learned using the backing tracks as a guide and reality check on your emerging guitar skills.

Another computer guitar course is called Amazing Guitar Secrets. Once again you have a book and DVDs containing your guitar lessons and backing tracks to play along with. You can track how you are progressing using a section of the book which allows you to have a visual record of what you have learnt.

If you have been looking around for computer guitar lessons you have probably come across Jamorama. Jamorama is for the guy who does not take music particularly seriously but thinks it might be cool to be able to play some songs and riffs on the guitar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. To be fair, Jamorama does give you plenty of substantial material in the books, audio and video which you download to make you a “real” guitar player should you so desire.

The three guitar lesson courses I have mentioned are meant to be shipped to you in printed form and on discs or downloaded and kept on your computer. There is another alternative: the membership site. The most comprehensive and so far the most successful is Jamplay. With Jamplay you get access to a number of guitar teachers who are experts in their own style of music. These teachers are videoed giving lessons illustrating techniques and how to play particular songs. The lessons cover all stages of guitar learning. So with Amazing Guitar Secrets, Jamorama and Learn And Master Guitar you get to keep all the guitar lessons at your house, your Jamplay membership gets you access to any improvements, revisions and updates that occur. Jamplay also has progress reports, a forum and support through video answers to your questions. Jamplay is probably the most economical option as you can pay by the month, and your fees drop drastically if you pay by the quarter or annually.

I should mention that none of the above computer guitar lesson courses lack for quality. The printed material, downloadable audio and video, CDs and DVDs are all first class. The difference between the methods is the varying approaches to the guitar.

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