How to learn guitar how to learn guitar

Learning to Play the Guitar: 11-Step Programme for Beginners

How to learn guitar step 6: Learn how to h old your pick properly

As I mentioned earlier, it’s a good idea to buy several different picks to experiment with. (Picks are cheap and small and they get lost all the time, so buy plenty of them.)

Most people find that when they’re first figuring out how to learn guitar they choose a softer pick. Then, as they progress they switch to a heavier pick as they want more control and accuracy.

As a beginner, a pick thickness of 0.65-0.73 is perfect. Any thicker and it becomes much harder to strum with fluidity.

Whatever pick you choose, don’t hold it like it’s some weird object you’d rather not be holding. Grip it between your thumb and forefinger so just the pointy bit is sticking out.

A big part of understanding how to learn guitar is understanding how you make contact with the guitar. This seems like a small detail, but it’s huge.

In this picture, the pick is being held too far back.

This is much better.

Lots of beginners find picks difficult to use so they take the path of least resistance and start strumming with their fingers or (heaven forbid) their thumb.

This might feel easier to begin with, but playing with your thumb is a terrible, limiting habit. Playing with your fingers is fine, of course.

As a guitarist, you need to be able to play with a pick AND your fingers. Practice with both, but do not abandon the pick.

If you want to know how to learn guitar, you must be comfortable using a guitar pick.

How to learn guitar step 7: Make a list of songs you love

Here are 3 objective facts you need to have on your radar as a guitar-learner:

Playing music you love isn’t a luxury for a guitar learner. It’s required. So forget about learning stuff like ‘happy birthday’ and ‘twinkle twinkle little star’. If your teacher wants you to play that stuff you should fire him immediately! 🙂

Tilt the scales in your favour by learning music you love.

Whenever I take on a new student I try to get them to throw as many song titles, band/artist names and genres at me as possible. The more I know about their taste in music, the more likely I am to be able to find a good song or two for us to start off with.

Obviously some songs might be a bit difficult to begin with, but it’s still good to let your teacher know you want to learn them. They will be able to simplify them a bit for you.

This article of ours will be a big help and a good source of ideas:

A big part of understanding how to learn guitar is understanding what motivates you to pick the guitar up and play. (Nothing will give you a bigger boost for this habit-forming than practicing music you love.)

How to learn guitar step 8: Find a good teacher

I alluded to this in the previous point. It’s important when learning any new skill to have the support and guidance of someone who is an expert.

Don’t rely on YouTube tutorials! There’s lots of great guitarists on YouTube, but not many great guitar teachers. (And there’s a huge difference between those two things.)

It can take a few attempts to find the teacher that’s right for you. That’s normal and you should expect it. It’s all part of understanding how to learn guitar.

A good guitar teacher will totally transform your chances of successfully learning the instrument, so keep looking and don’t get discouraged if after 3 or 4 teachers you still haven’t found one that ‘clicks’ with you.

When enquiring about lessons it’s good to have a list of goals in mind so your potential teacher knows what you want to learn. For example:

Don’t be vague. Guitar is different things to different people. You need to explicitly specify what ‘success’ looks like to you. Figuring out how to learn guitar can be tough, but with a teacher who has a clear idea of what you want to achieve, it’s a lot easier.

You get the idea. Give specific examples and cite specific artists.

How to learn guitar step 9 : Practice in a smart way

The more I’ve played and the more I’ve taught there’s one thing I’ve been increasingly convinced of.

The difference between good guitarists and not-so-good guitarists is not whether they have long fingers or short fingers or whether they have big hands or small hands or whether they come from a musical family or not. ‘Talent’ is a tiny part of the equation.

The thing that makes a difference is practice. If you want to know how to learn guitar you need to be smart about how you approach practicing.

‘How much should I practice?’

Ideally you want to practice your guitar for about fifteen minutes per day, but even five minutes a day will see you make clear & satisfying progress.

Occasionally I’ve had students who say things like, “I’m afraid I didn’t get any practice in this week. I set aside a few hours on Sunday, but then something came up.”

Don’t try and cram all your practice into one day.

For one thing, life being what it is, things often WILL come up. (That’s life, right?)

Perhaps more importantly though, even if you’re 100% certain you have that day free, you’re giving yourself a HUGE workload.

It’s much better to keep things bitesize. Fifteen minutes a day is manageable, won’t stress you out too much and if something comes up, it’s ok. (Losing 15 minutes practice time is no big drama.)

How to learn guitar step 10 : Be patient with yourself

Whenever we start learning a new skill we all want to be good straight away, but of course it doesn’t work like that.

As you move forward in your journey of figuring out how to learn guitar there will be ups and downs.

If you’re struggling with a certain chord or technique or with tuning your guitar or anything else, know that this is completely normal. Never, ever, nourish the thought that you ‘should’ be better than you are. (Or that you ‘should’ be further along than you are.)

Take a deep breath. Stay calm and don’t get frustrated with yourself or with your instrument. I know this is easier said than done, but the fact is, it is the only way to get past these inevitable hurdles.

Impatience not only doesn’t help, it often makes things worse. When we’re impatient we don’t think clearly and we can become careless. (Whatever mistake you’ve been making, you’ll likely make it even more often if you allow impatience/frustration to get the better of you!)

This is also why I recommend fifteen minutes practice a day rather than a couple of hours on your day off. If you ask too much of yourself of course you will lose patience with yourself.

How to learn guitar step 11: Don’t be discouraged by other people

When I was learning guitar there were two types of people who I found to be off-putting.

Regarding other guitarists, what you have to remember is they most likely didn’t get good at guitar to make you feel bad about yourself. More likely they got good at guitar because they wanted to feel good about themselves.

With this in mind, try and focus on doing the same. Don’t view other guitarists as your competition and don’t be distracted by what they’re doing. Concentrate on what you’re doing and try and enjoy yourself.

Regarding armchair critics, simply ignore them. They don’t know what they’re talking about. If they did, they’d be playing guitar themselves, not critiquing other people’s guitar playing. As you figure out how to learn guitar you can simply let their comments wash over you. 🙂

This is another good reason to find a good teacher. Your teacher will be able to give you an accurate and helpful critique of your playing that will inspire you to keep practicing.

Download this lesson’s worksheet

To download a summary of these 11 steps to print off and put in your practice space click here: How To Learn Guitar In 11 Steps

What Type of Guitarist Are You?

Take our 60-second quiz & get your results: Take The Quiz

Our guitar courses

How do you want to improve as a guitarist? Click here to check out our guitar courses

Cool Guitar T-shirts

Look cooler. Check out our merch: Click here to see our merch store

Want free guitar tips and video lessons delivered to your inbox?

Join over 200,000 other guitar learners and subscribe to our guitar-tips-by-email service. (It’s free.)

We’ll send you a series of lessons that will move you to the next level of your guitar journey.

Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and effectively. We share ninja tips (for instant fun!) but also timeless fundamentals that will deepen your understanding.

Popular Lessons

Our guitar courses

Become a better guitarist: Click here to check out our guitar courses

More Cool Guitar Stuff

Learn about the National Guitar Academy: About Us

Visit our YouTube channel for fun guitar videos.

Join us on Facebook for daily guitar tips.

Listen to our Learn Guitar Podcast for rapid guitar progress.

Learning to Play the Guitar: 11-Step Programme for Beginners

Wondering how to learn guitar? This free guide will give you an 11-step roadmap you can follow.

In this free guitar lesson you’ll learn everything you need to get off to a perfect start.

After reading this guide you will clearly understand how to learn guitar. Let’s do it!

Over 250,000 guitar-learners get our world-class guitar tips & tutorials sent straight to their inbox: Click here to join them

If you want to be a better guitarist click here for our guitar courses

How to learn guitar step 1: Learn with a guitar that’s well suited to YOU

There are dozens of different types of guitar and they play very differently. Some are easy to play. Some are difficult to play.

The guitar you choose to learn with has a huge influence on your chances of successfully learning the instrument. Any guitar is better than ‘no guitar’ of course, but ideally, you want a guitar that suits your body shape and size. This will make a profound and long-lasting difference to your guitar journey, so treat it seriously.

This article by Mike will help you:

‘How much do I need to spend?’

You don’t need to spend much, but as a beginner you do need a guitar that is super-playable, will stay in tune and is in otherwise good working order.

Some affordable guitar brands you should check out are Squier, Yamaha, Redwood, Farida and Ibanez.

‘Do I have to buy my own guitar?’

You could borrow a guitar to begin with (if you have a kind friend or family member who doesn’t mind lending you their guitar), but this should only be a temporary measure.

If you’re serious about knowing how to learn guitar you need to make a commitment and shell out for your own hardware.

A Few Beginner Essentials…

You’ll need a guitar tuner, the Korg GA-1 is perfect:

You’ll also need a capo, the Jim Dunlop trigger capos are fantastic:

You’ll also need a guitar strap and a few different guitar picks (a pick thickness of 0.65-0.73 is best for beginners).

If you want to learn electric guitar then you’ll also need a cable and a small practice amp.

Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide

✓ Stop struggling. Start making music.

✓ This is our most popular guide and it will improve your chord ability quickly.

Our Guitar Courses

Become a better guitarist: Click here to check out our guitar courses

Cool Guitar T-shirts

Look cooler. Check out our merch: Click here to see our merch store

How to learn guitar step 2: Learn to tune your guitar accurately and quickly

A good guitar tuner is a wise & worthwhile investment.

There are 4 main types: microphone-based tuners, vibration-based tuners, pedal tuners and smartphone apps.

Microphone-based tuners need to ‘hear’ the guitar notes to tune. (You can also plug in electric and electro-acoustic guitars on most modern tuners.)

Vibration-based tuners clip on to the guitar and tune by vibration. (They can still tune in a noisy environment, unlike microphone-based tuners.) My favourite is the Snark.

Pedal tuners are very accurate tuners for electric, bass and electro-acoustic guitars.

Smartphone apps can tune your guitar quickly and cheaply. There’s tons of free ones out there.

To learn more about tuning and tuners read Rob’s article:

Here’s a quick demo of a guitar tuner in action.

Some guitars and amps come with built-in tuners. These can be handy, but they’re rarely as good as dedicated tuners.

As you learn more you’ll find you don’t always need to use a tuner to tune. But as a beginner, having a tuner is essential.

How to learn guitar step 3: Learn the names and numbers of your guitar strings

This is an all too common conversation I find myself having with guitar students:

Me: Could you play your ‘A’ string?

Student: Which one’s the ‘A’ string again?

Me: The fifth string.

Student: Which way are the strings numbered again?

Figuring out how to learn guitar will be difficult for you if you don’t know which string is which!

It’s important for you to be able to communicate effectively not just with a teacher, but also with other musicians. (Especially if you want to play in a band some day.)

Going from the thickest to the thinnest our guitar strings are: E A D G B E.

A good way to remember this is:

Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears.

Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.

‘Shouldn’t the 1-6 be the other way around?’

Our strings are numbered 1 to 6 going from the thinnest to the thickest. This is a bit confusing for beginners because when we strum we normally start with the thickest string, so people tend think of that as the first string.

If you want to understand how to learn guitar there’s a couple of idiosyncrasies like this that you’ll get used to after a while. 🙂

For more info on guitar notes and the musical alphabet (including ‘sharps’ and ‘flats’) read this article by Jack and Mike:

How to learn guitar step 4: Learn your basic chords

Regardless of genre, if you want to know how to learn guitar, you MUST know your chords. (Even if you dream of being a solo-twiddling lead guitar legend you still need to know your chords.)

There’s an entire section of this site dedicated to easy beginner chords, so have a good look around there. Chords are an essential part of understanding how to learn guitar.

The easiest way to learn chords is to follow Mike’s stepping-stone approach.

For every chord you see, there is an easy version. As a beginner, you simply will not be able to play chords like F or B.

So, you have two choices:

Choosing option 2 allows you to have fun playing music while developing your dexterity and control. This allows you to ‘graduate’ to playing the more difficult chord versions later.

If these chordboxes don’t make sense to you, read our article ‘How To Read Chordboxes In 60 Seconds‘.

(Figuring out how to learn guitar will be impossible if you can’t read chordboxes!)

Download our lead guitar cheat-sheet to make things easier

It can be disorientating for guitarists to understand which scales work with which keys.

With this in mind, we created a cheat-sheet; a key and scale-finder that you can use again and again.

Our Guitar Courses

Become a better guitarist: Click here for our guitar courses

The importance of perseverance

Even if your chords sound a bit clunky at first and even if they take a long time to change one to the other, you must persevere. As long as you use easy chords you will improve quickly.

These things take time and patience, but if we know the chord shapes and the chord names, we’re on the right track.

If the chords aren’t sounding right it could be that your fingers aren’t pressing correctly. Use the very tips of the fingers, not the fingerprints.

Understanding how to learn guitar boils down to two things: knowing what to do with your left hand and your right hand.

How to learn guitar step 5: Learn how to strum

Of all the different components that go into making music, the melody, the harmony, the form… The most important of all is the RHYTHM.

We can make music that doesn’t have melody, we can make music that doesn’t have harmony and we can make music that doesn’t have any set form, however, music cannot be made without RHYTHM.

If you want to know how to learn guitar, you must be able to strum chords rhythmically.

The most common mistake I see people make when learning to strum is trying to put too much power into their strums.

Relax dude, you don’t need to strum hard; even if you want to play loud, you don’t need to strum powerfully.

As much as I love the music of Pete Townsend, he is a bad influence because his trademark windmilling approach to guitar playing has convinced a lot of people that that’s how it’s done.

Check him out at 4 mins 30 seconds into this video, amazing! 🙂

This is an entertaining piece of stagecraft, but it’s not how you should aim to play your guitar.

“But I’m into metal! I’m into punk! I want to play loud!” you may be saying. You don’t have to strum hard to play loud.

Playing in time is more important than playing loud, no matter what the style of music and learning to strum in time and with rhythm should be your number one aim as a guitar learner.

Check out this article by Mike, it will help you a lot:

8 Steps to Learn Guitar: How to Learn Guitar for Beginners

If you want to learn how to play guitar or you have just started learning guitar, you might feel overwhelmed. There is so many different styles of music you can play and different techniques to learn.

In this guide, I will explain the 8 first steps to start learning guitar. Going through these eight steps will not only speed up the learning process, but you’ll learn some important techniques and topics that are so important for learning songs.

If you’re thinking about learning guitar, check out this Guitar Beginner FAQ here for answers to questions you might have.

Step 1: Learn the Names of Guitar Parts

Before you start learning how to play chords, riffs, or anything else, you need to have a basic understanding of your guitar.

If you watch a guitar lessons video on YouTube and they tell you to “place your thumb on the neck behind the fifth fret”, it helps if you know what those part names refer to.

Learning the names of different parts of your guitar will make it easier to follow along with lessons, so this should be your first step to learning guitar.

As you can see in the above diagram, there are a lot of parts on a guitar. Acoustic guitars and electric guitars share a lot of part names, but some parts are also different.

Read this Guide on Parts of the Guitar to learn everything you would want to know about guitar parts.

The guide includes diagrams for every type of part along with clear explanations of what each part does. Try to memorize the part names so you know what they are any time you hear somebody mention them.

Step 2: Learn How to Read Guitar TAB and Chord Diagrams

While it is possible to learn how to play guitar without reading Guitar TAB, Standard Notation, or Chord Diagrams, it will take a lot longer.

Learning how to read Guitar TAB and Chord Diagrams will speed up the learning process and you’ll be able to jump into learning songs almost immediately.

Learn How to Read Guitar TAB

Guitar TAB is a simple way of writing out music and you can find TAB (or Tablature) for almost any song you would want to learn online.

While the above example may not make any sense now, once you learn how to read it, you’ll find that it’s a quick and easy way to learn how to play songs.

The guide will explain everything you need to know about Guitar TAB with helpful diagrams and simple explanations.

Learn How to Read Chord Diagrams

If you want to learn a style of music that uses a lot of chords and strumming, then learning how to read Chord Diagrams is important.

Chord diagrams are a simple way of showing you how to play a chord on guitar as shown below:

Once you learn how to read chord diagrams, you’ll immediately be able to start learning how to play some simple open chords.

Step 3: Learn Some Basic Finger Exercises

Before you dive into learning chords or playing some riffs, you need to know how to place your fingers on the guitar properly.

Taking the time to learn some basic finger exercises is a great way to gain some control over the guitar and prevent a lot of finger strain.

The above exercise is one of the most popular finger exercises from beginners all the way up to professional guitarists. Incredibly talented guitarists still use the above exercise as a warm-up before practicing or performing.

The goal of finger exercises when you’re a beginner is to teach you how to properly play one note at a time without any fret buzz. Once you can comfortably play some finger exercises, you will be prepared to learn some basic guitar riffs and chords.

The guide contains a long list of important finger exercises, so save it in your favorites/bookmarks to refer back to it whenever you’re ready to develop new skills.

Tip: aim to practice some of the finger exercises in the above guide every day. While you might feel like once you learn them you can move on, practicing them every day will give you a serious boost to your abilities.

Step 4: Learn Some Basic Guitar Riffs

Once you can comfortably play some of the basic finger exercises covered in the previous step, you’re ready to learn some basic guitar riffs.

Some of the most well-known guitar riffs are actually fairly easy to play. This is great for a beginner as they give you something fun to play that you can learn almost straight away.

The above Guitar TAB shows how to play the intro riff to Come As You Are by Nirvana. It’s a classic riff that is as easy to play as the finger exercises in the previous step.

I have created a List of 14 Easy Guitar Riffs To Learn with Guitar TAB and explanations for each riff.

Check out the list to start learning some basic guitar riffs once you can comfortably play the finger exercises from the previous step.

If you have followed the previous three steps properly, you will find this step easy. If you skipped any of the previous steps or rushed through them, the riffs will feel hard to learn. Keep practicing the finger exercises if you feel any of the riffs in that guide are hard to learn.

Step 5: Learn Some Easy Open Chords

When you start learning guitar, it’s a good idea to split your practice between two areas: riffs and chords.

Learning how to play riffs will introduce you to techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends, palm-muting, etc. All of these techniques are important to learn and practicing riffs is a great way to learn them.

Check out this lesson for 10 Easy Guitar Chords to Learn First. The lesson includes diagrams, photos, and tips for each chord.

The other area of guitar to start learning is how to play chords. Chords are a big part of guitar-based music and almost every style of music will use chords.

Learning chords is harder than learning the basic riffs in the previous step because you need to learn how to play multiple notes at the same time.

That’s why you should work on the guitar riffs in the previous step before you try to learn some guitar chords. You need to be able to play one or two notes at a time (riffs) before you try to play five or six notes at a time (chords.

Check out this Lesson on How to Practice Guitar Chords for a thorough look at how to effectively learn and master chords.

The lesson was written for beginners, so you will be able to follow it along to properly learn some basic open chords.

Step 6: Learn Some Easy Strumming Patterns

Once you can play some basic riffs and you have memorized a few basic open chords, you can start learning how to play some strumming based songs.

With some songs, all you need to learn to be able to play them is the chords they use and some strumming patterns.

Some songs use complicated strumming patterns while other songs use simple strumming patterns that anybody can learn in a short time.

Check out this Lesson on Easy Guitar Chord Songs to learn how to play some easy strumming patterns.

The lesson includes simple strumming diagrams (as shown above) so you can easily follow along and learn the strumming patterns.

Tip: Even if you don’t plan on learning many strumming-based songs, practicing strumming will help you develop your sense of rhythm and timing. Every guitarist needs to develop rhythm skills and strumming is an easy way to work on it.

Step 7: Develop Good Practice Habits

As a guitar teacher, I can tell you what makes the difference between a beginner who sticks with guitar and eventually masters it and a beginner who gives up.

The difference has nothing to do with talent. It’s all to do with how you practice.

Students who develop good practice habits will end up succeeding and be able to enjoy playing the songs they want to play.

Students who don’t develop good practice habits will end up frustrated and quit learning guitar.

It’s as simple as that.

The first thing you need to do is set up a practice area at home. A good practice area will allow you to practice more often and have better quality practice sessions.

Check out this Guide for Examples of Practice Areas and how to set up your own practice area. I’ve included a lot of examples so you can see the difference between a good and bad practice area.

Once your practice area is set up, check out this guide on 5 things to do every time you practice guitar. A few tips can be all that it takes to take an average practice habit into a great practice habit.

Here are some more tips to develop a good practice habit:

If you want to learn more about how to develop a good practice habit, check out my review and summary of the book Zen Guitar. The name of the book may turn some people off, but the principles and approach to learning guitar contain some powerful lessons.

Find out how long you should practice guitar each day in this guide. The guide looks at the science behind how long to practice so you can learn faster with less time practicing.

Step 8: Learn Your First Song

Once you have mastered some basic finger exercises, can play a few chords and some simple strumming patterns, and you have set up a good practice routine, it’s time to set yourself a challenge.

The challenge is to learn a full song from start to finish.

This is an important challenge for a beginner to work towards because it sets an important milestone. Being able to play a full song from start to finish proves to yourself and everyone else that you have what it takes to learn guitar.

While it’s great to be able to play a lot of riffs or strum a few chords, being able to play a full song is a big accomplishment.

Here are the basic steps to learning an entire song on guitar:

Step 1: Pick a song that sounds fairly easy and you would be happy to dedicate time to learning.

The song can be chord-based or it can be riff-based. It only depends on what style of song you want to learn. It doesn’t have to be your favorite song, but you need to like it enough to be willing to stick with it until you can play the entire song.

Step 2: Find the Guitar TAB for the song and print it off.

You can find the Guitar TAB for the song on any of the Best Guitar TAB Websites here.

Once you find the Guitar TAB by following the advice in that guide, print it off. It might seem old-fashioned to print off something you can easily see on your device, but I highly recommend it.

Having a printed copy of the entire Guitar TAB not only makes it quicker and easier to practice, but you can make notes on the paper as you go. You can write down what parts of the song you’ve already learned, highlight what techniques or chords you need to learn or make any other note you want to help you learn the song.

Step 3: Break the song up into parts.

Look through the entire Guitar TAB and split the song into sections. You might split it into verse-chorus sections, or you might split it up based on each riff you need to learn.

While you might be tempted to start at the start of the song and work your way through it, sometimes it makes more sense to start elsewhere.

Start by learning the easiest riff or chords. Then you can gradually work your way to the harder sections of the song.

Step 4: Practice each part over and over.

You get good as a guitarist by practicing what you learn over and over. Not only does repeating parts over and over help you memorize the parts, but every time you practice it you will strengthen your abilities.

Whenever you see or hear a guitarist play a complicated part, you can guarantee that they’ve played that part over and over. Even amazing guitarists need to practice the parts they play regularly or else they may start to slip in their abilities.

Step 5: Play along with the song or play along with backing tracks.

Once you have learned all of the parts of a song, it’s time to put it all together and try to play it in time. This will take a lot of practice, but once you can play along with the song and keep up, it’s a great feeling.

A great way to build up your speed and eventually be able to play along with a song is to use a program called Guitar Pro.

Guitar Pro loads Guitar TAB files you can download and it will play the song back to you. You can even slow the song down, loop parts you want to practice, or anything else to help you learn the parts faster.

You can use Guitar Pro to practice playing along with the song at half-speed, then once that feels easy, gradually increase it until you can play along with the song at full speed.

Find out more about Guitar Pro in this thorough review. Guitar Pro is the most useful program you can use as a guitarist and I highly recommend it.

To see how you can use Guitar Pro to help you learn songs, check out this tutorial on how to use Guitar Pro to improve your skills.

8 Steps to Learn Guitar Summary

Here are the 8 steps to learning guitar with links to the lessons you should work through in order:

Try to go through the above 8 steps in order as the skills you learn along the way will help you in later steps.

Once you go through the above 8 steps, work your way through this list of guides and lessons (bookmark the page for quick access).

Pick out the topics you’re interested in and aim to work on 1-2 lessons/guides per week.

Next Step: Learn About Guitar Effects, Tone and Gear

If you can play a full song from start to finish, congratulations! That’s quite an achievement and something you should be proud of. A lot of people give up before they reach that milestone, so you should be confident that you will succeed.

Once you learn how to play one song, you can repeat the steps to learn another song. Some songs will be easier to learn than others, but the more songs you learn, the easier everything gets.

A good starting point to learning about tone is to learn about the gear other guitarists use. Finding out what amps, guitars, and pedals a guitarist uses will help you understand how they’re able to create the sounds that make them interesting to listen to.

If you play electric guitar, read this guide on Guitar Amp Settings to learn everything you need to know about getting a good tone out of your amp.

Learning how other guitarists use gear will help you figure out how you should use your gear.

Check out famous guitar rigs here and study any guitarists you’re interested in. There’s a lot you can learn from how different guitarists set up their guitar rigs.

Each of the guitar rig guides walks through the amps, guitars, and gear each guitarist uses as well as how they use the gear.

Finally, if you really want to learn about all the different types of guitar effects you can use as a guitarist or how to dial in different guitar tones on your amp, I have created a comprehensive Guitar Effects and Tone Course.

The course walks you through all the types of guitar pedals you may ever want to play. You’ll hear examples of how each pedal sounds, how to use them, how to combine them with other pedals, and how to dial in different guitar tones.

If you’re learning to play electric guitar or want to learn about guitar effects, check out the course here.

If you found this guide useful and want to be notified of other useful guides, lessons, and reviews, subscribe to updates here.

How To Learn Guitar By Yourself (Step-by-Step With Resources)

Some people will tell you that you shouldn’t try to learn the guitar by yourself and you should get a guitar teacher.

While a guitar teacher can help, it isn’t the only option.

You can effectively learn guitar by yourself if you follow the right resources. There are some aspects of learning guitar that are easier when you have a teacher but it is possible to learn guitar completely by yourself.

It’s important to note that I am a guitar teacher, so when I say that it is possible to effectively learn guitar by yourself, I mean it.

In this guide, I will help you get started learning guitar by yourself.

I’ll answer common questions you might have about teaching yourself guitar and how to avoid bad advice that will make it harder for you to learn guitar.

Is it Too Hard to Learn Guitar By Yourself?

If you are thinking about learning guitar, you might wonder whether it might be too hard to learn guitar by yourself.

There are a lot of online resources to help you learn guitar, but is it hard to learn guitar by yourself?

It isn’t hard to learn guitar by yourself if you use the right learning materials. Learning guitar by yourself is hard if you follow bad advice. Using the right combination of YouTube videos, articles, and online tutorials can make learning guitar by yourself easier.

It is definitely possible to learn guitar by yourself and if you follow the right advice, it isn’t hard.

It’s important to remember that everybody finds it hard to learn guitar in the beginning whether you have a guitar teacher helping you or you’re learning by yourself.

Before we look at how to teach yourself guitar, let’s look at why taking lessons with a guitar teacher isn’t necessarily the best option and why sometimes you could be better off learning on your own.

Not All Guitar Teachers are Equal

Some people mistakenly think that you must have a guitar teacher and having one will solve all of your problems.

The problem is that not all guitar teachers are equal and a bad guitar teacher can cause you more harm than good.

Some guitar teachers will speed up your learning process, help you avoid issues, and make your life easier.

But those guitar teachers are rare. The best guitar teachers spend a lot of time studying teaching methods and psychology to help you learn faster. These teachers are ridiculously hard to find.

Outside of teaching guitar, I work for an international service for guitar teachers that provides them with business and teaching advice.

I have spent almost 10 years coaching hundreds of guitar teachers around the world.

The frustrating truth I’ve learned over the years is that most guitar teachers don’t care about studying teaching methods or looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of their lessons.

This might sound surprising, but it’s true.

We provide guitar teachers with courses on marketing, social media, teaching methods, student psychology, and other important business and teaching topics.

You might be surprised to hear that almost all guitar teachers take the business and marketing courses to help them grow their business and almost none of them (6%) take the courses on teaching methods or psychology.

In other words, most guitar teachers care about growing their business and they don’t care about improving the quality of their teaching.

Even highly experienced guitar teachers don’t realize the importance of studying pedagogy or psychology and how it impacts the quality of their lessons.

This means there are a lot of guitar teachers who are great guitarists, but not many are great teachers.

We once ran a survey to try and find out why guitar teachers weren’t reading any of the guides or courses designed to help them become better teachers.

What did we find out? We found that most guitar teachers already think they’re experts and don’t need to improve their teaching abilities.

While there are great guitar teachers out there, it can be hard to separate the great teachers from the mediocre (who think they’re great).

If you end up taking lessons with a mediocre teacher, you’ll be worse off compared to learning guitar on your own.

Finding a Good Guitar Teacher

If you do decide to look for a guitar teacher, test them out by asking them these questions before you take lessons with them.

The questions I include in the above guide are designed to catch out sub-par guitar teachers. They’re not easy questions that guitar teachers are used to answering, so you’ll quickly find out if a guitar teacher is worth taking lessons from or not.

If you don’t want to take lessons with a teacher and want to try learning guitar by yourself, keep reading.

How to Teach Yourself Guitar

Teaching yourself how to play the guitar is easy in the beginning because everybody needs to learn the same basic skills and topics before you start learning different songs or styles of music.

You need three things to teach yourself guitar. To teach yourself guitar, you need:

Unless you have all three of the above points, teaching yourself guitar is hard.

For example, it doesn’t matter how hard you practice if you practice techniques incorrectly due to poor quality advice. Likewise, the best YouTube lesson won’t help you unless you put the advice into practice.

Let’s look at all three aspects of teaching yourself guitar so you can get started on each one.

A Learning Plan

The reason a lot of people who try to learn guitar on their own fail is because they don’t know what they should be working on.

If you have a goal of playing certain songs, but don’t know what you need to learn to play those songs, you’re going to have a hard time.

To learn guitar effectively by yourself, you need to have a plan on what topics and techniques to learn. Having a plan will make your life easier and cut down the time it takes to learn guitar.

The good news is that everybody can start with the same basic plan before you branch off to different styles of music.

If you follow those 8 steps, you’ll speed up the learning process and avoid a lot of issues beginners often experience.

High-Quality Learning Resources

When you learn guitar by yourself, you’re not really on your own. You have a massive range of online resources you can use to help you.

When learning guitar by yourself, the type of resources you use makes a big difference.

The challenge of finding good learning resources is that there is a lot of bad advice out there.

I mentioned earlier that it’s hard to find a good guitar teacher. Unfortunately, it’s the same with learning resources.

One of the reasons I started this website is because I was frustrated by the bad advice I would often see online.

In the tips section below, I offer some advice on how to find high-quality learning resources online.

A Solid Practice Routine

Practice is the only way you can get better at guitar. Successful guitarists are the people who managed to stick with it and continue practicing.

Everybody sucks at guitar in the beginning. I’ve been teaching for over 15 years and I’ve never seen evidence of innate talent.

Nobody picks up the guitar for the first time and is amazing. It takes practice.

Having a solid practice routine is crucial to your development.

Even if you only practice 5 minutes a day, you will make improvements.

Find out how long to practice guitar in this guide. The guide explains the science-backed method you can follow to get the best quality practice in.

It’s also a good idea to set up a practice space at home. Having an area you can dedicate to practicing guitar can make a big difference.

Find out how to set up an ideal practice space in this guide. The guide includes a few real examples of guitar practice spaces to give you ideas.

Tips for Teaching Yourself Guitar

Here are some tips to help you get started learning guitar by yourself:

Teaching yourself guitar takes a lot of discipline, so don’t give up if you ever get stuck.

Nobody is perfect and there will be times when you feel like giving up. But if you stick with it, you’ll make progress.

Learning Guitar by Yourself FAQ

Here are some common questions you might have about learning guitar by yourself. Check out this guide for other common questions you might have about learning guitar.

What is the Fastest Way to Learn Guitar?

The fastest way to learn guitar is to take your time and learn everything properly. Trying to rush leads to sloppy technique and bad habits. Practice for 10-15 minutes every day without fail and you’ll learn guitar as fast as possible.

Don’t try to push yourself to learn faster. Instead, focus on learning everything properly before you move on to other topics.

Can I Learn Guitar in 3 Months?

You can learn the basics of playing guitar within three months. While you shouldn’t expect to be a great guitarist in a few months, if you practice regularly, you can learn some basic skills.

Which Guitar is Easiest to Learn?

Some guitars are easier to learn than others. Electric guitars and nylon-string acoustic guitars are the easiest to learn on because they’re easy on your fingers. Steel-string acoustic guitars are harder to learn on because you need to press down harder on the strings.

While you may think that this means you should learn on the easiest guitar, that’s not a good idea.

The type of guitar you should learn on is the type of guitar that you will enjoy playing.

If you want to learn rock or metal, learning on an acoustic guitar is a bad idea. Likewise, if you want to play folk acoustic songs (typically played on a steel-string acoustic), you should learn on a steel-string acoustic. While it may be harder in the beginning, it will be the right guitar for you.

How To Learn Guitar: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

The idea of learning how to play the guitar can be very intimidating, especially if this is the first musical instrument you’re learning how to play. It’s totally normal for you to have a lot of questions about the entire process, but we’re here to help push you in the right direction on your guitar journey!

In today’s guide, we’re going to discuss:

Let’s get started!

Step One: Find a guitar that’s right for you

The options for guitars targeted towards beginners is almost endless, and considering that no guitar plays the same, narrowing down what type of guitar you want to purchase can be a difficult choice to make. The type/brand/make/model of guitar that you purchase will have a huge influence on your development and progress as a musician, as there are some guitars out there that are easy to play and there are other guitars that are more difficult to play.

If you happen to end up investing your money into a guitar that’s hard to play, you’re going to have a difficult time finding a passion for playing guitar. While it’s true that it’s better to have a guitar than it is to have no guitar at all, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re investing your money into a guitar that fits your body size and hand size. A guitar that properly fits your body is going to make a huge impact on your guitar journey, so don’t try to cheap out by buying a guitar that isn’t going to fit your body or your hand sizing.

How much money should I spend on a guitar?

What equipment will I need to play the guitar?

There are a few essentials that I would recommend getting into your gear collection before you really start trying to learn and play the guitar, you should invest your money in:

The right type of equipment will really make a huge difference in your technique and the tone of your instrument. As you develop as a musician, you can always add more equipment to your arsenal, but the above-mentioned pieces of equipment are what I would strongly recommend investing in for the beginning of your guitar journey.

Do I need to use a guitar pick?

Besides shopping for a guitar (and an amplifier, if you’re playing an electric guitar of sorts), going shopping around for a pick is going to be one of the most overwhelming shopping experiences you will go through when you’re first getting introduced to the guitar. Just on the selection of sizes, thicknesses, shapes, and types of materials that are used in the creation of a pick, it’s very easy to become lost in the options of choices pick manufactures give you.

Do I need a guitar strap?

A guitar strap is a crucial accessory to pick up if you’re planning on playing your guitar while you’re standing up. Just like guitar picks, there are a lot of different types of materials and designs that you can choose from for a guitar strap. As a beginning musician, you shouldn’t get caught up in the beautiful details of a guitar strap, but should more shop around for a strap that’s comfortable for you to play with.

If you do plan on playing standing up, I would recommend buying a guitar strap that is at least two inches wide with extra neoprene (padding), as this extra padding will help to reduce neck and shoulder strain.

Do I need a guitar cable?

You will only need a guitar cable if your guitar is an electric guitar, an electro-acoustic guitar (an acoustic guitar that can be amplified), or a bass guitar. In terms of cable length, I would recommend starting out with an instrument cable that is less than 20 feet, as a short cable will help to decrease signal and noise loss.

Step two: Discover how to tune your guitar

A guitar that’s worth the financial investment is a guitar that holds its tuning. But, how do you know when your guitar is in tune?

That’s where a guitar tuner comes into play; there are four main types of tuners, which are:

The more money you invest in a guitar, the more likely you are to get an instrument that has a built-in tuner in it, which can be super handy to have.

Step three: Learn to identify your strings

The problem that a lot of beginners run into when first starting to learn how to play is that they’re so excited to dive into playing music, that they often neglect to actually learn the parts and pieces that come together to make their guitar.

Learning how to properly identify the strings on your guitar will make the entire learning process so much easier (and less frustrating) down the road. The identification process of your guitar strings isn’t too complex and once you get it down, it’s something that will stick with you for the rest of your guitar journey!

Plus, learning the identification of your guitar strings will make it a lot easier for you to properly communicate with a guitar teacher and/or other musicians, which is really important to get down especially if you want to be in a band!

Starting from the thickest string on your guitar and going to the thinnest, the guitar string names are: E, A, D, G, B, E. The thickest string is going to be your 6th string (E), while the thinnest string is going to be your 1st string (e).

Here are a few guitar string mnemonic acronyms to help you remember the names of your strings:

Whatever is easier for you to remember is the one that you should repeat to yourself, just to get in stuck in your head so you don’t ever forget!

Which order do guitar strings go in?

The most confusing part of identifying guitar strings for beginners is not having the guitar strings labeled as ‘1-6’, but rather having them labeled as ‘6-1’. Naturally, the thickest string is the string that most people strum first, which is why a lot of musicians think that low E string is going to be the 1st string. But, that low string is actually going to be identified as your ‘6th string’, which the 1st string on your guitar is the high E string.

Further Reads:

Where do I put my fingers on a guitar?

After learning about what the string names are and the placement of those strings, you will also be able to understand what fingers go on which strings! You’re going to be using your index finger, your middle finger, your ring finger, and your pinky finger to hold down strings, as your thumb will be on the back of the neck of the guitar to help balance the instrument. Here’s a little graphic to help you get a better understanding of where you place your fingers!

Step four: Learn a few basic chords

Yay, now we can start getting into the fun part of the guitar, which is actually starting to learn some chords and get to playing! No matter what genre of music you’re looking to play, it’s absolutely necessary that you learn how to play a few basic chords, as chords as an essential part of understanding how to successfully play the guitar.

You may have already spent some time trying to learn how to play some chords, which is totally cool! One of the most amazing parts about learning basic chord structures is that when you get into playing more difficult chords (like B or F), that you will have a better understanding on how to simplify the difficult chords that you struggle to achieve.

Learning how to play a basic chord breaks down to figuring out what to do with your left hand and your right hand. Assuming that your right hand is your dominant hand, your right hand is going to be the hand that strums your guitar, while your left hand is going to be on the fretboard of the guitar (the hand that fingers out the chords). If your left hand happens to be your dominant hand, your left hand is going to be the hand that’s strumming and your right hand will be the hand that’s fingering all of the chord positions.

Just as a quick note, understanding that lining your fingers up on the proper strings isn’t the only step you need to get fluidity in your playing when you’re switching chords. Also, if you’re having problems with your chords not playing and you’re getting a stumped sound out of your instrument, check the positioning of your fingertips. You should be using the tips of your fingers and not the pads of your fingers, so if you are hearing a stumped sound of your guitar, chances are your fingers are touching other parts of the strings that they’re not supposed to be touching.

It’s totally okay that your playing sounds choppy when you’re first starting out, but if you keep at practice, you will soon find that your fingers are switching chord configurations with letter effort!

Further Read:

Step five: Get introduced to strumming your guitar

There are so many different moving parts that go into playing the guitar, but depending upon what type of musical experience you have (if any), learning how to follow rhythm may be the hardest part for you to master. There is absolutely no song in the world that doesn’t have a rhythm, so while you may be able to get away from playing songs that don’t feature a melody or a harmony, but you won’t be able to get away from playing music with rhythm.

A great thing about the guitar is that it doesn’t require a lot of upper arm movement because you mainly depend on your wrist to strum your guitar. Don’t get caught up into the common mistake that a lot of beginners make, where they use their whole arm to strum their guitar with an extreme amount of power.

You don’t need to strum your strings hard, even if you’re looking to blast your audience away with the sound. Just put a little bit more force behind your wrist and you’ll notice a difference in the dynamic that you’re producing but at no point should you ever need to use your entire arm to strum your guitar.

It’s also important that you come to understanding that while it’s a lot of fun playing loud and bold, that you should get the hang of understanding rhythm before you go and start playing your tunes at a thunderous volume. Learn how to strum in time with a beat, as this concept is going to be what makes you sound like a musician who knows what they’re doing, rather than just being someone who can’t play in time and just plays blaringly.

Step six: Develop a proper pick holding technique

When you’re first starting off on your pick journey, it’s a really great idea to get yourself a variety of different picks that consist of different sizes and materials to play around with. It’s almost safe to say that you can’t overbuy picks, as they’re really small and are easy to lose, so it’s always better to have too many rather than not have enough.

It’s really common for beginning guitarists to prefer a softer pick when they’re first starting out playing, so don’t let an experienced guitarist talk you out of getting softer picks. The more experience that you get under your built, the more you’ll find that a heavier, harder pick will be what gives you the most feeling of control.

I would recommend getting started with a pick that is between 0.65-0.73 in thickness, as a pick that’s any thicker than this will make it more difficult to control your fluidity when you’re strumming.

When holding your pick, I strongly recommend holding your pick in between your thumb and your forefinger, as this is the most natural and comfortable way to hold your pick (some people argue holding with your middle finger and your thumb, but it doesn’t feel as natural). You should hold your pick far down enough so that just the tip (the pointy end) of the pick is sticking out from your fingers; holding your pick back too far won’t provide you with enough control of over your pick, making it easier to lose control of.

While holding your pick in the correct place doesn’t seem like it would make a big difference in your playing, getting a solid understanding on how to properly make contact with your guitar will make a huge difference in overall experience with your instrument.

Another common mistake that beginners make when first starting out their journey is that they will find the easiest way that they can to strum/pluck their guitar, which typically means that they strum with their fingers or their thumb. It’s totally okay to play with your fingers, but playing with your thumb is the most limiting bad habit that you can develop while you’re learning how to play.

As a well-versed musician, it’s incredibly important that you develop the ability to play with both your fingers and a pick, so make sure that you’re practicing with both techniques.

Step seven: Learn how to practice in a healthy manner

If your dream is to be the world’s greatest guitarist, you don’t have to be born with a secret talent or have really long fingers to be able to make your dream achievable. Developing a healthy practice schedule is what’s going to make your dreams possible! But what really makes the difference in your long-term goal is how you practice and how often your practice is what’s going to make the biggest difference in your guitar journey.

How often should I practice?

Practicing at least a half hour every day is what I recommend, as a half-hour practice is going to give you time to:

However, even just practicing five or ten minutes a day on the days that you don’t have a lot of time is a lot better than not practicing at all. But at the same time, don’t try and take a week’s worth of practice and cram it all into one day.

It’s totally okay if you miss a day or even a few days because life does happen and unforeseen circumstances will pop up. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be okay if you miss weeks after week’s worth of practice, as you will be a little rusty getting back into the game. This also doesn’t mean that you should cram a few days of practice into one day, as a huge list of to-dos will certainly get your mind overwhelmed and limit the amount of information that your brain is absorbing.

It’s a lot easier and a lot more productive to get your fifteen minutes to half-hour practice on a daily basis, as breaking off your practices into chunks will make your learning experience a lot more manageable, easier to understanding, and less overwhelming.

Step eight: Find a guitar teacher or program

One thing that a lot of beginners expect is that all guitar teachers are the same, so they can go to any local guitar store/lesson and think that any teacher available will work for them. Just like a pair of sneakers isn’t going to be the most comfortable choice for all people, not all guitar teachers are going to be the perfect fit for you.

It may take you going through five or six guitar teachers to find the perfect match for you, so don’t feel discouraged if you haven’t found the exact fit yet! When you are ‘shopping’ around for a guitar teacher, it’s a great idea to have a set of goals in your head for you to share with your guitar teacher, as this will help your guitar teacher get a better understanding of what you’re looking to learn. Here are a few example goals to have in mind for you to share with your teacher:

The term ‘I want to play the guitar’ means something different to everyone, as learning how to play is a very personal experience. When looking around for a new guitar teacher, don’t just tell your teacher that you want to play the guitar. Instead, discuss with your teacher some goals that you want to achieve on your guitar journey, as that will help your teacher to get a better understanding of what success looks like to you!

Further Reads:

How long will it take for me to learn the guitar?

Whenever you start the journey of learning a new skill, we all possess the same desire of wanting to be skilled at the new skill we’re working on developing. All good things take time, so your insane guitar skills aren’t going to develop overnight or within one day of practice.

If you’re struggling (or feel like you’re struggling) to learn the guitar, realize that we all learn at different paces and that the most important thing you can do is be patient with yourself! Getting frustrated will only lead you to develop a dislike for the guitar, whereas as a newbie on your journey, you should want to start developing a passion for playing.

There is no sort of time period that you have to learn the guitar in and the journey to mastering the guitar isn’t a race! Take a second and realize that there isn’t any need to getting frustrated with yourself. Struggling to master a concept or a task is all part of the learning process, so what you’re struggling with is completely normal.

This also means that you shouldn’t get discouraged by other people! Sure, there are bound to be guitarists who are better at one skill than you are, but at the same point, you have the potential to be better than that same guitarist in another area. Don’t judge your playing capabilities against someone who has been playing for longer than you have- that’s just a killer of hope.

Nobody gets good at guitar just by picking up and playing, so being successful (whatever you think a successful guitarist is) takes time, patience, and practice!

Am I too old to learn the guitar?

Absolutely not, you could never be too old to learn the guitar! No matter if you’re just starting high school or if you’re celebrating your retirement, there is absolutely no age that you could be that would make you too old to learn the guitar. Also, no matter what age you are, learning the guitar can be a promising and rewarding hobby to get under your belt, which may give you a whole new perspective on what you’re capable of!

Other tips to help make your journey a little easier:

Use a metronome

This can be really difficult to follow along with at first, but using a metronome will help you to keep a sense of steady rhythm, while also helping you to figure out the timing of your notes. Make sure to set your BPM (beats per minute) to a slower tempo (beat) when you’re first starting out a new song!

Don’t forget about your dominant hand

While mastering chord fingerings is really important, working on strengthening the skill of your dominant hand is often forgotten about. Just pick an easy chord to press down on your left hand and work on any finger-style playing or using a pick while playing the same chord. Practicing with your right hand will really help when it comes time for you to nail complex solos that have a tricky strumming pattern!

Take a second to actually listen to some music

When you’re feeling like your hands are getting tired, your fingertips are sore, or your wrists are starting to feel strained, take a break and listen to some music! Don’t worry- it’s totally normal for your fingers to hurt a bit.

However, if your wrists are starting to hurt, you don’t want to take the chance of damaging any ligaments or tendons in your hands, so don’t forget to rest. Listening to music and listening to what other popular guitarists do with their sound (or how they implicate the technique they’re most famous for) can help you to find your own individual sound!

Train your left hand with silent playing

Want to watch a movie but don’t want to make the noise that comes with playing the guitar? Silent playing or silent rehearsing is a method of practice where basically the guitarist just moves their left hand across the fretboard, fingering different chords, but doesn’t strum with their right hand. This is a great practice technique to use if you’re looking to increase your chord switching speed!

Read More:

At the same time…

Don’t grip too hard with your left hand

This is going to feel weird at first and your wrist may feel strained, but it’s much better to struggle to develop a habit than it is to try to break a bad habit of using your thumb to press down the 6th string.

Go slow!

Trying to learn to play at a really fast pace isn’t going to help build muscle memory or help your brain retain the information any longer. A great technique is about accuracy, which is something that you develop by playing at a slow tempo. When you learn to play properly, speed naturally follows along!

Make a list of your favorite songs

Go with lighter gauge strings

Don’t take the lazy way with fingering

While a certain fingering may feel a little bit easier for you to accomplish using certain fingers, don’t take the lazy way when it comes to proper fingerings. Later on down the road, you may come to the realization that the chord that you’ve been lazy fingering is now nearly impossible to play with a seventh or ninth variation added onto it. Just do yourself the favor and practice the fingerings that you struggle with the most, so you don’t develop bad habits down the road when you need to use proper fingering the most!

Further Reads:

Conclusion

Learning the guitar can be a tricky hobby to get into, but it’s a lot easier to play the guitar if you work on building correct playing techniques and a healthy practice routine when you’re first starting out! Hammering out the simple, common mistakes that a lot of beginners make and nailing the basic techniques will make the rest of your playing journey an easy ride!

The Squier Affinity Strat Pack includes everything you need to start rocking right out of the box.

Respecting that long and storied heritage, the Fender Player Series Telecaster puts a modern edge on the authentic Tele tone and vibe.

The Yamaha GigMaker Guitar Package is built around the F325D acoustic guitar with die-cast chrome tuners and a spruce top.

The special X Series GPCX Grand Performance Acoustic-Electric Guitar has a powerful, rich tone, with all the sustain you have come to expect from a Martin guitar.

This all-in-one bundle has all your favorite BOSS accessories.