Posted on 03/28/2026 7:46:08 AM PDT by BEJ
I'm looking for good ideas on playing the guitar for beginners. Any suggestions?
Starting to Play the Guitar: Chords and Notes
1. Start by learning the chords at the foot of the neck or open position. There are a limited number of chords – roughly about 12 -- but you can eventually play many songs just using these chords.
2. Get to know the names of the strings.
3. Start to play notes up the strings. The C scale is good. Start of the low E string and play the natural notes from E up to G on the high E string. See if you can memorize these notes. (show how it is done). Keep fingers hovering close to the fretboard. Beginners often pull their hand away too far, which makes the next note harder to hit. Eventually you want to play melodies like Ode to Joy.
4. When showing them the C scale mention it has no sharps or flats (no black keys on a piano), which makes it the best scale for understanding how music is built 5. Get a chord chart with the fingerings for chords at the foot of the neck.
6. The first chord to play should be the easiest and that is E minor. Strum Em minor with down strokes. Hear how beautiful it sounds.
7. The second chord is the G chord. Watch how you only have to move one finger from the Em chord to play this new G chord. Keep the one finger as an anchor. Try not to move your hand off the strings. And keep you fingers near the strings.
8. Eventually get to finger all the chords. Pick each string one by one after forming a chord. This helps to identify which finger is accidentally muting a string.
9. Go from one chord to another and keep the fingers that don’t need moving in place as you change chords.
10. Good progression is G, Em, C, D or G, C, D. Do 4 down strums for each chord and then change. Eventually you will include up strums as well.
11. Fingers will take time to move but go slow and see it you can get to another chord on the beat. The chords can be played with different fingering: for example, the A chord can have 3 fingers pushing down the strings or 1 finger across the strings. Beginners should start with 3 fingers.
12. If you are good at getting to the other chords on time, then try up and down stroke for every beat.
13. Once you can get to the next chord easily and on time try going through all the chords. New progressions are C, F, G, F or D, G, A, G or E, A, B7, A.
14. It takes a while before you can move from one chord to another easily. Your hands will adjust, and it will be easier because of muscle memory. Keep things relaxed and even if there is a pause to get the grip of a new chord that will eventually disappear, and your hands will mover fluently. Try to switch chords without stopping your right-hand strumming, even if the chord isn't perfectly clear yet. Keeping the rhythm is more important than a perfect grip.
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How to play the guitar for beginners books are sold on ebay one is free.
Just looking for new ideas.
Put bandaids on the tips of your fingers, BEFORE they get raw.
Make sure the guitar is set up correctly. If the strings are too high off the fretboard it will be very difficult and frustrating to push them down to engage the frets. When first starting off it might be better to use thinner strings.
Learn how to play with your hands/wrist/fingers in the proper positions. This allows you to finger notes and chords cleanly, without interfering with adjacent strings. If you don't learn proper positioning,, it makes it harder later.
Experiment a bit. The nicest thing about becoming a player, of any instrument, is that you can use the instrument as a means of expressing yourself.
Have fun!
Make sure to first find a guitar that feels comfortable for you and that has a neck that is easy to play. These “ergonomics” will be different for everyone. Getting the right instrument FOR YOU will reduce the fatigue and frustration that comes from struggling to learn new chords and developing muscle memory.
The books are a good place to start others have their own ideas about it.
Make your own style the best have.
OK.
Great post
That is a good suggestion. I have to tell people that there is pain involved when playing the guitar. Also that they can develop callous’ involved.
These are good ideas. I was just thinking about chords and notes but these ideas do play a role with them.
Any ideas more about chords and note playing?
It’s different for everybody. There’s many different ways to go about it, depending on what your given talent is, what kind of music you are interested in, lead guitar or rhythm, whether you want to sing along or just play, and many other factors.
UltimateGuitar.com is an excellent resource. Find a song you like and learn to play it.
Youtube is also an excellent resource. There are tutorial videos to teach you to play all levels of songs.
What genre of music interests you?
Good ideas!
Any ideas about chords or notes? Ideas that a beginner could relate to when starting to play chords and notes?
Thanks!
Good tips!
WRT barre chords, while its important to know how to play them they can become a bit of a crutch. I wouldn’t recommend using them too much as you don’t really need to play every note of a chord for it to sound good and there are alternatives that are much easier to play. For a variety of reasons, you don’t see pro’s relying on them.
Why guitar? Why not tuba? Nobody plays the tuba
Learn a few scales. Pentatonic major and minor, in all five positions. Easy now, harder later. Then learn how chords are developed from those scales. If I could go back and start over, that is what I would do. Where I grew up there were no teachers, so I learned by ear. I do not recommend that if you have access to a competent teacher. Lessons are definitely worth the money. That way you don’t have to relearn all the nonsense you figured out on your own. I’ll never forget the days of moving the record player tone arm again and again, learning a riff, only to finally see the band play live and realize I was playing it nothing like they do. That said, playing guitar is a wonderful pastime. Especially if you play electric and have a specific sound in your head that you are compelled to chase by buying amp after amp, pedal after pedal, then speakers, then…..$$$$
“Put bandaids on the tips of your fingers, BEFORE they get raw.”
I’ve played for ~60 years. My advice is to work through the pain. It only lasts a couple of weeks, then you’re good for life.
Thank you. The finger pain is often the main reason most people give up playing, and therefore needs to always be factored in. It’s much worse than people realize until they experience it for themself! Just keep the bandaid trimmed good so it doesn’t hit other strings if you can, and maybe even wrap a piece of tape around the nail area to keep it in place if needed, but it allowed me to play on many days I otherwise couldn’t have.
One other suggestion I would give is to not only learn the names of the chords as you describe, but also don’t be afraid to dive right in and go to learning the “tabs” of your favorite songs, right away. Some purists may try to talk you out of that, but I got so much better once I started doing the tabs that I quit my lessons and got more actual enjoyment out of playing than ever before. Here’s a good site that offers a lot of free ones, per Google. Good luck!
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com
Your right about Ultimate Guitar and the tabs they have
I’m interest in rock music mostly but I have played other types. I also like to write music. I go by the moniker Count Vlad. Here is my Youtube site if you want to check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/@countvlad8845/videos
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