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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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Study and learn music, it is like a language. Then what you play on any musical instrument will make sense. Intervals and timing are all the rage.
I use to play the accordian. The tuba is what you probably learn in high school. If you like it you can learn it any time. You don’tt have to wait till high school. But I haven’t seen that interest in people.
Go to JustinGuitar.com... and follow the course...
I learned in the same way. It drove my mother nuts hearing me play the same music with a record player needle and trying to figure it ut. I finally found out that there was a pattern to the notes I played and it is called the penatonic scale. I too grew up before internet and was a small town where there was nobody really to teach me.
Actually, probably the biggest thing a “new” guitar player should do, but most don’t, especially if they bought a entry level guitar (which most do to start out), is go and take that guitar and get it set up PROPERLY.. not tuned, but properly set up, get the action set low and proper.. you will still hav e finger pain, but not remotely as bad as trying to play a $150-$250 guitar with the insanely high action they come from the factory with.
If there was one thing I could go back in time and done that I didn’t when I first started playing guitar it would be that. I spent six months playing with the guitar as it came from the factory, and I stuck it out, but man did I make my first 6 months far harder than it needed to be.
To learn how to play individual notes it helps to practice scales. For example, learn the 7 diatonic scales and how to play them. If nothing else, this will get your fingers use to pattern playing.
Yeah, it is a language and that is how you communicate. Many things to communicate, especially the emotions.
“I’m interest in rock music mostly”
##################
Too wide a genre. Can you be more specific? Who are some of the artists or specific songs you wish to emulate or play?
I could likely then suggest specific songs for you to start with.
It is a good resource!
Get comfortable and confident with the major scale, even if you’re not ready to use it to play songs. Knowing this scale and its interval structure is foundational and will form an understanding of how chords are built and learning other more advanced stuff down the road.
Also recommend learning the minor scale and the blues scale and get to the point where you instantly hear the difference between all three scales. Good too for developing your ear and hand strength/dexterity.
Yeah, that is a good point. Especially the C scale at the foot of the neck. They then can play melodies and fingers can do a workout.
Look into buying a Squire electric guitar at a pawn shop for @$100. Then get a Spark amplifier for @$150. The software is magical.
Take a few private lessons.
Yeah, the major scale is important for all the reasons you said. The major scale is also the back bone of western music and is always important.
Larry begs to differ. He hasn't had a hit in a while, but he's still playing
That is a good point. You can learn on Youtube but you might be doing stuff that you don’t know is wrong.
I taught myself how to play guitar starting in 1964 with the various Beatles song books that were popular then. They had chord names and fingering charts along with the words, so I tried to play along with my records. It was brutal at first, but worth the effort and persistence.
As other comments have said, before anything else, make sure your guitar is set up properly. A set of lightweight strings of the proper gauges is essential. Getting the bridge height and angle correct is essential. Making sure the neck is straight and the string height is low enough for your fingers is essential. If you don’t do those things first, it makes learning much more difficult and frustrating.
Beyond that, practice, practice, practice.
Playing for 47 years. My callouses are so hard they sound like regular fingernails when tapping a surface. Love my guitar.
Go to the link I posted. That is me and the music I have done. It has cover rock songs and originals.
https://www.youtube.com/@countvlad8845/videos
LOL Play the tuba and you’ll be happy in life!
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