The guitar is one of the most popular (and coolest) instruments to learn. It isn’t easy to learn though, it will take months of practice and hard work before you can actually play songs with any kind of skill, and it will then take a lifetime of learning to master all the subtle techniques you can use to enhance your playing, or to learn different styles etc.
What, that wasn’t what you wanted to hear?
I know most people nowadays think they will up and playing songs in a few days and then have mastered the guitar by the end of the week and be bored of it, well I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it takes years to get good and a lot of that time is spent doing boring practice and having sore fingers! However the pay off once you do start to master songs and techniques is more than worth it, and you’ll have learnt a skill that will stay with you for life then.
The first step if you want to start learning the guitar is to buy the actual instrument, you don’t want to go mad here and spend loads of money on one, but you don’t want junk that will make it harder for you to learn with either. Go for a mid range guitar, about $300 – $400, you might be able to go less but check out the reviews first to find one that will sound good and not be hard to play. Ideally you want an electric guitar first I would say, it is a lot easier to press the strings down on so you can master the techniques before you move onto the acoustic and have to suffer with sore fingers from pressing the strings down hard!
Then you need something to learn off, you can teach yourself, and that has been made easier nowadays with all sorts of DVD courses and websites coming into the market to help you, but the easiest way is to get yourself an instructor. Of course that is also really expensive, so while it is the best method then most people will try to learn by themselves.
First master playing single notes and navigating around the fretboard, then move onto chords and really practice them until you can change between some basic chords without pausing as you play. At the same time you should be looking at how to read music, yes you can just use tabs, but what if you are ever given a sheet of music to play and you don’t have any clue how to read it, that would be awkward right? Put in the time now to learn to read it and that will be better in the long run.
Then it is all about building on the skills you have, learning new chords and techniques, practicing them like crazy, and of course learning and trying new songs. Good luck – and stick with it!