Starting Guitar from scratch

[kray]

So I bought an acoustic a month back, and I now that I have time to start this hobby, I've decided to start playing guitar from scratch. The most I've done so far is trying to tone my guitar, but other than that, did not start playing any real tunes. Any recommendations for where and how to start playing? 

[Roy]

Just my personal experience I don't mean to scare you off, but back when I used played guitar a long time ago I found the learning/skill curse for acoustic is really steep at the start, which can be discouraging. So I would recommend looking to get a cheap electric guitar as well to help ease you into it. Electric is easier mechanically for your body I found so it helps for practice and building confidence. You'll get results fairly quickly with electric which feels great.

I would say the best place to start is finding tabs/sheets for music that you like to listen to. Being able to replicate bits and pieces of your favorite band or songs is really fun 

[Phil King]

Just learn to play C D Em and G. Basically only practice transitioning from those chords and maybe learn a scale or two. After a couple months of 30mins a day practicing like this youll be able to play hundreds of songs.

[Yarco]

https://www.justinguitar.com/

All the guitar lessons you'll ever need, completely for free

Practice a little bit, consistently, every single day.

[puporing]

@kray lol I started not long ago too. I am on electric though like others have said it's easier to get into mechanically, also I just love the distorted overdriven sound ?. I have a private teacher though I find that helps me not get overwhelmed/motivated and develop good techniques. Some people might do better on their own depends. Like with piano I stopped with teachers because it's now become stifling and I'm able to navigate on my own. So all in all see what helps motivate you.

Great learning tool I found was Songsterr (I was so shocked when I discovered they even have JRock).

[JonasVE12]

What is your goal? You want to be able to improvise fluently or just learn some songs? it all depends on what you want. 
If you really want to get to know the guitar and get to the point you can use it in any way you want and express yourself without limitations, the path will be very different then if you only want to learn songs.

Check out Paul davids courses as well as justinguitar's courses. Both really great.

Music theory is essential imo. Learn the notes on the fretboard. You want to be able to instantly identify all notes on the fretboard without thinking. 

Learn the major scale, triads, chords in key, scale patterns, pentatonic minor and major scale, and learn CAGED. If you know caged, you can basically play any chord and any scale from those shapes. Really powerful. And experiment with all of it through practice. Make your brain work hard. All of it becomes muscle memory over time until you play intuitively without thinking. Music theory will offer you guidance and deeper understanding. Practice will connect that to making music.

[kray]

1 hour ago, JonasVE12 said:

What is your goal? You want to be able to improvise fluently or just learn some songs? it all depends on what you want. 
If you really want to get to know the guitar and get to the point you can use it in any way you want and express yourself without limitations, the path will be very different then if you only want to learn songs.

Check out Paul davids courses as well as justinguitar's courses. Both really great.

Music theory is essential imo. Learn the notes on the fretboard. You want to be able to instantly identify all notes on the fretboard without thinking. 

Learn the major scale, triads, chords in key, scale patterns, pentatonic minor and major scale, and learn CAGED. If you know caged, you can basically play any chord and any scale from those shapes. Really powerful. And experiment with all of it through practice. Make your brain work hard. All of it becomes muscle memory over time until you play intuitively without thinking. Music theory will offer you guidance and deeper understanding. Practice will connect that to making music.

@JonasVE12 I'm looking to able to eventually go down a path of being able to express myself, so I guess as you said I should start with getting familiar and comfortable with music theory? 

[puporing]

53 minutes ago, kray said:

I'm looking to able to eventually go down a path of being able to express myself, so I guess as you said I should start with getting familiar and comfortable with music theory? 

Theory should be developed to help you express yourself. That's my take, it should not take precedence over what you want to express (unless you are wanting to be a theory expert first and foremost of course..). And you can learn so much from other people's work, backed up by an understanding of theory/patterns. You don't need to be an expert on it to play and/or write songs. Just look at Green Day some of their songs have such a simple riff. 

[Thittato]

Make your Youtube into all about guitar, music history and theory. Cancel all your other subscriptions! There is so much fun and awesome stuff on youtube, and if you can just totally brainwash yourself through youtube and make those algorithms into just feeding you daily about how cool music and guitar is you'll quickly improve! :-)

Edited February 5, 2022 by Thittato

[JonasVE12]

12 hours ago, kray said:

@JonasVE12 I'm looking to able to eventually go down a path of being able to express myself, so I guess as you said I should start with getting familiar and comfortable with music theory? 

Absolutely. This is important and will unlock the fretboard for you to use in any way you want.

Get the course from Justinguitar. It is called 'Practical, fast and fun music theory'. And the one from paul davids if you want. It is more expensive though, but the value is amazing. And this website https://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/ is also great for consolidating the things you learned from Justin guitars and paul davids courses. These 3 are pretty much all you need to get to a high level of playing. 

Do not learn from random youtube videos at first. Follow a structured course like above and study it deeply until your brain has absorbed the material and made it its own. They will also teach you how to apply all of it, make music, and have fun. But accept that the first weeks/months depending on how much you practice will be a lot more intellectual. 
 

 

[Eternal Unity]

@kray Guitar is awesome! 

Try to learn from a book for beginners, there are some of those. Learn basic chords and tunes to practice.