If you want to get into guitar there are a few steps that you have to take in order to get started. First, you have to make sure that guitar is something you really want to do because if  not, you’re likely to set it down in a corner and it will never see the light of day again. Guitar works the same as most instruments. If you don’t have the determination to practice, you are just going to get frustrated and stressed out. 

Next, you have to get your guitar. There are so many options to choose from including electric, acoustic, bass, electric acoustic, classical, banjo, etc. If you want to start with the best building block to branch out from it would be an acoustic guitar. The reason the acoustic guitar would be the best first pick in my opinion is that it’s affordable, easy to learn, doesn’t take up a ton of space, and there are many things you can learn that translate to other guitars or guitar-like instruments in the future.

Once you find the type of guitar you want to begin with, there are a few basics that you should know to begin. First, there are chords. There are a lot of chords that you will eventually learn such as the minor, major, and suspended chords, but beginners should not have to worry about those yet. There are seven chords which are the building blocks for the others~A,B,C,D,E,F, and G. In general, you will use chords  for most Christian, Country, and Fingerpicking songs, but you can find chords in almost all genres, so they’re a must know. 

Next, there are notes which are essential to anything you’ll end up playing on the guitar. When you look at the fretboard every space between each fret is a note. Guitar and piano have the largest scale of notes that you can play. Before you start walking up the fretboard, you first need to learn the open string notes. This is essential because everything else you’ll play uses those notes as a starting point to go up the scales. There are six strings on a normal guitar, the top note is an E then going down the strings it goes A,D,G,B, and E again. If you combine these basics with a few other techniques, you can play any song.

 The great thing about learning guitar is its versatility. You can play almost any song in almost any genre. However, you might be asking, “How do I learn this song, where do I go?” and that’s okay.

There are plenty of websites and teachers that would love to help you out.  You might also be asking, “Where do I go to get taught or should I self teach?”  Both of these methods are good If you go to a teacher you’ll most likely have less freedom and a more structured way of learning, but you’ll also be more likely to learn different techniques and playing styles quicker. If you want to be self taught you will be learning at your own pace. It does take longer, but you have the liberty of doing whatever you want. 

 Unless you have a special gift teaching yourself, learning entirely by yourself is going to take years and years of practice, so that is what the Internet is for. There are many good and bad websites to use and people have different opinions, so the best way to find the perfect guitar site for you is to just do your research and find the one that you think will help you out the most. One of my personal favorite websites to use is https://www.ultimate-guitar.com because it is free and is pretty straight forward.

Now you know the baby steps you need in order to start your journey on a hopefully epic guitar experience.  Like I said before, it should be something you’re really passionate about before you get started because a lot of people spent lots of money and then it all goes down the drain. Watch videos and really learn about what you’re getting into before you dive in head first.