How to Start Teaching Yourself Guitar

Which guitar to start on

Guitars fall into three broad types: classical guitars with nylon strings, acoustic guitars with steel strings, and electric guitars that need an amp. Nylon strings are soft on the fingertips, but the neck is wide, which can make chords a stretch for small hands. An acoustic suits singing along and is loud on its own, but steel strings hurt more at first. Electric guitar strings are thin and sit low, so they press down easily, and you can practice quietly through headphones, though you will need an amp. In the end, the type closest to the music you want to play is the one you will stick with. A guitar whose strings sit too high above the fretboard is tiring to play, so ask for the string height to be adjusted when you buy.

String names and standard tuning

The thinnest string is called the 1st and the thickest the 6th. In standard tuning, from the 6th string up, the strings are E, A, D, G, B, E; the 1st and 6th are both E, two octaves apart. Most neighboring strings are five half steps apart (a perfect fourth), except G and B, which are four half steps apart (a major third). That single exception shapes chord fingerings and tuning methods all over the neck. A clip-on tuner or a tuning app on your phone is the accurate everyday option, and new strings keep stretching and going flat, so retune often for the first few days. With no tuner, use the 6th string as a reference and tune each string to its neighbor.

• Fret the 6th string at the 5th fret and match the open 5th string to it
• Fret the 5th string at the 5th fret and match the open 4th string
• Fret the 4th string at the 5th fret and match the open 3rd string
• Fret the 3rd string at the 4th fret to match the open 2nd string (the one exception)
• Fret the 2nd string at the 5th fret and match the open 1st string

Frets and hand shape

Each space between the metal bars on the fretboard is a fret, and each one you move up raises the pitch by a half step. That is why the 12th fret sounds exactly one octave above the open string, and why the fretboard usually has a double dot there. Press with your fingertip upright, just behind the bar on the body side, and you will get a clean note with little effort. Pressing in the middle of the space, or near the bar on the headstock side, takes more force and tends to buzz. Rest your thumb lightly behind the neck and keep a gap between your palm and the neck. A capo presses down a whole fret at once, so the same chord shapes move up in key by half steps.

Reading chord charts and tab

A chord chart is a picture of the neck standing upright. The vertical lines are the strings, with the thick 6th string on the far left; the horizontal lines are frets, and the thick line at the top is the nut. Dots show where to press, and the number inside is the finger to use. Tab is six horizontal lines with numbers on them, and the top line is the thinnest 1st string. Remember this one difference first and you will not mix them up: in a chord chart the thick string is on the left, in tab it is at the bottom.

• Fingers are numbered index 1, middle 2, ring 3, pinky 4
• An O above a chord chart means play the string open; an X means do not play it
• Numbers in tab are fret numbers, and 0 means an open string

First chords and changing chords

Start with open chords that have simple shapes. Em and Am need only two or three fingers, so they are common first chords, and once you add C, G and D you can play basic accompaniment for a huge number of songs. The hard part in real playing is not holding one chord but getting to the next one on time. Pick two chords and move slowly between them, practicing moving all your fingers together rather than one at a time, and leave any finger that stays in the same place for both chords where it is. After forming a chord, pick each string one by one and find any muted string, then adjust your finger angle. The most common cause is the flesh of a finger touching the next string.

Strumming and keeping time

Your picking hand starts with strumming, brushing the strings up and down with a pick or your fingers. The key is to keep your arm swinging up and down in time without stopping, and only make contact with the strings when you want a sound. That way your hand keeps moving through the rests and your timing stays steady. Start with a single downstroke on each beat, then work up to patterns that mix downs and ups. Playing along with a slow metronome catches the habit of dragging the beat while you change chords early on. A thin pick feels smooth for strumming, while a thick pick gives single-note lines a firmer sound.

The F chord wall and sore fingertips

Barre chords, where one index finger presses several strings at once, and the F chord in particular, are where many self-taught players stall. It is normal for it not to ring cleanly at first. Instead of squeezing harder, roll your index finger slightly onto its bony side and let the weight of your arm pull back, which takes far less effort. Do not stop playing because barres will not work yet. Keep playing songs with easy chords and give barres a few separate minutes a day. Sore fingertips are common for the first few weeks and ease as calluses form. If you get numbness or sharp pain in your wrist or arm that keeps coming back, stop, check your posture, and see a professional if it continues.

A self-study routine and common mistakes

Short, frequent sessions help your fingers remember better than one long session a day. Keeping the guitar on a stand where you can see it, rather than in its case, means you pick it up far more often. Recording yourself now and then reveals shaky timing and muted notes you never noticed while playing. These mistakes are especially common when learning alone.

• Skipping tuning and diving straight in
• Playing fast songs at full speed from the start
• Looking at the chord shape without checking how it sounds
• Practicing chord changes without any steady beat
• Putting the guitar away entirely when one song gets stuck