What playing guitar actually involves

One hand presses strings against the fretboard while the other strums or plucks. Most beginners start with open chords, shapes your fingers hold to sound several notes together, then string those chords into a song. Early practice is short and repetitive: form a shape, check every string rings clearly, switch to the next shape, repeat. Acoustic guitars are self contained and ready to play anywhere. Electric guitars are quiet unplugged and need an amp to sound full.

Beat 1Form a shape
Beat 2Check each string
Beat 3Switch
Beat 4Repeat

Why people love it

A guitar is portable, works as well on your own as with friends, and fits almost any genre.

You can practice quietly on nylon strings or plug in and play loud. In the first few months improvement is obvious week to week, and four or five chords are enough to play a large number of real songs. Once you own the instrument, upkeep costs very little.

A young player hunched over an acoustic guitar in low sunlight — Fifteen minutes on a couch counts.

Acoustic, electric or classical?

Choose the one that matches the music you want to play.

Steel string acoustic suits singer songwriter, folk, and country, needs no extra gear, and builds finger strength quickly. Electric has lighter strings and a slimmer neck that many people find kinder on the hands, but it is only worth playing through an amp. Nylon string classical guitars have a wide flat neck and soft strings and are standard for classical and flamenco. There is no wrong first pick, and the core skills carry across all three.

Picking one puts that guitar, with the strings, bag and extras that suit it, into the kit and takes the other two out. You can still switch any line in or out from the kit.

What to check before you buy

Low action

The strings should sit close to the frets. If pressing a string down at the 12th fret takes real effort, the guitar will hurt to learn on.

Size

Full size fits most adults. If a big acoustic body is awkward to reach over, a smaller concert or parlor body plays the same way.

It stays in tune

Tune it, play for a few minutes, and check again. Pegs that slip mean retuning all session.

No buzzing

Play each string at a few frets. A buzz on most of them points to a neck or fret problem, not your fingers.

Returns and a setup

Buy where you can return it, and budget for a setup at a guitar shop (usually $50 to $100), which lowers the action and cures most buzzing on a budget guitar.

A close-up of strings crossing the frets on a guitar fretboard

Directions you can take it

Six ways people play

Strumming and singingHold chords and keep steady rhythm to back your voice or a group.

Start here

Learn G, C, D, and E minor, then play along with one slow song you already know.

JustinGuitar

FingerstylePlay bass, melody, and harmony at once with thumb and fingers, common in folk and acoustic instrumental music.

Start here

Hold a C chord and practice a slow thumb-and-three-fingers picking pattern until it runs without looking.

Blues and rock leadString bending, vibrato, and pentatonic scales for riffs and solos.

Start here

Learn the A minor pentatonic scale in one position and bend its notes over a slow backing track.

ClassicalReading standard notation and performing set pieces on a nylon string guitar.

Start here

Find a teacher or a graded method early, because posture and reading are hard to correct on your own.

JazzMoveable chord voicings and improvising over changing harmony.

Start here

Get open chords and barre chords solid first, then learn the major 7, minor 7, and dominant 7 shapes.

Worship and open micA small chord vocabulary plus a capo to play in any key.

Start here

Learn four open chords and how to use a capo, then play one song start to finish for someone else.

What is hard at the start

No sugar-coating

The first two or three weeks are the toughest.

Fingertips stay sore until light calluses form, chord shapes feel cramped, and switching between two chords in time takes longer than you expect. Barre chords, where one finger presses every string, frustrate most people for a month or more. Buzzing and muted notes are normal early on and usually mean a finger is not close enough to the fret or not pressing hard enough. Progress comes in jumps, and a shape that felt impossible often clicks the next day.

Your first few sessions

Tick these off as you go

A bright acoustic guitar propped against an indoor wall — Keep it out and in reach, not zipped in a closet.

Tuning up, string by string

Standard tuning, from the thickest string to the thinnest, is E A D G B E. One way to remember it: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.
Clip the tuner on the headstock, pluck one open string, and read the note it shows.
Turn that string's peg slowly until the needle centers. If the note is sharp, loosen below it first and then tune back up, so the string holds its pitch.
Tune all six strings, then check them all again. Tightening one pulls the neck slightly and nudges the others.
New strings stretch and go flat for the first few days, so expect to retune often until they settle.

Skills to focus on early

What to practice first

Fretting cleanly: enough fingertip pressure, close to the fret, without deadening the strings next to it.
Chord changes: moving between common shapes smoothly and in time.
Strumming rhythm: keeping the strumming hand moving in a steady down up motion even when it is not hitting the strings.
Tuning by ear: hearing when a string is sharp or flat and correcting it.
Timing: playing with a metronome or backing track without rushing or dragging.

Common beginner mistakes

The usual slip-ups

Buying on looks alone and ending up with a guitar whose action is so high it hurts to press.
Skipping tuning, so every practice rep reinforces the wrong sound.
Practicing in long rare sessions instead of short daily ones, which is where finger memory forms.
Pressing far behind the fret or with the flat of the finger, which causes buzzing.
Jumping to full songs or fast solos before basic chord changes are reliable.
Treating the strumming hand as an afterthought and never working on rhythm on its own.

Close-up of an acoustic guitar body and soundhole — An acoustic's soundhole

How much practice it takes

Fifteen to twenty minutes a day beats two hours once a week, because calluses and muscle memory build through frequent repetition. Most people who stick with it play most days for the first few months, then settle into a few sessions a week to maintain and slowly improve. Expect a couple of months to feel at home with open chords and simple songs, and a year or more before barre chords and lead playing feel natural.

15 to 20 min: A day beats one long weekly session
Most days: For the first few months
A couple of months: To feel at home with open chords and simple songs
A year or more: Before barre chords and lead playing feel natural

Where to learn

Where the good beginner help is

Structured free lesson sites and beginner focused video channels, which cover the first few months well.
A local teacher for even a few lessons, mostly to fix posture and hand position before bad habits set in.
A beginner method book for a sensible order to learn things in.
Online tab and chord archives for playing music you already like.
Apps that listen to your playing and flag timing and accuracy problems.
Local jams, open mics, and online communities for feedback and motivation.

A musician playing an electric guitar under stage light — Open mics and jams

Lessons, apps and songs

Build the kit

Compare the options below, then set your tiers and check out from the kit sidebar. Clicking a card selects it there. Each kind of guitar has its own add-on holding the guitar and the strings, bag and extras that suit it; pick one in section 03 or from the kit's add-on chips.

Clip-on tuner

essential · Accessories

You cannot reliably tune by ear as a beginner, and an out of tune guitar makes practice sound wrong no matter what you do. A clip-on reads the vibration of the neck so it works in a noisy room.

budget

Snark SN1X Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

4.6(4.7K)

$17.69

Guitar

What playing guitar actually involves

Why people love it

Acoustic, electric or classical?

What to check before you buy

Directions you can take it

What is hard at the start

Your first few sessions

Tuning up, string by string

Skills to focus on early

Common beginner mistakes

How much practice it takes

Where to learn

Build the kit

Clip-on tuner

Guitar stand

Capo

Beginner method book

String winder and cutter

Steel-string acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar strings (phosphor bronze)

Guitar picks (thin to medium)

Guitar strap

Acoustic guitar gig bag

Soundhole humidifier

Beginner electric guitar

Electric guitar strings (nickel wound, 10-46)

Guitar picks (medium)

Electric guitar strap

Electric guitar gig bag

Practice amplifier

Instrument cable

Closed-back headphones

Nylon-string classical guitar

Nylon classical guitar strings

Classical guitar gig bag