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The most important advice I can give you is- buy a tuner!
You can't learn anything on an out of tune guitar, or one you think is in tune but isn't. You can pick up an electronic tuner, usually with a mike hole for acoustics, for $15-25. For more accuracy, or noisy situations, you can get a suction cup pickup to plug directly into the tuner. These are also handy to fun your guitar into an amp or thru effects.
Learning to tune by ear is very important, perhaps you already know how, I don't know. But if you don't, the tuner will help you develop your ear anyway, and you will not have to wait until you develop the skill on your own.
Learn your chords, but don't neglect your scales too! They are not as fun on the acuostic as the electric, but you will need them later.
There are a lot of opinions on lessons, I think they can be useful, if not at the start, at least fairly early on. Picking technique and hand/finger positions can be hard to learn properly using books and videos, and bad habits can be hard to break later on.
Don't worry about scheduling practice days, once you learn enough to whet your appetite, you will reach for your guitar every chance you get!
Thanks for the advice, but I already have a guitar (it's a Martin). Just looking for some help in setting up a regimen. To start off, how much time should I practice per session? And how many times a week would you suggest?
since you're kinda just learning guitar.... how bout we trade off... I teach you some stuff, you trade guitars with me....
i started playing with a friend who was also a beginner. If there's anyone you might do that with, I'd recommend that. I think it helped me. 'Course we were 13 and trying to learn the Beatles catalog. Short of that, standard tuning for now and learn the elemental chords and scales. You'll be playing on the first 4 or 5 frets. Don't worry about the rest of them until you start in on bar chords. If you can master E, A, C, D, G you can play quite a few tunes. For some reason B & F were harder for me to get a grip on at first, but you'll need them too. Minor chords aren't too hard and will add a needed dimension. Em, Am, Dm could be your early go-to minors.
As for strumming: Don't feel a need to hit all of the strings all the time. For instance with an A you won't need your bottom E string. With D you won't need the bottom E or A Your fingering charts will also show you this. Find a rhythm. Slow or fast you'll feel what is right for different songs. That's where your ear for music will come in handy.
Watch some videos and don't pay too much attention to the lead guitarist - for now, follow the rhythm or second guitar players motions. If you're into Neil Young, watch him play and strum for a while. And try not to get discouraged. It's a fairly complicated instrument and everyone plays it a little differently.
Good luck and have some fun! Martin? Jeesh! They're among the finest.
When I started (age 15) I remember taking some "sick days" off of school and practicing 10-12 hours a day. I must have done 200 hours of practicing in the first three weeks I had my first Peavey electric (which was a fantastic guitar in a lot of ways). The large amount of practice right at the beginning really got me over the hump and made it so I knew I could learn anything.
(Too bad I dislocated my left index finger in two places last year.)
I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend not having a qualified instructor!
And I heard someone say "the best players were self taught like Hendrix and SRV"....you are talking about blues/rock guitarists, which is a very limited basis. There are far, far better players than those two out there in the realm of guitar.
It is best to NOT pigeon-hole yourself as a musician. Learn to play many styles - pop, rock, funk, classical, jazz, afro-cuban.
As a professional musician (drums/percussion), I learned to play with an instructor at a young age. However, I did not take lessons for long. I took what was learned early on and applied it in my own way. It was down the road (about 15 years in, around age 27) that I started taking lessons again!
And if you do initially decide to learn on your own and "take the instrument where you want to go with it", do take lessons too down the road- if not only for input from professionals who can give advice and also who you can gain inspiration from.
I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend not having a qualified instructor!
And I heard someone say "the best players were self taught like Hendrix and SRV"....you are talking about blues/rock guitarists, which is a very limited basis. There are far, far better players than those two out there in the realm of guitar.
It is best to NOT pigeon-hole yourself as a musician. Learn to play many styles - pop, rock, funk, classical, jazz, afro-cuban.
As a professional musician (drums/percussion), I learned to play with an instructor at a young age. However, I did not take lessons for long. I took what was learned early on and applied it in my own way. It was down the road (about 15 years in, around age 27) that I started taking lessons again!
And if you do initially decide to learn on your own and "take the instrument where you want to go with it", do take lessons too down the road- if not only for input from professionals who can give advice and also who you can gain inspiration from.
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