So, You Want to Learn to Play Guitar?

Maybe you are a Guitar Hero game player, but now you think you want to learn to play a real guitar? Guitar Hero is a fun game to play, but it won't help you learn to be a true guitar player. You might be thinking you would like to become a guitar player and get that same rush by playing the guitar or performing in a band.

Learning to play an instrument takes work – you don’t really get to “play” at it until you learn the basics and practice. If you can just learn a few chords and learn to play one guitar song, you'll feel so much better and practicing will become more fun. At least, that is how it was for me when I started to take guitar lessons (when I was ten)! I learned to play some chords that you can use for many songs. Those basics will help you feel you've accomplished something and you can build on those things as you learn more. Learning a few chords will help you a lot - try learning G, D, and C chords to start. There are so many songs you can play on the guitar with just those three basic chords.

Look up good information online about guitars (learn what the parts are called, learn about tuning and putting strings on a guitar). There are beginner lessons on videos that can teach about guitar chords.

Will it hard to learn one easy guitar song?

When I learned to play guitar, I had a guitar teacher - and guitar books taught me songs and chords. But that was before the Internet (I know - a long time ago) and today there are so many other options to find guitar lessons for beginners. I've seen some good online guitar lessons. Some things never change - learning an easy song is a quick way to get started. After that, learning the second and third song will be much easier!

What do you need to know about getting a guitar?

Lots of beginning guitar players start with an acoustic guitar and many start with what is considered a classical guitar. Here is an article that shows the three main types of guitars. Basically, those two guitar types have strings made of different materials - classical / folk guitar use nylon strings - acoustic and electric guitars have steel strings. Those steel strings can really hurt your fingers - starting with nylon strings is much easier!

Either kind of guitar is great to learn to play with. Some people start with electric guitar, especially if their goal is to play electric guitar in a rock band. For some kinds of music, an acoustic guitar is better, you’ll just have to decide what kind of music you want to play and get the guitar that is best for it.

Go buy a guitar, if you don't have one. Make sure you hear what the guitar you think you want sounds like. If you have to get someone in the guitar store to play it, then do that. When you go to a guitar store, take a friend who plays guitar with you. Then, start learning your first song. You can go from a game player to a real guitar player - and a true guitar hero!