Guitar Lessons for Beginners: Learn the basics such as the right way to hold, learn to play notes, chords, scales, strum, licks, riffs, songs, solos, and more. Teach Yourself Guitar with these lessons to become a better guitar player.
The guitar is a versatile instrument and is a great way to entertain yourself and your friends. The good thing is that there are now several ways to learn to play the guitar.
You can also use these free guitar lessons to acquire some serious skills, including playing in various styles and being able to improvise.
Without proper guitar lessons, most beginners are likely to struggle for months before they can play anything worthwhile.
Now, you can have a better grasp on your learning and expand your skills, using the several guitar lessons provided here. So grab your guitar, and start practicing right away.
Guitar Basics
Guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is played by plucking or strumming the strings, while the fingers hold down the strings in certain combinations, to play the notes. Most guitars usually have six strings which are tuned on the scale E A D G B E. Learn how the various notes are played on a guitar.
Playing and changing chords is an important element in playing the guitar. Learn how to play chords (major, minor) on Guitar, how to change chords. Learn to play beginning chords.
Chord progressions: You can play many popular songs by using just the chord progression: C –Am- Dm-G7 (you need to know only four chords).
How to Strum Guitar – Strumming Patterns
Learn how to strum the guitar the right way. Here are some guitar strumming patterns that you can incorporate right away to make your guitar playing sound lively.
Acoustic guitars have hollow bodies and do not require amplification; Electric guitar need to be connected to an amplifier to be heard. Learn about the various guitar parts to know how the sound is produced. You will also need to learn to change strings.
Guitar Holding Techniques & Posture Related
How to Hold a Guitar the Right Way
Learn how to hold a guitar the right way. Holding a guitar in the proper manner is the first step in your beginner guitar lessons. Here’s how you do it correctly.
How to hold a Guitar Pick
How to hold a pick correctly and use it for strumming.
Finger Strengthening Exercises for Guitar
Guitar playing can be painful to your fingers, especially when you are starting out. Here are some effective finger stretching & strengthening exercises to help you cope with Guitar playing.
- Related: Effective Guitar practice routines
Get Rid of Bad Guitar Playing Habits
Bad guitar habits can creep into your playing as a beginner, while learning to play guitar music or chords. Here are things to watch out for and avoid!
Guitar Playing Techniques
Guitar Shredding: How to do it.
Stage Performance: Tips to perform on stage like a pro
Guitar Solos: How to get better at playing them
Playing Various Styles
How to Play Electric Guitar
Learn to play electric guitar like the superstars. Here are pro lessons and tips that will help you get on the path to play like Hendrix, Van Halen, and Clapton.
How to Play Bass Guitar
Learn the basics of how to play bass guitar here. Whether you are a beginner guitarist or an experienced player, you will find some useful tips here.
How to Play Lead Guitar
Learn how to play lead guitar with these easy lessons. Lead guitarists are the most popular on-stage musicians, and you can be on the way to becoming one, beginning with these basics.
Blues is a popular genre that you can learn on guitar. Learn to play the 12-bar blues.
How to Play Rock Guitar
Learn how to play rock guitar with these easy lessons. The electric guitar becomes quite an expressive instrument if you play good rock music with it.
Popular Guitar Songs for Beginners
Too much theory can be boring so it’s important to mix them with simple guitar songs that are easy to play, it also helps reinforce the basics. Here are simple & easy first songs that you can learn to play on the guitar.
Once you know the basics of playing the guitar, it’s important to use them in songs.
- Beginners should choose songs that ideally can be played using 3-5 basic chords, and have low tempo so that it doesn’t require fast strumming. It will also help you get a complete grasp on those simple chords, using which you can play more songs and also help you to play the complicated chords.
- How to play Hotel California on Guitar
- Eruption Guitar (by Van Halen)
- Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven: Tabs / Sheet Music
Here are some good options to get started.
“More than Words” sung by Westlife has 5 simple chords such as G C D Am and Em, and the rhythm is also slow.
“Way Back into Love” by Hugh Grant uses simple chords and those are repeated throughout the duration of the song.
“Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling, good choice for those who want to experience slow rock music.
Free Fallin: For this Tom Petty classic, you need to move only a couple of fingers around to play the entire song.
I Should Have Known Better: This early Beatles song features a straightforward strum and a few basic chords.
Leaving On A Jet Plane: If you can play the G major, C major and D major chords, you’ve got all the tools you need to tackle this John Denver song.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door: You may already have heard the original Bob Dylan version of the song, or the Guns n’ Roses cover – both are easy to play.
House of the Rising Sun: This very old folk song features slightly advanced arpeggiated picking but the chords are pretty straightforward.
Wonderful Tonight: The chords for this Eric Clapton song are simple, and they change slowly. Once you’ve mastered the chords, you might even want to try playing the lead guitar part.
Here are some more simple songs that you should attempt:
- Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver
- Free Falling by Tom Petty
- Yellow by Coldplay
- Come On Get Higher by Matt Nathanson
- Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynard
- Clocks by Coldplay
- Teardrops On My Guitar by Taylor Swift
- Lost by Coldplay
- Realize by Colbie Caillat
- You’re Beautiful by James Blunt
Here are easy rock guitar songs that you may practice as part of your repertoire. Here the focus is more on riffs and tabbed songs (rather than chords). So you will need to have the tab program to be able to use them.
See this video to find several easy to play rock songs for Beginner Guitar Players
Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
An absolute classic and it’s not too hard to get the main riff down. A must for beginner guitar players everywhere!
Paranoid – Black Sabbath
It only uses about three chords! Also a good introduction to the Fathers of Heavy Metal.
Breaking the Law – Judas Priest
The main riff and rhythm parts shouldn’t cause you too much trouble…and if you’re feeling confident (or find the rhythm parts easy) you can even attempt the solo
Ace of Spades – Motorhead
Another famous rock standard. The main thing you’ll need for this song is energy…and an attitude to match!
Back in Black – ACDC
The main riff is only three chords…three chords that’ll make you want to dance around your room and air guitar until your fingers bleed (except you’ll actually HAVE a real guitar)!
Use the Instructional Videos & Resources Available Online
The best thing about the Internet is that there’s so much information available there for FREE, and some of them are really good quality stuff.
So if you have never checked online for guitar lessons, probably it’s time to do so now, especially if you want to learn to play the guitar.
You will find guitar lessons, well-known songs, and interviews greatest guitar players providing some really useful tips and techniques.
The video below shows ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons doing just that.
Related: Famous people who also play the guitar.
While these videos are great to get a grasp of the basics, you have to go for structured lessons to improve your rhythm playing, to learn better techniques, and to become a better guitar player.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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