Learning

Why your fingertips hurt when you start guitar, how long it usually lasts, what makes it worse, and the kind of pain you should not play through.

A realistic timeline for learning guitar, from your first clean chord to playing with other people, and the habits that shorten it.

“Should I start on acoustic or electric?” is the most common beginner question — and the old advice that you “must” start on acoustic is a myth. The right answer depends on you. Here’s how to decide. The case for electric Easier on the fingers — lighter strings and lower action make fretting and chord…

An out-of-tune guitar makes even perfect playing sound wrong. Tuning is a two-minute habit that transforms how you sound — here’s how to do it reliably, plus the alternate tunings worth knowing. Standard tuning From the thickest (6th) string to the thinnest (1st): E – A – D – G – B – E. A…

Scales are the alphabet of melody and improvisation. You don’t need to learn dozens — a couple of well-understood scales unlock soloing, riffs and a real grasp of the fretboard. Here’s the practical path. Start with the minor pentatonic The minor pentatonic (five notes) is the single most useful scale for guitarists — the basis…

Nothing builds skill (and motivation) like playing real songs. The best beginner songs use just a few open chords and simple, repeating patterns. Here’s how to pick them — and what makes a song genuinely easy. What makes a song beginner-friendly Few chords — ideally 3 or 4 open chords you already know. Slow to…

Chords are the foundation of guitar playing — learn a handful of the right ones and you can play thousands of songs. Here are the essential beginner chords, why they matter, and how to switch between them smoothly. The open chords to learn first Start with these eight open chords, which cover the vast majority…

Guitar tablature (“tabs”) is the simplest way to learn songs without reading standard notation. If you can count to 22, you can read tabs. Here’s everything a beginner needs. What the lines and numbers mean A tab has six lines, one per string — the bottom line is the thickest (low E), the top line…