Beginner guitar: The fast guide for guitar learners to begin playing now (Inc easy video lessons)

If you want to be able to play your favorite songs on guitar as soon as possible, read on for free lessons for beginner guitar songs and a whole lot more.

Get tips from experts on guitar lessons for beginners , learn about the best online courses, and find out how to join a supportive community.

Whether you’re a total beginner when it comes to music or just new to the guitar, I’ll cover everything you need to start playing.

You’ll discover:

• The “wiggle” method for learning beginner chords on the guitar
• Which four chords will unlock a whole universe of songs
• A no-nonsense approach to strumming patterns

Let's get into it.

First free guitar lesson for beginners

Have you decided to learn how to play guitar? Congratulations! 

In this article you’ll learn:

• the names of each string
• how to pluck notes
• how to develop finger dexterity 
• how to read chord diagrams
• how to play chords
• how to play a basic strumming pattern

Guitar is a wonderful and versatile instrument that will keep you entertained for the rest of your life. 

Learning guitar for beginners can be quite overwhelming due to the sheer amount of information available online. 

That’s why I’ve written this article – so grab your guitar and let’s get started.

My 5 steps for beginners to start playing guitar 

Ready for your first guitar lesson? 

Below are the five things you need to learn to start playing. 

The exercises and information apply to both electric and acoustic guitar.

I’ll guide you through these five steps:

• Step 1: Tune your guitar.
• Step 2: Play a note.
• Step 3: Strum a chord.
• Step 4: Change chords.
• Step 5: Play a song.

After that, you’ll get additional tips on what to study next. 

Step 1: Learn how to tune your guitar

I recommend taking the time to tune before every practice.

Without making sure your strings are making the sound they’re supposed to make, everything you play will resemble the soundtrack of a horror movie 😱

At the top of your guitar, you’ll find tuners that hold all six strings in place.

You can grab them and turn them clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust each string.

Usually, guitars are set up so that: 

• Turning the tuner clockwise = higher pitch
• Turning the tuner anti-clockwise = lower pitch

Below are the pitches used for standard tuning. 

Starting with the lowest-sounding (AKA thickest) string on the guitar, the notes are:

• 6th - E (low/thick)‍
• 5th - A
• 4th - D
• 3rd - G
• 2nd - B
• 1 st - E (high/thin)

Your assignment: 

Tune your guitar using our free online guitar tuner or a clip-on tuner.

Feel free to watch a demonstration on how to tune your guitar in the video below:

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Once your guitar is tuned, move along to Step 2.

Step 2: How to play guitar notes for beginners

One of the easiest methods of playing a note is simply using your thumb.

• Start by plucking a string without placing any fingers of your second hand on the fretboard. 
• This is called an open-string note.
• Let the fleshy part of your thumb rest on a string and then gently move your thumb towards the floor.
• The string will start to vibrate and you’ve played your first note! Whaheyyyyy!

Now, you’ll want to play more than just the open notes – this is where fretting a note comes in.

For this next trick, you’ll be using both your picking and fretting hand.

Let’s quickly look at how the guitar works: 

• The notes on each string are separated by metal frets (unlike a violin or a cello where there are no frets).
• When you press a string down, it touches the metal fret. 
• The part of the string able to vibrate is now shorter and so the pitch goes up.

To fret a note, place the tip of your index finger on the fretboard on top of the string and your thumb on the back of the guitar neck.

Then, squeeze the guitar neck gently between your index finger and thumb so that you press down one of the strings.

Pluck the string with your other hand and voilà - you’ve officially fretted your first note on guitar!

Your assignment:

Play different notes by pressing down different strings in different places on the fretboard.

Below is a video with Pickup Music’s guitar education expert Karl Kerfoot. 

He has some tips on how to get a note to ring out nice and clear:

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Step 3: Chords for your first lesson

Fundamentally, music consists of three elements: melody, harmony (chords), and rhythm. 

The guitar is a great instrument that enables you to combine all three of these elements.

• Let’s focus on the harmonic side of guitar playing – often referred to as rhythm guitar (playing the chords).
• I’ll teach you how to play one of the easiest chords of a guitar for beginners.

Below is an image of a chord box or chord diagram.

• As you can see, it resembles the fretboard on the guitar.
• Each vertical line is a string.
• Each horizontal line is a fret.
• The string furthest to the left is the low-E string.
• The thick black line at the top represents the nut.

The nut is the little piece of material the strings sit in at the top of the fretboard.

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Now it’s time to learn your first chord! 

Here’s the diagram for an E minor chord:

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The black dots tell you where to press your fingers on the strings.

In the case of E minor, you’ll play notes on the second frets of the A and D string.

• Place your fingers in between the metal frets, not on them.
• Place your fingers between the 1st and 2nd metal frets on your guitar neck.
• We refer to this space between the two wires as the 2nd fret.

The numbers inside the circles tell you which fingers to use. 

Each finger is given a number:

• 1 - Index finger
• 2 - Middle finger
• 3 - Ring finger
• 4 - Pinky finger

The white circles above the thicker black line means you play those strings but don’t fret them when you are strumming the chord. 

You simply play the open strings. 

When a chord shape includes open strings, it’s also called an open chord.

When it comes to strumming a chord:

• We advise all our beginner guitarists to learn to play with a pick.
• Picking technique is a foundational skill for any guitarist.
• If you don't have a pick, don't worry. 
• For now, just use your thumb or a finger to strum the strings in a way that's comfortable for you.

Your assignment:

Practice fretting the two notes you need for the E minor chord.

The best way to learn a new chord voicing is to use the “wiggle” method:

• Place your fingers on the strings.
• Press down and strum the chord once.
• Take your fingers off the fretboard.
• Wiggle them around a bit.
• Repeat.

Watch the video below to learn how to hold a pick if you have one handy:

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Step 4: How to practice chord transitions

When you start learning songs, the hardest part will be to nail the chord changes in time.

• Start with easy songs that only have a few chords.
• Practice each chord shape separately.
• Then practice each transition separately.
• Finally, put all the chords together to play the entire chord progression.

Below is a second chord shape for you.

It’s a D major chord.

The diagram shows two “Xs” which means that those strings are not part of the chord shape.

Avoid strumming them when you play this D major chord.You do, however, play an open D string.

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Your assignment:

Practice switching between the E minor and D major chord.

For now, the timing – or rhythm – is not important. 

Just focus on looping the two chords without rushing the process.

Tips for efficient switching:

• Visualize each chord shape on the fretboard before you make the switch.
• Be efficient with your fingering – the less they have to move, the better.
• Identify fingers that don’t have to move when changing from chord to chord.

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Step 5: Play your first song on guitar

If you want to play along with a real-world example, take a look at Break On Through to the Other Side by The Doors. 

The changes happen fast, so make use of the playback speed settings on YouTube to slow down the song.

It might sound a bit simplistic, but at its core the song consists only of the two chords you already learned: Em and D.

• Once you start playing a song, the rhythm becomes as important as the chord shapes.
• The rhythm of a song will dictate when it’s time to change from one chord to the next.

If the recording by The Doors is too fast, you can practice with our free online metronome.

Your assignment:

Set the metronome’s bpm (beats per minute) to 45.

Hit the play button, and you’ll see four dots that light up.

Try to change from one chord to the next every time the red dot, aka the ‘1’, comes around.

This concludes the 5 steps.

Ready to learn more?

Read on for more free beginner guitar lessons and exercises.

Chords for beginner guitarists

If you practice the chord shapes below, you’ll have learned the most common open chords.

The last chord, F Major, will most likely be the trickiest at first. 

It’s technically a bar chord (or barre chord) because your index finger has to fret two notes on two separate strings. 

A chord like this will be easier once you’ve built some strength in your fingers and hands.

They will allow you to play a plethora of songs.

Four chords are often all you need for a song. 

And many times, artists use the same four chords.

The band The Axis of Awesome has a legendary music video about this fact called 4 Chords. 

Below are two super common combinations of chords:

• C - G - Am - F and
• G - C - Em - D

Don’t make this mistake when learning beginner guitar chords

For some chords, you shouldn’t strum all the strings.

Playing a string that doesn’t belong in a chord will either change the chord’s sound (since you’re adding notes) or make it sound muddy - especially if you play the open low E.

Members of Pickup Music can get our official guitar chord chart, a perfect resource to easily glance at chords and learn all the basic shapes you need to play popular songs in any genre – or write your own.

Beginner must-know strumming patterns

So far in your first online guitar lesson, you’ve learned how to play a few chords. 

Let’s now take a look at some rhythmic chord − or strumming − patterns.

When you are strumming open chords, you can either do an upstroke or a downstroke. 

A downstroke is a strumming motion when your hand moves across the strings in a downward motion toward the floor. 

The upstroke starts low and moves across the strings towards your chin. 

Strumming Exercise #1

When you strum, you want the main movement to come from your wrist. 

• The rest of the arm should move to support the wrist movement when needed. 
• Your arm should be relaxed and rest against the body of the guitar.
• With your left hand, mute all six strings by resting your fingers on them. 

Practice strumming the muted strings with your right hand at the beat using only the downstroke (indicated by the ”D” in the chart below). 

Use either a metronome or tap your foot for a beat to strum with. 

Strum every time the metronome plays or every time your foot hits the ground. 

Practice this until you get a good feel for how to strum the strings.

Make sure you don’t hit the strings too hard.

Strum in one swift motion touching all strings as you go - in a sweeping motion. 

When you play a chord, you want all the strings to ring out as one, rather than hearing each individual string being plucked.

Strumming Exercise #2

Staying on beat (as described above), alternate between downstrokes and upstrokes.

Strumming Exercise #3

Next, we’ll go back to downstrokes, but add one upstroke between beats 3 and 4. 

If you’re tapping your foot on every beat, the upstroke in the pattern below should be played when your foot is up, before it lands again on the fourth beat.

When you’ve found the right feel for strumming, we can move on to real chords!

Switching chords while keeping good time and rhythm

Now practice these basic patterns with some chords. 

Switching chords in rhythm requires coordination between the right and left hand. 

Pick two chords that you feel most familiar with and practice strumming and switching between them.

I suggest starting with two easy open chords, E minor and A minor.

Play four beats ( = four clicks of the metronome) of E minor, then change to four beats of A minor. 

• Once you get comfortable playing the chords, add a third chord to the mix, then a fourth. 
• Working on these chord shapes, you probably noticed it was quite challenging for your fingers. 

Pressing down the strings can hurt your fingertips, even to the point of breaking the skin – this is totally normal for a beginner. 

Just take frequent breaks and don’t practice more than 10-20 minutes per session in the very beginning.

As you play more, the skin on top of your fingertips will harden with time and the pain will disappear. 

First scale for beginner guitarists

You will probably recognize this scale when you hear it: the major scale.

Much of the Western music we know is built from this sequence of notes.

Below is a free tutorial on how to play the C major scale:

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The two other beginner guitar scales are the minor and major pentatonic.

Beginner-friendly guitar riffs

Before you learn to play chords, it’s often helpful to learn melodies you already know.

Instead of strumming multiple strings, you just need to be able to pick single notes.

A riff is a guitar part that’s repeated throughout a song and is usually the one thing that helps people recognize a tune instantly. 

Here are a few suggestions for easy guitar riffs:

• Smoke On the Water by Deep Purple
• Comes As You Are by Nirvana
• Love Fool by The Cardigans
• Born Under a Bad Sign by Albert King
• My Girl by The Temptations

TABs for beginner guitarists

TAB is short for tablature and is a simple way of notating music for guitar and other string instruments.

You’ll encounter easy guitar TABs for beginners all over the internet, in online guitar courses, and in books.

Here’s how to read them:

• The six lines represent six strings.
• The numbers refer to frets.
• You read TAB from left to right.

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Check out our ultimate guide to reading guitar TAB.

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Independent finger practice for beginner guitarists

Place your fingers on one string, one finger per fret, like this

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The goal is to move your fingers as little as possible.

• Start by hovering your fingertips above the correct fret.
• When you play the first note, only move your first finger on and off the fretboard.
• Do the same thing with your second finger. Take care to ensure you don’t move any other fingers.

Go as slow as you need at first.

Continue this exercise with all fingers and across all six strings.

Why is it important to move your fingers independently? 

• The more you play, the more you’ll realize that you don’t always have to move your fingers much to play different chords. 
• In certain chord progressions, you can let some of the fingers stay on the same frets the whole time. 

Wonderwall by Oasis is a good example of this. 

Take a look at that chord progression

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As you see, the ring(3) and pinky(4) fingers stay in the same place the whole time.

For more dexterity training, we have an article on finger exercises for beginner guitarists on our blog. 

Some may be too advanced for your very first guitar lesson, but others are great for absolute beginners. 

Develop good habits

Before you sit down to play it’s a good idea to warm up your fingers. Stiff fingers may cause you to practice poorly and develop bad habits, for example:

• You don’t want to lift your fingers more than 1 cm from the string as you move to different frets.
• If you haven’t stretched or warmed up properly, you won’t have as much dexterity in your fingers.
• They won’t move as smoothly as you need them to. 

We summarized essential finger stretches for guitar here.

As beginning guitarists we might get over-excited and want to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. 

This can lead to bad habits, which in turn leads to sloppy playing.

Take your time learning the fundamentals of guitar playing and build your knowledge with good habits and clean technique.

Steps to begin learning guitar

1. Prepare to feel like a fool

Learning an instrument takes practice and in the beginning, you will likely make a lot of mistakes but that’s part of the journey.

If you live with other people, you might be shy to practice where they can hear you because whatever you play doesn’t sound that great yet.

I get it. When I was first learning guitar, I would wait for my parents to leave the house so they wouldn’t hear me…

Maybe you’ll feel better with an electric guitar and a headphone amp or you can find a quiet, comfortable place to practice in peace.

2. Commit to three months of learning

Bazillions of people start learning the guitar and give up within the first couple of weeks because

• it’s not fun, 
• your fingers hurt, 
• you can’t play songs yet, 
• everything sounds out of tune, and 
• you’re too busy to practice.

These feelings are temporary!

Most of these hurdles will disappear within three months if you practice regularly. 

Just stick with it and once you're over the beginner hump, everything will become much more enjoyable. I promise.

3. Have a goal

Learning guitar is a never-ending story so it’s a good idea to have a goal in mind when you first start playing.

This will give you something to work towards.

Do you…

• Just want to start a hobby to relax?
• Want to play a particular song?
• Plan on writing your own music?
• Have ambitions to play in a band?

Whatever it is, make it something that motivates you when you’re not in the mood to pick up the guitar.