Getting Started With The Guitar

This is a great place to learn the basics of playing guitar. If you have questions just e-mail us at support@guitaralliance.com and we'll be glad to help you out.

Practice Tips

It's up to you! There's no way to make you practice and that's the only way you're going to get any better. You cannot avoid getting better with regular practice, but if you don't practice you will find yourself getting no where. Here are some some tips to help improve your practice time:

• It's a good idea to practice at least a little every day. Set aside some time each day to practice undisturbed. Even if it's only 10 or 15 minutes a day, you will marked improvement from day to day or week to week.
• Set both short and long term goals. An example of a short term goal may be to learn your basic chord patterns. An example of a long term goal may be to learn all the notes on the fretboard.
• If you start to feel too much discomfort in your hands and/or fingers you may want to take a break or wait until the next day to continue. Over time the muscles in your hands will develop to the point where they won't cramp as much, and your fingertips will develop hard callouses.
• Don't get ahead of yourself. If you come across something that you do not understand don't skip it and go on to something else. Stop and click the support button or visit the forums so that you get the help you need to understand. Skipping material is like skipping chapters in a novel: you'll be scratching your head in confusion.
• Concentrate on your weaknesses. Don't spend most of your practice time on the areas that you would consider your strengths. Take the time to make your weaknesses strong.
• Try recording a practice session then go back a month or two later and listen to it. You'll be amazed at the progress you've made if you've stuck with regular practice.

First Lessons

Here are a few basic lessons to get started with. When you're done here, you'll want to go to the Guitar Chords section of the site and begin learning your chords, or to the Guitar Tablature section to learn how to read tablature.