A chord is a combination of single notes that are played together on the six strings
of your guitar. When you put several chords together, you produce a melody. On a
guitar, a chord can be made up of one single note on one string or several put
together on two or more of the strings, and strummed or plucked at the same time.

There are 5 basic chords that almost every guitarist started out learning. C,A,G,E
and D. Learning to play the chords listed here is a great place for you to start
too. Mastering these five chords will enable you to play the harder chords down
the road with greater ease. You can find out how these chords are formed online or
from a chord chart that you can purchase from any music store.

Once you have your chord chart, knowing how to actually read it is the next step.
Its not as hard as it looks. The Chord chart is instructions in picture form
teaching you exactly where to put your fingers on the fret board. Think of your
guitar in the upright position. This is how you will be reading the chord chart.
The top line is the very top of your guitar. The lines going down are your 6
strings, left to right (or top to bottom if you were holding your guitar in the
position of playing). The dots on the strings represent the string and fret where
you need to place your finger. For example, when you play A major, you will need 3
fingers. They are all placed on the second fret on the third, fourth and fifth
strings (D,G, and B string). Now you have your fingers in the right place, strum!

In the beginning it is really hard to play for long periods of time. This is
because the tips of your fingers get very sore. Don’t worry because this happens
to all beginners. If you are playing your chords correctly you will be pressing
with the tips of your fingers, and this can be painful after a short time of
practice. Keep going though. Eventually you will build up callouses on your
finger tips that will enable you to play for greater lengths without any pain!
Hang in there!

If you are hearing a buzzing sound from your strings when you strum and are having
trouble making your chords sound clean, there are a few things that you may need to
improve on. The first is to check the length of your finger nails. If they are
too long, you wont be able to press the tips of your fingers down hard enough on
the string.

Another thing to be aware of when you are playing is to make sure that you use the
very tip of your finger. If you play with your finger laying on the string, there
is a chance you may hit other strings. This will mute the other strings and make
the chord not sound correct. This is one of the hardest things to do when you
first start playing the guitar.

Make sure you are pressing the strings down firmly. Once you have your fingers in
the correct position, strum all the strings at the same time. You are now playing
a chord!

The last thing which is equally as important as the others, is to give yourself
time. You will not be an expert in a day, so stay focused, keep practicing, and
learning to play the chords will get easier every day.

Now you are familiar with what the acoustic guitar looks like, its time to begin
making some beautiful music with it! Here are some pointers in taking easy lessons with an acoustic guitar.

Step 1. First and most importantly you need an acoustic guitar. If you don’t have
your own, ask around to family and friends to see if anyone has one you can borrow.

Step 2. Find your source of education. The Internet is full of useful websites
on how to play guitar. Finding one that suits your style is a good start. Many
sites provide you with online lessons for free.

Step 3. Who do you want to sound like? There are so many different styles of
acoustic out there and choosing one you want to emulate is a good place to start.
Artists such as Dave Matthews band and John Mayer are popular artists when making
this decision. The style doesn’t have to be mellow when it comes to acoustic
guitars. That’s up to you.

Step 4. Know your guitar. Know how it works and what each part of the guitar is
for. Knowing why certain sounds are made helps to understand why some sounds don’t
come out quite like you want them to. Knowing this fact is very important.

Step 5. Next step in taking easy lessons with an acoustic guitar is to learn the
basic chords. There are many resources on line that will show you how to play the
basic chords. The better you know and practice these chords, the easier it will be
for your hands to move from chord to chord.

Step 6. Once you know these chords, try to master them without actually looking at
your hands. Another method is to actually practice playing the chords with your
fingers without actually having your guitar. This is something you can practice
while at the store or talking to friends, helping you to both multitask and
remember chord positioning.

Step 7. It is important to practice as often as you can. The best results are
usually shown in people who practice about 5 times a week. The more you practice,
the easier it will be and you will be playing full songs in no time.

Step 8. Although it is painful at first to play the guitar, your finger tips
become stronger the more you play. And when you play enough, you will begin to
build up calluses on the tips of your fingers. The good thing is that once you
have calluses on your fingers, you will be able to play for longer due to no pain.

Step 9. Once you know your basic chords, its time to move on to the more difficult
ones. Bar chords (also spelt barre chords) are probably thought of for most as
the hardest chords to play. These are when you use your index finger to “bar” a
whole fret (across all the strings) so you can play n a higher tone. Although
these are very difficult to master, keep practicing!

Step 10. Lastly and also equally as important is to get plenty of rest. Don’t
overdo it. You are here to have fun, not do so much that it’s more along the lines
of work. It’s your choice to play acoustic guitar. Go at your own pace, just don’t
give up!!

Before we start, you need to have an acoustic guitar. If you don’t have your own, ask people you know if they have one you can borrow for a while. You may also use a pick, but if you don’t have one you can strum with your fingers. Using a pick is not as rough on your fingers, so might help you to be able to practice for longer if you use one.

The first step when learning to play an acoustic guitar is to make sure it is tuned correctly. If you don’t know how to tune your guitar either find someone who can, or you can purchase tuners at a music store.

Next is finding a resource that is suitable for you to teach you. There are various ways to learn how to play an acoustic guitar and finding the right method to teach you is key. You can get private lessons, ask a friend or relative that knows how to play to teach you, get books or go online. Learning online is an endless fountain of knowledge. You can get free information, or paid depending on what you are looking for. There are ebooks, tutorials, videos and many more ways online that can help you.

Now you must find a place you are comfortable in to play. Weather you are sitting or standing, your guitar must be supported. If you are sitting you can support it on your leg and if you are standing, you will need a strap to hold it up. For right handed players, you will need to place your left hand on the neck of the guitar over the frets, and your right hand will be on the strings over the sound hole.

Along with your hands, your ears are an important part of your body when it comes to playing the acoustic guitar. Listening to the music your guitar creates helps you not only keep in time, but also lets you know if you are in tune. It’s also important to use your eyes to be able to see where you are placing your fingers and read the chords, but for the blind they don’t have that option, yet many blind people can play the guitar beautifully. And you know why? Because they use their ears! I can’t stress how important it is to listen to the music you are playing.

The beautiful thing about the acoustic guitar is that it doesn’t need and amplifier to be heard. It is a whole instrument in itself. All it needs is someone to play it!

If you feel like you are getting nowhere with your guitar learning, start over. Go back to the basics. Memorize the basic chords until you know them with your eyes closed. There are a few chords that are used as building blocks for many songs and they are C, A, G, E, and D. You can find out how to play these notes free online if you don’t already know them.

And lastly, after considering all the various ways to learn how to play an acoustic guitar, keep on practicing. You have come this far. Don’t give up now. Everyone had to start somewhere. Just think you can only get better from here. But the main thing is to have fun while you’re learning!