Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <guitar><learning>
Title: How to start self learning to play guitar?
Question: I didn't see any post of where I can find a site that have good program for free to learn how to play a guitar.  i have seen only those:  How do I choose my first guitar for self-learning?  How to learn to play guitar with a slide?  both links treats to how pick your first guitar but none says how you can learn yourself play it.

Answers:
sents: text: These days you really don't need a program, entire training courses are available for free on Youtube.
text: The general advice given here, though, is that even if you wish to learn entirely on your own, you should still aim to have a few one-to-one sessions with an instructor as they can spot mistakes you may not be able to identify from a video.
text: You will find a lot of the info you require tagged guitar and learning - here , such as this one on learning your way round the fretboard , or this one on software which will listen to you .
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/104/Doktor Mayhem
score: 9
sents: text: Start here: http://www.justinguitar.com/
text: Or here if you figure "free" isn't a necessity: http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/
text: I've used both (mainly the latter) and they worked for me.
text: It's been three years since I started and I can play a lot of songs now
text: and I know the theory to go with it.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/790/MdaG
score: 5
sents: text: I would just start out with tab, that is how I started out.
text: I have hundreds of guitar pro / other files saved on my computer.
text: If you actually have enough interest in guitar, then you can start working into basic chord theory and stuff like that (major and minor triads, etc)..
text: That's how I have been doing it, and after three years of playing guitar it enabled me to join a jazz band, where I am playing chords that I had no idea existed.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1153/cutrightjm
score: 2
sents: text: Starting with a beginner's book is a great idea.
text: This can teach you many of the super basics that you would get from an in-person teacher, like the hand technique to shoot for, parts of the guitar and some basic musical theory that's helpful.
text: Having patience with yourself is a key quality when you're first starting out— and that's one of the big advantages of having a live teacher, they can talk you through problems that you may not even see.
text: Building up the physical skill to make the chord shapes with your hand and hold down the strings properly is not easy at first.
text: I remember being SO frustrated trying to make the same chord shape and strumming to hear a lot of buzzing and barely-notes.
text: Anything you can do to keep it fun and interesting is good.
text: Talk to other guitar players.
text: Find the tabs to a song you really like and learn it.
text: Hearing yourself play the first few parts of a song you love is so worth it.
text: Keep in mind that building your skills is great, but no matter where your skill is you can still make a song that communicates something.
text: I like to reference the advice from David Fair in his article How To Play Guitar :
text: You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that’s pretty limiting.
text: Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you’d still have a limited number of options.
text: If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/2031/TSchafer
score: 2
sents: text: Buy a "How to play guitar" book.
text: In the scheme of what you'll spend on guitars and accessories, $20 on a book is a great investment.
text: I don't want to recommend any particular book, because different people have different ambitions and learning styles.
text: If you want to shred heavy metal solos, you'll buy a different book to if you want to strum folk ballads.
text: Browse in a bookshop or music shop, and pick one that appears to suit you.
text: You could also start with a library book.
text: Any good book will start by showing you how to hold the instrument properly, then move on to well graded exercises and tunes to play.
text: If you can afford a few lessons, it's money well spent.
text: Failing that, it's great to have a friend or family member to mentor you.
text: Once you're able to strum a few chords, also get a songbook -- one with songs you know and love, with lyrics and chords.
text: This might seem like a waste of money, when you can find guitar chords on the Internet.
text: But it's useful to have them on paper, and the tabs and chords on the internet are very often not quite right.
text: Then you can split your time between technique (from the "how to" book), and repertoire (from the songbook etc.)
text: As soon as you think you can play to an audience, do.
text: It's a great incentive to keep learning and improving.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1252/slim
score: 1
sents: text: i think it depends what you want: if you want to learn proper technique (ie hand position, music theory, etc)
text: you must look for a good school or mentor.
text: and learn the sagreras book (for example) like a bible.
text: i dont think this can be selftaught or if you just want to learn some songs to impress girls :P (no classical overcomplicated stuff)
text: what worked for me was practice, practice, practice and the way i found it most rewarding and entertaining was learning to read tabs
text: (it takes a few minutes), practicing barre chords(so daunting at first) and then trying to learn my favorite songs, most of them will be too hard at first, its ok, just choose the passages you can play until you can play along with a record.
text: you may want to check the site songsterr.com
text: i could spend literally hours there practice, practice, have fun!
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1734/jambriz
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
To learn to play the guitar these days you really don't need a program, entire training courses are available for free on Youtube.  You can start here:  http://www.justinguitar.com/. An alternative is a good book, use a beginners book at first. Moreover, it is possible to just start by learning the tab for a favorite song.
When trying to start teaching yourself guitar, there are a number of different things that can help. Firstly, a good beginner's book will be helpful in the beginning. Then, there are a number of courses and tutorials on sites like justinguitar.com or Youtube. Using online tabs and talking to other guitar players are also worthwhile.