Learn to Play Guitar: My Favorite Guitar Learning Resources on Associated Content

I saved a few of my favorite guitar instructional articles that will help you get to the level of guitar playing you want to achieve. Picking up a guitar for the first time can be an awkward, painful, and intimidating. I remember the first time I picked up my acoustic guitar. I wanted to start strumming and picking my favorite Sublime and Bob Dylan songs, but the only sound that came out sounded nothing like any song I had ever heard before.

Soon, I discovered the basic open chords and guitar tabs online, which helped me get through that awkward beginning phase of learning guitar. This is a list of some of the best guitar resources I've found here on AC.

Wanda Leibowitz has a nice article titled Learn to Play Guitar Online Free. There are a lot of free guitar resources online. It costs nothing but time to learn to play guitar.

Margarita Loll wrote a useful piece, How to Play Guitar, which will help beginners get over the initial hurdles of being totally confused about what to do with the instrument. She shows the basic chord chart that you will need to know in order to use guitar tabs. See the diagram in the article if you don't know which string is which.

Jason Davis has a nice kick-in-the-pants article about getting past wanting to play guitar and actually starting to learn how. He reminds us to stop saying "I want to learn how to play guitar" and start saying "I'm going to learn how to play guitar."

s.e. Jones writes about the best ways to start playing guitar. Jones' advice is to start with an easy three-chord song that you will be able to learn to play quite quickly. This will give you the momentum you need to continue on and the satisfaction of learning your first song.

Heidi Adams has a great list of online resources for learning guitar for free. She lists guitar tab sites, chord sites, and other guitar tips and tricks sites.

Jeff Godes tells his story of how he learned to play guitar. You can apply his lessons to your own guitar learning experience. When you become a rock god, you'll have Jeff to thank.

Crystal Ray has a nice list of guitar tab resources you can use to find tabs for songs you want to learn how to play. There are hundreds of tablature sites out there--Crystal points out some of the best ones.

I know that the beginning process of learning to play your "axe" can be quite daunting and, sure, you'll probably throw your guitar down in disgust a few times. But just remember to throw it down softly, because a few hours later you will want to pick it back up. I promise you. I hope these resources help you out.