How to Learn to Play Guitar Affordably (and Non-Frustratingly)
A guide to go from six-string simpleton to guitar hero without breaking the bank – or losing your mind.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard frontman Stu Mackenzie plays his guitar at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson, Arizona on April 20, 2022. (Photo by Vic Verbalaitis)
Everyone wants to know how to play the guitar. There is an instinctual desire in the human psyche to have the ability to bust out a sweet Santana-esque solo or belt out Blackbird on the old six-string. But if playing the guitar was easy, everybody would do it. That kind of skill is privy to those who put in extraordinary amounts of time and effort – and not everybody can do that.
However, there are a few simple tips to help you begin your journey to guitar glory. Take it from me – an intermediate guitarist who knows his way around the fretboard. My instrumental odyssey was not glamorous, but has taught me enough to speak competently about what to do – and what not to do – when taking the steps to learn the guitar.
Goofy or Regular (Lefty or Righty)
Before you even pick up a guitar, you need to know if you play right-handed or left-handed. A vast majority of guitarists are right-handed – an overwhelming 90% according to an article from Fender. However, there is a plethora of famous lefties: Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and ‘Misirlou’ surf rocker Dick Dale all picked with their left hand.
I am a right-handed person, but when I first picked up my brother’s guitar as a young kid, I tried playing lefty. For me and my silly, developing brain, it made sense that my dominant hand would be forming chords on the fretboard as opposed to my weaker left. My family made fun of me for playing this way, and I could not understand why it was so difficult to play the guitar. It was obviously because I was making it much harder than it needed to be.
The hand that is picking the guitar should be your more dexterous hand, as that is where the real flavor and style comes through in your playing. Your other hand will focus on hammering down notes and forming chords, and generally does not require as much constant movement.
This is important to know before you set up your guitar because of how the strings are oriented. If you’re playing as a righty, your thickest string will be on the left of the fretboard if you’re looking at the guitar directly, and the strings will decrease in thickness as you move right. However, if you’re playing a left-handed guitar, you would invert the order of the strings. But once you’ve determined whether you’re lefty or righty, you’re ready to choose your axe.
Acoustic or Electric
You can’t play the guitar if you don’t have one. One of the most important decisions to make when learning the guitar is choosing what kind of guitar you want to play. There is a big difference between electric and acoustic guitars – and a drastically different learning curve. If you love simple, chord-centric ballads and some old-fashioned strumming, I’d say you should go for an acoustic. If you would rather shred face-melters and experiment with crazy effects, I would recommend an electric.
Acoustic Guitars
For fans of country, folk and finger-picking, the acoustic guitar is the ideal choice. Typically made of wood and featuring a larger body with hourglass-like curves, acoustic guitars are what you would pick up and play by the campfire. Their strings are spaced farther apart on the fretboard than you would typically see on an electric guitar, and they are hollow on the inside which allows for natural acoustics – hence their namesake.
There are pros and cons to learning the guitar on an acoustic. I would argue that learning chords on an acoustic is more beneficial than on an electric because the spacing between the strings will stretch your fingers a bit more early on, making the learning curve a bit less steep going forward. On the other hand, new players might feel their fingers hurting more from pressing down the tougher strings or have their hands sore from twisting them into chord shapes on the wider fretboard.
There are two types of strings you can have on an acoustic, and the type you choose correlates with what kind of style you want to play. Steel strings are your typical fare for rock, country or bluegrass players who prefer a more tinny, brighter tone. They are strung under high-tension – making it harder to press down on the fretboard. Nylon strings are far softer and produce a more mellow tone than steel strings, and are a bit easier to press down. They are preferred by classical guitarists and those who enjoy picking with their fingers rather than using a guitar pick.
When choosing your acoustic guitar, you want to keep what string type you want in mind, as the strings are not interchangeable – nylon strings are for nylon string guitars and vice versa. No matter what you choose, your fingers will hurt early on. That is a given no matter what guitar you play – so it is essential to choose your acoustic based on what kind of style you plan on playing.
For acoustics, you can’t go wrong with Fender. The FA-125 Dreadnought would be my ideal choice for a beginner steel-string acoustic. It’s got a classic look and feel, and its price point of $169.99 on Guitar Center makes it a great initial investment for a solid quality guitar. If you are looking for a nylon-string acoustic, I would recommend the CN-60S on Guitar Center for $199.99. A bit pricier, but an excellent choice for a beginner who wants to focus on finger-picking.
FA-125 Dreadnought
Electric Guitars
Electric guitars are typically easier on the fingers, as it doesn’t take as much force to press the strings down on the frets. That, of course, depends on the action of the guitar, but I would argue that most often, electrics are less painful on your fingers starting out. However, purchasing an electric guitar also requires buying supplemental equipment like an amp and a guitar cable, unless you want to play quietly (which kind of defeats the purpose of an electric guitar, does it not?). Amps can range anywhere from $20 used to thousands of dollars new, depending on what kind of amp it is. That, in addition to the guitar itself, can definitely add up to a hefty price.
When looking for a beginner electric guitar, it is important to choose one that really feels right – you don’t want to be stuck with a hunk of junk that you never want to pick up. When I first started learning electric guitar seriously, all I had was a cheap Costco guitar that sounded and played awfully. It was inexpensive, but playing on poor hardware made the challenges of learning the basics all the more difficult. You might think, ‘Well, a guitar’s a guitar, right?’ Wrong. It makes a tremendous difference – especially when you are just starting out.
Brand-wise, I would recommend a Squier stratocaster to any newbie. For as low as $150, you can get a new, solid quality guitar without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a brand new Fender. And even better, these guitars are often available as used equipment on sites like Reverb, cutting down the price point even further. They play great – featuring the classic feel of the Fender Stratocaster as well as its signature three-pickup design. And as an added bonus, they just look so cool! Jimi Hendrix rocked the national anthem at Woodstock ‘69 with a strat, and iconic players like David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Clapton all played stratocasters in their heydays.
Beginner Setup:
Guitar: Squier Bullet Stratocaster HT HSS – $159.99 (Guitar Center)
Amp: Fender Frontman 10G – $79.99 (Guitar Center)
Cable: RapcoHorizon G4-6 Straight to Straight Instrument Cable - 6 foot – $9.99 (Sweetwater)
Total: $250
Squier Bullet Stratocaster HT HSS
Tools and Resources
Now that you have selected your guitar, there are some useful resources and supplementary equipment you can add to your kit that will make the actual learning process a bit easier.
First off, I strongly recommend downloading the Ultimate Guitar app on your phone or visiting the Ultimate Guitar website. Ultimate Guitar is the best resource for guitarists of any level – offering tabs for any song you can think of, practice courses to improve your skills and even a social media component where you can share clips of you playing. The practice courses require a subscription, which you can pay either $9.99 a month or $39.99 a year to access, but the other resources are entirely free. Ultimate Guitar has over two million tabs, some being interactive tabs that you can play along with to a backing track – and it is all ad free. Better yet, the app can be connected to your Spotify account, allowing you to find tabs for your liked songs quickly and easily.
The internet is your best friend when it comes to learning guitar, so don’t hesitate to check YouTube as well for free lessons on both songs and skills. Some great channels for beginners to check out are:
Djence, who offers full tutorials for some of the most popular indie songs
MartyMusic, who has a wide variety of tutorial content spanning from the basics to expert techniques
Paul Davids, who covers all levels of guitar expertise on both acoustics and electrics.
I would also suggest investing in some supplementary gear, especially a tuner. Learning how to tune your guitar effectively is an essential skill for any guitarist, and Snark tuners are a great asset to have in your arsenal. Snark clip-on chromatic tuners are an easy way to get your guitar into whatever tuning you want – clipping onto the headstock and making it easy to tell what key your open strings are tuned to. I recommend the Snark X tuner, as its low price point of $15 makes it a no-brainer. The GuitarTuna app is also a solid free option, but only allows you to tune into standard tuning with its free access.
Snark X Tuner
Also, purchasing a capo is a great way to enhance your playing capabilities as both an acoustic and electric player. Capos are used to transpose what key your guitar plays in by clipping onto the neck of the guitar and covering all six strings over a particular fret number. This allows you to play open chords anywhere on the neck, rather than only at the top. It’s an ideal part of any guitarist’s gear, and a solid one to pick up would be the Fender Kyser QuickChange for $21.95.
Fender Kyser Quick Change Capo
Make It Fun
Learning guitar is going to cost you some calloused fingers and a lot of frustration at first. The key to not getting overwhelmed by its difficulty is to make the process itself more fun.
One of the best ways to enhance your learning experience is to set small goals for yourself. Try finding a tab of one of your favorite songs that isn’t too challenging, and push yourself to master one part of that song. If you can learn to nail that one particular riff, or comfortably play a short chord progression, you will immediately feel a sense of accomplishment and some confidence in your skill. That small boost will go a long way, so as you set gradually more difficult challenges for yourself, you will see your skill start to improve as well.
Another essential aspect to improving your skills is practicing as often as you can. Playing an instrument is a perishable skill, so the less time you put into it, the harder it will be to play. I would recommend putting aside at least 30 minutes every day to practice. Once you have hit your limit or get frustrated, take a break to let yourself relax. However, if you are inclined to practice for more than 30 minutes, by all means, go for it. The more you practice, the better you will be.
Playing along with others is also a fantastic way to make the process more enjoyable. If you have a buddy who also loves guitar, taking some time to jam together and learn songs with each other will be both a great bonding experience and learning experience.
My last tip would be – honestly – playing Guitar Hero. I know it sounds silly – playing a video game with a guitar-shaped controller. But playing Guitar Hero actually works wonders for keeping tempo, finger dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Starting off at hard or expert difficulty can really help you iron down the motion of pressing strings down on a real fretboard, and playing along to songs will help you better understand how to play in time with a track. Guitar Hero is mostly obsolete these days, but Clone Hero is a great free alternative to finding an old console disc for GH. Clone Hero has access to thousands of songs created by users around the globe, making it easy to find your favorite song to jam along with. Additionally, you can find used USB Guitar Hero controllers pretty easily online for relatively cheap.