What are the first steps to learning to play a guitar?

Question:I want to teach myself to play the guitar (because I can't afford lessons).

Is it okay to buy a cheap guitar from, say, Fingerhut or Walmart?

What are the best resources (either books or online resources) to get me started?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I want to teach myself to play the guitar (because I can't afford lessons).

Is it okay to buy a cheap guitar from, say, Fingerhut or Walmart?

What are the best resources (either books or online resources) to get me started?

The very first step is to get a quality guitar. It doesn't have to be a D28 Martin or anything like that, but the better quality guitars are easier to play, will sound better, and if you have a solid investment(expense actually) in a good guitar, you may be more likely to follow through.

STAY AWAY FROM THE WAL-MART/FINGERHUT JUNK! The action is terrible which will make it sound terrible, make it harder to fret, cause hand fatigue, contribute to you getting into the habbit of applying too much finger pressure which slows you down and causes sore hands.

Get a quality acoustic guitar. You can whip it out and play it anywhere, any time.

If I had it to do over, I'd simply seek lessons from a teacher or good guitar player. You can buy self help books and such but interaction with a live person will help you work through issues and re-inforce what you are trying to learn. If you are determined to buy a book go to a music house and ask the people there to help you select. Most folks that work at these shops are musicians working to feed their habbit (and eat too)!

LASTLY be patient and practice, practice, practice. This is a rather long process and your finger tips will become so sore it hurts when the wind blows, but keep playing. It will pass. I almost forgot....have fun doing it.

the first step is getting a guitar

of course aside from having a guitar you should know how to read musical notes,buy the basic book for beginners.goodluck

http://www.bertweedon.com/video.htm

I guess Walmart But ask a friend if they know how to play it.

yes fine to get a cheap guitar to get started. you can get online lessons although you do have to pay for these, not as much as individual lessons though. Books are good for info but you need some other support to ensure that your doing it right and not learning bad habits which could prove difficult to break, and impede your future learning.

enjoy it, music is a great stress reliever and its fun

tons of books, magazines and video resources available.
i don't know about fingerhut or walmart. you can get reasonably good guitars at low prices at instrument dealers.
browse www.musiciansfriend.com for example.

get a t-shirt that says "I don't play guitar hero, I play guitar"

yeah buying one, my son didn't know how to play but he bought a guitar off of Ebay and i think a little booklet came with it. So if you buy one check to see if some type of beginning instruction booklet is included. Also, I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money on one at first. Just in case you decide you really don't want to learn to play. good luck!

the best way to start is obviously to have a guitar you can practice on. then u need to get urself a person who will teach you the very basic of basics to start off (easiest way as compared to books and net), and then after three - four classes you can pick it up on your own.,

I believe the first step is having a strong desire, second would be getting a guitar, Third going to your local library,as they have several self help books.

Don't buy a cheap guitar !!!!!!!! They aren't worth the money that you spend on them....save until you can at least get a $200.00 Yamaha at the Guitar Center.....they at least have a decent sound...go try them and you'll see what I mean....then get a beginners book with a CD in the back or it...or go on line and start with some free lessons....I'm not crazy about the free lessons, I'd rather see you get one of the Internet pay sites....their really not that expensive....you buy one of their Cd's, videos, DVDs, or get on line lessons. I'll give you some sites to check out...and see what you think.
Free Sites :
http://www.cyberfret.com/
http://www.ultimateguitar.com/
http://www.guitar.about.com/
http://www.freebasicgutiar.com/
http://www.abclearnguitar.com/
http://www.learnhowtoplayguitar.com/
http://www.top100guitarsites.com/
Pay Sites :
http://wwww.jamplay.com/
http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/
http://www.billbrutal.com/
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/
http://www.8notes.com/ (click on the guitar, this site also has a free electronic tuner on it's homepage, and lots of other interesting things for guitarist, click where it says chords, you name the chord and they show you how to make it )
http://www.worldguitar.com/
http://www.justinguitar.com/
http://www.learn-to-play-guitar-online.i...
http://www.guitartutoronline.com/
I hope that something here can help get you started, good luck, bye !!!!!!!!

you don't want a cheap guitar, you want an economic one. Cheap refers to both quality and price. Economic refers to getting quality for a low price.

If i had to start guitar again, i would get a teacher right away. I was self taught, and it takes a lot more time than having a teacher does

hey!

DONT BUY YOUR GUITAR FROM WALMART, they may be cheap and you may be just a beginner, but you deserve a decent instrument!
i suggest http://www.guitarcenter.com/ . that's where i got my first guitar for about $120, and I still have it today :)

I say for you to first of all, learn the easy chords ( A D E G C ) and then, learn tabs from your favourite songs (you can find them at http://www.911tabs.com/ )

SO, I REPEAT, DONT BUY WALMART!!!

for resources, the other answers had many :)