Your First Guitar Lesson & Tips for Older Beginners

I ran into some friends that I hadn't seen in a while at dinner last night, and I got even more excited when the conversation shifted to learning how to play the guitar. I started learning guitar back in 2005 from a friend at work that had been playing for over 50 years. I was a little frustrated at first because I felt like the Karate Kid just doing these exercises and repeating chords but not actually playing any songs. 

What I didn't know was happening was I was getting really good at playing chords in random order, even bar chords, sharps and flat, majors and minors. Those things are important when you want to jump from chord to chord in a song, any song. Finally I had enough and asked "Mr Miagi" to teach me song. Luckily he smiled and started callout out chords E, A and B and we started playing a 1-4-5 Blues. He would change things up each time making this a little more complicated, but I was keeping up with him and that was just the beginning.

Starting out on the guitar alone can feel nearly impossible, but don't worry you're not alone! I put together a few helpful videos below to get you going. Plus if you search my blog you'll find tons of helpful posts for all levels of learners. 

Technically most of these techniques here can be used for other stringed instruments like ukulele. So use whatever is most helpful to you, or consider sharing this with a friend that might need a little help getting started.  Let's get to it:

The ONLY First Guitar Lesson You NEED To See - Beginner Guitar Lesson

Lauren Bateman

The Only First Guitar Lesson You Need To See - ✅ Buy Lauren's Complete 7 Level Beginner Guitar Course at: https://laurenbateman.mykajabi.com/co... 🔴 Subscribe for more free YouTube guitar lessons: https://bit.ly/2ZRWvls

Here are the chapters for my First Guitar Lesson for absolute beginners video: 0:00 - Intro & Background 1:20 - Exercise 1 3:12 - Close-up 4:12 - Exercise 2 8:05 - Close-up 8:55 - First Two Guitar Chords 11:13 - Close-up 12:16 - First Guitar Strum 13:53 - Easy C Chord for Guitar 17:07 - Easy G Chord for Guitar 18:39 - Easy D Chord for Guitar 21:16 - Chord Practice Tips

This video is the first guitar lesson for absolute beginners. Even if you've been popping around YouTube for a while, you might find some helpful tips in this video. Most first guitar lessons on YouTube start you too far along in the process. The goal of your first guitar lesson is to build confidence and give you a solid foundation. That's why in my first guitar lessons for absolute beginners I show you exactly what I teach most of my students in their first guitar lessons with me. 1. How to navigate the strings 2. How to navigate the frets 3. How to builds chords and 4. How to put them together and strum them to start learning songs. You will be learning about the left hand, the right hand, chords, strumming and so much more. After my first guitar lesson for absolute beginners, you will have the tools needed to learn hundreds of songs. Some of those songs can be found on my website at: https://www.laurenbateman.com/beginne... But here is a list of a few of the songs you can learn with my special beginner guitar chords: Bryan, Luke - Drink A Beer Chapman, Tracy - Talking About A Revolution Clapton, Eric - Wonderful Tonight Cranberries, The - Zombie Lynard Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See Osborne, Joan - What If God Was One Of Us Pink - A Million Dreams Pearl Jam - Last Kiss Rucker, Darius - Wagon Wheel Sheeran, Ed - Perfect Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl Young, Neil - Heart Of Gold Just to name a very limited few songs that you will be have access to after my first guitar lesson for absolute beginners.

7 Tips for Older Beginners | Tom Strahle | Easy Guitar | Basic Guitar

Tom Strahle

From this video... Tip #1 - Practice 5 minutes a day (to start) Tip #2 - Lighter Strings/Lower Action Tip #3 - Toughen up the finger pads Tip #4 - Keep the guitar out where you can get to it Tip #5 - Warm up Tip #6 - Practice efficiently Tip #7 - Keep it simple to fight discouragement Here's a warm-up exercise... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKO61... The Killer Finger Independence Exercise - https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide... The Killer String Skipping Exercise - https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide... The Killer Finger Stretching Exercise - https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&vide...

Other beginner videos... That Darn "F" Chord - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgDog... Playing Well With Others #1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqKix... Accompaniment video to Playing Well With Others #1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UnfG... Playing Well With Others #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivts-... Accompaniment video to Playing Well With Others #2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHMs... Two Left Hand Exercises - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKO61...