Essential Guitar Basics & Playing Your Very First Song

Welcome to 30 Days of Guitar! In this series, we’re going to start guitar at the very beginning and build a solid foundation. If you stick with it for all 30 days I guarantee you will be able to play your favorite songs with confidence, some basic fingerstyle, the blues and a ton more!

Getting started on acoustic guitar

How to hold the guitar

1. Sit on a comfortable chair with your back straight.
2. Place the guitar across your legs so that the back of the guitar is resting against your chest, and the guitar neck is pointing up at an angle away from your body.
3. Rest your strumming arm on top of the guitar, and make sure that your chord hand is NOT supporting the weight of the neck!

The names of the guitar strings

From thickest to thinnest: E A D G B e

How to tune a guitar with a clip on tuner

1. To tune a guitar with a clip on tuner, first clip the tuner to the headstock of the guitar, close to the tuning pegs.
2. Next, pluck the low E string and turn the tuning peg until the indicator on the tuner reads “E.”
3. Repeat this process for all the other strings. From thickest to thinnest: E A D G B e

Once all strings sound in tune, you’re good to go!

Do I need to cut my nails to play chords on guitar?

Having short nails can help with certain chords where you need to use multiple fingers at the same time, but as long as your nails are not too long, you should be able to make chords.

How do I switch chords on guitar smoothly?

When switching chords, make sure you use both hands at the same time for the transition. Use your fretting hand to grab the notes of the next chord, while your strumming hand is already strumming the chord. This way, you can transition chords smoothly.