Guitar
Four chords, then your first full song.
Learn guitar as a beginner
This beginner guitar course gets you playing real music quickly. You'll learn eight open chords, practice changing between them without stopping, add a steady strumming pattern, and play one full song start to finish. It works on acoustic or electric guitar, and you never need to read music.
The path
- 1
Level 1Free First Chords
A full song, start to finish
14 Steps, about 26 minutes each. Total beginners with an acoustic or electric guitar. No music reading needed.
- Chapter 1: First chords, first song. A tuned guitar, the D, A and E chords, and your first full play-along from start to finish.
- Chapter 2: Seven chords and a strum. G, C, Em and Am added, the most common strumming pattern, and four chords looping smoothly.
- Chapter 3: Play a real song. A whole song learned, a song you chose from a chord chart, and a recording of you playing it start to finish.
- 1Show your groupTune up and play a D chordYour guitar is in tune and you can hold a D chord that rings clearly.
Every guitar session starts with tuning. A guitar slightly out of tune makes even perfect chords sound wrong, which is discouraging and trains your ear badly. A free tuner app or clip-on tuner makes tuning quick.
Standard tuning, from the thickest string (6) to the thinnest (1), is E A D G B E. Turning a tuning peg tightens or loosens a string, raising or lowering its pitch.
The detail beginners miss is tuning up to the note. If a string is sharp (too high), loosen it below the note, then tighten up to it. Tuning up to a note helps it hold better than tuning down.
Your first chord is D. Finger 1 (index) on string 3, fret 2. Finger 2 on string 1, fret 2. Finger 3 on string 2, fret 3. Strum only the top four strings, 4 to 1. Press with your fingertips just behind the fret wire, not on top of it, and arch your fingers so they don't touch neighboring strings.
Right is a guitar in tune and a D chord where all four strings ring. Check by picking each string one at a time; a muffled string means a finger is touching it. Fingertips get sore at first. Short sessions, 15 to 20 minutes, are better than long ones.
- 2Learn the A chordA clean A chord and your first slow switch between D and A.
- 3Speed up with one-minute changesYou know your score: how many D to A changes you can do in one minute.
See all 14 Steps
- 4
- 5Show your groupStrum along to your first songYou played a whole play-along with A and D, start to finish, without stopping.
- 6
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- 8Add the minor chords Em and AmClean Em and Am chords and a feel for the minor sound.
- 9Learn the most common strumYou can play D - D U - U D U steadily on one chord, then while changing.
- 10Show your groupFour chords, smooth changesYou can loop G, D, Em, C with the strum pattern and no gaps.
- 11Learn a whole songYou can play Knockin' on Heaven's Door start to finish with the video.
- 12Clean up the rough spotsYour hardest change in the song is noticeably faster than yesterday.
- 13Learn a song from a chord chartYou learned a new song using only a written chord chart, with no lesson video.
- 14Show your group
- 2
Level 2Unlocks after Level 1 Rhythm and Riffs
A recorded three-song set
20 Steps, about 35 minutes each. Players who finished Level 1 or can already play the main open chords and strum a song without stopping.
- Chapter 1: New chords and a capo. Fmaj7, sus chords and power chords learned, a capo on, and a song played in a new key.
- Chapter 2: Rhythm. Eighth-note strumming, palm muting, syncopated patterns, steady time on a metronome, and a song with real groove.
- Chapter 3: Riffs and the blues. Tab read fluently, classic riffs played, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and a 12-bar blues played start to finish.
- Chapter 4: Barre chords and your set. The F barre chord, a fingerpicking pattern, singing while you play, and a recorded three-song set.
- 1Show your groupLearn the Fmaj7 chordA clean Fmaj7 chord, and changes between Fmaj7 and C.
Fmaj7 is a beautiful, dreamy chord, and a great stepping stone toward the full F barre chord later in this Era. It sits in the same place on the neck as F, without needing a barre.
Fmaj7: finger 1 on string 2, fret 1. Finger 2 on string 3, fret 2. Finger 3 on string 4, fret 3. String 1 is open. Strum strings 4 to 1.
The detail beginners miss is the open first string. Finger 1 leans and mutes string 1 easily. Arch it so string 1 rings; that ringing note is what gives Fmaj7 its color.
Here's an example. Fmaj7 placed. Strings 4 to 1 picked one by one: string 1 dull. Finger 1 arched. Now clear. C to Fmaj7: finger 1 stays on string 2, fret 1, as an anchor; fingers 2 and 3 each move one string. One-minute changes: 14.
Right is a clean Fmaj7 and smooth changes with C. Level 2 assumes the eight open chords and the D - D U - U D U strum from Level 1. Keep sessions to 20 to 30 minutes, and stop if you feel sharp pain or numbness.
- 2
- 3
See all 20 Steps
- 4Use a capoA capo on the guitar and a song played in a new key with chords you know.
- 5Show your groupPlay a song with a capoA whole song played start to finish with a capo and at least one new chord from this chapter.
- 6Eighth-note strummingSteady eighth-note strumming, down on the numbers and up on the &s, with your hand never stopping.
- 7
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- 9Lock in with a metronomeYour strumming patterns played with a metronome at 70 and then 90 beats per minute.
- 10Show your groupStrum a song with grooveA song played with a syncopated pattern, palm muting in the verse and open strumming in the chorus.
- 11
- 12
- 13Hammer-ons and pull-offsHammer-ons and pull-offs that ring clearly, used in a short riff.
- 14Learn the 12-bar bluesThe 12-bar blues chord pattern and the shuffle riff played in E.
- 15Show your groupPlay the blues throughThree times through the 12-bar shuffle in E, with an ending, recorded.
- 16Your first F barre chordA full F barre chord with most strings ringing, and a change from C to F.
- 17
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- 19Build your setThree songs chosen, arranged and practiced as a set, with a plan for each.
- 20Show your group
Level 3Unlocks after Level 2 Barre Chords
Any song in any key
Where it ends: playing songs around a fire
Questions about learning guitar
How long does it take to learn guitar?
Level 1 is 14 Steps of about 26 minutes each, around 6 hours in all, split into 3 chapters. Go at your own speed: one Step a day, or a whole chapter in a sitting.
What do I need to start guitar?
You'll need a guitar, acoustic or electric, picks, medium thickness (pack of 6) and tuner (free phone app or clip-on). There's nothing you have to buy to start.
Can a complete beginner learn guitar?
Total beginners with an acoustic or electric guitar. No music reading needed.
What will I have made by the end of Level 1?
Eight open chords, smooth changes and a strumming pattern, and one full song played start to finish.
Is this guitar course free?
Yes. Level 1 of every hobby on Eras is free, and every Step links free lessons from great teachers online. Eras Plus is an optional subscription that opens the levels after it.
Free lessons in First Chords come from JustinGuitar, Fender, Guitar World, GuitarLessons.com, Andy Guitar, JustinGuitar Songs. We link to their work and never copy it.
Cover photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash