That said, you’ll make the most of your learning if you practice consistently. We know it can be hard to stick with it—that’s why we created Fender Play. We designed it to give guitarists bite-sized lessons that can be played anywhere, anytime. Learn at your own pace from world-class instructors.

Chords are a group of notes strummed together to produce a harmonious sound. Chord charts are one way for new guitarists to learn chords. These charts are a visual way to learn which strings and frets are used to form the notes to play a specific chord. They also show you where to place your fingers on the fretboard to strum a particular chord.

Even if you can’t play a lightning fast solo like your favorite guitarist, you can still strum along and play the rhythm parts if you know chords. Learn more about chord charts here.

One of the main reasons a person picks up a guitar is to play a song they love. Learning your first song is a milestone moment for beginner guitarists. It’s exciting to play along with a song you know and inspires you to keep learning more.

Learning to play your first song on guitar is a micro-education in itself. It gives you an opportunity to apply the chords you’ve learned to a song you enjoy. You get to learn more about the structure of a song and different techniques to make a piece of music come alive.

“She Loves You” by The Beatles includes both the G and C chords you learned in the chord lesson above, plus the E minor chord and an A chord—more easy chords for beginners. Check out the video below to learn how to play “She Loves You” and strum along with a simple chord progression.

A strumming pattern is a specific way of playing up and down strokes on your guitar. While a number of songs call for you to strum chords in an alternating pattern—switching between upward and downward strokes, other songs call for an irregular strumming pattern. For instance, an irregular strumming pattern may have you play a chord in an “up-up-down-up” pattern repeatedly.

The more you train your ear to listen to how different a chord sounds when played upwards versus downwards, the easier it will be for you to develop your own internal rhythm and dissect strumming patterns on your own.

Play the free video lesson below and check out the different strum patterns in Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising."

Guitar scales are a series of notes played in ascending or descending order. These notes form a “musical alphabet.” (If you’ve ever heard “Do-Re-Mi,” that’s just the ascending form of the C Major scale, which includes the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.)

Just as the strings on your guitar start with a low E and end with a high E, the notes in a scale begin with a low version of that first note. (In this case, it’s a low C.) And they end with the same note, played one octave higher. (In this instance, it’s a high C.)

Technically, a scale only includes seven notes. However, playing just seven notes leaves it feeling incomplete. The term “octave” contains the Latin root for “eight.” It’s that eighth note—the higher version of the root note for each scale—that makes every scale sound complete.

Check out this short video and learn to play a C major scale—the musical alphabet we just talked about—on your guitar.

Like scales, exercises can help you learn more about music theory and improve your speed, strength, and dexterity along the fretboard. Here are some examples of finger exercises that you can practice to help you level up:

• Practice scales: Practicing a simple C major scale, moving up and down the neck can help make your fingers more nimble.
• Play notes slowly, then build speed: Start by playing a series of notes slowly. Allow your fingers to get used to where they should go and which frets they need to land on in order for a note to ring true. Once you feel like you’re hitting each fret with precision, start playing those notes faster. Soon, it’ll be second nature!

While chords and scales are some of the basic building blocks of musical theory, techniques are important too. They help you play those chords and scales in a way that sounds and feels good.

Learning new guitar skills and techniques can be fun. They allow you to uncover some of the tricks that help make songs sound unique. Different genres make use of different techniques. Practicing them gives you a better appreciation for the skill levels of your own favorite guitarists.

A guitar technique that may sound complicated is usually easier than it seems at first. Guitar techniques can be as simple as learning how to properly fret a note to slightly more complex skills like the hammer-on and pull-off techniques.

Now that we’ve gone through a series of guitar basics, do you feel more confident in your ability to learn to play guitar? The principles covered here apply to both acoustic or electric guitar and can be built upon over time. Take it note by note, chord by chord and you’ll discover that learning to play guitar is a lot easier than you think.

Practicing and repeating simple chords, scales, and exercises can help you build your confidence and skill level. Repeat these free lessons as many times as you like. And if you want to learn more, Fender Play gives you access to more lessons to help you get playing songs you love even faster.