Order of Learning Progression?

whorner

I have recently started playing, but being at uni, I don't really have the time or money for lessons, so sort of just teaching myself. I am aware of justinguitar.com which is helping a lot. But I wanted to ask, where do I start. Learn all the basic chords first, and then move onto some songs? Or am I missing some bits in between?
Thanks in advance

ElectroDan

Depends what you want out of it. Justinguitar is a great start.
Once you've learned the basic chords and a few strumming patterns you should be able to play plenty of songs. There are beginner songs on Justin's site.
It's up to you where you go from there. Every new thing you learn will open up more potential things to learn.
What sort of playing are you aspiring to?

mike_l

Start with scales (minor pentatonic to start) as well as basic chords (open and moveable 5th chords)

Once you have these down move onto full (7-note) major and minor chords and barre chords.

Remember to learn some songs as well as the chords/scales to keep your interest.

TheBlueWolf

Justin has very kindly taken the time to suggest songs for each stage of learning, so I'd take him up on that

Start with open chords, the major, minor and pentatonic scales, then move on to power chords and barre chords.

Where you want to go with guitar playing depends a lot on what music you like, and whether or not you plan to join a band at some point.

Whatever your preferred genre of music is you might want to look into what those guys are playing and head down a similar path

close2u

I totally, absolutely agree that you should use The Beginners Course on justinguitar. Follow the structure, advice and practice schedules. 

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But take your time. The Beginners Course, and accompanying songs is at least one years worth of learning, practicing and consolidating. Some of the advice given here could be read as a fast-track. Those suggestions need to be seen as long-term aims that could take several years to get to grips with.

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https://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php

BC-000 • Justin's Beginners Guitar Course 

The Justinguitar.com Beginner's Course I like to think that my method is the most effective, enjoyable and logically structured method available anywhere. Over a million people have learned to play using this course and it gets great reviews all over the internet, so I'm pretty confident that it works! We'll start at the very beginning and I'll show you all the basic chords, strumming and techniques to get you playing great songs as soon as possible! It's a lot of fun

I would strongly recommend you follow the course from the beginning and give each lesson your best. Even if you've tried to learn guitar before, I would still advise you look through each lesson to make sure you fill in any holes in your knowledge, you might find things that really help you get it together!

There's a "? Get Help With This Lesson" link to the forum on every page, and by asking questions you help me improve the course and getting tips from other that have done the course can be very helpful!

Though learning music theory is not an essential part of learning the guitar, many people enjoy understanding what they are doing and my eBook, Practical Music Theory will be very interesting for those people and will help you understand what you are doing and give you many exercises to help you memorise the information. 

Click here for a 5 minute "Quick Start Guide" if you itching to get started quick!

Good luck my cyber students, hope you really enjoy it! Justin 

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Getting Started...

Before we get started in learning chords and stuff, I want to get you off to the best possible start. This section will really help you get the most of this course so check it out!

BC-101 • Common beginners questions answered
BC-102 • What guitar should you buy?
BC-103 • What guitar accessories do you need?
BC-104 • Guitar Anatomy
BC-105 • Make the most of your practice time
BC-106 • Body Posture and Finger Placement
BC-107 • Picks, how to choose one and hold it
BC-108 • How To Read TAB and Chord Boxes 
BC-109 • Get your guitar in tune

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Stage 1

In this first stage we are going to check out three basic chords and how to change between them. We look at the very basics of rhythm and some easy songs that you can play with just these three chords!

BC-111 • The D Chord
BC-112 • The A Chord
BC-113 • The E Chord
BC-114 • Anchor Fingers for A, D and E
BC-115 • 1 Minute Changes
BC-116 • 4:4 all down rhythm
BC-117 • Easy Songs for Stage 1
BC-118 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-119 • Stage 1 Practice Schedule

Also might like to check out my Top 10 Easy Songs For Beginners!

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Stage 2

Now we are going to introduce some easy minor chords. We'll be changing between them and listening to the difference between Major and Minor. We'll also develop the changes between the new chords and the ones learnt last lesson. We also have to get our foot working and understand why that is important to become friends with a metronome.

BC-121 • The Amin Chord
BC-122 • The Emin Chord
BC-123 • The Dmin Chord
BC-124 • 1 minute Changes
BC-125 • Introducing the metronome 
BC-126 • Foot tapping
BC-127 • Easy Songs For Stage 2
BC-128 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-129 • Stage 2 Practice Schedule 

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Stage 3

Now we have to get your hand stretching out a bit for a couple of trickier chords. We also introduce the idea of strumming patterns and how to read basic music rhythms.

BC-131 • The G Chord
BC-132 • The C Chord
BC-133 • Names Of Open Strings
BC-134 • 1 minute Changes
BC-135 • Basic Finger Workout
BC-136 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 1
BC-137 • Easy Songs For Stage 3 
BC-138 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-139 • Stage 3 Practice Schedule

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Stage 4

Now we are going to introduce some new interesting (but not harder) chords. We also introduce the "partial barre" to toughen up the side of your first finger a bit and talk about counting rhythm, all important stuff.

BC-141 • G7, C7, B7 Chords
BC-142 • The F Maj7 Chord
BC-143 • The A Chord again...
BC-144 • 1 minute Changes
BC-145 • Forcing The Changes
BC-146 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 2
BC-147 • Easy Songs For Stage 4 
BC-148 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-149 • Stage 4 Practice Schedule

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Stage 5

We finish off learning our open 7th chords, check out a new way to help get your chord changes even faster and also have a look at shuffle rhythms. You will be able to play blues in three different keys by the end of this stage cool... and we get a little look at some basic music knowledge.

BC-151 • A7, D7, E7 Chords
BC-152 • The Note Circle
BC-153 • Air Changes
BC-154 • 1 minute Changes
BC-155 • Triplet Rhythms
BC-156 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 3
BC-157 • Easy Songs For Stage 5 
BC-158 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-159 • Stage 5 Practice Schedule

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Stage 6

OK. This is a big stage. Lots of important stuff. You are ready for it... now it's time to tackle the big nasty F Chord. Get ready for a bit of pain and frustration, everyone has to go through this rite of passage. And that is not all. We also have to learn to miss some strums! harder than it sounds... but lots of fun and will sound awesome once you get it!

BC-161 • The Dreaded F Chord
BC-162 • 1 minute Changes
BC-163 • Using a Capo
BC-164 • "Action" and basic guitar set up guide
BC-165 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 4
BC-166 • Picking Individual Strings
BC-167 • Easy Songs For Stage 6 
BC-168 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-169 • Stage 6 Practice Schedule

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Stage 7

Now we have the very basics under your fingers, we can start to look at some more interesting stuff - notes on the neck, some cool chords to spice up your playing and a scale! wey hey...

BC-171 • Notes In The Open Position
BC-172 • Power Chords 1
BC-173 • A Sus2/4 and D Sus2/4 Chords, Esus4
BC-174 • 1 minute changes
BC-175 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 5
BC-176 • Minor Pentatonic Scale
BC-177 • Easy Songs For Stage 7 
BC-178 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-179 • Stage 7 Practice Schedule

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Stage 8

Now we are ready for some really cool fun stuff... A look at some other common ways of playing the G Chord, a 12 Bar Blues and an exercise to help you get your picking skills a bit sharper.

BC-181 • G Chord Variations
BC-182 • 1 minute Changes
BC-183 • 12 Bar Blues Style
BC-184 • Basic Fingerstyle Exercise
BC-185 • Minor Pentatonic Picking Exercise
BC-186 • Power Chords 2
BC-187 • Easy Songs For Stage 8 
BC-188 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-189 • Stage 8 Practice Schedule

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Stage 9

Now we are nearly at the end of our beginners course. Few more things to learn and then it's consolidation time! There is a whole lot of different material here - so take your time, just try and digest one little bit at a time and you'll get there!

BC-191 • Easy Slash Chords
BC-192 • Power Chord Shifts and Palm Mutes
BC-193 • Applied Fingerstyle Patterns
BC-194 • 12 Bar Blues Variations
BC-195 • Minor Pentatonic Pattern
BC-196 • Basic Blues Improvisation
BC-197 • Easy Songs For Stage 9 
BC-198 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-199 • Consolidation Test and Practice Schedule BC-998 • JUSTIN Answer Page

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There is no mention of scale learning until Stage 7. And even that is just a short intro to whet your appetite.

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And in the course of progressing you should learn songs, learn songs, learn songs.

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Then you can take it where you want.

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Where to now????

I would suggest spending some time consolidating the Beginner Course. Make sure you are confident with all the aspects of the consolidation lesson (the last one) and can play a bunch of songs with your open chords and generally feel cool with all the stuff we have covered in this course before moving on to my Intermediate Guitar Method.

Big thanks to all the people who bought (and continue to buy) my products and those that donate, because their support has meant that I could keep the Intermediate Method free too

Hope you enjoyed it and wishing you all the best, J.