New guitarist, first acoustic guitar and new strings

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  • If you get a chance, alongside practising chords and playing technique, a decent working knowledge of music theory is invaluable for learning about chords and musical patterns, major/minor equivalents, etc. Studying some basic theory alongside practice can work wonders, and it's not as complicated as you think. There are loads of starter books on the subject with practical exercises to help you. Happy playing! Starting a new instrument is one of the best things a human can do.
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  • BahHumbugBahHumbug Frets: 349
    Just to add my two penorth.  Guitar is actually quite a difficult instrument to get started on.  On say, a keyboard, it's basically a case of pressing down a key to make a note.  You can do this with one finger.  On the guitar, however, to make a single note you need to fret the string with a finger of one hand (and you need to do that bit right), and then with the other hand pluck the string to make the note sound.  This requires coordination between both hands to make a single note.  As soon as you introduce chords, the fretting bit suddenly gets much harder......as you will have found.
    So it's difficult.  Be very patient with it and with yourself.  And ignore any video, app or person who claims that it can be done easily.
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  • beed84beed84 Frets: 2403
    To add to what everyone else has said so far, the beginning stages of learning guitar are training your hands to do things they're not used to doing, such as changing between chords. As your muscle memory develops, swapping between A and E for example will be a much easier process. My advice would be to enjoy the challenge of making your foundations sound good. It'll take a bit of time, maybe a few months, but you'll reap the benefits for doing so.

    Good luck :)
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  • TAMCOTAMCO Frets: 9
    Make sure that the action - the distance between the fretboard and the underside of the strings - isn't too high as this will put unneeded strain on your fretting hand. Get the action set by your local guitar shop/tech/luthier.

    Rest your fretting hand regularly, don't overdo it, and trust that you will get better day by day.

    Steve

    www.theacousticmusicco.co.uk
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  • This thread has answered more questions than I was going to ask, I'm so glad I read it through.
    George
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  • NikcNikc Frets: 627
    keep the guitar out and to hand picking it up and playing every day makes a massive difference - repetition is your best friend. 

    Justin guitar is a great resource but a decent tutor would be better. I've gone from awful bedroom hack to someone people actually want to play with in 8 months. lessons and actual practice are the key ;) 
     
    Most of all enjoy it :)
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  • T42T42 Frets: 13
    Nikc said:
    keep the guitar out and to hand picking it up and playing every day makes a massive difference - repetition is your best friend. 

    Justin guitar is a great resource but a decent tutor would be better. I've gone from awful bedroom hack to someone people actually want to play with in 8 months. lessons and actual practice are the key ;) 
     
    Most of all enjoy it :)
    Thanks :)
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