Quail Studios Beginner’s Guitar Course
On this page you will find concepts that you should know and be studying as a beginner.
Learn what kind of instrument you have.
Be able to name the Parts of the Guitar
Learn the string names and numbers
E A D G B E, 6 5 4 3 2 1
Learn the Notes on the First 5 Frets (video coming soon)
Learn the Notes on the E and A Strings up to the 12th fret.
Tune Your Guitar
Know how to tune your guitar to standard tuning by at least one of the following ways.
- Tune your guitar from reference pitches – from another guitar, piano, tuner, etc.
- Tune the guitar relative to itself – 5th fret technique
- Tuning with harmonics
- Use a tuner – tuning app, or one you buy in the store
- Tune using a tuning fork
- Learn how to tune by ear.
Holding the Guitar
Make sure you know how to hold your guitar properly.
Here is our video about Holding the Guitar
8 Open Position Chords for Guitar
Skip to 2:40 to see how to hold the guitar in relation to your body.
Foundation Chords These videos are about multiple chords.
D Dm D7 Dm7, G C B7 F
E Em E7 Em7, A Am A7 Am7
18 open position chords. Click on the links to see videos about these chords.
D E A G
Dm Em Am C
D7 E7 A7 B7
Dm7 Em7 Am7 F
C7 G7
Learn Note Names on the Guitar
Not absolutely essential at this stage but the more you know about notes and chords then the better guitar player you will be.
Learn notes on the bottom two strings E and A. This is in preparation for playing barre chords.
Learn the notes on the first 5 frets all the strings.
Develop a Repertoire of 10 songs
Learn some songs! This is the most fun part of learning to play the guitar.
Here are some songs that you can learn.
Twinkle Twinkle
When Johnny Comes Marching Home – The Ants Go Marching One By One
Developing Rhythm
Developing Rhythm and Strumming
Start Using A Pick
You think you know how to use a pick? Check out this video!
Using A Pick – Video
Study Basic Finger-picking
Fingerpicking 101
Click Here for a page with some beginning fingerpicking study pieces.