Guitar 101
01. THE MAVERICKS
First things first: Stuff happens. Overcome it. If you're lucky, you've got healthy hands. If not, you'll need to be a maverick. These guys did the impossible. The Guitar Commons does not exist without them.
02. RUN BEFORE YOU WALK
I’m putting these so close to the beginning because while working in the guitar shop, I used to get asked a lot how I figured out how to play the guitar. I would show them what I thought they wanted to know, and they always looked confused and disappointed with the regular boring beginner stuff. The truth is, How To Play Hard Rock and Heavy Metal plus Heavy: The Story of Metal is how I got started. There was this, and some old broken lessons in the back of Guitar World magazine. For years.
I recommend you watch them both, even though the second one is a rock documentary and not a guitar lesson. The two videos side by side are a solid representation of where most of the story of what was happening in the electric guitar world up to about 2006. Do I think you need to learn that DVD note for note? Absolutely not. I also do not condone most of the behavior in that documentary.
03. BACK TO BASICS
The first thing that you need to know how to do by yourself is tune the guitar. An electronic tuner has been provided on The Guitar Commons home page, but you should learn to tune without one as well. This video put together by one of the Berklee school of music professors shows the method that I use in a pinch.
There are a ton of “beginner guitar” series on the internet. If you search for beginner guitar, you get a lot of the same old same old. The basics are boring. I skipped most of the basics until College, and then I had to go back and relearn how to play the guitar correctly. I picked this video because I like this guy's channel. It’s a solid beginner guitar video, and covers most of what you’ll need to know on Day 1.
04. THE COMMONS LIBRARY
This free eBook from Berklee Music should fill in many of the remaining gaps in beginner knowledge.
05. STEWARDSHIP & MAINTENANCE
If you make it this far, it’s time you get a quality guitar. Once you get a quality guitar, you need to know how to do a basic setup yourself. It’s scary. You could destroy your guitar if you do it wrong. Much like changing the oil on your own car, it’ll save you the hassle of dealing with a shop every time you need general maintenance. This video by Joe Walsh from the Eagles covers what you need to know, but it’s best to learn from someone who works in a shop. (In fact, if you make friends with anyone in your local guitar shop make sure it’s the repair guy. Unless he’s creepy and smells like beer - if that’s the case stay far, far away).
In the following video, you’ll see what happens when you play an acoustic guitar to the absolute limit, and how they keep it going. Willie Nelson’s guitar “Trigger” is featured in this two part video series put together by Stew Mac getting its annual maintenance. .
06. THE ADVANCED VAULT
I’d be lying if I said I remember everything from these videos, but if you’re stuck these are a good way to entertain yourself while you try to get un-stuck.
ENCORE
This is the basic course material for The Guitar Commons. If you’ve made it through even a small chunk of what’s here, you’ve got the tools to be one of the best guitar players in the world.