Guitar mentor or help?

[MichiganNimrod]

I am looking for some help to learn to play acoustic guitar. I bought it last spring and tried to learn from youtube videos and a few things on line but I couldn't get it to "click" in my head.  I have no music background. 

I don't know what I am doing but I think I was missing something with strumming.   No rhythm?  Once I got my fingers to bend the wrong way on the frets I couldn't pull it off.

Anyone out there have any tips or ideas?   

Thanks in advance

Nimrod
http://13skills.com/member/405/michigan-nimrods

[ID_Joker]

I trie the same way and got nowhere.  i'm sure it works for some people, but didn't for me.  I went for instruction every couple weeks and finally made progress.  A good teacher is worth his/her weight in gold if you really want to learn.

[Dainty]

Some people find it easier to teach themselves, others to have someone teach them.

I did a combination of both.

Presumably you enjoy the sound of an acoustic guitar? For me, there's something about it that I find so relaxing, before I even know how to play it I would lay down in bed with it and softly strum the strings before I even learned my first chord. I'd mark that as the beginning of my journey to learn guitar - enjoying the instrument, getting familiar with it, relishing the sound of it, getting a "feel" for everything before moving on to the basic technicalities. But then again, that's just my learning style.

I began asking people who knew guitar to teach me. I kinda cornered them, actually. "Teach me a chord!" They'd take a few minutes out of a gathering to sit down and show me a few things, and I practiced whatever stuck in my mind. I knew about4 people who played guitar with various styles and expertise, so whenever I saw them I just gleaned what I could. I also looked up chords online and figured things out that way.

It kinda just all depends on what sort of approach you want to take. Do you have caluses built up yet? Working on those and your hand strength for bar chords and such could help you be ready to make the most of your time with your instructor - otherwise they can limit how fast you're able to progress. I have memories of playing with a bowl of ice next time me which I'd place my blistered fingers on every few minutes when my eagerness to play overtook the complaints from my fingers. Good times.

All the best in learning!

[hillclimber]

I've been playing for around 40 yrs.  For the most part you play an electric the same as you do a accoustic.
You do different things with both, but you play them the same.
When I learned, I started learning chords by just playing the bottom three strings (G, B, and E). The Mel Bay books help alot, if you can find them anymore. Start by learning the easy open chords like G, G7th, D, Dm, D7th, C, A, Am, F, etc. You can do alot with three or four chords.
I used to read music, and I guess I still can, but I hardly ever do anymore. Almost 30yrs of playing in bar bands has gotten the "formal training" out of my system. LOL

[oldschoollion]

We all have different mental wiring that prefer types from the media to how the info from it is explained.  The link below is working for me.
http://www.guitarjamz.com/members/

[Isailli]

tip for learning chords :   once you do the this finger goes hear and that one goes there thing, and you have it correct for this strange unnatural position just sit down and hold it for as long as you can. then switch to another. G,C,D Maj or 5th barre chords are probably best place to start. eventually muscle memory will take over and you will be able to switch back and forth very quickly.
As for strumming you can practice anywhere without a guitar pretend U are holding a pick  or use a coin and just down up down up on your leg as if you are scratching a itch this helps with a  beginners tendency to jam the pick to far down in the strings. I used to this one while driving till i got to where i was going. sometimes for over an hr again a lot of it is muscle memory.

[Melting]

I taught myself to play.

The most helpful tools were the following;

Guitar for Dummies, - Mark Phillips Don Chapple
Great overview covers the basics, easy, fun , do this first.

Edley's Music Theory for practical people. Do this along with the above book.

When you understand the theory you can understand what you are doing, plus the theory is simple and fun.
this book will save you from ever buying a book on chords, you will be able to make them on your own.

Fretboard theory - Desi Serna
Fretboard Logic - Bill Edwards
 Buy one or the other, I used Fretboard logic. Understand the fretboard and apply the basic music theory to it and you will be able to play anything.

The other thing I did was sign up for online lessons.
Nextlevelguitar. good site, David taub is a great teacher, I love their song DVD's. $19 a month

Jamplay, Huge site, a lot more for your money. Many teachers to pick from. lesson series for begginer, series on styles, song lessons. I loved this site, about 15-20 dollars a month. I think I paid about $50 for a quarter, I still use this site.

I have gone from knowing nothing to being able to play almost anything, in any key, Rhythm, lead, fingerstyle, Blues. christian, sing and play.
Good Luck, Have Fun! Hope this Helps