Want to learn guitar

elevature

A friend of mine is going to give me some basic guitar lessons, but I want to get a head start and I've been trying to teach myself a little bit. I've got a couple of books that show some beginner chords and such, but I'm having trouble with the fingering. I find that my fingers always touch the strings below them, and I find it really tough to push the strings hard enough to get a good sound out of them and still get them out of the way of the other strings.

Is this something everyone goes through when first learning? I'm hoping that I just need to exercise my fingers a bit to get some flexibility; if this is the case, are there any good exercises to try or should I just keep working on the chords?

Lastly, are there any good websites with very basic lessons? I've googled a bit but everything I find either assumes you have some knowledge or wants me to pay.

Demerdar

www.cyberfret.com for all your free lessons and "tips". I wouldn't worry about it, just keep trying. The first month or so is always the hardest when learning the guitar.

Godfather

I created an old thread ages ago about the very same situation as you. If you'll give me some time I might be able to dig it up.

I found it very helpful.

Crashtard

check out http://guitar.zentao.com it has lots of free lessons, plus a very helpful forum.

Mishra

Slow down. With any instrument the key is building muscle memory. You want to do it right every time, if your making mistakes your playing to fast. Play as fast as you can without, making mistakes. That's my advice, though really lessons are incredibly useful. It took me a while before I could produce a decent sounding chord, you need to build up the callouses. Are you playing acoustic or electric? I suggest acoustic to begin with so that you build up hand strength and callouses faster. Push through the first part it's a little dull but once you get the hang of it it gets very satisfying.