Guitar playing, and music in general, has always been a source of comfort for me. It takes me into a world where nothing around me exists except for the sweet sounds escaping from my guitar strings. It is my therapy at the end of a bad day. As my fingers pluck at a melody, all of my stresses release. I feel calm as the vibration in the wood plays back into the palms of my hands. It has also opened up new opportunities and given me privilege to meet all kinds of people I would never have met before. Music is a universal language everyone can speak and understand in some way. You, for your own individual reasons, have also chosen the guitar as your instrument. So I will divulge to you my advice for beginners, to help you on your way to officially becoming a guitar player.

First of all, anyone can do it. Not everyone does it as well as others, but it's not impossible for anybody to learn. It doesn't matter if you've had a large musical background or if you've never picked up an instrument in your life. Young or old is not important either. What is important is fulfilling your dream and desire to learn.

The first, and most essential step, is to find the right guitar for your first time, and to become familiar with the different types of strings you can buy.

I wouldn't go spending $1000 on a top brand guitar assuming you're going to turn into a rock star over night. Start with something moderate, closer to a $200 range. It plays exactly the same way. The only difference is in the sound quality, which doesn't matter much if you're not playing on stage yet, or don't intend to. And please go to a music store. A Wal-mart guitar is not going to be very helpful to you. I don't care how cheap it is. It's plastic. And by all reasonable standards it's not a REAL guitar.

As far as strings go, the biggest excuse I hear from people who have quit learning the guitar in the first few days or weeks is that their fingers hurt really bad from pressing down on the strings so hard. If you start out on an acoustic guitar with whatever strings happened to be on the guitar when you purchased it, chances are you're going to feel that pain too. If you start out on an electric guitar, the strings are naturally lighter(softer) than acoustic strings, and the frets are shallower so the strings don't require as much pressure when you're pressing down on them. Also, the body of the guitar is smaller, which may or may not help your overall comfort. If you insist on starting out

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