Best "Learn to play the guitar" book/dvd?

specialk

specialk

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So I'm trying to learn to play the guitar (I have an acoustic, and then maybe move to an electric if I learn) but I was wondering if there were any good deals on a good book or Dvd that helps you learn? I know there are a ton of books out there, but I was just wondering if any of you had good experience with any of the in particular?

Thanks, and any more tips on learning would be greatly appreciated.

And if this could be moved to "Other Deals and Requests" I would be grateful, apparently posting and talking at the same time isn't a good idea, atleast for me.
 
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I know it's not a book or a DVD, but I've had good experience with the about.com guitar lessons. I have a guitar tutorial CD that came with my Epiphone, and I must say that about.com's tutorial is better. Cyberfret also seems good, but I use it mainly as a scale reference.

Some tips:
Make sure your guitar is in tune or else you'll get discouraged because you can't get decent sounds. I quit the guitar several times when I was younger because I thought I sucked bad, when it turns out I just never properly tuned my guitar. Therefore, if you can't tune by ear, get a tuner or, if you have a computer microphone, download Guitarpad.

I also advise you to start practicing barre chords early, but slowly, because they can take a while to learn. Barre chords will probably be the first major challenge you encounter when learning.

Some techniques don't sound great on an acoustic, such as power chords. Keep that in mind.

Learning music theory isn't essential, but it helps if you ever want to write, discuss, or analyze music. Musictheory.net is a good place to get some information.
 
I made a ton of progress with Larry Little's books. I bought the Interactive Guitar a while ago, but can't get it to work right.

Good luck :)
 
I've been meaning to try and learn the guitar for nearly 10 years now. Parents got me a basic learners one with an a cheapo amp from Costco back in about 98 or 99. My partner plays the bass so at the very least I could ask him to really sit down with me and show me a few things...
 
Also, play along to music now and then. It will help with your timing, and it helps to feel that you are really playing music and not just making semi-tuneful noises from time to time.

I will check out about.com. I've been playing for.....18 years....good gravy....but I am not 18 years good by any means. I have never taken lessons, just read lots of guitar magazines and learned stuff I liked.

It does help to have real people show you stuff, though. Every time I've had someone show me a trick or a lick or whatever, it has always been very satisfying and probably saved me months of learning by myself.

Rock on!
 
[quote name='RyanFrost']http://www.amazon.com/Fender-Presen...pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8512658-7197637?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Seems like many people think this is one of the better ones. I just picked it up myself and while I haven't used it that much yet it is quite informative. I'd recommend it.[/QUOTE]

Well I decided to start with this DVD. I hope to move to an electric guitar eventually, but I'm excited to mess with the acoustic as well. Most everywhere I read suggested the acoustic then to the electric, and since I already have the acoustic that's the route I'm gonna take.

I appreciate all the help, and if you guys have anymore tips on learning, let me know. It's cool that I'm not the only one looking to learn.
 
I would highly, HIGHLY recommend finding a teacher. I spent a while trying to learn from DVDs and books, and made infinitely more progress once I broke down and got a real teacher.
 
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