Beginner Acoustic Guitar
14 lessons. Campfire songs by week two, real fingerpicking by week four.
Open chords, the four campfire shapes, your first strumming patterns, and an intro to fingerpicking. Built around acoustic-specific songs: Wonderwall, House of the Rising Sun, Knockin on Heaven's Door.
Meet your acoustic guitar
Anatomy of an acoustic, dreadnought vs concert vs parlor, and what each part does.
Tuning your acoustic
EADGBe, same as electric. Why acoustic strings drift more, and how to keep up.
Posture and how to hold an acoustic
Classical position vs casual, strap or no strap, where your strumming hand floats.
The open G chord, acoustic's flagship
Three fingers, all six strings ring. The chord that defines the acoustic sound.
The campfire four: G, C, D, Em
Four chords, half of all pop music. By the end of this lesson you can play hundreds of songs.
Boom-chuck strumming: the folk pattern
Bass note on beat 1, chord on beat 2, bass on 3, chord on 4. The country and folk fundamental.
First full song: Wonderwall
Em, G, D, A7sus4, C. Five chords, one song, a generation of bedroom guitarists.
Fingerpicking fundamentals
Thumb plays bass, fingers play treble. The PIMA technique borrowed from classical guitar.
Travis picking
Thumb alternates between two bass strings while fingers play melody on top. Country and folk in one pattern.
Using a capo
Change keys without changing shapes. The acoustic guitarist's secret weapon for singing along.
House of the Rising Sun (fingerpicked)
Six chords, arpeggiated pattern, immediate atmosphere. The fingerpicking song every beginner can pull off.
Hammer-ons in chord progressions
Add a note without picking it. The trick that turns a basic chord into a riff.
Blackbird (the easy version)
Paul McCartney's thumb-and-finger arrangement. Bach-influenced, fingerstyle, and learnable.
Putting it all together
Recap, where you are, and the three habits that turn beginners into intermediate players.