Learning guitar

I'm a legend at Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but I've never touched a real guitar. A couple weeks ago, Rock Band told me it might be time to pick up a real guitar ... this after playing a few songs on expert level.

I know it's different. I'm not expecting it to be like the game, but I'm looking for a good site/book to start with the basics of learning guitar.

It should be noted, the extent of my musical abilities is thanks to a can of beans. IOW, I need something for the slowerest (sic) of slow people.

 

I shot a 50 on Tiger Woods on the X-box. I'm quitting my job today and signing up for Q school.

 

I hate you.

 

Keep away from the knives and you should do fine as you strum your way to learning how to play a guitar.

Seriously, there's got to be someone at a local guitar store who can point you in the right direction to the best DVD for you to check out.

 

I came across this site with a quick turn on Google.

 

Thanks, f_t.

I did a Google search and looked through the first couple, but they all looked the same. That one, OTOH, looks a little better than what I'd found.

Unacceptable.

 

How quickly we forget our infomercials from just a few years ago.
Get your guitar lessons from Esteban!
http://www.estebanmusic.com/guitars.html

 

It's hard to forget when it's brought up again!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Dummies-Mark-Phillips/dp/076455106X

 

If you do decide to learn, take the time to find a way to learn chords and chord/note progression. You can easily learn to play guitar by tablature -- which essentially matches up a fret number to the string. It's pretty cool, because you can learn to play all your favorite songs. However, it doesn't really teach much except mimicry. The other way, you can jam/improvise a little bit on your own and not have to rely on rote memorization.

 

Go with learning the basic chords and for songs use tabs. If you want to learn sheet music, which is mostly used for classical playing, you can pick that up later.

Edit: Martin beat me

 

I'm a self-taught guitar player of about 22 years.
My advice is to take lessons.
Learning on your own creates bad habits and techniques you'll wish you never developed.