this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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Not dumb at all, it's a very honest beginner question.
To start with, I recommend finding a song that you want to work at that has 3-4 chords, work on that until you can fairly confidently chord shift between those and then start adding more. The next several songs you work on should have 1-2 new chords outside of your base 3-4. [I've found Ultimate-Guitar to be a good resource due to sheer volume]
For beginning chords, these are very useful major chords: C,G,D,A. useful minor: Am, Em. I like these because they are everywhere and they're easier to learn. When you move on to your next step, I'd start adding in bar-chords. So: F,F#m,B,Bm
For strumming, typically you strum all the strings individually, but in succession. Just sweep the pick across the strings. Experiment with angles, pick stiffness, how hard/loose you hold it. I'd start with either just all down strums, or a down/up/down/up thing. Wait to go any more complicated than that until you feel more comfortable maintaining your timing during chord changes. Then when you're confident with your chord progression, find some strumming patterns you like to play around with. But honestly, if you find one strumming pattern that is a step above the basics and you have 5-6 chords to work with, you can play a LOT of songs, and non-musicians will think you're amazing.
Swing Swing The D/F# is a little more than I'd recommend for a beginner, but this would be a good second step song.
Damn Regret Has a bar F in it, but you can also cheat that a little, you can scroll through the fingering options, and 2 of 16 doesn't use the full bar chord. Just make sure you're not playing the strings with 'x' over them.
Closing Time Not one of the bands you listed, Bb,Ab,Eb,Cm are only in a small spot in the bridge, and you can play the song without those.
Beginning guitar can be demotivating because there's so much to focus on at once. You're trying to learn a new hand shape, you're trying to focus on holding down each string so you're not buzzing, you're trying to make sure you're not touching other strings so you're not muting the chord. Then doing the same thing with the next chord. And on top of that, throw in strumming or picking, and then singing a different rhythm over all that complexity - the whole process can very quickly feel like too much. So give yourself permission to be bad at one part while you're focusing on another. Pick your first songs to be simple and that energize you and make you want to practice and find the next thing.
Omg thank you for this, this was very helpful. Swing Swing was one of the songs I was hoping to learn as it's my favorite song from AAR, but I'll keep it on the back burner for now.
Like you said, it really does feel like a lot to take in. There's just so many chords, I don't know how I'll be able to memorize all of them and know to utilize them properly. That, and trying to get my fingers to properly bend has been rather painful and difficult; I'm sure the damage my hands have sustained from my career as a technician isn't helping much, either.
Thank you again, everyone here has been so helpful. I wish I started this when I was younger and first got this guitar, but I guess there's no time like the present.
You don't need to worry about memorizing chords. That will happen pretty much automatically. Start off with the ones the parent post mentioned and play some songs you enjoy. Focus on technique - getting each string to ring out cleanly, changing between chord shapes smoothly, staying relaxed. Play things slowly and have them nailed before you speed it up.
Once you've done that, you will have that first set of chords engeained already without even trying. Then add a few more and learn some more songs.
At a certain point (usually when you start moving further up the neck, learning lead lines, etc), you will also find that there are patterns to everything. You don't actually need to memorize everything, because it's all variations of shapes you already know.
At no point do you need to sit down with a book of chords and memorize it.
Lordy, you'll never learn them all. I'd be surprised if I've learned 20, and I consider myself an intermediate player. But like I said, you can do a LOT with a little. And once you have the ground work, you get to decide where you want to go next with it. There's so many different ways and styles to play. Just find stuff that's fun and easy to start with. That'll help keep you motivated.
Yeahhh I'm quickly finding that out. I think this chord book is also meant for acoustic guitars, as some of the chords they have listed show, for example, the sixth string being played but not the fifth, and then it'll play strings 4 through one as well. So unless I was finger picking, I don't see how I'd be able to skip that fifth string quickly enough to play the entirety of the chord.
I'll definitely keep that in mind, though. So far I'm having trouble with some of the chords in getting all of the strings to play cleanly without buzzing. I don't know if it's a lack of proper calluses on my ring and pinky fingers, or if maybe I'm not squishing them tightly enough to be right up on the fret. I'm hoping soon I'll get good enough at switching between chords that I can start learning some songs!