The Fastest Way To Learn Guitar: A 1-Month Program For Rapid Progress

Want to know the fastest way to learn guitar? This article will help you learn guitar in just 1 month. (Yes, 1 month!)

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

• Our 5-step program: the fastest way to learn guitar in 1 month.
• How to strum guitar chords & keep rhythm.
• 3 quick & easy ways to learn your favourite songs.
• The 4-step practice system for rapid progress

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Let’s imagine a scenario when you have just 1 month to learn guitar. Maybe you want to play a song in a best man’s speech at a wedding, or you’ve been asked to help out with a group of friends who are musical.

In this article I’m going to take you through the 5 fastest ways to learn guitar in a month.

Disclaimer: Of course it isn’t possible to learn EVERYTHING about the guitar in one month, but we thought this would be an interesting thought experiment; to consider the fastest possible way to learn.

Step 1: Learn Basic Guitar Anatomy

This is unskippable. You need to know what the different parts of the guitar do.

Learn The String Names & Notes

We have six strings on the guitar:

• The ‘low E string’- This is the lowest sounding string and is the one which is closest to the ceiling, this is also known as the 6th string and is tuned to the note ‘E.
• The ‘A string’- This is the 5th string and is tuned to the note ‘A’.
• The ‘D string’- This is the 4th string and is tuned to the note ‘D’.
• The ‘G string’- This is the 3rd string and is tuned to the note ‘G’.
• The ‘B string’- This is the 2nd string and is tuned to the note ‘B’.
• The ‘high E string’- This is the 1st string and is also the highest sounding string on the guitar, and is the one which is closest to the floor. This string is tuned to the note ‘E’.

Tuning Pegs

These are what tune the guitar, they either raise or lower the pitch of each string.

Assuming the strings have put on correctly (not always the case!):

• To make the string sound higher you turn the peg away from you.
• To make the string sound lower you turn the peg towards you.

You could be the best guitarist in the world, but if your instrument is out of tune you will sound terrible.

It is essential that we play on an in-tune guitar.

Here’s a great article on how to keep your guitar in tune: How To Tune A Guitar: A Guide For Beginners

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The Fretboard/Frets

The fretboard is where we place our fingers to create chords and alter the sound of the guitar.

The frets are the metal pieces placed on the fingerboard.

The frets are numbered from 1-20.

Fret length varies from guitar to guitar, but in most cases there will never be more than 24 frets. (And on most acoustic guitars only frets 1-10 are usable.)

The “Zero” fret is the open string, which is a string played with no fingers on the fret board.

Here’s a great article which explains this further, as well as tons of other information about guitar notes!

Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners

The Sound Hole

This is where the sounds comes from.

Strum over this hole for maximum resonance and to create a full-bodied sound.

Step 2 – Learn How To Play Basic Chords

Knowing how to play chords is vital. This is a fundamental building block of guitar playing.

What is a chord?

A chord is a group of notes played at the same time.

Here are a few essential tips which will help us play guitar chords.

• Make sure your thumb is in the middle of the guitar neck, this helps add pressure to the chord. Push forwards with your thumb, don’t just pull ‘back’ with your fingers.

• Always use the finger tips to hold chord shapes. This helps stop the larger part of your fingers touching other unwanted strings.

• Make sure you have nice short nails. Long nails make it physically impossible to play using your absolute finger tips.

• Make sure your fingers and your thumb are working together to apply enough pressure to help make the chord sing. Squeeze them together like a vice.

• Each note needs to be clearly and ring with no buzz.

• Important: Your fingers should be pressing down in-between the fret markers, not on them. (Don’t press on the metal strips.)

How To Read Guitar Chord Boxes

Chord boxes show us where to put our fingers.

• An ‘X’ means don’t play this string.
• An ‘O’ means play this string.
• The lines going down are the guitar strings. From left to right it goes E, A, D, G, B and E.
• The lines going across are the frets, so from top to bottom it goes 1st fret, 2nd fret and the 3rd fret.
• The circles show you where to place your fingers.
• The numbers inside the circles show you what finger to use.

The numbers correspond to these fingers:

So this chord box is telling us that we DON’T play the E and the A strings.

However we do play the D, G, B and E strings.

We also know that our first finger needs to be on the third fret of the high E string.

This is a really simple G chord.

Still not too sure about chord boxes? Here’s an article which explains them in detail. How To Read Guitar Chordboxes

Learn Stepping Stone Chords

One of the biggest mistakes a beginner can make is trying to learn chords that use 3 or 4 fingers.

This is incredibly difficult, as it takes a lot of strength and dexterity to play chords that require multiple fingers.

Here’s the thing, there is an easy version of every chord. We refer to them as “stepping stone” chords and they are a fundamental part of our teaching strategy.

Here’s a few examples:

Learning stepping stone chords is a key part of the fastest way to learn guitar.

Step 3 – Learn To Strum & Keep Rhythm

Now we know how to learn and play chords, another important aspect of learning guitar is keeping rhythm.

It’s vital that we stay in time when we play by ourselves or with other musicians.

Fastest Way To Learn Guitar – Strumming Tips

• To strum a chord you want to have a nice swinging movement from your elbow and very little motion from your wrist.
• Make sure your wrist is straight and comfortable.

Check out this article to learn a lot more about strumming technique: How To Strum A Guitar