So my roomate has a guitar and I’d like to learn to play. He doesn’t really know either, so no help there.
I have a book that’s supposed to be able to teach you, but it doesn’t have any actual songs in it, which is what I think would be most helpful in learning. Does anyone know of any good Web sites that could help me out?
General tips would be appreciated as well.
Well,
Here is my 2 cents on learning to play. I’ve been playing for 20 years, played professionally for a while and have taught some.
First, buy a metrenome. Second buy a scale book. Third buy a chord book. Forth buy a begining music theory book. Last pick some easy songs to start learning (Sweet Home Alabama, Iron Man, Fly By Night are fairly easy and well known. I don’t know what kind of stuff you want to play)
There are basically four parts to playing guitar: Left Hand, right hand, rhythm and reading/theory.
For the left hand probably the biggest thing for beginners is hand strength. It takes a reasonable amount of pressure to fret the strings correctly. There are finger strengthening devices you can buy but the best way to build up the strength is by playing, specifically scales. Scales are pretty boring but I think they are the best way to advance quickly. You get finger strength and finger independance if you do scales. Note, USE YOUR PINKIE. I usually suggest learning the major scale and minor scale and slowly playing the scales to a metrenome for at least 20 minutes everytime you pickup the guitar. Actually everyone should do this but it is really important for beginners. Start playing the scales to a metronome slowly. Once you make it through the scale 5 times, up and down, in a row w/o a mistake speed up the metronome. In a short time you will be playing them pretty fast. Also change your hand position on the neck while doing the scales. Start at the first fret then move to the third, then fifth etc. Also when doing scales use alternate picking, up then down, ALWAYS.
One big thing for beginners is left hand/arm position. All beginners do the same thing. They pull their elbow into the body. You really want to pay attention to your left arm position. You want your forearm at a 90 angle to the neck. Keep your wrist straight. You should hold your arm out from your body. I pretty much guarantee when you first start your elbow will be touching your side. This is not good because it twists your wrist which makes it hard to move your fingers. If your elbow insists on pulling in to your body put a pillow between your arm and side. It will become comfortable pretty quickly.
After doing the scales work on chords. Buy a basic chord book and learn the G, D E, A and fifths. Practice them alot. Change between chords and do so slowly so that the changes are smooth.
Once you warm up with the scales and chords pick a song and learn it. All the songs I listed, and a whole lot more, can be played using fifths, G, A, E and D. Start simple. All the students I had who quit ended up quiting because they tried to learn really hard stuff right off the bat. Save yourself the frustration, you aren’t going to play Eruption overnight. Once you get so you can play the changes pretty smoothly start playing the song to a metronome slowly. As you get it down build up the speed on the metronome.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Slee
Do a search on the SDMB - mostly in Cafe Society I think - there are a lot of threads covering this, with some great recommendations…
What WordMan said, this has come up a lot of times.
Something that will speed up learning drastically is tuition, can you afford lessons? Even just a few to get you started and make sure you don’t pick up any bad habits will help.
There are 15 basic chords. Once you learn those, you can play a whole bunch of stuff. A lot of people would be happy to stop there, but if your roommate wants to continue (which I would recommend, mastering a musical instrument is immensely satisfying) he should take lessons.
Here are a couple threads to start you off with: 
Help me learn the guitar
I’ve picked up my guitar again
Best Song to start playing guitar
Guitar Instructional Books-Opinions?
Beginning Acoustic Guitar-Cool Songs
I wanna learn the guitar
Learning GuitarGuitar Tab Websites
I had a very lengthy post composed for this last night when my browser crashed, and now I see that every one here has provided some good information.
If you have any bluegrass or flatpicking specific questions, fire away; otherwise, you seem to be in good hands here.
I’ll beg to differ with Sleestak on the scales/chords thing, though - he’s right about the necessity of everything, but I feel that learning the basic chords and just getting comfortable with holding the guitar supercedes the strength issue in the beginning.
My students don’t generally tackle theory or scale studies until they’ve mastered right hand strumming technique and are comfortable with the basic open chords:
First Tier: G, C, D, Em, Am
Second Tier: G7, D7, A, E
Third Tier: Dm, E7, A7, F
Fourth Tier: Barre Chords (E shape)
Fifth Tier: Barre Chords (A shapes)
I definitely recommend you learn those chords, one at a time, starting with the first Tier. For source material, go to OLGA (link) and find some tunes that use those chords.
There are as many ways of learning guitar as there are of playing it, and what’s right for picker probably doesn’t work for stpauler or sleestak.
Get comfortable, learn some basic songs. The most important thing is practice regularly - 15 minutes a day is far preferable to a couple of hours on the weekend.
If you stick with it and are still into it 6 months down the road, that’s when you should look into some lessons with a reputable teacher who can help you more directly.
One thing to keep in mind is that you should always try to keep the learning somewhat fun. If it’s all work, then you’ll probably lose your motivation and just stop practicing. So, if you really want to learn a simple song or two you’ve heard, go for it. Do at least some stuff that makes you happy. Don’t worry about mastering the basic scales and chords all at once. When you’re suitably hooked, you’ll begin seeking that stuff out with greater enthusiasm anyway.
Go to the “songs for beginners” and the “songs for intermediates” sections. Very good lessons, and lots of them have sound files to download.
You’ll be surprised how easy awesome songs like “Wish You Were Here”, “Tangled Up In Blue”, and “Julia” are with a little practice.