I dabbled for years with a cheap acoustic guitar and it was only when I picked up an electric guitar did I realise how awful the acoustic was. Cheap acoustics often have high actions which make them more difficult to play and are harder on the ends of your fingers! A local guitar tutor recommends starting on an electric, as they usually have a lower action and therefore require much less finger pressure on the strings. We bought an Aria strat for my son to learn on and that was the instrument that I made great progress with. I subsequently bought a nice acoustic guitar when I knew what to look for!

The guitar tutor told me to throw away the teach yourself books and learn chord progressions, the quickest way to get to play some tunes. We then moved on to some music theory that expands one’s playing options. Learning to solo using the good old Minor Pentatonic scales was great and helped me to find my way around the fretboard. Picking up the bass guitar was even more helpful.