The easiest way to learn acoustic guitar is to have some fun and actually learn to play a few easy but familiar songs.
You can usually do this by simply learning how to strum a couple of chords that naturally “go together”.
Chords are nothing more than 3 or more notes played together. There is a lot of theory and mechanics behind how notes make up chords and which chords best fit together, but you don’t need to learn all of that when just starting out.
All you need to learn is 3 or 4 very basic chords–meaning learn the fingering positions for where to place the fingers of your left hand over the strings, and start strumming.
Many full and well known songs can be played with just 4 or fewer chords, for example Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”, or just about any John Mellencamp song, several Madonna songs and nearly every pop-rock song recorded in the 1950′s and 1960′s…
Whatever your musical tastes there’s no shortage of great tunes you can play and have a good time playing (and learning) with just a couple of chords.
As for which chords to learn and how? My best advice is to pick a decent learn acoustic guitar / teach yourself type course and spend a couple of hours with it.
Once you learn a couple of chords you’ll get used to the pressure on your fingertips and practice switching from 1 chord to the next then you’ll soon find yourself trying to play all of your favorite songs with those chords you know, and in many cases you’ll be able to do it.
Now, get started and learn to play the acoustic guitar, you know you want to!
