Just Started - Lessons

[Scotso]

JamesScottGuitar on youtube is good. But more importantly he teaches via Skype. Once you sorta learn the cowboy chords, it helps to get something more personalized. Good luck in your journey and Enjoy!

[Sugar Bear]

If you acquire the following books and diligently work through them, you'll be way ahead of the game in fairly short order:

The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking by Mark Hanson

The Art of Solo Fingerpicking, How To Play Alternating-Bass Fingerstyle Guitar Solos by Mark Hanson

The Flatpicker's Guide by Dan Crary

Flatpicking Guitar Essentials, Folk and Bluegrass, from Acoustic Guitar Magazine's Private Lessons series

The Complete Guitar Player Books 1, 2 & 3: Omnibus Edition by Russ Shipton

Music Theory, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask by Tom Kolb

Guitar Chords & Scales, An Easy Reference for Acoustic or Electric Guitar from Hal Leonard Publishing

The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer

There may be newer editions or whatever, or you may have to pick them up used, but that list makes a pretty good foundational library for a new guitarist.

Aside from that...

Practice!
Practice!
Practice!

And listen to guitarists that you like. As for a living instructor, someone local that you can meet with in person would be your best bet.

Sugar Bear

[SprintBob]

I agree with live lessons but it could take some time to find the right teacher for you and your spouse. JustinGuitar's free online beginner and intermediate courses are excellent and by the time you finish the beginner course, you might have a good idea of what you really like and what you want to focus on. Fingerstyle is my favorite and I moved on to Mark Hanson's books/courses. I take Skype lessons from him bi-weekly. I did OK with JustinGuitar and also a Jamplay beginner course on my own before I started taking lessons from Mark.

Good luck!

[Characteristics]

So much good advice

Thanks

[sroh]

Originally Posted by Characteristics

The worst thing that could happen is that we fall out and she sells them for what I told her I paid. 😈

Ha ha! Good one!

[Jimmy Recard]

Originally Posted by psychojohn

Brave getting a Martin and a Gibson. You must keep them in separate rooms so they don't fight over who sounds the best ?

John

Aren't J40s Martins? Anyway, I like Truefire. Wait until they have a fire sale (happens regularly) and I've picked up courses as cheap as $5.
Here's a good rytham course. https://truefire.com/beginner-guitar...-rhythms/c1028

You could use it in conjunction with Justin Sandercoe's youtube lessons.

[Clallam]

+1 for justinguitar if you want online lessons. He is well organized and teaches in logical steps so you don't have that drinking from a fire hose problem mentioned earlier. I have been very happy with the progress I made using his lessons.

As a beginner you don't know what you need to learn and in which order you need to learn it so a teacher, either live or online is valuable in setting you on the right path. Once you get the fundamentals learned you can pick a genre or technique you like and work on that. When you have to knowledge to make decisions about what you need to learn the other resources mentioned here will become useful.

If you would prefer a live instructor look around the local music shops. One of the stores may offer beginner lessons. Also, most of the stores I have been in have a place where local musicians can post notices and there are typically several teachers with advertisements posted. Asking the store staff may result in a recommendation too.

We have all been through the sore fingers stage of learning. Stay with it, it gets better from here. Two tips for dealing with sore fingers: 1. Get a good setup so you don't have to apply so much force to play. 2. Play little and often at first. Five minutes several times a day will hurt less than a long session. Then as you build up the calluses, you will be able to play for longer until you can go as long as you want to without stopping.

[Diamond Dave]

Justinguitar.com. He is Tasmanian, so he'll speak Australian.

Playing guitar isn't rocket science. It's mostly a matter of practice. Everything can be broken down into simple motions that can be repeated slowly, then faster, until you have them down. Online lessons have worked great for me, and I've supported Justin's (free) site by purchasing a t-shirt and a few books and lessons.