My regards to the community. I already have a taste of music as I played Saxophone for 6 years and sang in choir for 5. I want to have my fingers going on an acoustic guitar. I already own 2. . I was wondering if anyone could tell me a good way to start out. What should I be doing, etc... That kind of stuff. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

timjac,

Welcome. More than anything else, learn where the notes are on your neck/fretboard.

6th (biggest string, standard tuning) = E
5th = A (440Hz, , standard tuning)
4th = D
3rd = G
2nd = B
1st (smallest string) = E (two octaves up from the open 6th string)

Each fret is a half step or semitone. The 12th fret is the octave of the open string.

Some private lessons, even one or two to get started, would do wonders for your skills in the short term.

I'd recommend learning some basic scales and a few open chords to start. Start with the Major scale and the minor or pentatonic minor and/or blues scale. Think of the Major scale as the "Do- a deer, ..." Julie Andrews number from The Sound of Music. Since you have some years of sax and vox under your belt you have a leg up on having some music knowledge working in your favor.

The one thing I'd recommend is to realize that while the sax and other instruments are fairly logical in their layout and function, the guitar is not. But, once you get the hang of chord positions and the relative positions of notes on the neck, you'll be able to feel more confident in your playing. The C-A-G-E-D system of learning chords and how they can tie the entire neck together is a cool way to learn relatively quickly how things lay out, but may not be for everyone.

Regardless of what you do, and I am sure you know this from your past music experience, the only real teacher is practice, practice, practice... And then practice some more.

peace.

If you're not put off by the title, "Little Kids Rock" are free guitar tutorials and notes worth checking out in itunes! I've been recommending them to my teenage students.

hmmm... I remember getting a 50 beatles hits songbook with chords.. it was difficult but knowing the music and attempting to play gave me a reference point instead of trying to play "Red River Valley" or some other pointless tune. So.. find the music that motivated you to start and go for it. Eventually, you will develop calluses and your fingers won't hurt so much. Also, get an electronic tuner and use it before you pick up your guitar to play.. then you will know it's you and not the guitar that sounds out of tune. Enjoy!!

My own past, then I started with the "Bouree by Johann Sebastian Bach", moved to Leo Brouwer, Ragtime,
Stride Piano and back to Manhattan Transfer, i.e, Joe Pass, Tuck Andress, Pat Metheny
Just follow your own melody