Onboarding · Absolute beginner
First Notes
The "is guitar for me?" path. No commitment. By the end you'll have played a real riff, learned two chords, switched between them, and played a recognizable melody.
This path doesn't try to make you good — it tries to get a sound out of the instrument fast enough that you can decide whether you want to keep going. Every exercise produces something a non-musician would call music inside 60 seconds.
What you'll know at the end
- The names of all six open strings, by sight and by sound
- The Smoke on the Water riff on one string
- Two open chords (Em and Am) and how to switch between them
- The Twinkle Twinkle melody across two strings
What this path deliberately skips
- Strumming patterns beyond down-strums
- Any chord that needs more than three fingers
- Anything requiring a pick attack faster than one note per beat
Strings
Meet the six voices on your guitar. Hear them, name them.
Six Voices Awake
Wake up your guitar's six strings, low to high. The sweep every guitarist plays when they pick the instrument up.
Name That String
Hear a string, find it on your guitar. First ear-training rep. Two misses and the fretboard reveals the answer.
By the end · You can recognise every open string by sight and by sound.
Riffs
Press a fret, play a single-string melody, build to your first famous riff.
The Two-Note Stalk (Jaws)
Open E and fret 1, alternating. Press the wire just behind the first metal bar. You just played Jaws.
Climbing the Low E
Four notes on one string — the alphabet of every rock riff. E, F, G, A. Ascend, then descend.
Smoke on the Water
The most famous riff in rock, on one string. Seven notes, two phrases, three passes. 1972. Deep Purple.
By the end · You can play the Smoke on the Water riff. That's a riff a human will recognise.
Chords
Two chord shapes, plus the skill to hear when one isn't ringing cleanly.
Hello, Em
Six strings ringing together — your first chord. Press hard. Strum slow. Then prove it: pick each string by itself and hear all six ring. Three rounds.
The Em Arpeggio Check
Make Em. Don't strum — pluck each string one at a time, low to high. If a string won't ring, this check won't move past it: adjust until it sounds.
Hello, Am
Your second chord. Three fingers, same fret. Em and Am share two fingers — you already know most of this chord.
The Easier Twins (Em7 & Am7)
Lift one finger. Get an easier version of each chord. They sound 95% the same. Use them when your hand is sore.
By the end · You can form Em and Am cleanly — and diagnose your own muted strings.
Music
Switch between chords, play with a band underneath, and finish with a melody.
The Slow Switch
Em to Am, one switch at a time. No clock. Take as long as you need. Ten clean transitions and you've done more chord changes than most people manage in their first month.
The Em-Am Vamp
Two chords, one minute, no stopping. Em, four strums. Am, four strums. Loop. Keep the music moving even when a change is late.
Twinkle Twinkle
The first melody anyone learns. 14 notes, two strings, one tune your grandmother will recognise.
By the end · A riff, two chords, a chord progression, and a melody. You're a beginner guitarist now.
If you finish this and want more, Zero to Hero picks up from here — more chords, real songs, and your first scale.