Get a cheap guitar, like pawn shop, Wal-Mart, Target starter guitar type. If you hate it, you'll be out $75-125. If you like playing guitar, you can always go and get something better later on. You'll also learn what guitar body types will sound like and if you want a more Stratocaster sound, solid body, metal, etc... It gives you time to explore and decide what guitar will become your "baby." An acoustic guitar represents the cheapest investment as you don't need an amp, but some of the starter kits come with small practice amps, so it's not that big of a deal. It will be later on, if you decide to stick with it. Then your amp will probably cost more than the starter kit, and possibly the guitar you play on it.

Figure out what you'd like to learn to play. I always had a much easier time learning songs I wanted to play than learning some of the basics. I should note that I can't read music and I've never had any music theory classes. This didn't stop me from playing guitar, but it does hinder me in writing my own stuff. If I spent a little more time and effort I could pick it up, but I'm 32 and that's probably not going to happen until retirement.

Guitar tablature is how you'll probably want to go at first. You'll have a visual representation of the 6 strings and what fret needs to be pressed. A Google search with give you lots of sites for guitar tab. A lot of them are user submitted, and some are really off, but some a really, really good. I've found that you sometimes have to read 2 or 3 and steal parts from each in order to get the song "right," at least to my ears.

I'd recommend starting with a decent-sounding, inexpensive acoustic. If you decide you don't like it, you're not in for an arm and a leg.

The best way to learn guitar is to play with other people. Learn some chords and go play with people. To reiterate, go play with living, breathing, people and have fun.

Do not stress. Enjoy it.

Did I mention playing with other people? Ask around where you work/play. Chances are good you know some people! These people probably played instruments at some point. Some still do, and some are just waiting for someone to play with.

(sorry for going off the deep end a little, but imo, the social aspects are more fun than sitting around by yourself forcing yourself to learn barre chords.)

Have fun!

The social aspect is absolutely one of the big draws to learning to play. I think it'll be an absolute blast to sit around with buddies and just play a bit. I just have to get to the point that I have some idea of what I'd be doing first. A big problem I have is that after moving up to NH with the SO, I've lost the ability to just play with friends, all of whom are "back home" in CT. I have no doubts that I'll find a few people up here that play, but as of now I'll be doing this strictly solo.

There's a pawn shop a few minutes down the road that has a huge amount of guitars, ranging anywhere from about $50 up to $700ish. I looked mainly at the electrics last time I went (they're purdy), but next time I stop in I'll pay attention to the acoustics - especially if it'll result in cheaper startup costs.

I have no real clue what I want to play. I love listening to friends just jamming. Lot of blues infused classic rock kinda stuff. I'm also a huge fan of all types of rock, besides just doing the bluesy thing, I can absolutely see myself focusing on learning (or trying to, at least) classic rock and possibly some 90's grunge. I have absolutely no aspirations of ever playing in a band, I really just want to have a hobby that I can enjoy with friends and that I can keep expanding on and learning over the course of many years.

On the "hippies" motif, you might want to go to a campground some evening and wander around until you smell marijuana.

Seriously, if you're not serious about being "good," you can be banging out a three-chord tune in five minutes. Seriously. No, seriously. (Um, what're those ones where you form a bar across the neck with your index finger? Are those what "barre" chords are? Anyways, that's what I mean.)

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned yet - take a good guitarist with you guitar shopping; you won't know anything at all about buying a guitar, and they will. I cannot stress this enough. It's kind of like how when you find out that someone you know just spent a bunch of money on a terrible computer, and you wish they had talked to you first.

Maybe he should start by renting. I don't want to leap on your suggestions as the musical Anti-Podunk, but it's not certain burritos will like playing, or he might suffer from stubby-finger syndrome, or... y'know?

And I finally figured what you meant by a Wal-Mart guitar being difficult to play: it's difficult to play like Podunk. Like, with the notes and whatnot. Whereas "Wild Thing" sounds great on any old POS.

EDIT: because cool kids like me don't really read other people's posts before posting.

I definitely found that learning on a nylon acoustic made going to electric and steel string acoustic easier. Also, learning to play guitar made picking up the bass easier, but my friends who only played bass had a difficult time going to guitar.

I agree with Hemi - I had an acoustic that had terribly difficult action, but it made playing electric extremely easy. Still and all, I probably would have had more fun going directly to electric. There's a difference between what produces the best results, and what's fun enough along the way for you to stick with it long enough to actually get results - I think that's Podunk's point about quality.

I still stand by getting one of those Ibanez starter packages. You're gonna replace any first guitar that you get anyway, if you stick with it long enough.

You can always learn to play guitar, I'm actually teaching a buddy of mine some stuff on guitar and he's in his 30s. He never picked one up and already can play a few songs and is getting chord transitions down.

I really believe in investing a bit in a decent instrument and getting a decent sound so you don't get bored out of your mind playing.

I found this on sam ash which is a decent starting rig:

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemPos=1&TempID=2&Department...

you might want to get a decent distortion pedal, (I recommend the Boss MT2 which makes even the worst amp sound halfway decent).

so all in all maybe 300 or so bucks, but you get something you'll not get sick of after a few days.

I'll add this as well.

For starting books etc. . . I say buy a couple of Guitar magazines, like Guitar For the Practicing Musician or something, get something with a couple songs you want to learn and start hammering away at it.

Also, there are some good beginners books on the blues and jazz.

I also highly recommend a beginners book on the blues as a foundation for rock. Getting into jazz starting off is a good way to get frustrated at all the theory etc. A good book on the blues with some pentatonics and maybe a few modal variations is your best bet.

That's a pretty decent deal. I love that it comes with everything I'll need included - that's a huge draw, since I'd literally be going into this clueless. I'm probably going to look around here at local music shops and pawn shops before I pull the trigger. Chances are, unless I hear awful awful things about it, that Ibanez kit will be what I go with.

If you're going Ibanez, I'd reccomend the RG series. The super-thin necks are designed for shredding, but in reality they make all playing easier for beginners. Those necks are the anti-acoustic, in that acoustics have big ol' fat necks, usually.

I'd reccomend either to Ibanez or the Squier starter kit. It comes with the guitar, strings, cord and a little starter amp, for a decent price. If you decide to spend a little more and go the RG route, don't be frightened by people saying that the Floyd Rose bridges are hard to tune - these people are wussies, and deserve only your ridicule! Seriously, do it two or three times, and you'll have it down pat.

I'll also reiterate the recommendations of Metallica. They have great stuff for all skill levels, and you can find tablature for most of them online. Plus, those big powerful riffs are a great way to impress your guitar-ignorant friends with very little time put in. I still play Call of the Cthulu all the time.

Teaching yourself is the only way to go, IMO. I'm not so big on reading music, I just pick a song I like that seems within my current skill level, find tabs, and practice it until I can play it semi-decently. For the technical side of things, there's always books on musical theory. I practice more when there's nobody telling me to practice, really.

I've said on many an occasion that this is the perfect time to start learning to play the guitar. The amount of online resources and access to reasonably priced equipment is astounding.

If I might plug the GuitarPort again, I can't hesitate to recommend it if you do wind up with an electric.

Wow. I'm absolutely amazed at the wisdom expressed in this post. Words truly cannot describe.

That looks pretty interesting, actually, and it's not that awful expensive. I'll probably look into that after I get set up.

Oh, and thanks Mex. Helpful as always