Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you who are just beginning the wonderful journey of playing the guitar. Some general ideas on the most basic stuff:

Get yourself a good guitar! Whether electric or acoustic (I believe electrics are easier to learn on, b/c, in general, the action is lower), spend a little $ on a guitar w good action. This is most important!

Action broadly refers to string-height (the closer to the top of the frets, w/o any fret-buzz, is better action; this is known as "low action"), the thickness of the neck (make sure it fits your hand nicely and isn't as thick as a tree trunk), the width of the neck (fretboard), the fret size (medium, jumbo) and the "straightness" of the neck (actually, a poperly set-up neck will be ever-so slightly bowed in, or concave, not completely straight). Some of this is purely subjective for a beginner, mainly having to do w the size of YOUR hand and fingers - girth and length. And do yourself a favor by starting out w .009gauge strings. They're the thinnest gauge and, thus, easiest to mash down on, causing the least finger-tip pain and wear and tear! You can always go up to 10 or 11 gauge strings (preferred by many players - I've used D'Addario 9s all my life) once you're ready.

I've known many a would-be player who simply gave up right quick b/c the strings were a mile off the fretboard, the action horrid! Spend $150 - $300 on a good starter guitar (or much less on a nice used one) to give yourself the best chance of succeeding at learning to play! These guitars might not have the best electronics or fit and finish, but they're certainly good enough these days - and the action is THE thing! (Also make sure your tuners are good enough that the guitar won't be going out of tune every 15 minutes of playing!)

Unless you're hell-bent on your guitar having a tremelo bar (whammy bar), buy a stop-tail (no trem bar). A much easier bridge to work with when learning to play and, especially, when restringing!

Now, you might wanna be EVH or Steve Vai or Malmsteen (or whomever) from the git-go. BUT, remember that every one of them had to learn the basics first. There's simply no other way to become an EVH or Vai or Satriani. I've heard Robert advise that getting a guitar teacher is the way to go, and I agree, but it's not absolutely necessary. I learned basic chords (major, minor and 7th are the most basic) from a couple of Beatles songbooks in 1963, BUT, I had learned music theory on keyboards, so I knew what notes made up a major, minor and 7th chord. So, although that knowledge didn't help me at all in learning how to mash down on guitar strings, or with fingering positions, I did quickly come to understand the notes that those fingering positions were playing within the chord.

Most every song book shows a drawing of the fretboard w dots placed on the string and fret where each finger is placed. These are usually pictured above the treble staff and show when to change the chords w/o having the ability to read music This is especially cool b/c you can start to hear yourself stringing together chords by your favorite artist/song fairly quickly, thus motivating your own desire to keep on playing and moving forward, w/o someone "cracking the whip" to get you to learn stuff that isn't motivating you. When starting out, this is much better than buying a "book of 1,000 chords", b/c in this type of book, you have no idea what to do w those chords! Although, and this is a tip of the hat to Robert: if you can find a good guitar teacher, he or she is priceless. There are good ones out there who can move you ahead by leaps and bounds in a very short time, and w much more knowledge than finger-position drawings in a book can. I know Robert, and his teaching is this type.

I'll end w learning basic chords in what's known as the "first position". This usually involves the nut (that "zero" fret that's at the headstock end of the neck that's grooved for the strings to run thru on their way to the tuners (or tuning keys or tuning machines - all basically the same thing), and the first, second and third frets. Learn your basic chords here. You'll find that many can be made using different finger combinations, but still on the same strings and at the same frets. Ex: the ever popular A Major chord. You can use your first 3 fingers, or fingers 2, 3 and 4, or just one finger (usually the first, third or fourth finger mashing down all 3 strings at the same time). In all cases, you're playing the second, third and fourth strings at the second fret.

Once you get these down in the first postion, you can move to barre chords anywhere on the neck. Ex: play an E Major chord in the first postion using you second, third and fourth fingers. Notice the relation of this chord to the nut (zero fret). Now, just slide the chord up one fret (you'll be at the second and third frets now), and place your first finger across all six strings at the first fret (notice how your first finger is now in the same position that the nut occupied in the open E chord). If you have done the above, you will now be playing a barred F Major chord! And you can take this EXACT same finger postion up and down the neck to any fret. The fret that your first finger is barring will be that Major chord, ie: If your first finger is barring the 3rd fret, both the high E and low E strings (known as the first and sixth strings, respectively) are the note G, so you're now playing a barred G chord.

I hope this has been of some help, at least, to someone just beginning out there. Keep at it, don't give up. EVERY guitar player has been thru it, I promise you...

All the best,
bigG