Guitar starter plan
A printable, 15-minute-a-day plan for beginners. Seven chords, three strumming patterns, simple fingerpicking and your first songs, one short practice at a time. Written by James from years of teaching beginners.
13-page PDF · Instant download · Secure payment via Stripe
Learning piano instead? See the piano plan →
Each day tells you exactly what to do in about 15 minutes: a warm-up, a chord job, a rhythm job, then just playing.
Em, Am, E, D, A, G and C, with clear diagrams and a tip for each. Together they cover thousands of songs.
Three strumming patterns, from steady downstrokes to the classic campfire strum, plus how to use a metronome.
The four-chord progression, Amazing Grace, a 12-bar blues and a moody minor progression, laid out bar by bar.
Buzzing strings, slow chord changes, sore fingertips, losing the beat: what causes them and what to do.
Thirty boxes to tick off, with a place to log your chord-change scores so you can see yourself improve.
Learning guitar as an adult is no small feat, but James makes the whole process enjoyable and never makes me feel silly for being a beginner.
I started with James over two years ago with no guitar experience and have been having weekly lessons ever since. James explains music theory in a way I can actually understand, and if something doesn't click, he'll try different examples until it makes sense.
No. Everything uses chord diagrams and simple strumming notation, all explained on the first pages.
Either works. The chords and patterns are the same.
The diagrams are drawn for a right-handed guitar, the same as most chord charts. If you play a left-handed guitar, read them as a mirror image.
Straight after payment you can download the PDF, and the link is emailed to you as well so you can get it again any time.
No. It's a single $19 payment.
Guitar students get Book 1 of the Guitar Pathway free with their trial lesson. It covers the same first chords and strums in more depth, and leads on to 21 more books.
Many people use the plan alongside lessons. James teaches in South Melbourne and online, and is happy to pick up wherever you are in the plan. Book a trial lesson.
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