I suggest being careful if he gets into some of the tablature sites. Some of the transcriptions are hilariously wrong.

I have used 4chord app for Android, or Apple allows you to learn basic chords, strumming patterns, play along with songs.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I suggest being careful if he gets into some of the tablature sites. Some of the transcriptions are hilariously wrong.

omg I tried learning tears in heaven from one of those and it sounded soooo bad

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ is a great site for finding chords and tabs for just about any song.

And, have him study and know the chart that Rightwire posted. With the exception of C7 and B7, those are the chords he will need to learn to play most songs. Get the basics down before trying to learn goofy chords that only Mark Knopfler can play.

30 minutes a day, every day. His fingers are going to hurt like hell for awhile, but encourage him to stick with it.

I played bass (upright string and electric) years ago in high school, but didn't touch another instrument until my late 40s when I decided to learn guitar. It took some doing, but I'm getting there.

Now, if I could just learn to sing, I'd have to beat the women off with a stick.

I was a teacher for many years. To be honest, lessons are not needed right away. As has been said, he just needs to learn his basic chords shapes. The natural talent will show itself with the right hand. I could tell very quickly which kids (and adults) would be successful. How? If they could naturally strum the strings in a rhythmic way, in time, with downs and ups and eventually syncopation, they had it. If they had to ask me to draw out an up/down type strum pattern, it was going to be a struggle throughout.

That said, just get the left hand chord shapes. Pluck each string one at a time to make sure each is ringing out. If it's not, it usually means another finger is inadvertently touching the string, ie fat fingers.

good luck.