Some excellent advice in this thread already. Have you considered an electric guitar? The action on these are far easier for beginner guitarists, as they have a much lower action.

I have a Fender Squier Stratocaster that is serving me well to learn on. I have upgraded the practice amp that originally came with it, but that's something you can always do down the track.

I do also have an acoustic electric guitar (Takamine GD30CE, settled on after extensive research on my part). It's absolutely wonderful to play, but it has quite a high action. I even had the action lowered a bit by a luthier (along with having the strings replaced with the ones recommended by my guitar tutor). This added an extra $80.

Getting an acoustic guitar was suggested by my teacher, primarily because they're harder to play than an electric. The theory being that if I can conquer something on the acoustic, it'll be a cinch to play on an electric.

I also recommend, if budget allows, getting lessons in person with a tutor. Not only will they give you feedback and help correct poor technique. But I also found it helped with ensuring I established a regular practicing regime, as every weekly lesson felt like a mini test. This really motivated me to have some progress to bring to the table.

And finally, try not to get discouraged by feelings of slow progress. Guitar playing is hard, with many skills needed to conquer it. But the old adage is true, practice makes perfect. And you can't beat the feeling you get when you finally start coaxing music out of a guitar. 

gzt: Networkn doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene. He's got a daytime job – he's doing alright.

Yes, he's doing the walk of life alright. It's when he drinks the water of love in the wild west end you need to start worrying.

Before you know it, he has headed down the tunnel of love and is calling Elvis - on every street! Mind you it never rains when he is hand in hand with Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, he is a single handed sailor though.

Guitar playing is hard, with many skills needed to conquer it.

Thanks for all the advice. Kindly @xpd hooked me up with his FIL for what I think will be a good Acoustic Cord 60, with metal strings, hopefully, it arrives tomorrow.

An electric guitar probably wouldn't be a welcome thing in my household. The plus side with the acoustic is if I don't make good use of it, both of my kids showed a bit of interest when I was discussing it with my wife, so it won't go to waste.

I need to find a song I want to learn to play. I quite like Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. It gives me a goal to hit, which is how my brain works. (Looks pretty hard, so I guess it's a long term goal lol).

Enjoy :)

I tried learning via Rocksmith, but just cant get my fingers to go in the right places at the right time ;)

My eldest tho, shes picked acoustic, electric, bass and ukulele in no time.... little smart **** grrrr ;)

She loves bass and playing Enter The Sandman :)

networkn:

 

An electric guitar probably wouldn't be a welcome thing in my household. ...discussing it with my wife.

 

FTFY....

Handle9:

 

networkn:

 

An electric guitar probably wouldn't be a welcome thing in my household. ...discussing it with my wife.

 

 

FTFY....

 

Considering how badly I expect to be able to play for the coming 12 months, doing it at amplified volume doesn't seem fair to anyone :-)

Perhaps once I am a little better and we can soundproof the garage :)

networkn:

 

Thanks for all the advice. Kindly @xpd hooked me up with his FIL for what I think will be a good Acoustic Cord 60, with metal strings, hopefully, it arrives tomorrow.

 

An electric guitar probably wouldn't be a welcome thing in my household. The plus side with the acoustic is if I don't make good use of it, both of my kids showed a bit of interest when I was discussing it with my wife, so it won't go to waste.

 

I need to find a song I want to learn to play. I quite like Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. It gives me a goal to hit, which is how my brain works. (Looks pretty hard, so I guess it's a long term goal lol).

 

 

 

You can play electrics straight into headphones, I believe.

Geektastic:

 

You can play electrics straight into headphones, I believe.

 

Yeah, I just read that, however, for now, I have an option. I can always look to branch out later.

Lizard1977: Rocksmith is a great way to keep up your motivation, especially doing it solo. My only complaint is that the tuner system sometimes gets it a little wrong.  I'm tone deaf, so I can't tune the guitar by my ear alone.  But I played it a couple of weeks ago and depsite hitting the right string at the right fret, the system recorded it as a missed note.  A bit of experimentation showed that the string was off - if I played the string down one fret it recorded the note correctly, which meant I had to adjust what I was seeing on the screen (for that string only), for the rest of the song.

Get a tube of cheap crazy glue type glue and put a skim of it over your fingertips. Let dry. A bit easier on your fingers until they harden up.

There are excellent guitar tuning apps for your phone.

I learnt by watching various 60s/70s greats on VHS, ie henridix, iommi. We didnt have tabs back then and lessons are hell confusing imo because most try to teach what makes sense to them, not the masses.

Go tabs and a quality tabliture software over rocksmith, if you do go that right, look at yousician, but the issue is they are very limited in songs, where once you have a quality Tab Software the list of songs is endless. Gutar Pro is probably the best no, although I remember when it was free https://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php, there are free tab editors/players. And ultimate guitar has almost every song in tab if you dont need to edit your tabs or have the software play along with you at any tempo you want. 

Justin on Youtube has a good knack of teaching for the masses. 

Go used got your git, you will pickup something $300 that might have cost $900 new.

Finger picking whilst a good skill is rather boring after a while I found, although this is naturally how I played as I did not have picks, you can learn to strum with the thumb or index and the thumb together or down strokes with all finger nails. I would recommend learning to pick though if your aim is to learn to play songs and sing along. Definitely go a solid top of a lower end brand, ie the top model of the a low end brand. I bought a cutaway washburn solid top with electrics for plugging into an amp with a hard case and a metal and rubber cappo for $300aus 10 years back. I have had a number of high end acoustics like Taylor and I would say the washburn sounded very much like a Taylor. Where the Australian acoustic use native solid tops and have their own sound. Id then recommend upgrading the bridge to bone, it increases tonality quite a bit, the nut upgrade may be worth it if a cheaper guitar.

Learning to play is so simple these days, you have guys like https://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe

Then you have free tabs on places like UltimateGuitar. You can get software that can play tabs along with the note, these tools can also have the tempo changed so you can slow it down to pick up difficult parts.

Mark Knopfler is a little 1 dimensional, dont get me wrong, he created some classic riffs just you may want to focus on a variety of guitarists. There are a lot of acoustic guitarists now days that make even Tommy Emmanuel (another self taught by ear player) look pedastrian. I think all Im saying is keep your mind open, there are a lot of players you have never heard of who will blow your mind,

Knopfler means, the button maker, via ancient germanic (which made up the majority of very ancient europe and why many languages such as English are germanic dialects)

JayADee:

 

Get a tube of cheap crazy glue type glue and put a skim of it over your fingertips. Let dry. A bit easier on your fingers until they harden up.

 

There are excellent guitar tuning apps for your phone.

 

dclegg:
Getting an acoustic guitar was suggested by my teacher, primarily because they're harder to play than an electric. The theory being that if I can conquer something on the acoustic, it'll be a cinch to play on an electric.

 

100% truth. I usually try to learn to play all songs on acoustic first as it is a dream once I pick up something like a telecaster. Bending strings on the first fret on an acoustic for example, vs an electric with a 10 bottom e string, so much easier. 

Also Takamine is a great choice, can get some high end sound for low end money.

Cole Clarke is my Fav brand of acoustic (what Jack Johnson uses), an aussie brand. 

The base model Fat lady is very much worth the price, the different solid tops give a difference in a base vs a clear tone. Very much good value for the $1200+ http://coleclarkguitars.com/portfolio-item/fl1-bm/

This model with an african Mahogany top and aussie mahogany body and sides, must sustain notes forever. When you go for sustain in electric you look for neck through (not bolt on), and solid heavy mahogany body. It might not be my taste for tone but Im sure this would be loud and hold a chord forEVER http://coleclarkguitars.com/portfolio-item/ccfl1-mmah/

What I like about cole clark is the quality parts, ie saddle and nut; Graph Tech Tusq, and Grover tuners everybody knows their quality. As are Elixir strings which they use.

Ive wanted an Angel Cutaway for ever. I like the redwood solid tops series http://coleclarkguitars.com/portfolio-item/ccan3ec-rdblsb/) They come in standard dreadnaught shape as well as cutaway but are a 23.5" scale. Perfect for taking away. 

I also like this Angel series cutaway, it has an electric guitar humbucker as well as the sound hole with a pick up in the electrics. Would love to see what it sounds like. But they are amazing to play for such smaller guitars.

networkn:

 

Considering how badly I expect to be able to play for the coming 12 months, doing it at amplified volume doesn't seem fair to anyone :-)

 

Perhaps once I am a little better and we can soundproof the garage :)

 

Thats why we have soooo many guitarists capable of shredding and insane spead or playing covers with great accuracy. 

I have faith once you get into it, you will get GAS and your gear will explode along with your wanting to learn new things includng maybe even Bass and replacing a drum machine with an electronic drums kit (sooooo much fun). 

If you do end up wanting to step into writing, Garage band is still a great way to do it. But once you can learn to play and record loops, that is another way. 

This is why I say you may develop Gear Acquisition Syndrome. For a long time when I was contracting in Aus on big money, all I would spent my money on was guitar and recording gear. Pedals. Amps. Mics. Usb interfaces. But I tried to always buy used as you lose 40% on almost any purchase (outside a Les Paul gold top)  when you walk out the door.