Learning to play the guitar has never been easier! Idiot's Guides: Playing Guitar begins with an introduction to different types of guitars and their parts, followed by helpful information on how to choose a guitar. You'll learn how to tune the guitar (supplemented with online audio), how to correctly hold it, how to read tablature, and about basic rhythm. Much of the remainder of the book gives you easy-to-follow instructions on learning chords, and each lesson is followed by a fun practice session and a simple song with which to practice the newly learned chords. In addition to over-the-shoulder color photos showing fingering positions and accompanying two-color chord charts that show exactly what to do, you can hear the chords, exercises, and songs performed from additional content online.

David Hodge is on faculty at the Berkshire Music School and the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Playing Bass Guitar, The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Playing Rock Guitar, and The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Playing the Ukulele. He is the managing editor and senior columnist at GuitarNoise.com, one of the most popular and highly regarded guitar-instruction websites.