Beginning guitar help!?

Question:I'm trying to learn how to play from this book called 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing The Guitar'...
LOL
The funny thing is that... I DONT GET IT! The chords its teaching me are too hard... It doesnt even go into detail on what fingers your supposed to use... IT just altogether SUCKS!
(no way for me to take lessons)
What place on the web helps absolute begginers?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm trying to learn how to play from this book called 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing The Guitar'...
LOL
The funny thing is that... I DONT GET IT! The chords its teaching me are too hard... It doesnt even go into detail on what fingers your supposed to use... IT just altogether SUCKS!
(no way for me to take lessons)
What place on the web helps absolute begginers?

One of the best sources is the book Guitar for Dummies. Myself and some other have used it and I think it is a great reference for teaching yourself. It has a chord reference that indicates which fingers to use too so it should be better than the book you are currently using. It also covers proper hand and body position for playing too. Barnes and Nobel is having a 30% off sale of Dummies books now too.

Wholenote.com is a good web site with all kinds of guitar lessons and articles.

The guitar section of about.com has a lot of information too.

There are free lessons on youtube also. Search for free guitar lessons. Some people say they are good.

Some links to sites with lessons:

http://www.guitar.about.com/
http://www.freebasicguitar.com/
http://www.abclearnhowtoplayguitar.com/
http://www.youtube.com/

Despite what some people say you don't HAVE to get lessons to learn how to play well. A lot of great musicians are self taught. Though one of the best things you can do though is find someone to jam with. Playing with someone else, either a friend or an instructor is one of the best ways to learn how to play better.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.

Here's the deal. For guitar, or other similar string instruments, fine points of finger and wrist position are crucial. If you don't get those fundamentals right at first, you will probably form bad habits, which can not only limit your potential, but can in some cases develop into repetitive motion injuries. A good friend of mine--a self-taught guitarist--had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists last summer. Please don't set yourself up for that potential outcome!

The only way to ensure that your fundamentals are solid is to get a qualified teacher. Try advertising for a guitar major at a nearby college music department--they work cheaper and they know their stuff. Once you have the fundamentals down--after maybe a dozen lessons--then you can fire the teacher if you don't mind learning slower, and self-educate.

If you're self-educating--or even if you aren't--I'd recommend going to used bookshops or browsing ebay for books, cds, and dvds. That way is cheaper. Buy whatever looks good within your budget, and try everything out--if you don't seem to "get" a particular resource at first, then set it aside and try it again later, eventually you'll catch up with it.