Beginner guitar lessons: your learning path
20 steps across three stages — Foundations, Repertoire & tone, Train with the coach. Every step links to a real Strumly tool, lesson, or guide — work through them in order, or jump to whatever you need next. Progress is saved on this device, no sign-up required.
Foundations
Tuning, chords, rhythm, scales, and your ear — the mechanics everything else stands on.
- Step 1
Tune up
Nothing you play sounds right on a guitar that isn't in tune. Start every session here.
Open the tuner → - Step 2
How chords work
A chord is a root, a third, and a fifth. Learn the shape of a triad before you memorize fingerings.
Read the lesson → - Step 3
Chord library reference
Look up the open, barre, and 7th shapes you'll actually use, and keep this page bookmarked.
Browse the chord library → - Step 4
Keep time
Chords you can't strum in rhythm aren't useful yet. Practice changes against a click.
Open the metronome → - Step 5
Learn to strum in rhythm
Down, down-up, up-down-up — the workhorse pattern. Drill it against a click until your strumming arm never stops moving, even on the beats it doesn't hit.
Open the strumming trainer → - Step 6
How scales work
Scales are the seven note-patterns behind every solo and melody. Learn what each one sounds like.
Read the lesson → - Step 7
Scale trainer
See every scale laid out on the fretboard in any key, and start connecting shapes to sound.
Open the scale trainer → - Step 8
Intervals explained
An interval is the distance between two notes. It's the building block for both chords and ear training.
Read the lesson → - Step 9
Ear trainer
Now put intervals to the test — hear two notes and name the distance between them.
Open the ear trainer → - Step 10
Learn a real song
Take the chords and rhythm you've built and put them to work on a song people actually know.
Browse songs → - Step 11
Play along for real
Suede Hero listens through your mic and scores every chord change in real time, in the browser, with nothing uploaded — the same detection engine behind the AI coach.
Play along now → - Step 12
Keep your guitar healthy
Buzzing strings, bad intonation, high action — describe the symptom and get a first thing to try.
Run a bench diagnostic →
Repertoire & tone
Four songs worth knowing note-for-note, plus the practice mechanics that make them stick.
- Step 13
Purple Haze
Hendrix's opening statement: the tritone riff, the E7#9 chord that took his name, and the tone behind both.
Open the song lesson → - Step 14
Comfortably Numb
Gilmour's solo is a masterclass in bends, phrasing, and saying more with fewer notes.
Open the song lesson → - Step 15
Pride and Joy
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas shuffle — thumb bass, muted upstrokes, and a right hand that never stops.
Open the song lesson → - Step 16
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Four power chords, one legendary dynamic shift. Learn why quiet-loud-quiet changed guitar music.
Open the song lesson → - Step 17
Smoother chord transitions
Anchor fingers, minimum motion, early formation, honest tempo — the four mechanics that fix stalled changes.
Read the guide → - Step 18
Design your practice routine
Budget your minutes across maintenance, growth, and music — a routine that works at 10, 20, or 45 minutes a day.
Read the guide →
Train with the coach
Turn what you've built into a habit: measured coaching sessions and a streak that keeps you honest.
- Step 19
Run a coaching session
Sit down with the AI coach for a real, measured session — focused drills, honest scores, and an exact next assignment that carries over. The free plan includes 3 sessions a month; Pro removes the cap.
Start a session → - Step 20
Keep the streak alive
Progress compounds daily. Every step you mark done and every session you finish counts toward your practice streak.
See your streak →