Perhaps the most important place to begin to learn to play rock guitar, is with the style of guitar music that you like most and the other decisions should then be easier to make.

If you like heavy rock, power chords could be a good starting point. If your tastes are a little less heavy, learning to play the blues for example would be a good place to start.

See also: learn to play electric guitar

Learning to read TAB is an essential skill for rock guitar players and listening and copying your favorite riffs from your favorite guitarists is a good idea.

Once you get used to playing and listening to the blues and pentatonic scales, it will open up the possibility of playing most riffs as almost all playing in this style is based on those scales.

Electric Rock Guitars

If you are a beginner, it’s important to be realistic about what you can achieve. learning to play like Jimmy Page in a couple of weeks is being slightly optimistic! but you could learn some chords and the blues scale – very useful for improvising.

Although it is very cool to be self-taught it is usually quicker to get few lessons from a teacher who can give you some realistic goals to achieve and lots of good advice about technique – the way you position your hands and the guitar etc. and that’s something that only someone who can see the way YOU play can help you with.

If you get frustrated practising – just get out the air guitar!