1) technique (hand position, fingering, picking, etc.), and

2) musical patterns (scales, chords, etc.)

I agree with your not wanting to go find a teacher, because a the best teacher for you is yourself – you know how your hands and you mind work better than anyone else does. And if you teach yourself your way, you’ll enjoy it more, learn it better, and remember it longer than if someone else tries to teach you their way.

Now, *how* to teach yourself: I recommend investing in a fairly inexpensive acoustic guitar (not electric, unless you’re interested in playing “lead guitar” only).

The best way to build your technique (part 1 above) is to simply start playing. The technique will develop out of necessity as you play.

For part 2 (musical patterns), if you already play an instrument (including singing), you may already have some knowledge about musical patterns. If you don’t have a musical background, that’s okay too! Just check out some websites that have scales and other “music theory” patterns on them. (I’m always wary of the term “music theory” because theory is so often opposed to practice, and I’m a professional musician – a practice-er). One example – with all the major scales – is:

http://esvc001419.wic024u.server-web.com/scales/scamaj.htm

You might also try the Schirmer Audio Dictionary of Music (I forget the URL, but I know it’s a good free site – I helped write it). It has info on scales, chords, and all kinds of other musical stuff.

Now, you have to apply these patterns to the guitar. Again, there are plenty of free online resources that will show you what the hand positions for various chords are. One example is:

http://www.8notes.com/guitar_chord_chart/

Now the fun part: choose some songs that you enjoy, and find the chords for those songs (again, most of them are available online for free – you can search for the name of the song and “chords” or the name of the song and “tab” [which is short for tablature – a notation method for guitar and other plucked string instruments]) – either way should get you the chords (with letter names). Then figure out how to get the sound you want out of your instrument. The more you do it, the better you’ll get.

I wish you all the best in you musical endeavors!

A colleague of mine put together a page on mahalo.com called How to Play Guitar:

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Play_Guitar

I think it has a lot of helpful links, and I hope it helps you.

Mahalo,

Sara