Welcome, Beginning Guitar Player!

Hi, I’m Allen Mathews.

Hello Guitarist,

If you’re looking for beginner guitar lessons, you’re in the right place. (If you’re not a beginner, perhaps you’re an intermediate guitarist or an advanced guitarist.)

This is a big website with hundreds of tutorials and resources. But not all are appropriate or useful for you now. So below, I’ll point you in the right direction.

First, your main challenges as a beginner are these:

Training your fingers to work on the guitar
Learning the common terms and general mechanics of the guitar
Figuring out what to do each day (specifically)

ClassicalGuitarShed.com can help you with each of these. Here are some options to get you started. You can return to this page anytime and work through the list.

Where to Start

First Things First:

Check out our Free Beginner Course.
This will get you started immediately with useful exercises, chords, beautiful sound, and even playing from musical notation. It is specially created for beginners like you.

Train Your Fingers:

Set Up Shop – Learn the Lingo and Prep for Action

Practice Strategy and Planning:

If you see any tempting links in the above articles, click them and go down the rabbit hole.

From here, your next mission is to learn to read music and start playing pieces. Fun!

Other destinations you may enjoy:

The Free Sheet Music Library – over 1300 pieces of music to download and play. Most have both notation and TABs.
Visit the full Site Index – Hundreds of lessons, categorized for easy browsing.
Check out The Woodshed® Classical Guitar Program – Our comprehensive classical guitar course. (It is appropriate for you at your level.)

Please feel free to reach out anytime if you need anything.

All the best in your music,

Allen Mathews

Hi, I’m Allen Mathews.

I started as a folk guitarist, then fell in love with classical guitar in my 20’s. Despite a lot of practice and schooling, I still couldn’t get my music to flow well. I struggled with excess tension. My music sounded forced. And my hands and body were often sore. I got frustrated, and couldn’t see the way forward. Then, over the next decade, I studied with two other stellar teachers – one focused on the technical movements, and one on the musical (he was a concert pianist). In time, I came to discover a new set of formulas and movements. These brought new life and vitality to my practice. Now I help guitarists find more comfort and flow in their music, so they play more beautifully.
Click here for a sample formula.

I practiced your system for three days, and it solved the I-M alternation problem I had been struggling with since I undertook classical guitar three years ago. Many thanks!

~ Johnny Geudel

-Johnny Geudel

I have lost my entire metallic sound while I am playing now. Even my single note practice sounds more melodious, less tinny. [The Woodshed technique practice] has made a major difference in my tone. Thank you.

~ Harlan Friedman

-Harlan Friedman

Become a Member and Play More, Beautifully!

“Success lies in relentless execution of the basics.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Join the program that takes you from the beginning fundamentals to advanced mastery, so you…