Guitars are one of the most widely available instruments that we have nowadays-- they are easily carried, not too expensive, and can be bought and found from different locations all around the world. They can also be mastered by folks of all ages, as long as they are capable of holding a guitar and have fingers long enough to strum it. But how does one begin to play a guitar? The prerequisites are: first, a guitar to play, second, the desire to make music with it, and then the rest will follow.

Before you play your guitar, you must first make sure it is in tune. If not, tune it. If you don't know how, ask for help from someone who does. If you are not good at tuning your guitar, it would be handy to have an electric tuner.

Now that your guitar is ready, it is time to prepare yourself. It is important that you hold yourself in a good position while playing your guitar. You need to be sitting in a comfortable position, and must have enough space on your sides for your arm movements and the neck of your guitar. You must also hold your guitar in the right position, placed down on your lap with its back close to or resting on your chest.

Your fretting hand (left for those who are right-handed and right for those who are left-handed) should be holding the neck of your guitar with the fingers just over the strings. Meanwhile, your other arm should be resting on the curve of your guitar, and your picking hand (the non-fretting hand) should be able to reach above the sound hole of your guitar, free to move and prepared for some strumming action.

Now that you're all set, you can start plucking the strings and making some noise; however, controlling the strings with the fretting hand requires you to also learn your guitar notes, chords and tablatures. Practice and study will of course make one a guitar wizard eventually.