The most appropriate guitar for learning on is an acoustic one, with nylon chords and, at first, a plectrum to carry out the exercises. The normal position in which to learn is leaning the guitar's body on your right leg and placing your right arm around the edge without touching your stomach too firmly. It is best to incline the top part of the guitar a little, so that you do not need to move too much to see the finger positions of both hands. Their position is vital. The thumb must be placed behind the neck, leaving the rest free to pluck the strings. The thumb's pressure is added to that of the fingers and lessens each time a note is plucked, leaving the hand free to move along the neck. The thumb need not hang from the guitar's neck while the palm of the hand must not touch it, so that the remaining fingers can do their work.

It is also important to keep a natural, relaxed posture when playing, and not take up bad habits, such as putting your legs behind the seat legs or crouching over the guitar. It is also important that the fingers that touch the chords don't stray across to the next chords.

Once you start getting the hang of the first few steps, it is important to follow this advice:
- Play anything to begin with: chords, combinations or tunes. This is a very useful task to improve the ear and better your finger coordination.
- Play in front of a mirror to observe your hands and fingers and check that they are not being stretched or are out of position.
- Record yourself frequently to see what you can improve.
- Practise chord changes for a few minutes, repeating the change from one chord to the next as slowly as possible until it becomes second nature.
- Play as often as you can in front of friends and family so that you can exchange opinions on your performance.
- Play each exercise slowly and only play it fast once you have mastered it.
- Predict the movements of your fingers so that each time you move a finger you already know which change comes next.
- Take special care over your posture to avoid stretching or tiredness.
- Listen to a song on a CD and play at the same time to improve your ear and sense of rhythm.
- And, above all, have patience and keep at it. Spend a little time every day practising without losing spirit.