What does it take to learn acoustic guitar & are there some easy steps to follow? Well if you just want to learn the basics then it's really quite simple. In order to play a variety of easy guitar songs you only need to know a few basic techniques.

First of you need to learn chords and there's certain chords that go well together so make sure you learn them at the same time. For example A, D and E will allow you to play loads of songs using just those three chords. G, C and D goes really well together as well as D, G and A. These combinations of 3 chords are known as the 3 chord trick.

Once you have three chords down then you need to get your strumming patterns nailed. Strumming Patterns are basically just a series of down and upstrokes that occur in each bar of music. Once you know the pattern you can play it over and over using the chords you learned as described in the paragraph before this one.

Step three is to get a couple of easy guitar songs and apply the chords and strumming patterns you've learned up to this point. That's pretty much it. Chords, Strumming Patterns and a couple of tunes is all you need to get to first base. Good enough to jam with some friends and have a great time.

Now if you want to take things a bit further then you can check out minor chords. By adding a fourth chord to the 3 chord trick you'll be able to play even more songs. You should also check out fingerpicking. Fingerpicking is a great way to generate a totally different sound than strumming on the guitar and it just sounds awesome on the acoustic guitar.

What's next then? Well loads really but I would suggest learning 7th chords, barre chords, scales and some riffs. Check out different styles like Rock, Blues and Country and learn more difficult songs. The sky is the limit but if you focus on everything mentioned in this article you'll know enough to have a great time playing the acoustic guitar.

Charl Coetzee is a London Based Guitarist, Writer, Guitar Techniques Magazine Contributor & co-owner of of a couple Guitar Lesson websites. He has a passion for all things related to guitar and music.

Visit his site for more Acoustic Guitar Lessons as well as his Strumming Patterns website to spice up your rhythm playing.