Which Style of Guitar Should I Learn First

How it works

New to the guitar, or stuck in one way of playing? Press the button for one of 38 playing styles, from open-chord strumming to slide and flamenco, each with the music it belongs to.

Read the full guide

Chords or single notes

Rhythm styles hold down chords with one hand while the other strums or picks: Wikipedia’s article on rhythm guitar calls that the basic technique. Lead styles play mostly one note at a time. Most styles in the list lean one way.

Fingers or a pick

Flatpicking strikes the strings with one pick, the sound of bluegrass. Hybrid picking uses a pick and fingers at once. Fingerstyle leaves the flat pick out, so one player can carry bass, chords and melody.

Open chords are also called cowboy chords, for their simplicity.

Questions and answers

Which style of guitar should I learn first?

The one in the music you most want to play. For an easy start, open chords leave some strings unfingered, so fewer need the firm pressing that beginners find difficult, and Wikipedia calls power chords relatively easy to play.

What guitar style should I learn for the music I like?

Match it to the sound: flatpicking for bluegrass, slide for blues, power chords for rock, metal and punk, the ska stroke for reggae, and fingers on nylon strings for classical, flamenco or bossa nova.

What is the difference between rhythm and lead guitar?

Rhythm guitar supplies the pulse and the chords of a song. Lead guitar plays melody lines, fills and solos over them. In many bands one guitarist takes each job.

What is fingerstyle guitar?

Playing by plucking the strings with the fingertips, the nails or picks worn on the fingers, not with one flat pick. Classical guitar, Travis picking, Piedmont blues and Hawaiian slack-key are all fingerstyle.

All 38 guitar styles

Chords and rhythm 11

Bossa nova guitar A calm, syncopated samba groove from Rio de Janeiro: thumb and fingers pluck chords on a classical guitar.
Chord melody One guitar renders a whole song: harmony, melody and bass together. A jazz guitar style.
Funk rhythm guitar Strings pressed lightly and strummed fast for a muted scratch, known as chicken scratch. Belongs to funk.
Jazz comping Jazz chord voicings played under a song’s melody or another musician’s solo.
Jazz manouche Jazz that began in France: rhythm guitars keep a percussive beat called la pompe in place of drums.
Open-chord strumming Chords that leave some strings ringing open, strummed in a pattern. Heard across pop and traditional music.
Palm muting The side of the picking hand rests on the strings by the bridge: the chugging sound of rock and metal.
Power chords Chords of a root note and its fifth, usually with distortion: a key part of rock, heavy metal and punk.
Rhythm guitar The chords of a song, held down and strummed or picked in time with the drums and bass.
Ska stroke A short upstroke strum, also called the skank: the guitar part of ska, rocksteady and reggae from Jamaica.
Thumb-brush picking The melody on the bass strings while strumming carries on above it. A rhythm style of early country music.

Played with the fingers 11

American primitive guitar Country blues fingerpicking turned into solo guitar pieces. The genre dates from the late 1950s.
Classical guitar Nylon strings plucked with the fingers: the thumb takes the bass and three fingers the melody.
Country blues Acoustic fingerstyle guitar under a solo voice, from the rural Southern United States.
Fingerstyle guitar Strings plucked with the fingertips or nails, not a pick, so one player can carry bass, chords and melody.
Flamenco guitar The guitar part of flamenco, from Spain: fast finger strums called rasgueado and taps on the guitar’s top.
Highlife guitar From Ghana: guitars lead the band, plucked in a two-finger style.
Maskandi guitar Zulu folk music from South Africa, known for its picking guitar style.
Percussive fingerstyle Fingerstyle with sharp attacks on the strings and hits on the guitar top for a drum-like effect.
Piedmont blues A fingerpicking style: the thumb keeps an alternating bass under a syncopated melody, close to ragtime.
Slack-key guitar Fingerstyle from Hawaii: strings are loosened to an open chord, the thumb plays bass and the fingers melody.
Travis picking The thumb alternates on the bass strings while the fingers pick a syncopated melody. Common on steel strings.

Played with a pick 5

Crosspicking A flat pick rolls across three strings in a syncopated pattern, like a banjo roll. A bluegrass technique.
Flatpicking Single notes struck with a flat pick held between thumb and fingers. The name belongs most to bluegrass.
Hybrid picking A pick and one or more fingers pluck together. Most used in country and rockabilly, as chicken pickin’.
Shred guitar Very fast electric lead playing, with sweep picking and tapping. Often heard in heavy metal.
Surf guitar Reverb-heavy electric guitar with rapid picking, from the surf rock of Southern California.

Melody and solos 6

Blues rock Rock built on the chords and scales of blues, with long electric guitar solos and heavy riffs.
Lap steel guitar Played flat across the lap with a steel bar on the strings. Also called Hawaiian guitar.
Lead guitar Melody lines, fills and solos, mostly one note at a time, over the chords of a second guitarist.
Slide guitar A glass or metal tube worn on one finger glides along the strings. Often used in blues.
Soukous guitar Dance music from the two Congos, with fast rhythms and bright, intricate guitar improvisation.
Tapping Fingers of either hand tap the strings onto the fretboard. Rock players took it up in the late 1960s.

Blues 3

Chicago blues Blues from Chicago, built on Delta blues and played on electric guitar with distortion and overdrive.
Delta blues One of the earliest styles of blues, from the Mississippi Delta. Slide guitar is its hallmark.
Desert blues Guitar music of the Sahara, pioneered by Tuareg musicians: blues and rock fused with North African music.

From one country or region 2

DADGAD tuning The strings are retuned to D A D G A D, an open chord that is neither major nor minor. Tied to Celtic music.
Rumba flamenca A style of flamenco from Andalusia in southern Spain, played on flamenco guitars with hand clapping.