dispense with the chords part, just tune all your strings to a good note (I find C# or F# works well) and run a screwdriver up and down the fretboard.

Naturally it goes without saying you should have a badass amp with lots of distortion.

I'm not the best tutor on this matter, but I think the best mix is writing some stuff yourself (which can be interesting/non generic without being technically advanced, look at Stumbeline by the Smashing pumpkins, it's all power chord formations, but done nicely), but keep practicing those basic chord shapes, they come in handy.

Plus you'll notice the two start to converge, as you realise guitar lines that sound nice are actually forming a C chord. or something.

Try looking at picked/one note at a time songs as well, I remember learning to Come as You Are (Nirvana), Espionage (Green Day) and Street Spirit (Radiohead), as well as Space oddity for some chords as my first bunch of songs.

3 strings, 2 fingers and 1 arsehole is all you need to play guitar (to paraphrase Keef).

i found that picking up the bends guitar book was a great place to learn about chords and keys.

beyond that, guitar pro is excellent for learning whatever style you want to play.

but the hard part is getting your fingers strong enough, so make sure you get to work on exercising them. and use an acoustic at first, as switching to an electric will seem so much easier.

that would be a bit like learing drums without actually hitting them.maybe.

You have to go through at least the basics as it'll help you.

It's also good for training your ear and being able to pick out chords without even playing them....it'll make you a better player.

Truth bomb: You won't ever be good at anything without putting any effort in. You want advice? You play and you keep playing or (and I feel this needs to be in caps) YOU WILL CONTINUE BEING SHIT. AND A SLACKER. AND A FILTHY POSER. FOREVER.

type answers- joining/forming a band isn't a bad idea. The first instrument I learned was bass- i was learning at the same time as the drummer- so we had an ultra-basic rhythm section, but we were at the same kind of stage- and it was easy to put a song together and work out how to play that way.

Learning stuff you know is a good method, so you can tell what something should sound like. I learned bass playing along to Pixies records as they're nice simple memorable basslines. Guitar try something with easy power chords, if the chord shapes are easy it's less to worry about whilst you build up your finger strength and timing.

There's a certain amount of dedication needed to overcome the physical side though, if your twee fingers are really hurting try using lighter strings? If something like 9s hurt your fingers you should give up.

you wont learn anything unless you bookmark ultimate guitar, make your fingers bleed. And you will need to learn chords.
sorry, your plans are up in smoke now.

shouldnt be a chore. I used to play it about 5 hours a day learning cos the reward of learning a song was worth it.

Rockhard fingertips, it's great. Doesn't take that long for them to get hard.

is just sitting watching tv whilst you play. Not play songs or anything, but you'll occasionally just find yourself trying to play along to the theme tunes and stuff, and hearing keys and working it out. And you don't get bored because you've got something else to do. It's pretty subliminal and stuff or whatever.

basic open chords and then bar chords.

Then you can do what you want.

You can get the hang of many songs using bat chords.

play with a rhythm track or metronome.

Also depend what you want to do..

If you want to learn songs you should learn the basics and practice a lot.

I actually don't pick up the guitar unless I write something and I know hardly any songs by other people.

Starting a band is a good idea.

In the end its the style music you want to play that determines the effort into breaking your fingers.

Luckily I listen to Earth mostly. hehe

but guitar takes a couple months of banging out chords. DDDD/AAAA/DDDD/AAAA then add a C chord and so on. If after 3 months you can't play an easy Rolling Stone song I'll eat my hat. You should be playing Angie reasonably well in 6 months. If you're young and talented a lot faster than that.

That your fingertips still hurt tells me you've been at it for about a week. C'mon man. Took longer than that to learn your multiplication tables, eh.

There's no easy way. Learning on a spanish-y nylon string could help with the sore fingers thing though, but learning the guitar should be a love thing, boring chords and all. Incidentally, nobody says you HAVE to play those chords, i regularly make up my own (i'm sure they're not original - far from it - but i'll be damned if i know what they're called!)

and stick to downtuned downstroked riffs

it worked for max in soulfly!

Easy.