Before we get deep down into the e-Course, there`s a three very useful accessories that I recommend you purchase if you don`t own them already. They are not essential by any means but they are very useful and I recommend all my private students get them within a few weeks of lessons. The same goes for all of you on this course.

These three things are useful, but also pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

The three accessories are:

1) A variety of nylon picks

I recommend Nylon picks. They sound better and feel more comfortable for most guitarists.

Buy at least 6 different gauges ranging from 0.4 to 1.0. Experiment with all of them for a few weeks. Then go back and buy 5 or so of each of your favourite ones.  Believe me, you will lose picks. They always disappear.

Spending time experimenting with good quality picks and purchasing a variety will be one of the best things you will do on your journey of mastering guitar.

Don`t be tempted to buy those cheap plastic picks. For a few extra pence, get some good ones.

2) A capo

Get the best you can afford. Capo`s are awesome and will make your guitar playing sound better and much more varied. You can fake it till you make it with a capo.

You can learn just a few chords and a few strumming patterns. Once you can change between those chords quickly, you can then put a capo on, play the same chords in a different order and you will have a totally different song.

Capos are often seen as an easy way of playing lots of songs and changing keys. Why people think that is a bad thing is beyond me. Getting a capo is one the keys to unlocking the guitar for beginners. Later on, once you have been a guitar ninja for a while you can qualify to become to a guitar sensei, and then you can learn barre chords, moveable shapes and all the other hard way of doing things.

For now though, let`s make life simple and get a capo.

Get a quick release one like this one from G7th. Other good (and cheaper) brands for capos are D`addario and Planet Waves.

Do not get one you have to screw in. If it is a pain to use it, you won`t want to. Do not get something too cheap. Cheaper capos often send your guitar slightly out of tune on certain frets or if not placed in an exact position.

Get something good, it will be worth every penny and unless you lose it they will last for a long time.

3) Buy a simple clip-on tuner

Don’t bother with tuner apps; you want something you can leave on your guitar all the time. You could tape your phone to your guitar headstock, but that`s just plain silly. I have seen worse though!

Instead you should get something like this simple tuner, and pretty much just leave it on the headstock of your guitar permanently.

Each time you pick up the guitar, do a quick check of the tuning. If you already tune by ear congratulations, still it`s a good idea to test and check your `ear` skills with a tuner every now and then.