3 months

Learn guitar basics in 3 months

20 minutes a day, 6 days a week

Twelve weeks gets you somewhere the thirty-day plan cannot reach: eight open chords, a usable F barre, two strumming patterns, and five or six songs you can play for another person without apologising the whole way through. That is a beginner who can actually play, which is a real and rare thing.

The thing that ends most three-month attempts is not the F chord, it is week six. The early thrill is gone, the sound is still rough, and there is no obvious next milestone. So this plan puts a deliberate light week at week seven, names the slump before it arrives, and measures chord changes with a timer so progress stays visible even when it stops feeling like progress.

The protocol

  1. Weeks 1–2

    Em and Am, and clean notes

    • Tune every session. Learn Em, then Am — the same shape moved one string over, which is a free second chord.
    • Play each string individually after forming a chord. Fix buzzes by moving your fingertip closer behind the fret, not by pressing harder.
    • One-minute Em↔Am change drill at the end of every session. Write the number down.
  2. Weeks 3–4

    G, C, D and the first song

    • Add G, C, and D. You now have the five chords behind an enormous number of songs.
    • Learn down, down-up, up-down-up and keep the strumming hand moving through the missed beats.
    • Play Stand By Me at 70% speed by the end of week 4. Do not stop for mistakes.
  3. Weeks 5–6

    A, E, Dm — and the slump

    • Add A, E, and Dm. That is eight chords, which is enough for most of a songbook.
    • Week 6 is where it stops being fun. Nothing is wrong. Cut the session to ten minutes rather than skipping it.
    • Learn a second strumming pattern with a syncopated push so everything stops sounding like a metronome.
  4. Week 7

    Light week — play, do not practise

    • No new chords, no drills. Just play the songs you already know, badly and happily.
    • Record 60 seconds and compare with your week 2 recording. This is the week you need the evidence.
    • Restring the guitar if you have not. New strings make a beginner sound noticeably better for about eight pounds.
  5. Weeks 8–9

    The F chord

    • Start with Fmaj7 — no barre — and use it in songs while you build the full F.
    • Practise the full barre for three minutes a day, no more. It is a strength and angle problem and it resolves in weeks, not days.
    • Roll the index finger slightly onto its bony side. That single adjustment fixes most failing barres.
  6. Weeks 10–11

    Bm, capo, and playing with other people's songs

    • Add Bm, which is the same barre technique in a friendlier place on the neck.
    • Learn the capo: it lets you play almost any song with the chords you already have.
    • Learn a 12-bar blues in A. It is three chords and it makes you sound like you know what you are doing.
  7. Week 12

    Play for one person

    • Choose five songs and play them end to end, in one sitting, without stopping to fix anything.
    • Play one of them for another human being. This is the whole point and it is genuinely uncomfortable.
    • Pick the next thing now: fingerpicking, more barre chords, or singing while playing. Momentum dies in the gap.

How you'll know it's working

  • You can change chords while looking at the lyrics instead of your hands.
  • Songs sound like the song, not like four chords in a row.
  • You pick the guitar up without deciding to practise.

When you miss a day

Missing a week costs you callused fingertips and a little change speed, both of which return inside two sessions. The plan slides rather than resets — you rejoin at the chord you were on, not at the beginning.

How Mosey helps

You don't have to hold the plan in your head.

Reading a protocol is the easy part. Mosey turns this one into scheduled days, adjusts it when your week falls apart, and keeps the streak alive while it does.

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12 day streak 2 mosey-days left

Life happened on Wednesday. I trimmed Thursday down — the plan still lands on time.

Questions

Why is the F chord so hard?

Because a barre asks one finger to do what four normally share, at an angle your hand has never used. It is the one place where the answer really is time rather than technique — three minutes a day for a few weeks.

How is this different from the 30-day plan?

Thirty days gets you four chords and three songs. Twelve weeks doubles the chords, adds barres and a capo, and ends with you able to play for someone else.

Should my guitar be set up by a shop?

If the strings sit high off the neck, yes — a cheap setup can turn an unplayable guitar into a pleasant one and it is the single best money a beginner spends.

Can I learn from videos alone?

For three months, comfortably. Get a teacher when you want to sound like a specific person, or when a bad habit is costing you more than a lesson would.

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