Just started

Welcome to GN.

There are a lot of systems purported to help remember notes on the fretboard and chords etc. but the best one is practice. And while you practice a chord for example, repeat the name of the chord to yourself while you play it. It will sink in.

Hello and Welcome to Guitar Noise.
As Nils said practice and repitition is the best method.
Some people (including myself in the beginning) use the CAGED method for memorizing chords.
Basically play the major chords in that order then start adding in minors or 7th chords ect..
Like C, Am, G7,Em,Dm It is kind of a memory game in a way.
As far as individual notes, most people learn all the natural notes first (key of C) in the first position (first 4 frets) then start learning the sharps and flats, after the first position is mastered it becomes easier to learn and move farther up the neck.

Welcome. I'm a newbie at this thing to so I can't offer much in the way of advice. Although I am finding that practice and determination are the main factors in my progress. That and reading this forum. There is some great advice on here.

Good luck!

I always found memorizing note names, and chord names hard. That's why I stunk in music class. But thanks to tabs, I can play a whole song without knowing what the note is or what the chord is. I'm not sure if it'll work for me in the long run, but it's working well for me now.

Welcome to GN. You're going to find a lot of old timers here that have quit playing and now have come back....

Practice, practice, practice.

Welcome to GN. You're going to find a lot of old timers here that have quit playing and now have come back....

Practice, practice, practice.

Yeah this is my third time and it's definatly the charm. 8) 8)

Hi and welcome Sean.

Just for the record it goes a bit like this:

1. Your fingers are too big and keep hitting more than one string. Miraculously they get smaller with practice.

2. You find that you've been issued with stupid fingers that can't seem to remember where to go. Amazingly they get smarter.... with practice..

3. Your brain appears to be a matching set with the fingers. It can't seem to remember chord progressions, note positions, or lyrics. With practice it finally starts to wake up and start working...

4. You discover that you been cursed with a weirdly shaped index finger that is incapable of doing bar chords. Some kind of deformity that you'd never noticed before means that you'll never master bar chords. :cry:
But somehow, your finger heals and changes its shape..... with..... umm Pr... :wink: :wink:

To add one to Chris_C's list:

5. Despite how big your fingers are, either they will not stretch far enough or your hand is disproportionately small for your guitar. The fingers do stretch and/or the hand will grow.

I think it will eventually be important that you get to know the names , at least, and the positions of chords and notes.

start easy. you know the name of your strings. EADGBE ( standard tuning).
next, learn the scale of the neck. it's nearly same as the six strings.
nut E fret 1 F fret 3 G etc.

then learn the individual string scales up the fret board. that's easy too. E string.. E F G A B CF D E start at zero and go to the 12th fret.

then your second string B C D E F G A B

etc.

eventually learn the notes of the chord and the scales.

this will all help you to become a better player because you are more comfortable in your knowledge.

thanks very much guys all your advise is excellent i just hope i can remember it all. any more advise for someone with sore fingers is always welcome

Sore fingers will gradually get better in a few weeks.
I have found that ibuprofen such as Motrin will help some as it is an anti-inflamatory.

Great post, Chris, and it's all true, especially the "Practice" part! :P

I think the hardest part of learning to be a good guitarist is learning how to really practice. Set a schedule and stick to it, make short term, medium and long term goals and check them regularly, learn something every day.

Like so many of us, in a short time you'll be looking back saying "Now why on Earth was that so hard before?" :D

Welcome!