Hello everybody!! I am new to this site and playing country tunes, however I've been strumming 
for 20 years. I've played mostly Rock and Roll or Blues both professionally and privately and 
really prefer the latter!! hehe...Anyhooo let's get on with it: The real basics of guitar. 
Now people submit all these very useful lessons and I can just see this poor guy squeaking 
and thumping away saying " This can't be right, it sounds horrible"!! So let's get down and 
dirty. Before you can play decent sounding licks, riffs or chords there is a very basic part 
of your equipment that must be at least of good quality. The guitar itself. I can hear the 
screams now.....but a good guitar is a thousand bucks!!! Can you say ebay? Listens folks 
there is no cure for a sick sounding 150 dollar guitar, ever wonder why you play the same 
lick as someone else and it sounds bad when you play it? It may be the guitar and not what 
you are doing wrong or right. Rule of thumb for buying guitars: you will usually get what 
you pay for. A decent guitar can be had for around 5-600 dollars, still a lot of greenbacks 
for an instrument but it will pay for itself just in sheer enjoyment. Remember to play the 
instrument before you buy, especially a used one. If you don't like it in the store, 
you won't like it at home. If you buy new, get the guy to set it up the way you want it 
and play it that way BEFORE you buy. If they give you a song and dance about setting it 
up.....walk out!!! Don't accept any less then your expectations.

Now, some of you might be saying: "why did my guitar sound great in the store but awful 
at home?" The amplifier!! I have a guitar amp that I purchased in 1986, and it still 
works great!! Amps work for a very long time if taken care of, so save your pennies 
and buy a good one. You won't be sorry. Tube amps deliver the best sound, solid state 
has come a long way but I've never heard one with quite the same amount of balls as a 
tube amp.