Caliban wrote:Stuff to ask to make actual guitarists feel smug:
a) Easy songs to learn/play along to etc
b) Downtuning - how do you do it exactly? I vaguely remember something about making the string you're downtuning sound the same as the next one up by however much you're changing it (e.g if you're downtuning by half a step then make it sound like the next string up with the 1st fret down) but I'm not too clear on it...
If you're going to change tunings alot, just buy a tuner, the only tuning I ever do by ear is changing from Drop D to Standard E because you ony change one string and I can do it by ear now.
This is the tuner I use, you can tune by plugging into the input or by microphone for acoustic tuning, there are others which will clip onto the headstock and detect the frequency by vibration, but I'd highly reccomend this one.
As for songs to learn, just take songs you like and work on them, download loads of tabs and watch videos of them being played to guage how difficult a song is, and just learn gradually harder songs. Even if there's something too difficult for you, learn it at half speed and you'll slowly develop the technique to do it at full speed.
The first I learned was Enter Sandman, good for learning basic techniques. It's got slides, palm muting, power chords etc.