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Really dumb questions about learning guitar (sorry)

Hey guys, I'm sorry if this post comes across as super dumb but I was just wanting to ask for some advice about learning electric guitar.

Over a decade ago I inherited a guitar from a friend who took his life, I tried learning it at first but ended up getting distracted by life and dropped it. Recently though I saw it sitting and collecting dust and decided that, even if it was a cheap electric guitar, I didn't want it to spend its life like that.

So yesterday I got some new strings, a new (and better) amplifier than the $20 one I bought secondhand over a decade ago, and a couple books about guitars, one of them being a book with nothing but like 300+ different chords, I also fixed the intonation on the bridge.

So here's my questions:

I'm looking to try and play punk rock music (All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, stuff with that kind of sound). What chords should I focus on learning that would be good for that kind of genre?

And I'm guessing the chords are can be played by strumming all of the strings together at once or you can play the notes individually, one after the other?

Sorry again if this post is really dumb, I really want to try and make sure I don't drop this guitar again, I'd like to properly honor my friend's memory and give this guitar the attention it deserves.

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  • Not dumb at all, it's a very honest beginner question.

    To start with, I recommend finding a song that you want to work at that has 3-4 chords, work on that until you can fairly confidently chord shift between those and then start adding more. The next several songs you work on should have 1-2 new chords outside of your base 3-4. [I've found Ultimate-Guitar to be a good resource due to sheer volume]

    For beginning chords, these are very useful major chords: C,G,D,A. useful minor: Am, Em. I like these because they are everywhere and they're easier to learn. When you move on to your next step, I'd start adding in bar-chords. So: F,F#m,B,Bm

    For strumming, typically you strum all the strings individually, but in succession. Just sweep the pick across the strings. Experiment with angles, pick stiffness, how hard/loose you hold it. I'd start with either just all down strums, or a down/up/down/up thing. Wait to go any more complicated than that until you feel more comfortable maintaining your timing during chord changes. Then when you're confident with your chord progression, find some strumming patterns you like to play around with. But honestly, if you find one strumming pattern that is a step above the basics and you have 5-6 chords to work with, you can play a LOT of songs, and non-musicians will think you're amazing.

    Swing Swing The D/F# is a little more than I'd recommend for a beginner, but this would be a good second step song.

    Damn Regret Has a bar F in it, but you can also cheat that a little, you can scroll through the fingering options, and 2 of 16 doesn't use the full bar chord. Just make sure you're not playing the strings with 'x' over them.

    Closing Time Not one of the bands you listed, Bb,Ab,Eb,Cm are only in a small spot in the bridge, and you can play the song without those.

    Beginning guitar can be demotivating because there's so much to focus on at once. You're trying to learn a new hand shape, you're trying to focus on holding down each string so you're not buzzing, you're trying to make sure you're not touching other strings so you're not muting the chord. Then doing the same thing with the next chord. And on top of that, throw in strumming or picking, and then singing a different rhythm over all that complexity - the whole process can very quickly feel like too much. So give yourself permission to be bad at one part while you're focusing on another. Pick your first songs to be simple and that energize you and make you want to practice and find the next thing.

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