tauzero

I saw them almost 50 years ago - I was a Venture Scout and we'd gone to Torbay camping, Man were on nearby and some of us went to see them. They might well have been the first rock band I saw live.

When you come back: Tuning. There are tuner apps for Android, and I assume for iPhone too. Guitar Tuna is the Android app I fall back on if I haven't got a hardware tuner to hand. Chords. Start with the ones using open strings. E, A, D, C, G, Em, Am, Dm. "House of the Rising Sun" used to be a traditional song to start a guitar career on (there is an F in there too). Once you get reasonably comfortable with them as you'll find them in the chord books, experiment a bit with barres across two or three strings - for example, barre the top three strings at the 2nd fret with your forefinger and use your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the B string for D. Barres. Once you've got comfortable with the chord shapes using open strings, you can move them up the fretboard with your forefinger taking the place of the nut. So if you use your forefinger to fret across all 6 strings at the first fret and use the other three fingers to make an E shape, you're playing F. The same applies to the A shape and C shape, and the Am and Em shapes.

Jan Akkerman Jimi Hendrix Marc Bolan (there's a left-field choice)

I think the forefinger is playing 3rd, 1st, 2nd string on the A and D chords - with the way I learnt finger picking, I'd use forefinger, ring finger, middle finger to pick the same.

I'd be inclined to go with something a bit less expensive than the $4250 Little Sister as a beginner instrument, just in case you decide not to carry on with it. Get some experience, play a few guitars, work out what you want from the guitar, then get one that matches what you want.

It might be poorly set up, or have rather heavy strings on, or both. There are mountains of information on guitar setup on the interwebs. To quickly summarise, you'd need to adjust the relief (that's the amount of bow in the neck - it needs a bit so the strings don't rattle on the frets) and the bridge height. You may even need to adjust the neck angle by shimming it. None of these are difficult, you just need to take things slowly, use the right tools for the job (you won't need anything exotic), and read all of the instructions before starting so you know what you're trying to achieve. Intonation also needs setting when you've got the other bits sorted out.

Thomann's own Harley Benton brand is very good for the price. A few years ago, I decided to splash out in a very restrained fashion and bought a Crafter for £175 - can't remember the model. I was very impressed by the playability and tone, it competed with guitars twice its price.

My main influence is Marc Bolan, in his earlier Tyrannosaurus days. I principally play acoustic (or Variax on an acoustic patch) as I now recognise that I'm a crap lead guitarist.

I don't play the version that's on that Youtube video - it's the closest I could find to what I play, but my version is similar. I might even have a shot at learning that version...

Funnily enough, in my current covers band, I'm the best guitarist. The guitarist is the worst, with the keyboard player and percussionist falling in the middle. He hasn't got to play anything complicated though, so it all works out in the end. In a previous band, the drummer and I could both play the guitar solo in "All Right Now", the guitarist couldn't. I'm not sure whether to be pleased or ashamed of that though.

Annie's Song. Time after Time (Eva Cassidy version). Kiss from a rose (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPGg-zLDta4)

Jan Akkerman - absolutely brilliant. So many facets to his playing, electric, classical, lute...

Started playing instruments about 50 years ago, first violin (briefly) and then guitar. Moved to bass in 1975 or so when I joined a band at university, and after a bit of a hiatus committed to bass in 1980. I've kept playing guitar though, for songwriting and for the occasional open mic. Acoustic instruments are assorted jumboes (Eko Ranger, Crafter, Yamaha 12) and a couple of Variaxes - one 300 with a Roland GK1 pickup and a JTV59 (the Les Paulish one). No amps, assorted effects - Zoom G3n, MS-50G, and MS-70CDR, Line 6 POD HD500.

Two. Many years ago, I swapped my 1980s Squier Strat (bought new) with a colleague for his Roland U10 which I finished up never using. And more recently (about 15 years ago), I sold a Gordon Smith - a GS6 IIRC. I rather wish I'd kept that.

Worth having a look on That Ebay for second-hand reputable wirelesses - for example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NADY-ENCORE-DUET-Instrument-Duel-Wireless-System/183282297230 and try offering £30.