First of all, have an experienced guitarist look at the guitar to see if it is playable, then,and this is extremely important...get the guitar tuned,and have the tuning checked as often as possible.(keep away from the tuners and dont lean the guitar against them.) I think the most important thing is having a tuned guitar, and one that is easy to play. If the guitar is not made too well and the strings are 2 ins. away from the frets you will only get discouraged. In other words use the best guitar possible. Get a book on chords or from the net and start with learning a c chord and so on. As the singer from an old 45 I have from the 50s called "All American Boy" says..... "Buy you a Guitar and put it in tune...You'll be a Rockin' and a Rollin' Soon. Good luck