the notes on a guitar are the same as with any other instrument, aston. the fret above f is F#, etc.. interesting to note is you can find many of the exact same tones on different strings (which is clear when you learn to open tune, but it goes a little bit beyond that. for example, for all intents and purposes there are a couple of different ways you can play a g chord and it sound nearly identical, but the one you opt for will likely have to do with how convenient it is at the moment).
everyone starts off with the idea of great hand position. you very, very rarely see a rock guitarist do this while performing as it just looks dorky. try to maintain the proper hand technique for as long as possible. i say that and at some point you'll see a picture of jimmy page onstage with his guitar somewhere around his knees. it's just like anything else: learn to do it the right way, then develop a way that's comfortable and works for you. the 'proper way' is neither practical nor comfortable. the 'proper way' has the guitar on your left leg (for right handers), your leg slightly elevated, the neck at around a forty-five degree angle and your thumb in the centre of the neck, never resting your palm on the neck. this works better for acoustic and classical guitars, yet i've never known anyone with an electric and wanting to play rock not to learn slumped over it staring at the strings, which just puts your thumb near the top string. jimmy page and jimi hendrix made liberal use of their thumbs.
find a teacher and ask him to show you the basic boogie. an amazing amount of music is merely a variation of that. classic rock solos are often based on a single blues scale. if your teacher doesn't know what that is, find another teacher. (there're actually two main blues scales, the second one containing most of the exact notes, just not used as much.)
pay attention to the patterns, especially when it comes to solos.
i sound fast. i'm not, not really. i just know tricks.
learn to play 'stairway to heaven.' that covers most of the techniques you'll ever need to know, imo, from finger picking to strumming to solos. the van halen 'fretboard tapping' thing is pretty easy once you've got some coordination, so 'eruption' is probably in your future. before that, you'll probably learn 'smoke on the water.' people who can't play guitar know that one, lol.
your fingers will hurt. a lot. that's how you build up your callouses. and do yourself a favour and don't be lazy like me and not wipe down the fretboard afterwards. unless you like caked on black crud you have to scrape off later. plus, it helps saves your strings a bit and keeps them sounding crisp and new. the story is stevie ray vaughn was playing a gig and his callous literally came off his finger. so he picked it up, superglued it back to his finger, and went back playing. this probably won't happen to you.
anyway, guitar tab is tres easy, you don't need to know the first thing about reading music. used to be 'olga' (online guitar archive) was the place to go, but the last time i was there it was shut down much for the same reason the old napster was shut down. anyway, most magazine stands have guitar magazines and, obviously, music stores will have a decent selection. you can often find guitar dealers at large flea markets, and they usually have some music.
i'd get a couple of different guages of strings to find which on you like best. too, get a lot of picks and see which size and thickness you prefer. once you find one, get several. get a few extra of your three bottom strings as these are the ones you're most likely to break.
your first lesson should have the teacher assess what you know, go over parts of the instrument, show you how to tune it, show you the proper technique (whether or not you use it...), show you some chords and have some on paper to give you, have a few very basic songs, some excercises to do and the blues scales. most that i've gone to wanted to see progress being made. the better teachers knew what i wanted to play and had some music photocopied for me, plus some blank tab paper to show me specific things i wanted to learn.
as an aside, i had one teacher who i thought was pretty full of himself. i'd seen him play with my friend's brother's band and was ashame when at one point he was gulping a beer and his pre-recorded song started, so he quickly started 'playing.' what a jerk. then he was at a U2 concert and got to play onstage. he was insufferable after that. then i had one teacher who i liked so much that after he stopped teaching at the music store, i took private lessons at his house. i ran into him a year ago and he remembered my name after nearly twenty years (hm, no, it must have been longer than that).
anyway, it's really not difficult to find someone who knows how to play guitar, just ask people. walk into any place where ten people are and i practically assure you one of them knows how to dance on the fretboard a little bit.
