Hello Community,
A big thanks for Justin and his team for the dedication that goes into creating this amazing site.
I try to pick up the guitar every day. For a while, I was sticking with Justin’s great beginner app pretty consistently, But life is busy and the the object I most wish to put hands on every day sits in the corner, calling me every time I walk by.
I picked up the guitar about twelve years ago. At times I practiced and played every day. I learned about how to practice well and what elements to focus on to make for well-rounded learning.
Alas, Periods of busy-ness and times of discouragement in my progress always sidelined my love of the guitar. Also, I still never practiced very skillfully, despite my serious study and the best of intentions.
It’s difficult to stick with a practice routine, even with the support of this amazing resource.
I’ll be back soon to outline my guitar journey focal points thus far and share my biggest influence. Perhaps some of you could help me stay inspired, share some tips for content to focus on here.
Hey Chad, welcome to the forum. For me there were 2 things, 1.I made a commitment to picking up the guitar for 15 minutes a day, every day, and 2. learning songs, once I learned a song all the way through (a simple one to start) it made a lot of difference in my motivation.
Through justin guitar in the beginners section, there are various great lessons, the one minute chord changes one and his fingering of the A chord both helped a lot as my first song was A E and D major chords.
I’ve been playing for ten years now and I’m so glad I stuck with it even when it was a challenge as the reward of being able to pick up my guitar and play a song whenever I feel like it is so cool. And it’s very attainable for anyone.
Hi Chad, a warm welcome to the community.
I hear you on the discipline - routine - walking by comment.
Take a look at some of the thoughts shared by fellow moderator @LievenDVhere.
Cheers Richard
Hi Chad, welcome. As others have said goals are important to make a purpose of each time you practice. For me just the challenge of being able to accomplish an exercise is fun but for others it may be no so fun and wish there could be a shortest way to get to playing that song they want. Maybe after each scheduled practice you manage to accomplish you can reward yourself with some fun time trying a song or riff that you like and it is according with your level.
Welcome to the community. A lot of us have a similar story; played years back and didn’t quite succeed. That is very normal and I am glad to see you came back to it. I suggest to do a few things. First, keep your guitar out on a guitar stand. If it is there in plain sight you will be more likely to play more often. Practice even for 5 minutes a day. Once you start playing, the 5 minutes usually turns into a much longer session. Second, do not try to keep up with what others are doing. Record yourself and measure your progress against you from a month ago or even a week ago. Take a moment and enjoy each step in progress. There is no race to be an expert. Justin does not offer Bachelor’s degrees in music, just free lessons at your fingertips. Lastly, enjoy your progress and share it with others here. We all love to cheer you on as you improve and release the inner talented musician. Bumps in the road happen, but never give up. Your music is too important.
