Grade 1 Feedback Please!

[JGAdmin]

Help me improve this course and get the chance to a video meeting with me. :)

View the full lesson at Grade 1 Feedback Please! | JustinGuitar

[VD1005]

This has been an awesome start, thank you Justin!

[jimbca]

I’ve played guitar off-and-on for 55 years and taken lessons from time-to-time. This course has filled in so many voids for me and has been more inspiring than any of the other courses or books. I bought the app and am using the web site as well to look up questions I have. I’ve gone through Grade 1 and plan to do a little more practice before starting Grade 2. I think my actual skill level is somewhere beyond Grade 1, but not very far. I’ve never stuck with guitar for very long before getting distracted. Your lessons are inspiring and motivating for me. I’m practicing more and feeling more confident about my progress. I don’t have any suggestions right now. Thank you for your approach and effort. Really enjoying the guitar now!

[stitch]

Welcome to the community Jim. There are lot of people here with
similar stories

Older guitar students / Can 'old dogs' learn new tricks?

In the original JustinGuitar Forum, many ‘mature’ beginner guitarists would arrive with a measure of doubt. Doubt that they could learn to play guitar. Doubt that they were not making a mistake. Doubt that anyone else of ‘mature years’ was doing anything as daft as they were in dreaming of becoming a guitar player. And so a discussion started to test the waters of ‘who else is out there like me’? Lo and behold … tens, dozens, scores, nay hundreds of old dogs made themselves known. And so t…

[torquemonkey]

I’ve been playing guitar for 34 years, by ear and all self taught. I just wish your courses had been available when I started. Excellent beyond measure. keep it up. I will be going through every course you do - and the paid ones - I feel bad not paying you for the free ones - I will be donating, you deserve it. Truly exceptional body of work Justin. thankyou.

[Robin]

When you say learn by memory five songs before moving on , are you expecting that we should also be able to sing and memorise the words along with the chords?

[RobDickinson]

I hope not, it’ll be a very long time for me to do that and with my singing I’ll get lynched beforehand…

[kevguitar]

Justin, Jim’s words sum up what I would say. I suggest your site regularly for anyone willing to listen. But I honesty believe what you have here is really what the internet was designed to be - a place of learning. If there’s a better site for any kind of instruction, I haven’t found it yet. Pearl Jam is where your voice is - maybe Dave Mathews Band as well. Cheers and thanks to you and all of your crew.

[Boardy]

I am so excited for what’s in store in the later grades. I was blown away by the content packed in this grade. This year marks two years of me playing guitar and about a month with JustinGuitar. And I’ve learnt more in this month than two years watching youtube videos. And to whoever is reading this, godspeed to you on your journey.

[Someland]

Hey,

I’m a 36 years old guy from Denmark who loves music and trying to learn to play guitar… or wait a minute, I actually play guitar now thanks to you Justin before I started on this amazing guitar journey I saw I do not know how many guitar lessons online without being able to play an entire song, but now it’s running

You are super good at explaining how to and cutting it out in cardboard (danish expression ) so even I understand it. I want to highlight finger stretching exercise, it helps a lot on my stiff fingers and makes me faster to switch between the chords, and the trick with the G chord I take it well enough with the little finger on 1 string 3 finger on 2 string and 1 finger on 6 string and muting 5 string with 1 finger not quite as you explained it but think it falls naturally and sounds super good

Thank you for you and your team

[Robin]

Cheers Rob, I’ll set my bar slightly lower, and try to memorise the chord patterns of five songs before progressing to Beginners Stage 2.

[ohmygato]

Hi Robin,

After memorizing how to play and sing 5 songs myself wondering the same thing you are asking about, I can guarantee Justin does not expect you to memorize how to play and sing five songs completely.

But… it’s your journey, not Justin’s journey. If you diverge from or add to a prescribed program you only have something to gain and nothing to lose.

In the middle of the Grade 1 studies I memorized how to play a few songs and then discovered that I wanted to sing, so I started singing. And the first song that I sung was not one in Justin’s program but rather an old blues standard. I found this process so exciting and rewarding that I started learning how to sing many of the songs in Justin’s Grade 1 studies. And now I’m even circling back and learning some of the complexities in these songs like the key changes in “I Walk The Line”. I have also started transcribing some songs that I really like and that I haven’t been able to find written out anywhere.

And to anyone wondering how much time you should spend on Grade 1… how does 4 years sound to you?

[ohmygato]

Justin,

Grade 1 is very good. As in my post above I think you can spend a lot of time with just this material and never even “graduate”. I think you may be able to do a bit more on strumming or rhythm in general, especially on how to practice effectively to get your rhythm more precise. Aside from that I think the material in Grade 1 is great.

-Dan

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

Hi folks just a reminder this is JustinGuitar not JustinSingsGuitar. Yes you need to be able to play 5 songs but singing is optional not mandatory. You just need to play the songs.

[Richard_close2u]

Hello @Someland welcome to the Community.

Great feedback, it sounds like you’re getting somewhere and having fun.

Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

[Robin]

Hi Dan, Thanks for the supportive comments.
This is the second crack at Justin’s beginners course. I progressed to the first session of the intermediate stage of his original course and I found it just too difficult at that stage.
I decided to review from the beginning and just take my time. Like you I wanted to play and sing, but trying memorise the chord progressions I found big challenge the first time round and moved on, probably too soon.
I was late to the guitar and in a hurry.
I am going to slow things down and enjoy the journey. Cheers

[Dave911]

@Robin

I was late to the guitar and in a hurry.
I am going to slow things down and enjoy the journey.

That sums up a lot of us, I think. Why are we always in such a hurry, anyway?!

[DavidP]

@Robin

Like you I wanted to play and sing, but trying memorise the chord progressions I found big challenge the first time round and moved on, probably too soon.

I also struggled to remember chord progressions and lyrics, Robin. In the end I just used song sheets. And then to my surprise last year, suddenly I found myself more able to learn and play from memory. That was in my fifth year since starting with Justin.

[Richard_close2u]

Good on you for that self reflection Robin. It is a life long activity not a short term race.

[brdillow]

Having a lot of fun with this. After a few false starts with guitar over the years, this is the longest I have played consistently. I attribute that to the quality of this course and the way it invites you in. I especially enjoyed the song lessons that started with a simple version and added a little spice if you were up for it - much fun!