I’m Ian from Upstate South Carolina, USA. I’m nearly 4 weeks into learning with Justin (Beginner Grade 1, Module 3). I got my first guitar 2 years ago as a college graduation gift from my beautiful wife (red electric guitar, locally made in my hometown), and I’ve just now begun to learn. I attempted to take lessons from the same small-town store that the guitar was purchased, and they left…much to be desired. I didn’t even think it was possible to teach myself from square one until I came across Justin this year. Now playing guitar actually seems possible!
Short-term, I would love to get comfortable enough with chords to play some of my favorite songs. Long-term, I would love to learn guitar solos from my favorite rock/metal artists. I’ve also been singing since I was 12, so self-accompaniment has always been my primary goal.
My favorite artists are currently Billy Joel, Metallica, Volbeat, Twenty One Pilots, Jon Bellion, Luke Combs, Molly Tuttle, NF, and even more of a mish-mash of genres. Can’t wait to get to know and learn beside all of you!
Hi Ian,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun
Stick with Justinguitar and do your daily guitar for minutes or hours and you will see your dreams come true and faster than you can imagine right now
Greetings,Rogier
As I’m sure you will hear over & over again, the best way to progress is to:
Follow Justin’s courses.
Play for at least a FEW minutes daily if able.
If possible, keep the guitar on a stand or hanging on a wall so it’s really, Really, REALLY ACCESSIBLE… if you have to pull out the case, open it, remove the guitar etc… it’s sometimes harder to get motivated to play.
Learn songs! That makes it so much more fun… which leads me to the next point…
MOST IMPORTANTLY - have lots of FUN!!! Again, if you’re not having fun, you probably won’t take time to play consistently…
Thank you! Making the guitar accessible is actually what made me start picking it up! I work in an office, 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday. Spend the morning/evening relaxing and spending time with my wife. I have an hour lunch, and eating only takes so much time. So, I keep my guitar at work and practice on weekdays for 20 minutes! And it’s working wonders!
Greetings Ian
you’ve landed in the right place to learn guitar, become a better musician, and hang out with some great people
Welcome and best of luck!
Cheers
Ruaridh
Great stuff Ian, welcome to the community. Similarly to you I tried to learn guitar with lessons from a guitar teacher. Alas it didn’t take. Not entirely the teachers fault, but they certainly wasted huge amounts of my time on things like learning scales and such far far too early.
I tried again some years later, found Justin guitar and loosely followed his course and have never looked back. Last night I performed my 99th open mic and can’t believe the progress.
I agree with the earlier comments about playing daily, just 10 minutes a day is all you need, try to make it just part of your life, like having that first cup of coffee in the morning. Also keeping the guitar accessible is great, often you can squeeze in extra practice like when you are waiting for that first cup of coffee to brew.
@radiant98 Making the guitar accessible is actually what made me start picking it up! I work in an office, 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday. Spend the morning/evening relaxing and spending time with my wife. I have an hour lunch, and eating only takes so much time. So, I keep my guitar at work and practice on weekdays for 20 minutes!
I have Justin’s app on my smartphone & seldom eat lunch (mine is only 30 minutes) & also have a tiny amp in the cupboard… my coworkers want me to invest in some headphones though!
Hi Ian, welcome to the community. I know you will be playing a lot of songs if you consistently practice 20 min/day for 5 days a week. If you learn one or two favorite songs from each module you will be able to play a lot of songs by next year. Have fun playing what you love and you will keep playing.
Hello Ian. Welcome to JustinGuitar and the Community. What a shame your lessons didn’t work out for you - though you have arrived at a great place to learn. There are many good folk here who will happily offer help and encouragement to those coming up behind them on Justin’s Beginner Courses. They embody and carry the pay-it-forward ethos we have nurtured for many years in our community. There are many old hands too who have years and (hopefully) a bit of wisdom they can bring as they give their support to those hitting the road blocks - which we all do.
Just ask if you need anything else.
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Community Moderator.
