Greetings from John in Brooklyn, New York!

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I’ve always loved the guitar playing of early Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Johnny Ramone among others. I can’t pick one out of the bunch but they’re the reason I bought an Epiphone Les Paul guitar and Blackstar Fly 3 practice amp a few months ago. Actually it would probably be Mick Taylor’s time with the Stones that has probably most made me fall in love with the guitar.
Today I’ve started the 4th lesson of Justin’s Beginner Course, and like with the other three lessons I’m off to a rocky start, having a rough time getting used to the Dm chord and not being able to skip the third beat of the new strumming pattern. I’ve been using headphones when I practice as I’m very self conscious around my wife, daughter and neighbors next door, of all the mistakes I’m making. When playing songs I’m having difficulty with not having fast enough chord changes, strumming and keeping time - so these are things I need to work on in the immediate present. On the up-side, I haven’t had much difficulty learning the Clapton lick and am having great fun playing it!
Anyways, it’s nice to be here. I’ve found the Discussion chats in Community very helpful with the problems I’ve had with learning some of the material. Thanks!

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Welcome to the forum John

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Thank you!

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Greetings, and welcome, John!

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Thank you, Rene!

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John, welcome to the community forum. Have patience. With enough time playing the guitar all those things you are working on will get better.

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Welcome John! :wave::smiley: Sounds like you’re off to a great start learning the Clapton lick and getting started on Justin’s lessons. All the best with your journey :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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Welcome you came to the right place to learn guitar. Justin got you covered

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I still do this, after over six years. I don’t even know what my amp sounds like through its own speakers.

Welcome to the group!

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Thanks Steve. I’ve seen improvement since the first lessons so I’ve every hope that will continue.

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Thank you so much, NZ! Justin’s lessons and structured practice are what I feel I need to get a solid grounding. He’s a remarkable teacher.

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Thanks, Mark! Yes, a couple of people who’ve played suggested headphones to the amp, and I feel a lot more comfortable playing this way.

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Thanks, J! Yes, I looked at a lot of free and paid options and am glad I went with Justinguitar. I look at tons of other YouTube videos but Justin is what I use for regular practice and guidance.

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Hello John… Welcome to the community!!

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Hi John,
Welcome here and all signals are green now to become a good guitarist, I wish you a lot of fun :sunglasses:
Greetings,Rogier

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Hello John and welcome to our community. :slight_smile:

Sounds like you’re having the same difficulties that we have all had when we started out. Stick with it, go nice and slow and you’ll soon be wondering how you found these things hard.

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Hi John! Welcome to the community! Inwish you a lot of fun - even if there are a lot of hurdles to jump over - I think most of us have those ups and downs. With time, you’ll get more experience and after some time you can’t believe what you have reached so far!

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Welcome to the community John

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Thank you all, Dave999, roger_holland, SgtColon, Helen0609 and CateB!

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Welcome John. Wish you a fun and enjoyable guitar journey. If you look at the full F chord and try few times and then go back to Dm, Dm suddenly somehow feels easy :wink: It will come. I have struggled a lot with the G chord. After 3 weeks it’s not that bad anymore. Please don’t get discouraged, suddenly its just there…like magic. :mage:

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