Nice to meet you
You are most definitely in a great place for learning guitar with JustinGuitar and this community is friendly and supportive too
I agree with Rogier that learning songs is a very good way.
Maybe you could set goals of how long you practice for and what you practice each day instead of an exact time frame of when you finish a song, so you don’t be too hard on yourself.
There have been many times that I’ve underestimated how long it would take to learn a song to how I was happy with it, and it’s less discouraging without the pressure of having a set timeframe for it.
I have to echo what has already been said, be wary about setting yourself time goals… sooner or later this approach will fail and may leave you demotivated. Learn to enjoy the journey, celebrate whatever progress you make and the songs will come in their own time. The early stages can be frustrating and slow but it does get better if you show up each day
Don’t worry, I think that happens to the majority of people. (Fun fact: Fender did a market study and found that ~90% of new learners drop out in the first year.) I think that’s the main reason Justin emphasises songs and having fun; the main challenge at this stage isn’t how effectively or quickly you can practice, but how to maintain that level of motivation and excitement.
So, I think that it’s crucial that we start exploring what makes practice fun for us, whilst we’re still motivated. Maybe it’s playing certain songs, maybe it’s jamming with others (later on in your journey). It’s going to be a lot harder to do that once you lose the motivation.
Hi Akhi, welcome to the community! Learning songs is exactly Justin’s teaching approach. You’ll do well to start at the beginning of Justin’s structured curriculum and follow it through. It wasn’t clear to me that this is your plan - if it is, I apologize for misunderstanding, and you can stop reading now! But if you were planning to choose a random simple song and trying to learn it without technical guidance, I’d strongly recommend reconsidering that approach and following the Justin’s lessons.
To expand on what @roger_holland wrote above, and in case you haven’t explored: Grade 1 Module 0 presents basics - how to hold your guitar and your pick, how to read chord boxes, and so on. This only takes an hour or two to work through. If you’re especially impatient you could jump directly into Grade 1 Module 1, but I guarantee you’ll be back reviewing the Module 0 content before long. Module 1 presents two chords - how to form them, how to practice them, an exercise to increase your speed and facility changing between them, introduces rhythm and hitting the right strings, and seven songs you can play with those chords! Grade 1 Module 2 presents yet another chord, and more songs! The best thing: you’ll learn much more than just chords and songs as you progress. All this will enhance your enjoyment learning and playing guitar.
Again, I apologize if I am being pedantic. I’m an advancing beginner myself, and have learned the hard way that all the details matter. Keep us posted on your progress!
Thank you for the suggestions. Yes, I covered Grade 1 Module 0 & 1. These were nice guidline for beginners. Now I am planning to cover a song Zombie by The Cranberries
I second (and third, and fourth, and…) everyone else’s comments about going easy on yourself. Small successes build into big successes, not the other way around
I remember my kid, learning saxophone at school, I’ll never play “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”
At 65, and having always regretted not sticking to piano lessons as a 12 & 13 year old,
I’ve committed to learning to play guitar so that I find pleasure in my playing and in keeping my mind stimulated.
Just starting month 3 (with daily, 1 1/2 hour practices—the luxury of retirement)
Only now comfortable moving on from module 3 (old dogs, and all that).
It wasn’t until about 3-4 weeks of daily practice that my finger tips stopped feeling as if they had slipped into a grain mill.
Some chord changes are relatively easy (eg Am to Em), I’m presently struggling mightily with the E to D chord transition (D to E, is oddly much easier for me)
Just recently have I begun to like the sound of the notes I’m playing (am I getting better, and/or just habituated to myself??? )
My kid’s lament is now mine: When will I ever be able to play along with “Louie Louie”…
I’m using the JustinGuitar App as well as the website and like that combination.
The included songs (many with vocals, some of which I grew up with are most helpful to me) are great for emphasizing maintaining rhythm as they won’t slow down for a slow chord change.
BUT, BUT, BUT—you can slow the playback tempo down, and learn a song at slower (even much slower) tempo, and then gradually increase it as your skills increase.
I’m currently at 60% tempo for Louie Louie (growing up in the 1960s, that was absolutely a must play song for all garage bands in the neighborhood)
Hi Akhi, well done. I can tell you it will get worse and you will feel bad! But, and a big but, practice steadily, don’t push too hard and, importantly, follow guidance on Justin.
Don’t worry what others are doing too much and don’t beat yourself up. Practice slowly and correctly - good quality and persevere. You’ve got all the time in the world. Well done!
Hello Akhi.
Welcome to JustinGuitar and this fantastic community. Please take your time to look around and get to know the wider space. https://community.justinguitar.com/categories
We are a supportive and encouraging group of students and guitarists from across the world. Essentially, we are all here for music and to improve as players. We truly are a ‘community’. Members help and support one another and a friendly, positive attitude underpins this. We hope that all - young or old, experienced or new players - adopt and foster the pay-it-forward ethos that Justin personifies and embedded all those years ago when he started the website and forum.
Also, please make sure to read the community etiquette announcement for some important information and guidance.
I’m a long time musician, but (kind of) newish to learning guitar properly. I also lead capability development at the company I work for. Time bound goals are good (often this is the case), but (as others have said) they have downsides (particularly so with capability development - which is what those of us on this forum are all doing on guitar). If you want a bit of practical Learning and Development theory that may be applicable to your situation, you may want to look here The Learning Zone Model - The Commons Library (The “Alarm” zone is often called the “Stress” zone).
“Play a song in 20 days” is not a bad target to have, but should take into account where you are starting from. As I’ve heard Justin say a few times in the limited number of lessons I’ve done, don’t be too hard on yourself. If you can play it in 20 days, then great. If you can play it better in 20 days than you can now, that’s progress. If you can’t play it as it is on the original after 20 days, that doesn’t matter. As an example, I recently recorded “Time of your life (Good Riddance)” by Green Day. I can strum the chords well enough to sing to, but I can’t play it like the original. I’m ok with that, and it’s a longer term target that one day I’ll be able to play it like the original (and maybe improve my singing ), but I don’t have a time bound target on when I can play it like the original.
Good luck, and I really hope you enjoy your musical journey.
Hi Akhi,
welcome, I would have said pretty much the same that @roger_holland did
have fun and don’t throw the guitar away immediately when there’ll be a time when it doesn’t work out as easily as you expected… it’s worth it!
Cheers,
Dominique
Hi Akhi, welcome to the community forum. I think that everyone has already given you good advice and encouragement. I would add that you would be the most successful learning a song in 20 days if you choose one of the songs with 2 chords from module 1. If you follow Justin’s practice schedule every day you should be able to play a song in that amount of time. You might have to play slowly with simple strums but you will be playing guitar.
Learning chords through songs is the way to learn chord grips. Justin and approved teachers also suggest this approach.
Learning together is double the fun and it also keep you accountable. I am open to practice some song together if its my cup of tee. I play acoustic and currently in grade 2, module 11.
Thank you for the nice suggestion, and for sharing your experience. I am able to play the 4 chords of the song but not like the original. And I am not stressing myself, I am practising when I am getting time.
But if you were planning to choose a random simple song and trying to learn it without technical guidance, I’d strongly recommend reconsidering that approach and following the Justin’s lessons.
