Happy New Year, everyone! May 2026 be a musical one!
I’m Patricia from Montreal. I am 61 and a complete guitar beginner, inspired to learn so I can someday accompany my singing, and hopefully perform at open mics (maybe in a decade or two?). I signed up for the Justin Guitar community early last year, but didn’t really start attempting to play the guitar in earnest until a couple of weeks ago. I am very much at the “my finger tips are KILLING ME” stage of learning, but I will persist and hopefully survive. Wish me luck.
I welcome any advice and tips on playing guitar while singing - right now it seems impossible!
Welcome to the community, Patricia. The calluses on your fingertips will start building soon. You’re in the right place; a lot of us started later in life. Just have fun.
Hi Patricia.
Ya came to the right place to learn to play. Justin’s a outstanding teacher imho. Plus, ya can get much support here on the forum from others too.
As for your finger tips. It’ll take a bit, but they will get tougher. Don’t know if ya got fur babies (a cat or a dog) or not. But if ya do, when yer fingertips hurt, give your fur baby a few pets. Not only will your fur baby like that, you will too. It’ll sooth your fingertips, least it does mine…
Wish I could give ya pointers on singing and playing, but I can’t as I not only find it hard to do, but I don’t sing. So, your fortunate that you can already sing. I can’t help but think singing and playing will be easier for you than folks like me…
Have fun on your journey and if ya got questions. The forum is here to help with any questions you may have. Plus it’s fun to hang out and talk music here.
Welcome to the community. When I first started learning I didn’t try to sing and play, everyone told me that was a lot harder. So once I learned to play my first song all the way through, my wife started singing it along with me. We must have played it together, her singing, me playing probably 50 or 60 times when quite unintentionally I started singing along in the chorus. A light went off in my head “Hey, this isnt’ so hard after all…”
Justin has a detailed lesson on singing and playing which is very useful. In my case, learning to sing and play was easier than he details in that lesson although much of what he says there applies.
If you are still at the stage where your fingers really hurt, my advice is concentrate on the playing for the time being. You need to be able to play your first song without thinking about it too much.
I do encourage you to hang in there at this stage, it’s hard work but so very well worth it. Singing and playing just heaps of fun and really rewarding.
Bienvenue Patricia,
tu tsé tsu parler francé?
(sorry I might not remember québécois correctly)
You sound really determined - great!
Haha!
The open mics are so full of nice people and welcoming, you don’t have to be so very good to perform, it can be a nice motivation, maybe not as a complete beginner, but I made quite a lot of mistakes in my open mics and still happy I took part and learned something every time.
Wishing you lots of fun with your guitar!
Ah… did you look at the Nitsuj lessons? I think they’re great to peek into when you’re beginning!
Welcome to the forum. In addition to Justin’s lesson in singing and playing, @LievenDV, one of the approved Justin instructors, has a good video about that.
I have found it very difficult to sing and play and it has definitely held back my guitar playing progress. For me, it only works when I can play the song automatically, strumming without thinking too much about it and that didn’t happen for a long time. I’m 2.5 years into learning guitar and it’s only now that I feel confident to sing and play. But everyone’s different and many people are faster learners than me. Personally I wouldn’t try singing and playing until you are comfortable strumming different rhythms with ease.
I don’t like playing to a metronome and I have found that singing along stops me speeding up and keeps the timing better throughout the song. So it does have other advantages.
Good luck.
Best, Ian
Ps. there are quite a lot of threads on the forum with advice about singing and playing.
Hi Patricia, welcome to the Community, enjoy the ride. The most enjoyable part of my guitar journey has been taking the advice of other members and concentrating on playing songs. Only recently discovered “my voice” and the true pleasure of accompanying myself on guitar. Like Ian @Prof_Thunder I have to be able to play the song pretty much automatically first. Good luck.
Welcome to JustinGuitar and this fantastic community. There a whole host of golden oldies over in the dog house.
Please take your time to look around and get to know the wider space. View by 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.
If you want to record yourself to show your progress and / or seek feedback there is our ever popular Community Recordings section.
Behind the scenes there is a small and dedicated team who work to make the JustinGuitar experience as good as it can be. Check out the Onboarding sessions provided by Fanny.
Justin also has a small group of Approved Teachers he recommends for people wanting 1-to-1 lessons to supplement his courses - of which I am privileged to be one.
Welcome to the community Patricia! Our community has an online open mic with a very supportive audience. It is a good way to build confidence before doing it in person. Enjoy!
Welcome Patricia!
It must be so nice knowing how to sing, I wish I could sing.
So you are already a few steps ahead of me. Hopefully you will become just as addicted to playing than most of us here.
Patricia,
Welcome to the Justin community. You may want to start with some songs that have repetitive chord progressions, like “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty or “Knocking on Heaven’s Door “ by Bob Dylan. Songs that you can maintain your foot tapping all the way through and that you also know the lyrics so well that you don’t have to think about while you play. Performing in front of a crowd is just another skill to learn, so don’t wait until you’re “perfect”. Whether just in front of friends or at an open mic, people will enjoy your efforts. Go to a Justin workshop! The experience is transformative!
All the best!
Kevin, south of the border…
Thanks, this is great! Very informative. I feel like I’m at least a year away from even attempting putting guitar+singing together like that, but I’m bookmarking it for the future.
The other item is pick a song where the lyrics are lined up closely to the chord changes. Some songs the lyrics come in at a different point and those are harder to do.
A warm welcome to our Community Patricia! Be reassured that a lot of things on the guitar seem impossible at the beginning, you practice and they become doable, challenging but still doable and possible…just stick to it and I’m sure you’ll achieve your goals! Sharing your journey with peers will boost your learning, so I highly reccomend you stick with us too
Oh yes, good link, I think I’ll revisit this too!
Made some way, but I’d like to have guitar and singing easier together.
I am just picking this up, because I remember I could whistle a song easier along to the guitar playing than I could sing with lyrics in order to approach the singing slowly. If you don’t whistle, maybe humming would work the same way.
Do you already know what you would like to sing first? I don’t know why, but when thinking about a song from your region sung by a woman I had to think of “Les marengouins”
Wow how exciting for you. I think it is awesome goal.
You have already had great tips, all I can say is follow justins course work, your lessons and use the practice assistant everyday like he says. After you finish your dailys then go back and do the extra stuff you want to work on more.
You can do it, soon you will be playing and singing along some cool basic songs like 3 little birds and Johnny Cash. Even if they are not you “chosen” style you learn important tips and techniques from some of these lessons and you will accomplish the act of singing and playing at the same time soon. I am super excited for your journey. Please post videos to stay motivated, self evaluate and keep us updated, and post here in the community of course. We are a very supporting group.
