Hi everyone i’m John I’m new here.
So when I was 10 my parents gave me my first 3/4 length acoustic guitar and I started private lessons.
At 12 I was given a sunburst colour guitar which I had fixed up at my local music shop, but more about that in a minute.
I was an ok learner but I was constantly getting told by my father, who was and still is a country fan that what I was doing wasn’t guitar playing. I was doing the chord changes and strumming pattern lessons at the time.
My father got fed up with me just strumming and decided I needed a new tutor.
He allways told me that players similar to Hank Marvin who mainly do solos are proper guitar players, and players who just strum a song arent worth listening to.
I hated my new tutor, he had no interest in teaching me and i wanted to stay with my old tutor as we got on. At that time I was in my early teens and just started finding music i liked and not what my father wanted me to listen to. I was torn between the new UK indie / britpop and Rave scene. My new tutor could only come on a Friday evening so I lost interest as I wanted to be out with my mates.
It felt at that time that I was living my father’s dream and not mine.
I sold both the acoustic guitars I had by then and and also gave the electric to a mate who then sold it for £650. I later found out it was a sunburst Gibson Les Paul. At that time I didn’t even know the guitar was worth anything.
I started learning again in 1999, because I wanted to, not because I was being forced to. And I was accepted on a guitar music course at Acton music college, but I had just become a father to my first child and was talked out of doing the course by my then fiance.
In 2003 I started learning again, using the Play Guitar magazines that had the play along CDs on the front cover.
Over the years I have started and then got bored and stopped again because I felt like I wasn’t progressing.
I learn a song then start learning another song then forget the previous song, I couldn’t sing and play at the same time, couldn’t do barre chords etc etc. I was always getting stuck in a rut.
I’ve picked up the guitar a few times over the years and always wanted to go further with my learning but never know where to turn.
So fast forward to now. I am now a 48 year old learner.
I have an acoustic guitar and a cheap squier strat that I’ve tidied up.
I’ve been learning some bits and bobs on youtube. And I have now come across this JustinGuitar.com lessons for beginners. I have started the lessons, most of which I already know so far, but it doesn’t hurt watching the lessons just incase something comes up that I didn’t know already.
Since starting this I’m getting loads of adverts that constantly come up on my Instagram feed, am I right doing the Justinguitar lessons or are these better? I dont know. All of a sudden i dont know which way to turn.
I’m pretty stuck.
Also I’m so out of touch now I don’t know what is a good guitar and what isn’t. I dont have the type of money that would buy me a high end £3k guitar but i dont want a rubbish guitar either.
The thing I don’t want to do again is give up, this time I want to learn as much as I can, and be the best I can be. I don’t know what I want as my end goal yet though. I’m probably too old to noticed now lol
Ok John first of all you are going to meet a lot of new friends very shortly so stay where you are with Juston let’s just give it ten minutes and you will be welcome and a lot of advice will be given, you are in a good safe place so give it a chance mate cheers HEC
I would just like to ask John, does your father play the guitar and the friend who sold your guitar ? is he still a friend does he play, just wondering HEC
Hi. When my father retired he started guitar lessons. And then quickly apologised to me as he didnt realise how hard it is the learn chord changes and strumming patterns. He gave up after a year.
There you go John, so you are in the right place mate I can promise you that, Juston Guitar is a great place to learn, great teachers and the support is always there when you need it and you are just young so let your journey begin, Try the rest of the community out I’m new here it’s only been just over a year maybe coming up to two I struggled with the community thing because of my feelings towards social media but now I love every part of it, so settle in John and ask for help anytime you need to mate Cheers HEC
Welcome John! I’m biased, but I have two answers to your question. First - yes, you are right doing Justin’s lessons. Not only is the teaching excellent - and the basic lessons are free - but the support of this community is wonderful and unique. Second: if you aren’t already, please view the lessons through Justin’s website. You’ll need to make an account, but Justin does not send any spam - only a monthly newsletter (which I’m sure you can opt out of). You’ll gain access to many free tools on the website. This should keep stuff out of your IG feed.
You’re also wise, I think, to begin at the beginning. Many folks here with backgrounds in guitar have done the same, and say it was the best approach. You’ll likely progress quickly, and at the same time learn things you didn’t know you needed to know.
You clearly have the passion! Stick around here. I think you’ll love it!
Wow Mature at 48 OMG hate to think what that makes me
You obviously have a passion for guitar and have an advantage your young and have previously learnt the basics and have a good understanding using Justin’s system your have direction and loads of advice when you need it.
So stick with it enjoy its fun.
We have all been stuck each hill is like the others just as you get to the top and think this is great you go up the next.
John You are in the right place as for goals well start at the beginning BC1 mod 0 and work through, learning your first song would be a good goal to start with even though you have some experience as for guitars I do not have the cash to buy expensive models (being a poor pensioner) so I have a Squire Stratocaster in lake placid blue and a squire Telecaster in polar white I also own a V100GT by vintage guitars its a les paul type but very heavy, I also have a cheap acoustic by gear for music but had to lower the action and change the bridge saddle. As for age Im not far off 70 (how the heck did that happen) so plenty of time and dont sweat it its supposed to be fun no targets or spreadsheets, just relax and enjoy noodling
Hi John, welcome to the community forum. I definitely second the suggestion that @judi gave you to follow Justin’s lessons via his website. Each lesson has additional text below the video with a summary of the lesson and sometimes chord diagrams and TABs for riffs. Also there is a link on the page for the community discussion of that individual lesson. I found it helpful to read the discussions for each lesson. If you are logged into the website, your progress will be tracked as you finish the lessons. I also started at the beginning, even though I’ve had many years as a beginning strummer. I learned new things in every module. Have fun learning songs from the very beginning using the song lessons on the website. I also recommend go to the guitar or music shop to play some different guitars in your price range. Find a guitar that you enjoy playing. You are at the beginning of a long and hopefully fun journey of learning the guitar.
I went through Beginner module 1 and Begginer module 2 and started PMT last night.
Once ive marked the lessons as complete am i able to go back and watch them again
There are currently 767 song lessons on the website - all freely accessible! Even better, you can sort them by grade, and search by artist or name. The song lessons on the app do provide the “karaoke” feature - showing what chords come next, and allow you to choose backing tracks to play with - this is not available on the web lessons. I really appreciated the app when I was starting out.
John I do not have the app I just learn the songs recommended from the site click on songs and select beginner 1 pick some you like and save to favorites but I usually play the ones for that module as shown below the lesson
Welcome to the community. Nice to hear your story. For many of us, it’s all about songs, songs and songs. You’ll see that phrase repeated. I’ve been playing for 13+ years and for me it was all about the songs. I can sit down now at any time and play 20 or 30 songs from memory and for me that’s a huge reward. I started with Justin Guitar and continue to learn things from him.
Soloing, as your Dad pointed out, is a different form of playing and something I only do a little of (mainly because I’ve not put the time into it). I’ve always put my time into playing songs (a rhythm player).
