Hello everyone,
Another 66 year old who has been stuck at the beginner level for 45 years. I will admit that I am an advanced beginner who mostly plays beginner open chords, but I have strummed and played for sing-alongs, etc., if I have the chords in front of me. Here is a short version of my guitar journey and why I am excited about the new JustinGuitar course.
I started out learning the guitar in the summer of 1974 following my first year of college. There was a US Public Broadcasting show called âFolk Guitar with Laura Weberâ produced by KWED San Francisco. I was blown away at the time that I could watch a television broadcast in my home and methodically learn to play guitar. In the appropriately named lesson 13, I forced myself to play a 4 string F chord on a cheap Harmony Stella guitar (a glorified plywood box) and was occasionally rewarded with a few audible notes from my torture. Later that year I obtained a pawn shop nylon string classical guitar and my fingers were much happier. Unfortunately I had to go back to college and never finished watching the series. I still have the book, but never found a copy of those old videos.
I was happy with strumming open chords and playing popular songs, but then became frustrated that I couldnât advance any further. I took a couple of lessons from a teacher that used the Mel Bay methods, but that didnât last long. When I graduated college I got a book on learning classical music, since that seemed to go beyond chords, but all I learned was how to sight read in the first position.
There was a long time where life took over and the guitar gathered dust for several years. The one day I was listening to the radio in 1999 and I heard SRVâs Little Wing. I was both mesmerized and blown away. Over time I purchased all the SRV records and books and started hanging out at newsstands, getting all the guitar magazines. I got dozens of blues methods books and some DVDs and bought a Mexican made Fender Strat. The only progress I made was getting the Guitar for Dummies book and learning how to bend notes.
The years passed and I made very little progress, playing only occasionally. I was too overwhelmed by all the instruction thatâs was out there. I had a lot of beginning guitar books and advanced blues books but no way to bridge the gap.
Finally I found the JustinGuitar site and was so thrilled with the instruction, that I ending up getting every book and DVD on the website at the time. I worked through the old classic beginners level course, but got stuck in the intermediate level course. The part of Justinâs course that impressed me the most was the way Justin demonstrates the beginner version of a song and then walks you through the ways that you can modify the performance to become more sophisticated and reach an intermediate level song. But I was too impatient to really work through the consolidation phase and I never participated in the online discussion groups.
Now I am back and working through the new beginners level (grade 1 to 3) lessons and really like the changes that Justin has made, especially adding the lessons on famous Riffs, most of which I had never learned. I also like the new practice assistant since it keeps me honest. I look forward to more consistent practice now that I am retired at the âyoungâ age of 66 and can eventually master the intermediate level blues lessons. With JustinGuitar I think I have found a road map to keep me from getting lost in the guitar instruction jungle.
