Hi All. I’m a (49M) newbie. Playing guitar has always been an aspiration of mine. I played other instruments (sax, trumpet, trombone) and sang when I was in my teens/early-20s, but lost interest. I met my wife some years ago, and she helped me to regain a love of playing songs and gave me a guitar (Fender CD-60) three years ago as an anniversary gift. I loved the idea of learning to play, but I struggled and eventually gave up. That guitar has sat in the corner of my home study for all this time - just a decoration. Recently, I was reminded of the importance of this - for myself and for her. So, I’ve picked it back up and started Justin’s beginner modules just yesterday. (I learned about Justin Guitar when searching for THE BEST online program.)
Right now, I’m really struggling with the basics - D chord, using enough strength and flexibiilty to get my third finger on the third fret - but I’m motivated to do this, this time around.
I read that this community can help me - and I can maybe help others - to stay on track. Thank you for having me.
Welcome, sounds like my story a little bit. Keep it up the regular practice and work the lessons and the one min chord changes everyday, that really begines to build the little muscle memory. Do little hand stretching before practice as well, it will help start moving the blood into the forearm and loosen up the fingers and the wrist tendons.
Just like trumpet and training the chops. It takes time but the benifit are great.
DC is a cool spot for music and venues. My wife and I lived in the beltway for a number of years. We really enjoied our time there.
Keep up the good work Neal, you can do it. Rock on. Super stoked you found Justin’s.
Quick question, since you mentioned hand stretching: I suffer from some chronic pain and I do a daily stretch/physical therapy in the shower. Do you think it would be good to do these hand stretches under a hot shower too?
It does help improve stretching, because of increased bloodflow and skeletal muscle fiber elasticity. But just beware that it can lead to a false sense in improvement in athletes which can also lead to injuries. Streatching under warm water does not lead to increase performance after. Other than that, there are no contraindications. So you should be good to go for it.
Justin has a video on stretching I believe but not 100% sure. I dont like recommending anything outside of Justin’s stuff on his site but the guy from guitarlessons360 has a really good stretching for guitar players video. You can look for anything related to stretching for carpal tunnel also.
Welcome to the community Neal! Be consistent with your practice, try not to overdo it with your hand, and you will see progress. Oh, and enjoy the process most of all.
Welcome to the community. Great to meet you, I didn’t start with the guitar till I was 53 and now, nearly 15 years later, I’m so glad I stuck with it in the early days of frustration that you’ve voiced.
My wife has said many times how glad she is that I stuck with it. For me, once I could play my first song all the way through, it was easy to stay motivated. Hang in there, it does get better and it’s so much fun to grab an acoustic guitar at will and pull a song or two or three out of your back pocket. Fun fun fun
Welcome to the community. Yes plenty of people here will give you help and advice.
For your hand making the D shape, I think it’s just a matter of time
Your wife is going to be so happy when you are playing songs with the guitar she bought you. That was a nice gift. It’s really worth putting in the effort practicing.
Hi Neal, welcome to the community forum. A little bit of practice each day will result in progress. Justin has a 20 minute practice schedule for module 1, but you could do 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night if the hand was getting sore.
HI Neal
Nice to meet you and great to have you here!
This community is very supportive and encouraging!
Glad you’ve picked up your guitar again! You’re in a great place for it with JustinGuitar. Wishing you a lot of fun
Hi Neal. If you are using the Justin guitar app then I think you are given some Perfect
Chord Changes and One Minute Chord Changes and perhaps other exercises that last about 10 minutes. Then you are encouraged to spend about 10 minutes playing one or two of the suggested songs for the. Module, at least for module 1. I don’t have the app so I am not sure what the practice items are now. I was just suggesting that you could break the practice up into 2 parts at first, for example the technical exercises in the morning and the songs in the evening, or perhaps half the exercises and half the song practice in each 10 minute practice session.
If you go to Justin’s website for the beginner modules Module 1 Grade 1 then you will see a lesson for the Module 1 practice. If you look at the Nitsuj practice videos , where Justin relearns to play the guitar left handed, you can see even Justin struggling to learn at first. I also used the Nitsuj videos to make sure I understood what to practice.
