Hello! I’m Cormac. This is my third go round learning guitar. I’ve had a lot of bad attempts, but after taking a break, picking up another instrument, and sparking a passion for music, I’m ready to try to learn again.
I fell off the wagon last year. Between cheap, toy guitars, acoustics with insanely high action, and a skewed viewpoint of how challenging the guitar is to actually become good at, I gave up.
This is my third attempt. I picked up the ocarina, fell in love with it, and quickly became much more knowledgeable about music and music theory. I grew an appreciation for the dedication that one must have to learn a new instrument, and decided to give guitar a try again.
I don’t aspire to be an amazing player by any means. I don’t have big dreams to be on a stage, or in a band, or traveling across the country doing gigs. I like the idea of playing for myself or a few friends. I want to play along to my favorite songs, have fun with improv, and finally become competent with barre chords. Being decent is good enough for me.
The guitar is a very versatile instrument. I know if I can learn it, I’ll be playing lots of styles of music. I find playing instruments and music in general to be a great way to express myself.
I have bigger goals of branching out to play shamisen and the Chinese guqin, but those are instruments that take a very long time to get good at. The guitar is a stepping stone in my journey. If I can play it competently, I can branch out to fretless instruments. Not only that, but being able to get good at an instrument I struggled with for years is the kind of motivation I need to tackle other things in life that feel impossible.
Like they say 3rd time lucky. But Justin has a way of taking luck out of the equation, with a well structured teaching system. Just stay on the path and you’ll do fine.
Hi Cormack, a very warm welcome to the community. Good luck with your third attempt, you have the “right” motivation now. Just stick with your practice and don’t give up, when you are a little frustrated sometimes. I guess, we all come to that point at times. Have lots of fun!
One way to keep on any task is just to set short attainable goals for yourself. Maybe you have a long term goal to play the shamisen but in the short term set a goal that you can attain quickly and then the next one a little longer etc. Pick a song that is challenging to you but can be accomplished with some persistence and you will have a sense of satisfaction that will drive you to the next goal.
This is certainly an excellent community to start or restart your guitar journey in.
HI Cormac, welcome to the community forum. I hope you have found a decent guitar with the action set up for you. A cheap poorly set up guitar can be really frustrating. Stick with Justin and you will learn to play guitar and also pick up a lot of general musical knowledge about practicing that can apply to other string instruments. I hope you have fun this time around.
I think the action is pretty good. Definitely low which isn’t uncommon for electrics. Some of the strings get kind of buzzy but thats only when I’m too hard on them. Definitely a great guitar though! Edit: turns out the buzzing was from me accidentally sliding the thickest string past the neck. Whoops!
Hello Cormac
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.
