Hi Oliver! Nice to have another German here in this community! Others already have pointed out that learning to play guitar is a hard trip. I also underestimated the effort of getting a certain level of playing. I thought, guitar might be the easiest instrument to start with at my age, without having any musical background at all. That was a fatal error 
. But: it’s worth it! We all struggled sooner or later with a certain chord or chord progression. Sometimes even regress. Had a very bad evening yesterday. Thanks god, my window was closed, so I couldn’t throw the guitar out of the window… . I’m trying to change chords more smoothly in a certain song while adding a strumming pattern, arrrrgh…
Don’t be impatient with yourself, maybe you struggle with the D chord now and the upcoming ones are much easier for you. Take your time for the D and try out somthing else in the meantime to have the feeling of progressing. Don’t focus too much on the OMC, I would recommend first to invest more time in perfect chord and perfect changes and then to speed up. Kopf hoch, das wird schon!
If you scroll up, Richard, you will find an exception to that rule 
Any true disciple of mine would know I ‘borrowed’ that tune for my Covid-masterpiece 
(set to a German film no less)
Apologies for the ‘rude’ welcome, Oliver, as well as the thread-hijack.
Carry on folks 
I’ve played and practiced music in many ways throughout my life. I have played (and still am playing) with different singers, I have played together with a guitarist (small gigs like birthday parties, weddings, …), I lead a choir together with two friends, … Personally, I have never seen playing (and especially practicing) music as pure fun and relaxing. Most of the time, it really is fun. But I also always see it as something I have to invest in, put effort into, just to make progress. So, if I want to do something that is purely about relaxing, it’s usually not practicing music. But that’s just my approach. Everybody is different …
Yes, I noticed … But it’s okay. Apology accepted
Hello and welcome Oliver. 
I’m sure others have already said it but it’s not the easiest instrument to learn but it’s well worth the effort. Those sore fingers do go…eventually.
You expect me to translate and moderate at the same time? !!
gday
im only new too but older.
i played the uke and i figured guitar would be harder. Of course my fingers hurt.
after about three weeks on the steel string i asked my husband is there easier to play beginner strings. I thought he would crack up laughing. Instead he said “yes”. why he didn’t mention this before “didnt think about it” .
New strings = happy wife i play for two hours no worries with my pinkies 
the other thing i learned. I am using a travel guitar and it fits my petite frame. I bought an electric guitar for night time … its hard to play. Larger frets heavier even my husband says its a harder guitar to play. Maybe the music shop can sort of set you up or something. Ie like a pushbike setup. Just a suggestion ive only been playing for two months
Welcome, Oliver! Don’t give up too soon… it’ll get better before you know it. It’s not easy learning the guitar. I’ve found it frustrating and have wanted to bang my head against the wall many, many times. But the first time I could play a whole song (Ode to Joy-fingerpicking) I got tears in my eyes. Yes, it’s hard and tiresome and frustrating, but once you can actually play a bit (which for me took about four weeks), it makes it all worthwhile. Once you do get to know a song you can actually play, try to end your practice with that, so that you end up on a positive note. I’ve found that ending on a song I’ve massacred makes me depressed and less up for practicing the following day
Yes- that was it. Believe it or not it has been 25 years since I heard the song- was trying to remember it. I lived near Kaiserslautern 25 years ago. Es war lange Zeit arid Ich Deutsch gesprochen habe. Ed gibt nicht viele moglichkeit hier. It’s too bad I don’t live there anymore. My 9 year old wants to learn piano. I bought her a digital keyboard but don’t know much other than a couple songs with 2 finger notes. Take it a day at a time with playing guitar and it will click. I’m just starting to sing and play- posted a few videos here. If you know any German songs that are easy let me know. I love die toten hosen, Alles aus liebe/ someday I will play that one well. Take care Tschuss
Hi Sharon,
thanks for your reply!
I hope it will be a while before I have to change strings for the first time 
Looks a bit “technically challenging” on an acoustic guitar 
I bought the guitar because the shop assistant at Thomann recommended the brand. And I really liked how it looks and how it sounds. I assume that the guitar is set up correctly. At least I can’t say anything to the contrary.
I’m not sure if you’ve heard about Thomann in Australia. It’s the largest music store in Europe I think (definitely in Germany). And I happen to live just 50 km from it.
You’ve lived in Germany, cool … Dein Deutsch ist sehr gut 
Easy German songs … tough question. Nothing comes to mind spontaneously, but I’ll think about it. And what would be “easy” for you?
Just a tip from my piano experience, if I may: If your daughter really wants to learn piano, it might make sense to buy her a “real” piano or an electric piano with weighted keys. The feel is completely different and you learn to play much “cleaner” than on a keyboard without weighted keys. But it depends on what she wants to play, of course.
Since my piano is still at my parents’ house, I’ve only played keyboards for a long time. About 2 years ago I bought an electric stage piano with hammer action keys and I really enjoy playing it.
Thanks for the advice. Easy to me would be something with only a few chords and not a lot of changes. mief by die doofen was a fun song. Has at least 7 chords or so. An American song easy example maybe wheels by the foo fighters or Tom petty songs are light on changes. Vielen dank fur Ihre hilfe. Ich war dort vier Jahre mit der Us Streit krafte und zwar meinen grosseltern war aus stuttgart. Sie Sind jetzt I’m himmel Horne unsere musik
Hi Oliver. I feel your pain! I started “playing” if you can call it that, about 6 months ago to try and ease the pain of my father passing away from cancer in July, I was a mess. After reading your post I have a few pointers for you. Mainly Keep Going! Don’t give up. The finger pain will ease after a few weeks, basically you’re sliding your fingers up and down a cheese wire! After a couple of weeks you’ll feel that those baby soft finger tips will harden up, bare in mind too that you probably barely ever use the very tips of your fingers until now so they’re bound to be very soft.
Log into Justin’s dashboard and follow his tutorials, you can create your practice items and routines and stick to them. I started just half hour a day, you have to work through the pain a bit, don’t stop as soon as it starts hurting but keep going a little and then give it a rest for the day and have another go the next day and so on. Tonight I managed 3 hours! and I didn’t stop due to pain, I don’t really feel the pain anymore. Don’t try everything at once, learn D till you have it clear, then move to A and so on, but keep to the modules. I keep hitting walls too, I’ll notice a big improvement and then stall for a while and then progress again, you may not notice/hear the improvement but subconsciously you ARE improving, for instance A to D chord changes, it took a few weeks to get to mid 20ish changes then all of a sudden after persevering 30 stall 35 stall 40. Not every change is perfect but watch Justin learning Left Handed, I could see that everything I was going through, Justin was going through the same thing, it gives you confidence cause well, if Justin’s doing the same I must be on the right track. Don’t jump the modules, follow his advice of when to move to the next module etc. after a month or so as well as my routines in the dashboard I added a couple of songs that I like and yes are way ahead of what I should be doing, but it’s nice to have a little side track to indulge in, a bit of finger plucking is a nice diversion from the chord strumming in the first modules, BUT I tend to do these after I have done my Module for the day, Don’t try to run before you can walk.
As justin says, it’s gotta be fun so there’s a few riffs in his early modules so that you’re not doing the same over and over.
I’ve never played an instrument before, maybe the recorder and trumpet in primary school, but very briefly and I didn’t stick to it am about 60% deaf and have short fat stumpy fingers, so if I can do it, all be it slowly, then so can you with your experience in music you just gotta keep going. My boss has been playing 5 years and she says that it’s continual learning.
Also keep your guitar handy, I have mine by the sofa, I’ll be watching telly and keep glancing at the guitar, 5 mins later TV is turned off and I have a guitar in my hand.
I started with an acoustic, and after a couple of months when I figured yes, I’m gonna stick with it I bought a pre owned electric, electrics are more forgiving, you don’t have to press so hard and if you miss the fret, your finger is too far from it, then the note will still ring out whereas it’ll buzz or sound dead on the acoustic. I mix it up a bit now and practice a bit with each every time I practice.
From sound of it you’re just going through the same as most people, especially us oldies, I’ll be fifty this years and it hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
Keep going!
All the best
Ant
aka ChubbyFingers
@SDKissFan This should tick the boxes, and if you lived in Germany, I’m pretty sure you know it 
What kind of music are you into Oliver?
I actually thought of that song. And while it only has 3 chords, the changes are quite fast (at least that’s what I thought ).
I’m really mainly into older music. 60s, 70s, 80s, perhaps 90s. I know that should be more my father’s era, but it kind of stuck with me. Beatles, Eagles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, just to name a few.
I’ve never been into the “latest” music that much. Though there are some exceptions. I think Adele is an exceptional singer, for example, and I really like listening to her.
My problem with “today’s” music is that is soooooo “over-produced”, with tons auf AutoTune, computer effects and what not. I think back in the days music was more about playing your instrument and/or singing. Today’s music often is more about post-processing, mastering, and all that technical stuff. Older music is just more “honest” to me.
Ai, there is a bit of generalizing thought … there is between all (bad)computer music … Hey, it is also made here in computers a lot good too, and good music is still made by young and old musicians…and in the old days a lot was put together in the studio behind the mixing panel 
…
Im with you on that @roger_holland
There is tons of music from recent times that is amazing. Just have to dig a little deep to find it
I know that I’m generally a guy who doesn’t like change. If something works for me, I keep it that way. That’s just who I am.
If I like a song, I like listening to it again tomorrow, the day after that, next week, or next year … I really don’t need something new to listen to every day.
I am the direct opposite Oliver im in constant search of music i have not heard of before… but i have a pretty high «consumption» on music aswell.
Most of the time, I just listen to the radio. This saves me the search.
Sometimes I go so Spotify and just listen to one of the auto-generated playlists that it suggests based on the music you listened to. These playlists contain songs that are new for me, of course. But then I usually don’t even care what exactly I’m listening to – as long as I like it.