Thank you! Yes I do find the guitar hard at this point… but its not so much the physical limitations of being unskilled, I completely expected that. Its the mental game that is excruciating. Being OK with sounding bad and for the amount of time this is taking- wow I didn’t understand. I mean, I’ve heard the “its a marathon, not a sprint” thing about a thousand times, but I just didn’t expect it to take over a year just to place fingers properly when trying to execute a song, and not only that, but simply how to hold the damn thing!
I appreciate all your points- I need to hear them from people who understand the frustration. In so many other forums its like the posters there have no recollection of what it was to be a beginner and they offer no real effective dialogue about the mental challenges of the first few years.
As Chet Atkins said, “Do it again in the next verse and they will think you meant it.” It worked for him, so stick at it and it will work for you. Talking of Chet Atkins; He once said to his father, “Dad, when I grow up I want to be a musician.” His father replied, “Son, you can’t do both.”
If you’re anything like me, your guitar playing will improve a lot once you incorporate a metronome into your practice.
A great exercise is to pick a chord progression from a song you’re practicing, set the metronome to 60 BPM, and try to play each chord once on beat 1, e.g. G - - - | C - - - | D - - - | repeat.
Once you’ve got that down, strum each chord on both beats 1 and 3.
Then move on to strumming on all 4 beats. Then add the up-strums as well (1+2+3+4+). Finally, start increasing the tempo.
If you start making too many mistakes or the chords don’t sound good, go back to fewer strums or a slower tempo, and work your way back up.
You’ll notice that each time you add more strums, you have to move a lot more quickly to get your fingers in place for the next chord - this time pressure will naturally cause your brain and fingers to work harder to keep up, and you should see big improvements in your ability to play along with songs.
Stacy, I’m at a similar stage in the course - not quite at the end of Grade2 - and I understand your frustrations.
I too have a lack of time on guitar and have moved very slowly through this grade.
Am I a good guitar player? Heck no, far from it !
Do I think I’m as good as I should be at this stage? Heck no, lack of practice means I often go backwards not forwards!
I think you’re right in that the “been there done thats” make it sound oh so easy, “give it time”!
They are, of course, right with the advice they give and we thank them for giving it….But…have they actually told us anything that we don’t already know? Most of what they’ve said is standard JG stuff and they are really just reminding us of it.
I think you would probably welcome - and I would too - a space in this community where students of the same level could get together to chat about their learning without those at a higher level peering over our shoulders.
That isn’t to decry the advice they give, because we could still ask for that elsewhere, but I think we could learn just as much from chatting with our same level guitar learners. Comparing notes! A Grade2 chat group, say.
You are frustrated with your playing standard and progress and so you start a thread about it and you are immediately bombarded by those at a higher level. Of course, they mean well but you end up just agreeing with them and it probably hasn’t eased the frustration.
It hasn’t really given you the chance to chat about your frustrations whereas a grade chat group would.
And this thread hasn’t drawn out your fellow grade 2ers who am sure will share your frustrations.
Your ball.
Mod Edit: I have started a new Topic with that quoted text and will try to move the replies specific to this and the subsequent conversation over to Just Chatting ... about Community membership and participation
You may thing it as “whining and moaning”, but learning a difficult instrument is bound to raise frustrations and doubt.
This is just the place to air them. We are here, many people here are likely to have been through what you are experiencing. It is also much better of a place than whining to your family or friends.
My biggest singing frustration (aside from the fact that I am (at this point) a lousy singer) is that as soon as I start singing I lose all track of what my strumming hand is doing. Like l, I have no idea. I may be strumming perfectly and I wouldn’t know. I have yet to film myself trying to sing and strum, then I could at least figure out what my suddenly alien hand is doing.
Great post. I’ve been playing for 9.5 months now and am also consolidating grade 2 and thinking about grade 3. I just wanted to say that I totally recognise your challenges as I tend to go there quite a bit too. All the comments given to you have been good for me too. Thank you for posting and for everyone’s reply on your journey😊
When you sing, are these songs you know well, or just started to learn? I find that songs I have been singing for years are much easier to learn guitar for rather than songs I have never heard before or not very much. I think it’s why I prefer learning songs from the 60s and 70s. I can sing them in my sleep. The newer stuff… It’s why I think I am still stuck at the beginning of grade 2.
And @artax_2 I don’t see you as whining and moaning so much as just being frustrating and venting. Venting is good for the soul. You get it off your chest and you feel better. At least I do, even if I’m still frustrated!
Oh, man, I’m at 9 months and still only halfway through Module 10 and backtracking a bit on module 8. BUT I shall try not to let this bother me! My mom did use to say “slow and steady wins the race”! Not that I’m competing, I just only have so many years left! sigh
I need to practice more often, I checked my practice assistant and I barely have 170 hours practiced in 9 months. Must up my game! Hoping the 2 week vacation I’m about to take will give me some extra time. I mean, what could I possibly do for fun in New England in the fall other than play guitar!?
@artax_2 , do you have any particular music genres you prefer? Perhaps we could recommend a song that would be eaier to learn by heart?
My mom did use to say “slow and steady wins the race”! Not that I’m competing, I just only have so many years left! sigh
xx
