I took a break from guitar for a while as other demands took up all of my free time, but I’m ready to get back on the saddle.
I had some practise yesterday and I’ve identified some areas where I’m weak.
Here’s where I’m at ability wise:
Okay at strumming - Old Faithful+ (from Strumming Machine) is my favourite but I tend to speed up by accident - needs some more metronome work and practise with muted strings.
I know one fingerpicking style, I learned it out of curiosity and it’s kind-of ingrained in my hand now even if I’m not using it at the moment.
Mostly clean open chords with Dm being my weakest shape by far. I fumble and mute strings sometimes!
Can swap between most chords fine, some transitions are better than others. Strumming alongside depends on the chord I’m moving to mostly; how comfortable I am with the transition.
I don’t really remember any songs unfortunately. I love gentle warm folk songs.
I don’t know any scales, but I think I skipped them for some reason initially.
I’m sure you get this question a lot, but given everything in the post, what would your recommended approach be?
Is it recommended to go back to the beginning to give myself a refresher perhaps?
I’m with Deborah @GrumpyMac: start again from Module 1 and go through the course. Even though you know most of the things in the early lessons, you will find bits and pieces you might have overlooked in the past or even identify bad habits to iron out. You probably will progress through them very fast until you reach the point where you have to work a bit more, as something new comes up.
Lots of folks here including myself did it like that after longer breaks and it really is beneficial. Have fun and enjoy the ride!
Completely agree with what’s already been said.
I thought it might be a chore when I first discovered Justin’s work, but found it very satisfying to move at a good clip, and started adding nuance right out of the gate. Made it fun!
It seems like there’s always some little thing to learn that you missed. Or something that just wasn’t gonna happen that’s totally doable later, and that sometimes with or without practice!
Many times in my life I’ve found muscle memory to benefit from a break somehow, and so much of guitar is like that. If you don’t “know for a fact” why it’s a waste of time to go back and review, then it’s certainly not a bad idea. And if you do know for certain, I’d say you’ve got a fair chance of being right, but not much more than that!
I agree with all the others. It is beneficial to start back at the beginning for many reasons. I did that after a long absence (several years) after completing all the beginning lessons in the classic course and yet again when I took another break from learning the new course. I went all out the last time and make sure that I tried to learn everything, including reading all the community comments for the lessons and learning as many beginner songs as I had time. You’ll improve your strumming with grade 1 review and the shorter lessons in grade 1 will help ease you back in too playing as your calluses grow back.
Hi Lewis, I echo what all the others have said. I would start from the beginning and go through each lesson, taking notes along the way. You very well may pick up something you missed before. I have twice now gone back to the beginning and refreshed my notes. You may find you fly through some modules but then take time on others. In the long run you’ll be glad you took the time for the refresher.
