I truly appreciate all the thoughtful responses and the encouragement—your words have really lifted my spirits.
I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember (54 years and counting), and I’ve always been in awe of guitar players—the way they create such beautiful sounds with what seems like such ease, even though I know how much hard work goes into it.
I’ve tried to start learning many times over the years (1-2 weeks max every time), only to stop and then try again. Maybe that’s just my way of saying that I keep coming back to something I genuinely love, even if I often feel inadequate or unsure of myself.
But because of the kindness and support I’ve received here, I’ll do my best to hold onto this momentum and keep going.
You are all amazing—thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You may want to try the JustinGuitar phone app. It’s like a karaoke for guitar where you play along to songs with backing tracks.
Each module from the course has some songs. And, for instance module 1, it’s A&D and you can strum only one chord per bar. You can even adjust the speed of the song.
So you don’t need 60 chord changes to be able to play something and have fun.
Many beginners use it and it’s a fun and musical way to practice chord changes.
You say 3 weeks but how much practice in that 3 weeks? It sounds to me that it’s not a lack of talent but your expectations are probably a bit too high. It’s a long road.
Justin doesn’t say you shouldn’t move on until you can do 60 changes a minute. From his lesson on One Minute Changes Exercise In Grade 1 Module 1:
“It can take you some time until you reach 60 chord changes per minute. It’s completely normal - I still remember how much I’ve struggled with changes using the G chord, for example! Before you move on to the next lesson, try to get up to 30 chord changes per minute between D and A chords.”
Guitars were designed to be played by humans but humans weren’t designed to play guitars so we can’t have an inborn talent to play guitar.
What we can have though is an inborn talent to learn - and everyone with a heartbeat has a talent for rhythm!
Every response I’ve received has been valid, thoughtful, and deeply rational. But I’ve come to realise that when despair sets in, reason tends to slip quietly out the window.
In those moments, your kindness, patience, and willingness to share your time with me mean more than words can express. You’ve listened without judgment, and that alone has helping me through a difficult time.
From the bottom of my heart—thank you. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.
Very well put David and pretty much sums up the “talented musician” argument.
“Talent to learn” through DNA, circumstances or opportunity is overlooked but is the key element to success. But all those “talented” people still put the hard yards in to get where they are, regardless of their field of excellance.
Lucsi, no one has natural talent. Success only comes from hard work and dedication, which should equate to having fun and practicing often. Everyone gets days when it doesn’t go well. It’s best then to put it aside and come back later. Be sure to record yourself. I do that alot so I can hear and especially SEE what it is I’m doing right or wrong. Be sure to strum each string slowly. I have large, but short fingers, so making the A chord initially wasn’t easy for me. I can sometimes squeeze my 3 fingers into that triangle, one on each string, to make the chord sound out correctly, but I’ve learned in trying, that I do better with using the 2 finger method for the most part. I put my ring finger on 2nd fret, B string and my middle finger across the 2nd fret, G and D strings to get the sound right. I also had extreme difficulty changing from D to A, then to E, and back again. Now it’s not so bad. Take your time. Be patient, and it will come eventually. I wasn’t sure if you’re having more trouble sounding out these chords, changing between them, or both. I still have issues with the C chord for some reason, and still with the F chord, but it’s slowly coming along. Again, making and reviewing those recordings really helps me see progress. Save them and review them in a month, then 3 months and you will definitely see improvement. NEVER GIVE UP! The musical world should not be deprived of your great music! If you post some videos of you playing these chords, others will help point out things that may work for you as well. The feedback is always positive here. I love that about Justin Guitar. No one ever says, “Give it up.”
If you really want to play guitar, the best approach is to make an unconditional commitment for a set period of time.
Eg. For the next 6 months, I’ll follow the lessons, and practice to the best of my ability; regardless of what happens, or how I feel.
This mindset removes, or at least limits, all the nonsense that goes on in our heads.
Talent on its own is useless. Commitment on the other hand…
I’m late to the party, most of the things already have been said, but here’s one more person to encourage you!
Don’t stress to much about those One Minute Changes. As others already have said, try to find some very easy 2 chord songs at first and practice those changes in a song context. It’s much more fun, than switching between chords like a machine. Maybe consider to use Justin’s Lessons-and-Song App. Lot’s of songs to choose from and you can slow them down and then speed them up step by step. In the end, you are able to play a song not a ping-pong between two chords. And that’s what we aim for, playing songs…
During your journey you will be facing lots of frustrations but also great moments of progress. The secret is to push yourself through the frustrating periods. Don’t give up!
another untalented here! But it doesn’t matter much if you can enjoy your little wins and the time you spend with your guitar. My best choice, as an untalented one, is to avoid to put expectations on myself but just keep going slowly and wonder and be happy of my “little” (to me huge) achievements. I sometimes feel the fatigue…if Rhythm only could come a bit more natural to me anything would be so much easier! But reality is it doesn’t come easy and when I feel tired or overwhelmed I just slow down. I hope all the nice replies from the Community are cheering you up!
Hi Lucsi. I can’t say much more than what others have said. Three weeks is not very long at all. You are probably just now getting callouses so your fingers don’t hurt as much. Rhythm and grove with strumming will come later in your journey. You’ll find Justin introduces it later in his course as you need to get the fundamentals down first.
Let’s look at it a different way. Unless you are .0000001% of the population, you probably didn’t learn algebra when you were six years old. You first had to learn your numbers. Then you had to learn to say your numbers in order, then backwards. Then you had to learn to add 1+1 then 2+2 and so on. Years later you learn to multiply then divide. After many years you finally get to basic algebra. Now I’m saying you should expect to take two years to get to faster chord changes, rather simply putting learning guitar in context with other learning journeys.
If you haven’t yet, you may want to watch some of the NITSUJ videos where Justin takes on learning guitar left handed. He has very similar struggles. The one thing you do need to keep in mind while watching is that, even though he’s never played left handed before, he still has a huge advantage since he knows the theory and knows the songs he wants to play. We still need to learn the theory and learn the chords and progressions in songs which will take more brain power.
As a couple others have said, video yourself for reference points. You may surprise yourself when you look at before and after videos. You could also watch some of the videos in the beginners safe space. You will notice we are all beginners at one time and share similar challenges with switching between chords and strumming with a good grove.
Finally, create a learning log to track your progress. This is a good place to keep tabs of where you started and how far you’ve actually come.
Be patient, enjoy the journey and keep on keeping on.
You can not be at a crossroad only after 3 weeks. Like you, I started as an absolute beginner and the first weeks are the worst. In the first 3 weeks as was struggling without any sign of progression and fingers hurt so much. Just don’t get stuck on something, just move on to other stuff, try very easy riff, etc….and before long it will come up together. Don’t give up !!
Lucsi,
As everyone else has said there are no shortcuts and it’s definitely not about talent. Try to treat it less as an academic exercise. I often practice with the TV on just doing repetition of little exercises without being too intense about it. You’ll soon get used to doing that and be a lot more relaxed about the process and hopefully not be disillusioned too fast.
Neil
After 3 weeks, I certainly couldn’t do 60 clean changes in a minute. You just have to be patient and it will click. I find that I have to just practice over and over. Every time I learn something new in Justin’s lessons or learn a new strumming pattern for a song, I thought that I would never be able to learn it. But 90% of the time I did learn it after a lot of practice. Some things I left for later and went back to them and found them not very difficult later on.
Now I know that when I think that I will never learn this new song or strumming pattern I just have to keep on at it and it will eventually click.
So don’t give up. I think what you are experiencing is normal.
I remember trying to reach those 60 strums a minute. For the most part I couldn’t do it, not during the actual lesson module anyway, Sometimes I only barely got to 30 but I moved on. 60 is a nice round number but turns out for most of the songs I play the chords don’t even have to change that fast. After I learned a couple of other cords, I would go back and try the OMCs and I found I’d improved.
But I don’t even know if I can do it now or not. However, after 2 years in I can play at least 7 songs from memory, and they don’t sound half bad. Just keep on truckin’!
As you can tell by the numerous replies, you are certainly not alone with this struggle.
So in a word: Yes! Do keep pursuing.
I tried several times over the years to play guitar, and always gave up for different reasons. Finally, I decided to just >commit< .
I’ve been at it for a while now, and can play some chords, and I have fun. Most of the time. I still miss not only chord changes, but the single chords themselves. No one gets hurt, and the good times now outweigh the bad.
Carry on, and have fun.
I have been playing guitar with Justin for the past 4 years. However, before that, I had at least 2 failed attempts in the past to learn it with other methods. So, I can totally understand how you felt when you wrote the initial post.
So, I’m sure that this time will be the right one for you. And that you will succeed and not give up Go go go !
Aw @Lucsi I understand your frustration but please please do not give up. Do 2 things - 1. listen to lots of music, whatever is your favorite; 2. pick up your guitar every single day and do something, but do something small - maybe chord changes or very very slow walk through of the chords in a song; or strumming with muted strings to help your strumming hand relax and do what you want it to do.
Record yourself and review the recording in 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.
Learning to play guitar involves several different parts of yourself that each have to learn what to do. It definately doesnt come easy, so keep going and day by day you will improve.
another untalented here! But it doesn’t matter much if you can enjoy your little wins and the time you spend with your guitar. My best choice, as an untalented one, is to avoid to put expectations on myself but just keep going slowly and wonder and be happy of my “little” (to me huge) achievements. I sometimes feel the fatigue…if Rhythm only could come a bit more natural to me anything would be so much easier! But reality is it doesn’t come easy and when I feel tired or overwhelmed I just slow down. I hope all the nice replies from the Community are cheering you up!
Go go go !