Hi everyone. I really like this community. That said, I have been trying to follow the coursework, but find myself going “off-road”. The issue seems to be that I learned and memorized a lot of chords on my own during COVID, I have trouble forming some (most) of them cleanly due to an early injury to my left hand. Any suggestions to help me avoid frustration and permanently putting my guitars to bed (or up for sale) would be appreciated.
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This is the kind of thing where some in-person instruction can help. You can show your instructor what your limitations/restrictions are and your instructor can help you find ways to deal with them or work around them.
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This is where your Learning Log could help. Post a video or some pictures of the chords you’re having trouble with and the members here will help you find work around or even different chord voicings to play the chords clean.
Posting it in your LL you can find it replies easily and review the replies when ever you feel you need help.
This community is the best on the internet for helping beginners, everyone here want you to succeed and are very willing to help.
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Very good suggestions in the earlier responses, but I’ll add a couple additional thoughts.
I personally don’t think its a problem at all to go “off road” with the material. Probably would be helpful to go through the basic material in order if you are a real beginner, but after that, I don’t see a problem jumping around to suit where you are at in a given moment.
Re trouble forming chords - I don’t know the extent of your injury, but its not uncommon for people to have problems forming chords when starting out. There are a lot of grips I considered to be physically impossible when I was starting out that are now natural and easy. I’d encourage you to keep trying - and to pay attention to Justin’s comments in lessons about how to form the chords. If you have solid mechanics and spend time practicing, I know your ability to form chords will improve, even if you can’t get to perfection.
As far as avoiding frustration - I’d suggest diving into one of the Grade 1 song lessons, the simplest one you can find. Demonstrating to yourself that you can actually play a “real song” is a great way to keep momentum and prove to yourself that you are making progress, even if it doesn’t always feel like it.
Hello!
A lot of good advice has been given already, so i don’t know if this will help, but here are my 2 cents.
About going “off-road”. Don’t worry about that. If you follow the course and did the thing(s) you needed/wanted to do, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t go off-road.
Look at it as a breather for the brain. You get to have some extra fun, something you can discover on your own, outside of the course.
This can be very usefull when you’re ready to do some more work.
About injuries. Do you know the guitarplayer Django Reinhardt? He too had a serious hand injury, but that didn’t stop him from playing.
There’s always a way.
In the end it all boils down to this: having fun in playing the guitar. It doesn’t matter how you play, what you play or where, as long as you are enjoying yourself.
That’s the main goal here. (And learning something about the instrument too… 
)
Oh, and let’s not forget this awesome community ofcourse. Every time you feel you’re getting a bit frustrated, come on over. Drop us a line.
We’re here…