Greetings fellow guitar enthusiasts!
My story sounds familiar to many on the board. Tried to play at various times of my life journey and at the tender age of 65 decided to give it another shot via Justin’s Guitar. Have some classical guitar under my fingers so I am not a stone cold beginner but not that far down the track on the guitar journey.
This time my plan is classical rock playing rhythm guitar. Strumming will be a new skill but I have a bit of a feel for the open chords.
To date:
Almost through Beginner Grade 2 Mod 8
Enjoyed Wish You Were Here Intro and I will keep that going forward in my practice routine.
I selected County Road as my ongoing song project. Chords are pretty basic (except F barre) but the strum looks to be a real challenge - it goes so fast!
After a week or so, Country Road (CR) chords are satisfactory, if slow. Completing two strums per bar on the song app is a challenge! But obviously good practice and a necessary stepping stone.
I find practicing chord changes with the fingerboard vertical (so you cannot see it) a helpful exercise. Start slowly/deliberately and the fingers eventually find their way.
Hopefully short term goals:
CR - Nail down CR at two strum per bar, come to grips with speed.
CR - Base note and up/dn strum at one set per bar.
Start Level 2 - mod 9
See how I go with this LL idea, I’ll post as I make progress or hit roadblocks!
thx, L
Yep a familiar story, another start stopper here but not stopped since finding Justin.
So you are in a good place, best of luck with your journey. Just shout out for help if you need it.
Thanks chaps for the welcome and a big shoutout to the perma-beginners out there having another bash at it!
Compared to the “bad old days”, there has never been a better time to take on guitar. The amount of free material available on the internet is a treasure trove for the (perma) beginner. Plus resources such as Justin’s to provide some structure and beginner focused material.
It is now a month since I started my latest guitar campaign with Justin Guitar being the guiding light! As mentioned previously, I am not starting cold turkey and have many hours of fingerstyle playing spread over too many years. So, this commentary maybe more interesting for those who have some time in their fingers.
The initial burst of enthusiasm has seen me put in some good time over the last month. I have been tracking through the Beginner’s series and have landed at Module 2.12 Power Chords. The open chords came reasonably easily and the F Chord is part of the daily routine. I have been using Don’t Look Back in Anger as my F Chord vehicle of choice. I think the D Chord in Hey Joe sent my fingertips to purgatory but they are now well on track.
Slow to very slow practice is the key, followed by focussed repetition of the correct technique, rather than achieving the goal of the practice in varying fashions. Short concentrated periods.
In my ear I can hear Hey Joe, Don’t Look Back in Anger, A Horse with no Name, even if an audience may find it a challenge! I’m sure I will keep coming back to these in the future as I get more skill in my fingers.
Had some fun with the Power Chord Lesson and Cocaine – the song! Love Justin highlighting that all the strings were strummed in power chords. At first, I was all at sea but by the end of the session I was slowly chunking through the intro and achieving the required muting of strings.
So, in summary, I’m getting close to reaching my previous guitar high water level in the Beginner series, although saying this I have learned new things along the way. Power Chords are going to be a lot of fun and great strumming practice.
I guess I am a typical perma-beginner in that the metronome has not featured in my practice to a great degree. So, after the first month of fun it is time to get a little more serious and incorporate this.
Having the videos on tap is such a bonus compared to the bad old days when all you had was a book. Plus having the songs presented in a graded sequence. Never been a better time to learn guitar!
Enjoy!
Month Two of the guitar campaign has drifted by. Practice has gone from over-the-top enthusiasm to regular short bursts of 20mins each. Some days more.
The metronome is still a work in progress. I know this is a big roadblock I need to get over. I have been trying to maintain a regular strum while my left hand tries to keep up. Sort of, pre metronome training! - maybe. Just have to be patient and keep backing off the pace until lefty can keep up.
In line with this, I have identified a number of favorite tunes and practice changing the chords, sometimes only two chords and going back and forward, sometimes three.
I am starting to feel the F chord is doable.
So, incremental progress.
When you run into something that is really challenging for you (like the metronome or the F chord) don’t let it be a roadblock. As you work on other things, keep cycling back to it for a few minutes every week. Eventually it will start to click and then you can work it into your routine on a more consistent basis.
Also, it’s a great idea to put some of those chords together into songs. When I was at your stage I found Justin’s Song App a great tool to work on chords and timing and have fun.
Hi, I’m another who has picked up and put down a guitar many times. I think this time it’s going to stick having got much further with Justin’s course than any other method I’ve tried (which was mostly picking up a guitar and hoping I learned)
I’m a great believer in short but regular practice sessions. If I’ve got a spare 5-10 minutes then pick up my guitar and practice some chord changes or something else that needs work. Sometimes this naturally extends into longer sessions, but particularly when practicing technique I think short but frequent works for me.
I’m not a fan of the metronome either but I do understand its value. If I’m using it to practice a strumming pattern I often use muted strings so all my focus is on playing in time rather than being distracted by the chords sounding good/bad
Re the metronome. I think the penny may have dropped on that one. I’m sure Justin mentioned it somewhere but it took some time to sink into my consciousness!
I now “consciously” have two practice methods. One is practicing as accurately as I can and the other is playing at higher tempo. If I make a mess of a chord change I just keep forging on. Sort of trying to get my left hand up to speed and keep my right hand chugging along.
I think it is a net positive at this stage.
I have also tried some songs with more barre chords - About a Girl - Nirvana - Justin does a great lesson on this. Don’t get past method one for a couple of weeks but I am now at the stage of being able to go through the verse and chorus without stopping - like in a slow method 2. I was quite pleased with that!
Totally agree with the comment on 5-10mins of practice. When I’m having a break from other activities I pick up the guitar and have a practice.
It is hard not to put pressure on yourself on getting “better” results. And Youtube has plenty of 8 year old players who are better than me! But it is not about that for most of us. Enjoy it for what it is. And relax - I’m sure in the past I was too wound up with life, too stressed out. Almost natural to be tensed up when playing but I have been trying to relax while at the same time feeling what my LH fingers are up to - particularly with barre chords.
Hi Leigh, it is good that you have started your learning log. My background with guitar is similar to yours with some classical and fingerstyle. I found the learning log to be very helpful as I have advanced through grade 3. I especially found it useful to record some of my module techniques, riffs and songs in my learning log to show my progress.
Regarding your comment above, I have avoided looking at people showing off their guitar skills on YouTube, but the few times I have looked at a performance that I could not hope to match, I think, it is nice that they can practice 4 to 8 hours a day, and just enjoy the performance.
