I’m Kush from India and I’m 24 years old. I started learning guitar in June 2021. And after seeing people warmly welcoming newbies to the forum, I gathered the courage to introduce myself here.
I started learning music because the ultimate goal in my life is to become a musician. And guitar seemed to be the coolest choice to begin with. I have a Fender acoustic guitar. And I’m hoping to buy an electric guitar by the end of this year.
I’m currently in grade 2 of the beginner course, still struggling to perfect the F chord.
I found out about JustinGuitar course through a Reddit post, and I’m very thankful for that. The only thing I wish there was is the lack of Indian songs/riffs. As I’ve never heard of almost all the songs in the course. But it’s not a huge problem since I get introduced to new songs.
How do you benefit from the forum? I’m curious to know.
Looking forward to making new friends here.
Well that sounds like a great ambition and hey you are right the guitar is pretty cool. The good thing about the method Justin has created, is that it is building a strong foundation and teaching how to play the guitar and once you have the basics you can apply that to any genre or style. Yes it must be frustrating that there is a lack of Indian songs but keep your mind and ears open. Like you say your are hearing a lot of new songs and that’s a good thing. I’m pretty much a die hard rocker but was quite happy to play Britney Spears and Taylor Swift when I was doing the beginners course, as I was learning new skills or new chord progressions. And you then hear those country and pop progressions in the music that you do like and want to play and say “I can do that!”.
So enjoy your journey, take your time and you’ll make good progress.
I’ve found it’s just an incredibly supportive and knowledgeable sounding board. If you hit a dead end, someone has already hit it and then smashed through it and they can help you. If you’re struggling with anything, big or small, you’ll find a solution here.
Welcome to the forums, great to have you hear. I worked with and became good friends with quite a few Indian coworkers before I retired.
I’ve gained benefit from the forums in a number of ways…
When I’m learning a new technique, for example recording my music through a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation (software)), I got excellent advice on how to solve certain problems.
It’s fun sharing songs I’ve recorded and getting feedback and mostly encouragement. I have a similar experience of shared encouragement with a music club we are members of.
I get lots of ideas of songs to try and techniques to try from posts other forum members make. The other day someone posted a fingerstyle version of a song that I only strummed previously with a plectrum. That gave me the spark to try it fingerstyle (I mostly play fingerstyle)
I also enjoy encouraging others. Learning guitar was a challenge especially in the early days and the encouragement I got from others at that time really helped me to keep at it. I like to pay it forward to others as well.
Playing guitar has become a lifestyle for me, it’s a constant, regular and enjoyable part of my life. Hence chatting about playing guitars and songs and music is of great interest and pleasure.
Welcome, Kush. Lots of suggestions on how to make the most of the Community already received. Perhaps start a Learning Log to keep track of your own progress in #community-hub:learning-logs and making simple recordings, just with a phone, and posting in #record-yourself-progress-performance:audio-video-of-you-playing is a great way to get feedback and encouragement. Have fun!
Hello Kush, a very warm welcome to the community.
Guitar = Cool = Guitar.
re: the community and the help it offers…
There are two avenues in to the community.
1] Bookmark the community home page and access it freely to browse the posts and categories. When you click on and view the list of all topics by ‘Category’ you will see that the first 6-8 categories are mostly user-spaces for community discussions and topics. The categories below are all connected directly to the many sections of the JustinGuitar website.
2] Use the website for your learning and if you have specific questions to ask on an individual lesson, click on the Discussion button below the video player. For example, Grade 2 Module 14 Rut Busting & Consolidation.
I must say that Justin is an awesome teacher. There might be very good guitar players out there, but not all of them can teach as good as him. He focuses on the boring part to build up the strong foundation as you said.
Nice to know that you’re into rock music. I checked out your youtube uploads and those are awesome! And I feel inspired now.
Thank you! I like your profile picture, haha.
I can play the F chord but I miss sometimes. Either the 6th string or the 2nd string rings out lol.
Next will come the chord changes with the F chord.
A great place to hang out, you’ll get people pointing you in the right direction as you go.
There is nothing wrong with using Justin’s course to concentrate on the theory and scales etc, and then applying that to songs that maybe more familiar with.
But to be fair, there are lots of songs that are on the course I would not usually be into, but… 1: use them as a means to an end, the songs will be suggested because they are relevant for the stage of learning e.g. may have the F chord in. 2: You may find some new stuff you get into, I recently thought “down and out” wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but I tried playing it and found it to be fun and addictive.
Great to see a +1 from India and welcome to the forum. Regarding your point on Indian songs just search YouTube for lessons by chords. Since you’re in grade 2, you should’ve already learned the most common open chords. You can search YouTube by terms such as 2 or 3 chord Hindi songs and you should hit hundreds of lessons. There are also some really cool channels you can follow from Indian guitarists who publish covers and lessons of popular Indian songs. Hope you’ll find some cool songs to practice.
I’ll also encourage you to listen to songs besides Hindi - probably begin with Justin’s song lessons and probably learn a few that you like. Maybe create a Spotify list or follow Justin’s several Spotify playlist he’s carefully curated for us. Be sure to check them out. Hopefully it’ll broaden your music vocabulary and interest. Rock can be contagious for a 24 year old irrespective of language - I know I’ve been there
Hey Kush, I’m 21 old from India and started learning guitar 1 year back. Currently I’m learning scales, songs and doing interval training. I was searching for a Jam buddy. So just message me if you are willing to practise with me
Thanks for replying.
Yes, I do search Hindi song tutorials on Youtube sometimes.
But I must admit, I haven’t tried to learn any Hindi songs seriously. I end up practicing only my favorite English songs always.
Currently, I’m practicing The Scientist — Coldplay and Imagine — John Lennon.
The riff that I searched/learned to play and enjoyed the most was of Wicked Game — Chris Isaak.
Even on my acoustic guitar, it sounds wonderful.
Although I have a list of old Hindi songs that I want to learn. But I’m just waiting to get better at chord changes with the F chord.
