haha 80s and 90s funny! Yes the 2 people who told me I couldn’t learn online were guitar teachers. I think Justin’s lessons are exceptional!
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That’s amazing - well done- and inspiring!
haha - of course you are young. It’s all relative- I have thought I was old since I was 27… sad!!
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Hi Helen, welcome to the community forum. I think the “Plugging away” approach will work eventually, well I’ve been “Plugging away” for years and I think I’m just treading water, but hey, I’m having Fun. 
So Good Luck. 
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thanks
Yes this is def the approache I am going for … the main things is def fun 
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Hi Helen,
Dyslexic, huh? I found that to be a lot of “fun” in my learning guitar… 
I’d be interested in how that manifests for you in your playing or learning. I’m fairly slow compared to others for some parts.
Nice to see you here!
hello- I was only diagnosed last year. I can get panicky when face to face if I feel out of my depth / don’t understand things and my brain shuts down. Learning on line, I feel calmer. I can slow things down - I don’t have to work about dealing with feedback I feel is negative ( think a lot of dyslexic people have school trauma)- I can repeat things. I like to know a bit, ideally the material before putting myself in group situations - Justin’s lessons help with this. Having a video to go back over and the supporting materials is really helpful.
Thank you so much for the assessment! That is really interesting and I see a couple similarities.
I was diagnosed maybe 15 years ago, maybe a bit more. I had a great deal of difficulty in school with grades fluctuating between A and D without apparent cause. Telling me something like 'turn right" in the car often results in no action while I figure it out, or laughably, more often the wrong decision if I hurry my process too much. I also figured out in college that once I know something, I really do know it far more in-depth than my peers. I had a math-heavy curriculum and found I couldn’t just do the exam cramming everyone else did, I needed to start at the basics and then build into the end result (formula) to use to answer the question. Made me miss the second half of most tests since I never got that far.
With reading and writing words and letters will arrive out of order. I seem to know something is wrong, and I go back to straighten it out. This is common still, and my reviews for a business e-mail is typically three passes and several edits. I seem to have less trouble with audible input than visual. I can listen to instructions and follow far faster than reading the instructions.
So, this manifests in guitar similarly - I need to take time to figure out what finger I should use and what string and what fret. Doing this in musical time is ridiculous and of course, hurrying these three decisions gives some curiously humorous results that are NOT musical. Then I need to also make decisions on the other hand as well, compounding the problem.
I find that I need to learn short blocks, like maybe 2 bars. This can take a couple weeks to get familiar enough that I start to play notes in order as I speed up to maybe 70% tempo. I can HEAR the proper tune in my imagination, but just cannot reliably produce it until I repeat far more than most people seem to need to. Then I need to learn the next 2 bars and then get used to fluidly moving from first to second pairs and not mixing up the order. Seems every song is brand new for me and I am hoping that once I learn enough, I can use larger sections instead of just one note as my building block which should be far faster.
oh - and I am also reluctant to perform in front of the forum due to my troubles mentioned. Panic and great embarrassment were conquered years ago due to needing to frequently defend reviews of my work to my peers, but I am still not likely to post a recording without extensive practice to be more proficient that I typically am.
Well, that is quite a book. Time to go look for my grammar and sentence flip-flops.
WOW sorry just read this- really interesting. I canrelate to a lot of what you say. I haven’t learnt any songs yet- just doesn’t feel like fun, and I get bored! Probably harder for me to learn too so avoiding it. Def hear you on the performance - I have joined a guitar club that is very supportive… but I’m def not performing yet! Will now check back for my flipflops!!!
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I have never been diagnosed as dyslexic, but a lot of that sounds very familiar to my own experience. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi Helen, welcome. Good you’re testing different ways of learning to play guitar and good also that you’re committed to show up for your practice. I have some difficult playing a sequence of notes over an over without starting to lose concentration, but the same than Michael @sequences, once slowly learnt is well learnt for me. Keep having fun.
Welcome to the forum, Helen. It gets better as you out in the work. Keep at it and we’ll be here to support you!
Hello Helen & Welcome!!!
When I first started with guitar, I consciously did not try to learn much beyond some basic “cowboy” chords & a couple of strum patterns. This was because my reason for playing was to reduce stress & tension - my career is Air Traffic Control - I kept an inexpensive guitar in my locker at work & would often take it outdoors, sit in a shady, secluded spot & “noodle”!!! Just make my own music (well, I’m not sure if it was “music” to anyone else!!!) while on break.
No pressure, no worries about staying in time, no music theory… just play for me & enjoy the moment!
Now, having decided to learn to actually play songs & play in front of others, I still find myself in the stress-free zone at times when the practice session of the day isn’t going so well.
My point is, keep it always in mind that our worries & stressors can often just be “strummed away” when the session is going downhill because something isn’t making sense. Just ditch the lesson or practice session for a bit & play for joy!!!
Keep it fun & love the moment with your guitar!!!
Tod
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Thanks Tosh for the encouragement!
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Thanks for the encouragement and ideas
Def relate to keep having fun and using it to relax- sounds like a great journey - each journey is super individual
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Hi Helen.
Welcome to JustinGuitar and this fantastic community. Please take your time to look around and get to know the wider space.
https://community.justinguitar.com/categories
We are a supportive and encouraging group of students and guitarists from across the world. Essentially, we are all here for music and to improve as players. We truly are a ‘community’. Members help and support one another and a friendly, positive attitude underpins this. We hope that all - young or old, experienced or new players - adopt and foster the pay-it-forward ethos that Justin personifies and embedded all those years ago when he started the website and forum.
Also, please make sure to read the community etiquette announcement for some important information and guidance.
Richard
Thanks - I don’t think i’d have learnt guitar without J’s courses and i’m really enjoyingit - thanks
What an interesting introduction,
many of us struggle one way or the other, accepting what we have and just trying to overcome some burdens in life is neither easy nor impossible, but we have all to follow the music in the end (pun intended)!
Welcome on board!