Hello, I’m Phoebe from the UK.
I’m a couple of months into picking up the guitar again after about 6 years away. I’ve got to say, I’ve been having a blast. I’ve had two tries at learning in the past. The first, I played pretty consistently for about 3.5 years, but life circumstances happened at the same time as a fairly major plateau and I put it down, which in hindsight was a shame, because I’d become an ok player by then. The second was a few years ago, and I think I gave up then because I didn’t really know what I wanted from it. I didn’t really have any goals at all, and it felt less fun than the first time, probably for that reason. That lasted about a year but of much less consistent work.
In an effort to stop doomscrolling in the wake of certain world events, and to have something creative to do, I picked it up again and this time feels much more like the first time. I have slightly more varied musical tastes than my teenage self who originally began playing and my goals are a bit broader than ‘learn to play Guns N’ Roses solos’ (although I would like to at some point, if only for nostalgia’s sake!). I’m picking it back up pretty quickly and I’m glad my skills haven’t gone forever.
I originally learnt to play through a mix of Justin’s site and an in-person teacher, and I’m having a quick run through the beginner’s course to refresh my memory. I’m really impressed with the quality of the new course. I started back in 2012, so it was all a bit more basic back then. I’ve especially enjoyed grade 3 of the course, which has introduced some new concepts and made some that I remember a lot clearer. There’s a much bigger focus on creativity and musicality, which I’ve really liked.
The transcribing explanations have been much better and between that and me taking a more proactive approach to ear training has really started to off for me. One of the things I found frustrating the first time around was that I could never work out how to transcribe. I managed ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by the Ramones but anything more advanced was beyond me. Yesterday night, I was moving between some chords to warm my fingers up and realise it sounded a lot like ‘Rock and Roll Suicide’ by David Bowie. So I played the song and managed to work out the chords in the acoustic section without too much issue, which I’m thrilled with. Better yet, I’m feeling confident enough to try and tackle the second section now.
So anyway, to keep myself accountable, some of my goals in no particular order:
- I’d like to learn to sing and play at the same time (could never get the hang of it).
- I’d like to keep working on my ears and learn to transcribe more complex songs
- I’d like to be able to play melodic sequences a bit faster. Not to shred by any means, but enough to be able to play solos of songs I enjoy.
- I’d like to work on my rhythm skills. I sort of ignored rhythm guitar the first time round and I’d like to improve my timing, learn to play fills, etc.
- I’d like to write some songs. Eventually I’d like to be able to write something I’d actually want to listen to.
- I’d like to find people around here to jam with/start a band with and have some regular time playing with other people
- I’d like to try an open mic one day.
All in all, I’m glad to be back and I’m excited to see what I can learn now.
