Overwhelmed!

Hi, I haven’t posted before but is anyone else overwhelmed by how much there is to learn? For instance, chords in different places on the guitar, triads etc. There just seems to be so much…

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When in doubt - learn another song :slight_smile:

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Just take your time Georgina. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Just enjoy the journey and learn at your own pace. I was guilty of trying to learn too much too quickly and it sucked the enjoyment out of playing. You will eventually reach a point where things fall into place!

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Hi Georgina,
Well you did post before a nice introduction :grinning:

And oh yes, I’m sure many people are overwhelmed by the incredible amount of lessons that are available , just only of the absolutely recommended beginners course :upside_down_face:

I remember well when I took a quick look at what was on offer for the first time and because of my enormous amount of free time, I started laughing completely because of the enormous amount of lessons :grinning: :sunglasses:

But yes, not everyone does that of course :roll_eyes:, I am now setting an example and hope that you will definitely not do it in real life :laughing:, Do you know how to eat a whole elephant ? …a little bit every day ,

Greetings and have fun and ask what/if you want,

Rogier

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Hi Stratgirl. Yes, I sometimes feel overwhelmed, too. Then I remind myself that I don’t have to learn everything to have fun. I don’t even have to learn everything to be “good” (I’m not good yet - whatever that means, but some day I might be, and then there will still be plenty to learn.)

When I feel overwhelmed, it helps to focus on improving my weak spots instead of trying to learn more new skills. I try to have the mindset that I’d rather be good at a few skills, than be bad at a lot of different skills.

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Every day.

The more you learn, the more you realize there is to learn.

Good thing is, we won’t suddenly reach a point where there is nothing left to learn and be done.

Keep on learning!

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I’ve had this problem in the past. I think now my advice for anyone is to get the basics learned, the open chords and a few strumming patterns perhaps and after that pick a path that interests you and follow that (you can always change path). You can’t learn everything.

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For sure.
However I prefer to think of it as challenging vs overwhelmed.
The reason I’d like to think of it this way is I’m of the opinion that I’m not sure that any one person can absolutely know and learn everything there is to know about playing the guitar.
There always seems to be one more challenge to overcome.
Which is good imho. Playing guitar should likely never become boring since I’ll never learn it all, whatever all is?.. :wink:
I just wanna have fun with playing, with making music, not let it overwhelm me. Challenge me though, that’s cool… :slight_smile:
One little step at a time…

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Yes, much more than a lifetimes worth.
I think once you get past the beginner stage and start to develop some solid competency in the fundamentals, you then need to set some definite goals about what you want to do on the guitar. You cant possibly do it all. You may also end up wasting time on things that don’t serve you.
So , decide on what you want, then determine what skills, techniques, knowledge etc you need to focus on and develop, to achieve more advanced levels of competency.
Sounds easy writing it, but I’m finding there’s alot of trial and error, experimentation, seeking guidance from others etc. All part of the fun in the journey…

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Hi Georgina,

I have been playing now for 12 years in total, spread over around 45 years and I am still overwhelmed by the amount of learning there is on the instrument. :laughing: Fear not you will get there but do not hold your breath, it is a long and fruitful, and an oh so joyous journey. Enjoy the longevity, it is not a race to the finish :star_struck: :smiley:

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Here’s a different perspective … How cool is it, to be overwhelmed by how much there is to be learnt? … And that no matter how much you learn … How many years you play for … There will always be something cool to learn :grin:

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Just follow Justin’s beginner course (grades 1-3) and you’ll be fine. Justin does a great job of feeding you what you need, when you need it. Ask me how I know :smiley:

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Thanks all for your support and tips.

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Focus on the now, take it a day at a time. Don’t try rushing don’t look for shortcuts, all will be revealed in time.
:sunglasses:

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Like the old saying
“How do you eat an Elephant?”
One bite at a time.

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Yes but, baby steps, yesterday I started a new module but …I only took one 1 item from that module to start learning and practicing all the 7th chords. More than enough to be adding in for a month or so.

R

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You can learn as much or as little as you want or need. It’s like driving a car, you can go to the store or drive to San Francisco (this is where people will chime in because they live across the ocean).

That said, there are a bunch of two, three and four chord progressions/songs to get you going toward further learning or where you can settle in for good.

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Oi… You live across the ocean! :rofl:

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You took the cheese. LOL

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Yup, but I try not to think about it too much or I’ll freeze up. :crazy_face:

Generally, it happens at the start of a new module. In Module 12 I have finally finished learning a bunch of SUS chords, and then bam, in Module 13 a bunch of 7th chords! But after a couple weeks I’m no longer mixing the 7ths up with the SUS chords, I’m just still rather slow at changing between them! So really, just dno’t think about it so much. lol