After 15 or so months of learning, I find myself at Beginner Grade 2 module 11 but finding myself increasingly going down rabbit holes!
The more I learn, the more I’m exploring outside the prescribed practice schedules.
For example, I am now totally engrossed in learning Sweet Home Alabama, a song that is quite possibly beyond my current level but I’m loving the challenge but has very little to do with this module!
Does anyone else find themselves going down similar ‘rabbit holes’?
I got to that same module and at about the same time and after starting with it I haven’t done any more since. Too many old techniques to consolidate, rabbit holes, songs to learn, new chords, strums etc etc.
Thankfully not just me then!
I get the consolidation bit, my other obsession which isn’t absolutely necessary at our stage, is to get the full F chord to a useable state. Getting there with it via Don’t Fear the Reaper, just need more cow bell 
Don’t get me wrong though, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey and intend to continue, it just might take a bit longer!
Yeah amongst the rabbit holes I force myself to learn songs with F and do it the ‘hard’ way. I’ve used ‘Have you ever seen the rain’ which is getting respectable.
I found a ‘simplified’ Game of Thrones tutorial (not Justin unfortunately) that uses the full F and that helps too.
Very recognizable, at module 13 now. But took me half a year to get there from mod 11.
I wonder of quite frequently and do all different kind of things on guitar.
And always things I’m not ready for.
But glad I have some structure to come back to. This keeps me going. I love the journey, but I’m very easily distracted
Oh yes!!
My rabbit holes tend to be somewhat short term, but almost always related to something I need to learn.
I am in module 19, but have plenty of topics that need mastery left over from previous modules. I have been in Grade 3 for at least 9 months now.
My rabbit holes tend toward a couple general topics:
I tend to allow myself to rabbit hole into stuff I know I need to do eventually, or should have already done. Right now, I am working on pick and fretting accuracy. I am quite horrible and my lack is stagnating much of my play. So, for the last several days, I have hardly done a full practice and have done mostly scales and picking practice. While I find this annoying and feel I am slow to gain reasonable mastery, I also am very aware that there are some things I can play that were impossible for me a year ago. I do see progress.
I also notice I have some knowledge and techniques that are into Grade 4. I have certainly been fiddling with songs that are into even Grade 6, and with some reasonable success, so my foray into things outside the lesson plan haven’t been a waste. Maybe the lesson plan is best thought of as a rough guide, especially in the later grades, where no one is really aiming at the same goals.
I suggest thinking about the rabbit hole you are in and deciding if it is useful. if so, maybe it isn’t such a bad thing. If you don’t care how long it will take you to learn the next thing in the lesson plan, but you have a useful topic you are chasing, then it is probably reasonable.
To be fair, although the technique has only just been touched on so far, Sweet Home Alabama is good for practising hammer ons and pull offs as well as general fretting and picking accuracy.
I’m not overly concerned at this stage, just wondered if anyone else went through similar.
Fortunately, the tutorial was one of Justin’s albeit an old one so the risk of learning a ‘bad habit’ is minimal.
I’m in module 10 now, and I find myself going down rabbit holes a lot! I can also often find something in the song that I wanted to practice anyway. When I decided to learn Ripple I discovered that it has some hammer ons in the intro. My latest rabbit hole turned out to have some palm muting, a tiny bit of string bending (I haven’t actually gotten to those in the lessons), and I’m using a version of the F chord that I hadn’t yet found a use for where I like both the sound and practicality of it. Those rabbit holes can be useful, but they’re fun, too! It’s nice to hear that I’m not the only one finding them more and more as I learn.
I’m almost to the end of grade 3, and I have gone down so many rabbit holes I have pretty much stopped Justin’s lessons for now. I really wanted to do fingerstyle and Justin barely touches on that before grade 4, so I’ve been pursuing that, learning Streets of London, Blackbird, Dust in the Wind, and the intro to Nothing Else Matters and others. There is so much fantastic stuff out there, it’s hard not to go down a rabbit hole once you get a feeling of where you want to go.
I’ll chime in. I too have slowed down considerably on the modules. I’m 10 months in and on the final module of grade 2.
I’m spending more time on Justin’s theory course. I’m starting to see the value in understanding the music. I also find myself playing scales a lot. I figure if John Frusciante spends 2 hours a day on scales there must be something to it:).
Regarding F chord I play Dreams a lot going from cheat F chord to a full barre F. I’m starting to get it but it’s not consistent.
Absolutely, this is expected imo. By grade 3 you should be targeting your learning and playing to what interests you
All down to discipline. I would suggest adding an additional 
section to your practice schedule of 10 - 15 minutes. And if you are a learning a song like SHA that’s a stretch for you, factor it into your song learning section. This is easier said than done.
Here is an example of some of my past practice schedules.
It’s where all the rabbits are 
I have struggled with from day one of my journey. I like a wide assortment of music, am somewhat impatient and at 69 the clock seems to be ticking faster and faster.
I am now on module 17. Some of the exercises, such as targeted picking, are proving to be challenging. I can see I will be spending quite a spell on this module before moving on. The one thing I have learned is to not move on to quickly before mastering a technique. A few of the I find myself traversing are going back to earlier modules to bolster techniques I glossed over.
My solution has been to add a 5 minute exercise comprised of improving sloppy techniques from previous lessons. I rotate techniques daily to keep it interesting.
My 5 minute exercise for exploring the C chord is learning to play Dust in the Wind. Another 5 minute exercise for finger style is learning to play Yesterday well. In an attempt to satisfy my impatience gene, I also have a 5 minute exercise playing basic blues licks.
In addition I have a 5 minute exercise comprised of cycling through various songs I have learned but need polishing. Justin calls that repertoire revision. I do a different song each day of the week.
This is for my morning one hour practice. I try to get in another hour in the afternoon of simply playing songs and noodling (another term for )!
Your not alone because I am stuck doing the exact same thing. I used to practice everyday on my current grade and module. But now I’m not doing that and I’m trying to learn other songs that I’ve always wanted to learn. And it’s far from where I actually am on my module.
Nicky welcome to the madhouse or rabbit warren !
if you carry on with elements of your “normal” practice alongside these distraction there is no harm. Just get the balance right time wise. 80% follow the JS plan, 20 % off piste, though your mileage may differ. I offer this advice based on my common practice of spending a fortnight with the bunnies and then a couple of hours back on “track” but like a boomerang I always come back.
Don’t be shy of asking for advice here, lots of folks here who haven’t got a Scooby and I’m top of the list !
Nothing wrong with disappearing down a rabbit hole. Just keep looking back up at the daylight and keeping a firm grip on reality! 
I love to explore the rabbit holes but usually I do a routine relating to Justin’s lessons first.
Open chord perfect/fast changes.
My easy song list practice.
Then:
Barre chord changes (one of the rabbit holes I ventured into) getting better at changes.
Triads up and down the neck ( another rabbit hole led to caged system and where the chords fit within it, has helped my understanding of the neck and ability to locate triads).
Pentatonic patterns, (another rabbit hole but I can now move reasonably freely across all patterns from all over the neck). I also found a few lessons on scale variations to play across the and up the neck. Look up Stich method NeverLost and you’ll find a rabbit hole worth exploring. JulesGuitar showed me how to mix Major and minor/blues patterns in a practical way. All good stuff but probably much easier for advanced players.
I found I liked to explore songs and look up a range of ways to learn to play them.
But for technique, I always come back to Justin’s leassons (until he triggers the search for another rabbit hole). 