Hope everyone is having a lovely time. I’m glad to be back here
I started my guitar journey back in high school in early 2010 - a friend of mine pointed me towards Justin’s website and the beginner classes there. I spent a good few 2/3 years playing every day, learning the contents of the classes (i remember having done all the beginner classes at the time), the songs, understanding the theory a little bit more, learning some scales and just enjoying the process of learning how to play guitar and play some of my favorite songs.
Eventually college and life got a bit in the way and i stopped playing every day until I pretty much stopped practicing completely around 2014. Only times I’d pick up a guitar would be if I went to a store and just jammed for a couple minutes to shake some rust off or someone had a guitar around and I picked it up to hit the chords and licks of Sultans of Swing or some song I knew off the top of my head
OK now to the point - I decided to finally get back at it again and this week I dusted my guitar off and got to work on my chord and picking exercises to regain some lost dexterity.
My question is: where would you suggest I start from again? What would your advice to a returning previous player to get back to the groove of things?
Yeah I’d just start at the beginning. You can run the early lessons in a few minutes, and just move on if it’s something you’re already comfortable with. You’re liable to be surprised at some seemingly simple things you’ve forgotten (or didn’t pick up the first time.)
Welcome to the forum Bruno. The new beginner course has a lot more to it than the old course so start from the beginning. You’ll quickly move through the lessons you already know but pick up a lot that wasn’t covered in the old course.
Hey Bruno - Welcome. I was in your shoes, although my ‘break’ was about 10 years. When I arrived I initially decided to jump in halfway through the grades as I was sure I knew all the ‘beginner stuff’. I was wrong. As the folk above already said, go through from the start. I eventually went through the early material and I was amazed how often there was a little nugget of gold buried in those lessons. Little tips, tricks or ideas I would have missed otherwise.
There’s no rush, enjoy the journey.
Hi Bruno, welcome to the JG Community. Sounds like your journey has been similar to mine. I started learning from Justin around 2010 (give or take a year or so), completed the original beginners course, then stopped playing for a considerable time. I started playing again in 2020 when I went from full-time shift work to working part time (prior to early retirement in 2022). I started from scratch with the new beginners course, of course I was able to speed through most of grade 1, slowed down a bit through grade 2, and found my level where everything was new and taking ages to learn in grade 3 where I am currently. The new course is, I feel, more comprehensive than the original, and even though I completed the first two grades pretty quickly, I found new things to learn there, and set myself up for grade 3 and beyond.
Welcome Engooms. Echoing what’s been said above - I’d also support starting from the beginning. You’ll fly through the bits that are familiar, iron out any possible bad habits plus find lots of nuggets you may not have discovered the first time round. Enjoy!
Thank you all for your welcoming messages and for the advice! I’ll do as you all said and go right back to the beginning and go up through the grades. It’s quite a cool feeling to get back and see that I still remember a lot of the previous stuff I learned but going back to the roots will be the best way to make sure nothing is left behind. Excited to get back and enjoy the journey again.
Welcome Bruno, great to see you have restarted your journey. I can only echo what has already been said, go right back to lesson 1 and work from there. The newly designed courses and grades have lots more material than the old BC. So not only new stuff to learn but maybe skills you never picked in those early days. I’d advocate anyone returning having completed the old BC and IM, would be to begin at ground zero. It won’t take you long to get to a natural level that meets you current skill sets. It will flush out some bad habits but get you to a place from which you can build.
