Thank you, Frito! Ole, Ole, Oleeee!
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Donāt worry about that Tabitha at all.
Stick to the course.
Nothing HappyCat says is incorrect.
It is not the beginner path however.
Follow Justinās lessons.
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My apologies for being long winded.
I kinda thought I was saying too much explanation.
TabbTPul, you are doing great with your known chords. Keep at it the G and C will come, with practice.
All Iām trying to convey is, with what you already know for general chord shape for D and A, you already know the start of the chords your trying to learn. Yer just moving them chords on the fretboard and using different fingers to fret the tones. The basic shape of D is the same as C that appear on strings 3,2 and 1. And the basic shape of G is the same as A. The A shape appears on strings 2,3, and 4th strings of the G. Played as open strings.
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This ia a great achievement! Congratulations.
Practice what you know. Particularly in songs. Context is everything! And as you do move on to the next chords. Youāve got this!
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Hi Tabitha! Well done on progress so far - you are on a wonderful journey that can be life-long and full of rewards. Playing music and guitar are really a mental health program! Donāt be scared about moving forwards or facing challenges - you are exactly where you are meant to be, and if you have challenges in your learning, you are with the 99% of the rest of us. I still remember when I started learning and couldnāt get chord changes quick enough. I was so frustrated, that I put the acoustic on the floor on knelt on it, hoping to crush it. It didnāt, and I can remember saying to myself āIf I canāt break you this way, Iām gonna break you by mastering you.ā (Sort of like breaking a wild stallion.)
I think the greatest risk is to plateau and not move forward - that has been my challenge. It is easy to become content with the level of proficiency you have achieved; but find ways to keep stretching yourself and do it at your own pace. Just remember the thrill you get when you finally begin to master something you have been working on. And new chords open up opportunities to play a more extensive range of songs, which would include more of your personal favourites.
Keep on strumming!
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Got it! Thank you, HappyCat!
Thank you so much, thewritescott!
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Yes! I guess it is sort of a plateau. I didnāt think of that! This gives me a new perspective.
Thank you, Andrew!
I am a noob myself, started n June 2022 before starting to go through all sorts of āhandā issues that turned out to be neck issues and slowed me down from Dec all the way to Aug 2023. I still have them, but I now know a lot more about how to manage them and keep up 60-90 min of practice per day anyway.
So, number 1, always correct posture at guitar/work/whatever. One freaking evening of too much bending/crouching/trying to get XYZ done right a couple times before bed can have scary consequences. I play exclusively standing since then and I always keep my neck moving/shaking hands (think Ritchie Blackmore when he was really young!). Never remain in the same position (neck, hands) for extended periods of timeā¦
As for cordsā¦I also spent tons of time on those basic changes that I have not used since. I do an A minor to G big power cord change all the time (Aint Talking Bout Love) but thatās about.
The enormous majority of cord changes I do are 2 and 3 finger power cords and broken, arpeggiated cords (Van Halen), so I apply the same principles that Justin teaches early on for cowboy cords to the cords I actually use.
I spent my time till last Aug using 2-finger PC so I still have to practice 3-finger changes and also transitioning from a standard power cord to an awkward one-time cord like Hendrix E cord (minor, major at the same time, 0E, 7A, 6D, 7G, 8B, 0E).
And so anything I practice now is a function of a song or riff. Say, I donāt practice pinch harmonics per se but rather within the killer riff of Cemetery Gates where it is very hard to do all those pinch harmonics with any consistency but when it does work, it rewards the beginner amply:)
As for plateau, I focus on Van Halen with Metallica as my easier/faster to learn counterpart so I am not really worried about ever hitting a plateau. There are Eddie fills that take me weeks to get half-right:)
Point is, as soon as you get past Beginner 2 or so, donāt fear to get into the stuff you want to play AND to get the gear you really want. I sold my all-purpose Telecaster back in May and got a Wolfgang Special and then sold for peanuts my Blackstar HT5 amp, useless to me, and got a 5150 Iconic and it has been all big grins since then:)
I was super diligent with the Beginner 1 and 2 material but could never learn the Beginner 1 songs because I did not care/want to learn the rhythm of songs I am not familiar with or do 500 open cord changes per song:) But at the point where Justin teaches Enter Sandmanās opening riff, I just went to the entire song and from there the real fun began.
So there is nothing to fear but everything to look forward once past the very basics!
Cheers, congrats on the milestone, and good luck going forwardādo stay healthy!
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Thank you, MAS4R. I certainly do not want to adopt the bad habit of neck craning. You have reinforced just how important it is to not do it. I love Enter the Sandman! Yeaaaaaah!
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Oh, thatās great. Justin teaches it so very nicely, it hooked me in. And it is easier than anything else I have tried, so worth it the shot for first serious song 
BUT it also fooled me, not that I imagined I could do other songs in full quickly (w/o solos) but that I could at least do pieces of other songs well enough for the winter holidays. So that played a number on me. It was too early. Enter Sandman was an exception.
But I am 48 and in no real hurry since I will never have application for music other than annoying my dog daily, and on occasion my wife:)
So I am happy to be slowly learning a limited number of songs that really mean a great deal to me.
Another one that I have found doable is Fear of the Dark. I am yet to learn the two main solos and perhaps the first of the two will be my first ārealā solo come January or so, but I have got the rest of the song down and I am now working on polishing and consistency before I move to playing to a backing track. I have done the opening riff to a backing track but there is a fast burst later where I top around 340-350 bpm but it is played at 384 as I clock it.
By the way, the single most important ādiscoveryā I made for myself is that when I play a full song, my first ātakeā of the day is almost always best with the second take making the balance. I found out that the more repetitions of a full song I make, the worse: imperfections become mistakes, mistakes become grave errors till I dig myself in a hole and then it is a long way out.
So I now do like this:
ā2 reps of each of āmyā 6 songs;
āas many 5 minute periods working on tough for me parts as time allows.
New material requires dedicated timeframes.
That has worked FOR ME. I am just a noob but an extremely dedicated one who has to make the most out of limited time while battling neck issues:)
Cheers and all the best in your continued practice!
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You are great and are no ānoob!ā I love the advice and experiences you are willing to share. It is very helpful to us newbies. I also have 6 core songs that I practice daily (I am nowhere near tackling Enter the Sandman). I mostly strum patterns, as I am not to the place of picking separate strings. I am learning to enjoy the process instead of getting mad about mistakesā¦LOL!
I also have the same issue with playing songs over. I love it at first, but on the second/third attempts, etc., I identify errors and realize that I didnāt sound as good as I thought I did. Thatās ok, though. We get better at every pass!
My regards to you!!
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I absolutely concur that we get better at every pass!
Just today, I noticed that making mistakes in the most repeated riff/verse of Van Halen Little Dreamer has become very rare. So I am getting annoyed that I cannot get all the 7 fills right in one take. But a couple of those are a handful and all are very fast and I am making progress. And I only started some 500 hours ago in 2022, not even hoping to be anywhere close to where I am (and that with 8 months wasted to nerve issues which remain but latent).
So yeah with daily practice, progress is there and for us noobs, it comes quickly. I play all my songs on 10 days every two weeks (no-amp exercises and tough parts on the other 4 days).
I think what is doing it for me is:
1/ concentration, only two bands (EVH, Metallica)
2/ every song, every day + extra time for the most difficult parts but no beating myself to pulp doing the same thing 50 times in a row, that seems to me counterproductive; unless it is air chord changes, which are greatāand all credit goes to Justin for teaching that principle (applies to every cord not just cowboy cords).
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