I just came home from my first in person guitar lesson. And that’s the key learning: Slow down. It will take time. You don’t have a concert tomorrow evening. Slow down.
My guitar teacher spotted my weakest spot right away. Impatience. Being unforgiving with myself. I had skipped working on air changes. I tend to place my fingers one by one. Now we are going to work on chord changes and moving all fingers at once. Not one by one. Slowly very slowly. Playing with a pick. I don’t like it much. We are going to work on just that in the next lesson. Playing with a pick. Slowly. It will take time.
No question at all that combining JG with an in person teacher is the way to go for me. My husband said I came home smiling as if I would have received the best Christmas present ever.
No question either that I will add changing chords very slowly (thus forming chords slowly in the air) to my every day practice routines. Slowing down to progress will be the way to go.
What are your experiences with consciously slowing down learning? Which techniques and competences that you have mastered now, did you allow yourself to learn very slowly?
This is some great insight to guitar playing and probably life in general, thanks for sharing! I definitely find that going back and spending time on basics I have already learned makes me feel more confident and lays the foundation to learn new things more readily!
I’ve been playing guitar since 1975 and still practice things slowly and methodically when learning a new skill.
It’s hard to get beginners to slow down, everything is new and you want to learn everything but here’s the catch.
When you take your time to learn something correctly
The next task(in this case Chord changes) becomes easier to learn because every new skill builds off the previous one.
Taking your time on one skill speeds up learning the next skill. So the better you are at the beginner lesson the better you will be at the more advanced levels.
I think this is why so many of Justin’s students find Grade 3 so hard. They never took the time to actually learn Grades 1 and 2.
Happy to hear everything went well with the new teacher.
With Guitar it is very clear that if you rush you will actually learn more slowly, it is great that you now also have that insight, then this lesson is worth its weight in gold.
Hi Nicole!
Congratulations on your new in-person learning with a real, live person!
Impatience is definitely the biggest obstacle in my path to learning… it’s often a bit boring doing the same exercises repeatedly so it’s very tempting to move on before mastering the task “at hand” (pun intended!). The problem being, those tasks we rush through are usually essential to the next phase in our journey.
It’s the same with forcing yourself to learn something that you really don’t like… in your case using a pick. With me it’s metronome practice. I don’t like it at all, yet I know that good timing is so important & essential!
I think this is one of the main things I’ve learned on this time around at trying to learn guitar (after previous failed attempts). It’s definitely going to take time and I can’t master all of guitar… it’s not like a video game with a 100% completed score!
I suppose what I can add to the conversation is about trusting the process and enjoying it. Hammering away at the same old thing for hours and hours will only lead to frustration but if you practice a few minutes at a time and intermingle it with something you enjoy, like playing a song, then it doesn’t seem nearly as bad. Try to remember where you started and look back at that for your measure of progress rather than comparing yourself to what perfection is like.
My journey with the F chord would be my example. Slow progress but each day was marginally better than the one before. I didn’t try to teach myself it in one evening.
That’s one of the major reasons why I decided to add a “real life” teacher now. “Strumm something” he asked. I complied. “How about you add some rhythm?” What? Oh sorry. Done. C chord. “You can use your thumb to mute the E string” oh yes, of course. Done. “I usually mute that string with the tip of my ring finger”. What? Yes, I try to do to.
So many sloppy things, which I could get away with if I wanted to. No big issues really now. But things that will become issues in the advanced grades.
Yes. I am very, very lucky. He might be a professional guitarist, but he also seems to be a good teacher.
It does @TheMadman_tobyjenner While he casually observed all my basic sloppiness, he also had me busy sliding the F-barre and changing to and from it , attacking F minor barre (I almost did did it!). So there was enough to keep my impatient heart busy as well. He did not give me any homework, which in turn has me built my own exercises and reflect what I learned in those mere 30 min.
Would also make for a good tattoo, wouldn’t it?
Yes. And it’s probably the “forcing”, that is the issue. The real question is “why do we need to force ourselves”. There has to be something behind it. Some cause some reason that can perhaps be found. Forcing in my case largely means avoiding doing. Avoiding doing means not even giving myself a chance to improve. Like strumming with a pick. Or even picking individual notes with a pick. We tested at the end of the lesson. “It’s you, who hears the plasticky click he said. I don’t” - which was a huge surprise for me.
[quote=“Jenndye429, post:10, topic:343391”]
Your post is a great reminder for me as I tend to be the queen of impatience
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Glad to hear that I’m not alone with this.
Yes, And the risk of me rushing is significant, now that I finally, finally climbed F-barre mountain. As said above somewhere, I’m really lucky. Slow down was exactly what I needed to hear.
Learn it slowly, learn it once because practice becomes perfect whether it’s correct or not - unlearning is harder than learning it slowly in the first place and if you persist in not learning it slowly you will sooner or later give up!
Great topic Nicole, and wise insights that you have found for yourself.
Ok, since you asked…
One of the advantages of being older (not that there are many - I wished there were more ) is that I’m a much more patient with many things in life than I was when I was younger (not with everything. I can get very impatient when I don’t get food. The staff in the cantine see me already impatiently waiting when they open up the door at 11:30 in the morning ). Ok, back to the topic . With most stuff I like to be thorough. And I previously made positive experiences that constant practice (as opposed to long but few practice sessions) pays off. And I learned that I don’t need to create additional stress for myself in addition to the stress I already have at work.
Funny that I wrote this already into my very very first post here in the forum
So with Justin’s guitar course, I have given myself a lot of time. In the last 12 months, I’ve completed only 4 modules (modules 8-11). Partly because I’m enjoying taking my time. Also, half a year ago I was somewhat unmotivated to follow the structured course, so for weeks I then only played songs (still every day). Another time I slowed down was because I learned a new skill that excited me so much (singing along while playing). So then for some more weeks I did nothing else but that. Nevertheless, when I consciously slowed down following the course, I made the experience of unconsciously still learning. Moving forward with baby steps, as @NicoleKKB once said, but I never expected anything else than just that.
Motivation comes and goes, and I learned that I cannot force it to come back. I can only try to preserve it as much as possible. For me, a big part of it is by not asking too much of myself all at once. For example, when I come home tired from work, I follow a small practice session that I can do on autopilot and otherwise do things I enjoy, like playing a song, or two, or three.
Looking back after almost 2 years, it nevertheless feels like a miracle to me that I’m still at it.
Nicole
I still struggle with it
Slow is the answer
Love you for it
Know its yours,
but only when you master it slow.
I’m a slave to Lonesome Dave.
Blues is the constant unwavering.
It’s work.
Then pleasure!
Love to you _R
- I wished there were more 
) is that I’m a much more patient with many things in life than I was when I was younger (not with everything. I can get very impatient when I don’t get food. The staff in the cantine see me already impatiently waiting when they open up the door at 11:30 in the morning 
). Ok, back to the topic