Sounding the same

Why no matter what song I play, it always sounds like the same . Is this common in beginners.

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Yeah probably. Dont worry about it.

You’ve not yet learned many of the tools you need to make things sound different.

Rob’s right, very common. Especially in the beginning when you’re just learning open chords.

There are so many little pieces of the puzzle that you’ll pick up as you follow justin’s course. Just thinking of rhythm here theres: strumming patterns, accents, length of notes (timing like 8th notes, 16th notes, staccato, mutes), percussive hits. For chords you have: power chords, open chords, barre chords, triads slash and add chords. list goes on and on and on really.

As you get more experience with these things and incorporate them in your playing you really start to feel it.

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It’s like learning a language. When you start out your vocabulary is very limited and you can only speak basic sentences. As your vocabulary expands those sentences become more complex and expressive. Eventually you gain fluency and can say what you like, when you like, how you like.

Assuming you’re following Justin’s course, just keep at it. You will soon learn a bunch of things which can add variety to the songs you play. Don’t rush it though. Repeating the fundamentals is what bakes them into your mind and fingers, and you need them in place before you go too wild.

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Yes, it’s common. And not anything to be overly concerned about. Being aware of it is a great step forward. As you progress, work on songs that are different, say with 3/4 timing instead of only 4/4. Maybe some with a different strum pattern, or dynamics and such. Or fingerpicked. You’ll find ways then to start to sound different.

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I totally remember that feeling! I was good enough to strum simply and consistently and could go through a few good cord changes and it all started sounding like a dull unchanging drone!

It is brief. Very cool when little thing pop through that and you will start finding them, adding emphasis and small changes especially a little “feeling”.

I feel like it is an important moment of realization that helps push you forward.

Thanks all for the reply’s this will help me get this out of my head. I was getting frustrated And started to loose the fun in it. I started in December and following Justin’s courses and I practice 30 to 40 min a day on Justin’s lesson and I am on grade 2 and on 2 lesson I believe. I do see some improvements.

I had the same frustration as you at that point in my journey. I actually stopped practicing for about 5 months because of it. Luckily, I decided to get back on the horse and, after 2 1/2 years and making it to Grade 3 Module 17, things are really coming together and I feel like a “real” guitar player now :sunglasses:

Like my 25-year guitarist friend said to me, “how does it feel to no longer be the worst guitar player in the guitar store?” :rofl:

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Whatever song I tend to apply the same strumming pattern :see_no_evil: I’m already a bit bored of it so, as I’m aware of it, I don’t allow myself to play new songs if I can’t play them differently, and I force myself to apply different patterns on the songs I already know. I’m confident the new Strumming Course will help.

As has been said, this is perfectly normal for beginners, as the first step is to at least consistently hit the (correct) strings and not launch the pick across the room/into the guitar.
Then you can start thinking about dynamics.

If you’re already on grade 2, you probably want to jump back to grade 1 and re-watch the dynamics lesson - Dynamic Improvements | JustinGuitar.com

Hello Jeff, as others have already answered, this is quite common in the beginning.

I just wanted to ask, are you a ‘first time beginner’ or an ‘on-off-player’ restarting your guitar journey?
I ask, as this sentence of you caught my attention:

If you started for the very first time, this would mean, it took you just about 7 weeks to work through grade 1. This appears to be a very steep learning curve in a very short time :hushed:.
From my experience, some techniques and finger/hand motions need their time and lots of repetitions to create the required muscle memory.

If you’ve played the guitar before, forget my comment. In this case, it’s not uncommon to complete the first grade in only few weeks :hugs:.

No I took lesson a a few years back and trying to restar from beginning using Justin’s methods.

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