I’m not sure if I’m opening a learning log or not. Hopefully I am.
I’m 56 years young. I started my guitar journey as a teen taking a night school interest course. I fumbled along, probably not realizing just how much focus and practice was required and instead convinced myself to be somehow flawed when it came to fine motor skills. I never realized how much relaxation, focus and practice was required. Over the years I would return to it everyone now and then, but never keep it up and never realized how much confidence and relaxation was a part of it. If you are constantly stressing over that next chord change you have a long road ahead. That said, all the intermittent attempts did add up. YouTube also helped in that your teacher is only a click away and you can watch them over and over again. After learning a few things from random YouTube views, after about a year I landed on Justin’s site and lessons. I use the phone app mostly. Enjoying immensely. Currently on the app, I’m on the first module of 2nd level beginner. I’ve learned to relax and progress comes more easily. I’ve also learned that when you think you are stuck, just keep going and eventually the fingers and brain somehow learn… even at my old age!
In module 2 of the first batch of lessons I’ve taken a slight step back. I was getting a little bit frustrated over pick movement while strumming until I returned to the lesson on how to hold a pick. I realized I was doing it wrong. Amazingly though, the adjustment has affected my strumming and my strumming has gone backwards in progress. I know this is temporary and repeated practice will eventually have me back on track. That is all for now. This is a handy place to log the journey.
I’m not h further ahead of you apart from about 6 years!!
Try and stay chilled with it and it does come to you after lots of practice. Just got to stick at it. You’re so right that you just keep going and thinking you’re not getting anywhere, then something clicks. We’re in it for the long haul. Take care.
Hi Steve. Same age here. Justin gives you the route but you still have to do the walk. Any guitar skill you intend to acquire will require some practice, often a lot of practice. Good news are that being able to play at least a basic version of so many songs can be within your reach sooner than later. It has happened to me also that when an exercise is giving more difficulty than expected and check again the lesson I find that I had not understood the instructions correctly.
Thank you for the encouragement. I remain determined to keep improving and putting the time in. Sometimes the quality of the time I put in isn’t there but for me that’s ok. It always feels good to have guitar in hand. My 15 yr old commented the other day that he thought I was getting good…lol. Compliments from teens are not so common so I’ll take that one to the bank.
Love to hear about people picking the guitar back up and to hear someone in your household to say you’re getting good well, thats just amazing it took me over 2yrs before my dad actually said “oh, you can play that thing?”
I ran into a rut and also stepped away from the lessons for a bit. I got a bit discouraged as I could not figure out what I was doing wrong with holding the pick. My strumming was coming along except I could not strum long without losing my grip on the pick. I went back to Justin’s lesson where he introduces the proper grip and I had not realized I was doing it incorrectly. I was pinching it between my first finger and thumb using only the pads of my fingers. Once I corrected the grip, surprisingly it took me a while to become smooth in my strumming again. A feeling of having to go backwards, discouraged me slightly but I am more or less back to where I was but not no longer lose grip. Coincidentally I see Justin has a set of strumming lessons. Another thing that has helped me was practicing ‘the push’ in module 10. I was determined to learn not just the push but also to do the proper count as I did the push strum. I finally got there. Lastly I dabbled with Dave Matthews’ song Crash. It is quite a stretch to do the c#m7 the way Dave does it. Overall, I can’t say I really have any one song down perfectly yet and tend to work more on pieces of songs and spend a lot of time in front of the TV working on chord changes. Progress is slow but loving the progress I do make.
Great stuff. For me, learning a complete song from start to finish made a real difference. After learning my first, the next songs happened much more quickly.
Hi Steve, getting out of the rut was the first step to move on and you will for sure! You solved your pick problem and that will help you along the road. I highly recommend Justins Strumming SOS and Strumming Dynamics Course with a lot of helpful advice.
Nothing wrong with practicing pieces or parts of songs, but you should do yourself a favour and try to learn at least a few songs from beginning to end. It makes a real difference. So many little points of success to see while learning a whole song. First it’s the chord progression, then you nail the strumming pattern, you learn how to apply dynamics, maybe some embelishments and maybe vocals. It’s good to see, how it grows, step by step. Even if it takes you ages to get there. Learning a song is a project and takes time. Keep it simple in the beginning, take an easy one you can develop over time and you’ll grow together. Be patient…that’s the hardest part!
I’d second what Helen says in terms of learning songs…after all that’s what you’re learning guitar to do. Also bear in mind songs tend to be a combination of parts that repeat. So you’ll only normally have 3-4 parts at most. An intro chord progression (probably the same as the verse), a verse chord progression, a chorus chord progression and maybe a bride. That’s all so learn those parts and you’ve got your song.
Hello Steve, to stay motivated, it helps me to have a clearly defined goal I’d like to reach. In most cases, it’s a particular song I wanna be able to play and sing. Sometimes, it’s ‘just’ a new technique or a new chord, I’d like to master. Tiny goals help me to get a sense of achievement in short time . (Although, this is not true for the F chord. I’m still struggeling with it .)
Oh yes, I absolutely agree with that. But I love these projects. Sometimes, I’m just learning one part of a song (e.g. the intro), and then nothing else for a longer time, while concentrating on another song. But if I really like the song, I’ll come back to it and continue learning it, until I feel satisfied. It doesn’t always have to happen in one go, I think.
Thank you Helen, I will for sure do the Strumming SOS course. My first goal was to complete module 10 and now I will begin the SOS strumming course. I suppose in truth I have learned a couple of songs. I really focused on Heart of Gold but I need to go back and improve on this one now that I hold the pick properly. At the stage I’m at, I think adding my voice as well would help in the motivation of learning the entire song…although my voice is very bad and as soon as one starts to sing strumming patterns go terribly off…lol. I agree whole hearted with you though. Thank you for commenting. It amazes me how others take the time to inspire and comment on each other’s journeys.
Good choice! I did that too and had my breakthrough with this song at playing and singing at a time. Still can’t sing to every pattern . But this is a rewarding song, a classic to keep and develop.
Singing adds a lot of motivation, I remember, that I was a little unsatisfied as I realised, that three or more repeated chords seem to be more a chord progression than a “real” song, as long as you don’t have a melody. So I decided, that I simply have to sing. My voice isn’t great, but I’ve a lot of fun and I think I’ve improved too…or maybe just lost some scruples?
That is exactly it! I felt the same with respect to it being more of a chord progression. I watched Justin playing it very carefully trying to figure out how he made it sound more melodic and in addition to singing I think he does something as he moves from D to G but I can’t figure that out. My voice is beyond terrible but maybe it is time to record myself and see where I can improve it a little…lol. This fall I will meet with my old school mates and if I feel ready may bring my guitar to play. I think with my playing and there singing we can muddle through a few lol.
I wanted to add that I acknowledge ‘Spacey’ is a dubious name given the abhorrent behaviour of an impossibly egotistical celeb, so to ensure it is known my moniker is musically related it comes from a song by an Canadian band called Prism. I can not help but feel supremely excellent when I listen to their song Spaceship Superstar. The lyrics and pure rock sound for me are beyond compare…lol. Anyway, my buddies shortened my one time email spaceyshipsuperstar@ etc etc, to Spacey and the alter ego has stuck. Maybe some day I will be top of all the charts on Mars
Well, I’m still here and still amazed by the guitar community. I dip my toe into the community very infrequently but wow… the support and connections blow me away. Mostly I’ve been consistent in my guitar journey. Not long after focusing on how I was holding my pic incorrectly I made a commitment to learning one song, start to finish with out looking at a sheet… and then, from that to adding in singing and also not looking at a sheet. It took months and is a very simple song ‘Country Roads’ but I did it. I practiced it over and over and over to the exclusion of all else mostly. It may not have been the best way to learn but it did get me there. Since that time though I backed off somewhat but generally return to it every few days except for the singing part. I should add that back in. I do wonder if I will ever be a super polished player. My changes are decently fast but not always perfectly clean and frequently have buzzies or maybe hit one string off on D etc. I think the only thing one can do is to keep going, remind yourself of how far you have come and only compare yourself to previous versions of yourself. I’m on the last module of level 2. By this point there are so many things you could work on, you kind of have to pick. I have a few songs I work on but only one have a truly committed to. Always enjoyable though and believe if I keep at it, I will get cleaner and better… whether it magically happens I guess I will see…lol.
As an 50 year old busted up American west coast punkrock dude. All I can say if you are going to pick one song to learn. I can’t think of a better one that John Denvers famous ‘Country Road’.
Right on, Its cool you posted and keep it up. Rock on bro
I hear you! Getting to the chord on time is one thing, getting there on time and cleanly is a whole other ball game
Singing is useful to help you keep your place in the song, even just humming the melody under your breath helps. I find, unless I do this, I lose my place in the progression.
Today I started Grade 3. Songs I can play so-so are Take Me Home Country Roads, Wagon Wheel, Dead Flowers, Heart of Gol, Jack & Diane and What’s Up. I stretched and tried my hand My Sweet Lord which as a push in it and some barre chords (I think it is B that is very tough) and overall found it very difficult.
I sometimes wonder if I will be forever stuck at the level I’m at which I could maybe say is (and I mean maybe) advanced beginner. Somehow though, I find it enough to keep myself motivated and to persevere. I haven’t veered into recording myself all that much yet, but will soon look into the software that Justin mentions in either is module 14 or module 15. My guess is, is I would surprise myself by how I sounded a couple of years ago verses today. So there is not, not any progress, just very very slow progress and i’ve been relatively focused and regular in my practice. Having read the book “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, I keep that in mind and think, I can always work harder and put more time in and that I’m never working as hard as I think I might be…lol.
Hi Steve! I guess, lots of people feel exactly this. It is a looooong way, for everyone… . Getting an intermediate player is quite a step!
Grade 3 is a great place to get the knowledge and skills to take that hurdle. It is kind of a challenge too, not in terms of learning the skills in exercises, but in finding ways to apply them in songs. A good song choice will help you. Perseverance and learning songs, songs, songs (like Richard says) is key.
I wish you a good start into Grade 3 and a huge amount of motivation for your practice!
and to hear someone in your household to say you’re getting good 
well, thats just amazing 
it took me over 2yrs before my dad actually said “oh, you can play that thing?” 
. (Although, this is not true for the F chord. I’m still struggeling with it 
.)
.
