Couldnāt agree more with you here Tom, hearing that along with Justinās comments from time to time to look back and realise how far youāve come are probably the most encouraging things you can hear on this journey!!
Even if the songs arenāt easy, youāre still playing proper songs which is the whole point of this thing anyway!
Hi my name is john
I have been playing guitar badly for about 45 years, or at least I thought it was bad. Then I started Justinās lessons, that is helping me sort out timing issues and going back to the beginning to learn the scales has made such a difference and Improved everything.
However on the subject of whether things are easy or not, it is always difficult to get your fingers trained into new positions for a song you have never played before, particularly if the chords are new to you.
Play for fun, enjoy what you are doing, thereās no real need to get every note perfect like on the record, if you canāt get it perfect then make up your own version of that song. If it sounds right to you then it must be right.
Most of all enjoy what you do, be creative , be adventurous, do your own thing. But learn the basics first. Donāt be out off by stupid comments
Yeah, some people just seem to have a knack, and pick it up quickly.
I clearly remember a friendās 15 year old stepson, who in his first year of playing, could credibly play and sing whole songs.
Whereas I, who had been trying to learn for about 5 years at that point, could do neither.
It was pretty discouraging at the time, and I was very envious of his talent. But Iāve since realized that itās a mistake compare myself to others. I learn at my own pace, and as long as Iām making progress and having fun - itās all good!
After all the years Iāve been playing, I still donāt find new chord formations easy at first. As I said before play for fun, play for yourself, enjoy what you play , relax with yourself and it starts to fall into place.
I agree. Just started, only on day 3 and trying to play I Walk the line. Love the way Justin plays it with more complicated strumming patterns but I find the basic dum, dum, dum, dum strum hard as I find the A chord very hard to change to as itās so squashed. Still, enjoying learning. I even looked up a YouTube video of Johnny Cash live at San Quentin prison (brilliant) and watched Walk the Line movie again last night.
As others have said, Justin does a really good thing when he emphasises over and over again in his videos, that this stuff is hard. That it may take weeks of continuous practice before any given skill sounds any good, or feels comfortable to do. It is something that Iāve noticed a lot of guitar teachers fail to mention, and it really very much does need to be mentioned.
I think Justinās left-handed run has given him proper empathy for what itās like to be a beginner, and that comes through in his teaching approach. It makes a huge difference for me.
Certainly has been true for me, having started to play at age 67. Somewhere I read that it takes 10,000 reps to get where you want to be. Thought that couldnāt be true at the time. Now Iām a believer.