This is 100% me! I’m all over a new hobby while I’m seeing results then as I plateau something else catches my eye. I refuse to give up on guitar though because I have invested a lot of time and money into it.
I just hate when I find I’m doing the same mistakes two years after starting. I suppose this blinkers me from seeing the progression I may have made.
Maybe I’m a slow learner when it comes to guitar and things don’t drop into place like with other things.
So pleased for you.
Such a shame you missed out on all those years because you hadn’t find the right style or teacher for you.
When I initially quit guitar around 15 years ago, my attempted learning was from a book and long before I even knew about learning guitar on-line was possible.
The books didn’t motivate me and quickly I stopped learning. The worst being I convinced myself it was not possible for me learn guitar.
Now sometimes I struggle to keep motivated and convince myself that I am making progress. Last week I almost quit after recording myself and playing it back. But I enjoy playing and I am determined to succeed on this journey.
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I am in between thoughts of quitting right now. I can’t play the F barre chord if my life depended on it and a month of practice and I can’t change to it. The power chords are a nightmare and just about as bad as barre chords to me. I am trying the enter sandman riff and my hand just will not stretch to play it without muting strings. I am on the borderline of giving it up currently. I think the no progress thing is doing me in and I really don’t think I am meant for this no matter how hard I try at it
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Keep going make sure you are paying attention to the details do it right and slow for the start.
its major hard to get over that hump
I am really trying because I really want to learn this, I have always loved hearing others play it, but nothing I do makes it any better, just sounds as God awful as when I started. I mean I am sure piano, or something similar, isn’t easy but do you have to have your whole finger across the entire instrument to play a chord? Do you have to stretch your hand to the point of pain in order to play keys? No, the open chords and strumming came along for me great, and I was having fun thinking I could actually do this. Scales I can play pretty well, riffs up to this point weren’t bad, fingerstyle I can manage, but barre chords are absolutely ridiculous and power chords aren’t any better. Stretching your hand to the point of no return just to play something is nonsensical to me. Why does it have to be painful and uncomfortable to play? Why is that even a thing?
That doesnt sound right. Make sure you have the neck at an angle rather than flat/horizontal, go watch the E barre chord video again, make sure you have all the details/hand/arm/thumb position etc down right
If your still not sure there are plenty of people on here who could give you some direct help via video or something
My only comment would be that you are not alone in being discouraged after one month trying the f cord. It is hard. I think there is a majority here who struggled at this point, many of us considering quitting and probably many who actually did.
All of those still here after a few years have gone through the same. It does feel impossible, it is hard, it even hurts.
But, it really is a matter of determination. You can do it, it won’t happen quickly and more than a little swearing will happen. But, if you keep at it, go back and refine how you do it, find a way YOU can do it, you will look back and be proud and happy you did.
I took 6 months to feel barely able to manage the F barre cord. I almost gave up, but I remembered that everyone who can play guitar went through this and I am not some rare incapable person, I am just like all of them. If they can do it so can I and I do want this.
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Sounds to me like your thumb placement isn’t how it needs to be, if you’re thumb is too near to the upper edge of the fretboard you won’t be able to reach the upper parts of the frets very well. Your thumb ideally should be in the centre of the fingerboard and your hand should be arched, with power chords it’s not so important, you do want to mute the strings that aren’t being played, it’s all a matter of correct practice; always remember that practice makes perfect, whether you are doing it right or not! If you’re not getting it right don’t carry on doing it incorrectly until you can do it right and you have to be prepared for doing things that your hand isn’t used to - it may be uncomfortable at first but it’s just a phase that you need to get through.
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Took more than 6 months for me to get a clean F chord .
After 18 months, in a song, it’s often a lot less than perfect, especially where I am now in trying not to look at the fretboard ( module 14, grade 2 ).
Take it slow and try to feel or see what is causing any issues and maybe a short video or a few pictures posted here might allow others to point out possible different places to have fingers/thumb and indeed the whole way you hold the neck when trying this.
I changed angle I held neck and got my hand at a slightly different angle and suddenly it was more often (almost) right than not. I slid my hand further around the neck somehow, so base of thumb closer to high E edge of fretboard.
Power chords though, should be, or at least for me, were much easier. Just holding down 2 or 3 strings… Again maybe photos or a short video ?
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Josh.
Please dont be so hard on youre self. You are only 5 months in As you said in a other post last night.
These things take time and you need to build strength.
You have a lot of things going for you As you listed in youre post.
Work on developing other things in youre playing. And practise those barre chords as you go along… i was not close to do anything after 5 months, and for sure not any barre chords….
Very interesting topic and one of the reasons my JustinGuitar Live Clubs are n the team “Motivation and Inspiration”.
Some common reasons why people quit:
-
life happens; changed family/medical/professional situations. If you’re truly passionate, you’ll find a way though.
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people hit plateau’s and miss proper (self-)coaching at a key moment.
That second one often has to do with bad goal setting and doing senseless practice.
I’ve set off 2024 with a session on self-assessment and goal setting for those who have no idea how they could even begin with that.
1: self-assessment: where am I now, what are my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats? (SWOT)
2: Where do I want to go, mid and long term?
3: Creating Mid term milestones and short term S.M.A.R.T. Goals
The “senseless practice” notion is about people focussing too much energy on big chunks of one thing without using it in real situations.
Examples: learning a scale all over the neck without even working on some basic improve with only 1 shape to do and feel how you can use it. Only doing it a lot of times creates “habits”.
Using it once in 1 bar in a song to replace 4 chord strums with a tiny little lead line you came up with is the door to creativity with scales
Other examples are endless chord change practice without using them in a song
Endless finger accuracy exercises, stretching, etc without knowing what goal they are currently serving. I see that at work as well; as soon people know what goal their efforts are serving and you can empower them to give ownership (and thus also responsability and acocuntability), the drive follows soon!
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My advise, for what’s it’s worth, is take a break, don’t quit. A month is nothing when trying to get the F barre. It took me 6-9 months and then it just clicked.
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I’m on about my 5th or 6th attempt at learning guitar so definitely have a perspective to share! Fortunately this time around it’s different, my mindset is different and I’ve got far enough that I can competently play some stuff
Earlier attempts failed for several reasons…
Lack of structured learning Anyone reading these forums will know the importance of this, but it’s easy to think you want to play a guitar and try and set about it without a plan. You learn a few riffs and can’t do anything with them. Obvious in hindsight
Perfectionist mindset You get annoyed with yourself for every single mistake or bum note you play in the belief this will make you better. There’s no acknowledgment of progress made or that playing guitar is hard. It’s a very demotivating mindset rather than a productive one. I’ve since read up on topics such as self-compassion which sounds kind of weak but was a game changer
Unrealistic expectations Another obvious one. There’s many of us who thought we’d be guitar gods within the first fortnight and got slapped in the face by reality
Poor equipment While it’s true that a good guitarist can play almost anything and sound good, when you’re a beginner it’s hard enough without fighting an instrument that’s either badly setup or only good for firewood. The thing is you don’t know this at the time and assume that it’s you that sucks.
Lack of Support Going it solo is hard, no one to bounce ideas off or ask for advice. None of my friends play guitar so having this community is a real lifeline. You get to hear from real people who will let you know that you aren’t the only person who didn’t master barre chords in 10 minutes!
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Good session (for the bits I caught due to tech. issues). When will the notes be issued?
Agreed. In my case I’m still trying to get decent changes using the F barre so have been working on songs that have the F barre in them.
I have trouble with the Asus4 chord as my picky just wont go when it should so have been using finger stretching (5mins per session) just to stretch.
As I said in the other post I think you need to slow down. You are half way through Grade 2 in 5 months. That is quick IMHO.
I took 22 months to complete the old Beginners Course that is equivalent to Grades 1 and 2 but actually had less content, loads of new stuff has been added. So the new grades would likely have taken closer to three years starting from the beginning. And I arrived here after 17 years of start stop “learning”, so I knew the chord shapes. It took me 6 months to get the “F chord” to ring clean on an acoustic, despite me being able to play barre chords back in the 90s.
I will say again this is a marathon not a sprint. Some things may take weeks to learn and play some will take months possibly years, so you need to be realistic in your expectations. After going around in circles for 2 decades I arrived here, saw a well mapped out structured training programme and approach it with the attitude “it will take as long as it takes”. And it takes a long time for sure.
I notice Justin often finished a module saying “and next week we’ll be looking at …” that doesn’t mean you should be nailing that modules content in 7 days, it just won’t happen. So in lessons when he says it could take weeks or months it will take weeks or months or years.
Now if you had posted that you’d been practicing power chords for 5 months and were still struggling, well that would be a different story.
Just put the brakes on Josh, don’t quit. 
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Some real talk Josh - I won’t try to convince you to keep playing. The reality is guitar is hard. Most people that start it, quit. Sometimes after a week, a month, a year. Some people have “guitar hands” with long flexible fingers and find forming chords and other things easy. Others have to work for a long, long time to do things like the enter sandman intro riff.
It’s OK to quit if you don’t want to put the effort in. Perfectly OK. However, if you really, really want to play guitar, you’ll have to be at it for longer and persistently. And also, probably, practice smart.
When I first tried that enter sandman riff - which looks SO easy in the video - I couldn’t do it. I just could literally not stretch my fingers to put them in the right spot and get the notes to ring out. I lacked the hand flexibility. Same as you. It was discouraging. However I started a daily guitar hand stretching routine for 5 minutes a day. I practiced that riff for 5 minutes a day. For about 6 months. A lot for one riff? I didn’t see it like that. I wanted to play that song, but I also wanted to build the ability to play similar songs. Changing hand flexibility is slow.
Like you and many others I struggled with F. F is a complicated shape, and it requires strength AND flexibility. I did what I could to make it easier to practice. I put a light string gauge on my acoustic. I bought an electric guitar with its even lighter strings and followed Justin’s advice to practice on both. I did a few minutes of F practice 3 times a day - morning, after work and late at night. Eventually I was able to do it, and play it in some songs. More and more practice, and it’s as fast as E.
I’ve uploaded plenty of videos over the last couple of years if you want to see me play Enter Sandman or use barre chords.
The reality is you need to decide if you’re going to stick it out with this hard thing. Guitar. If not, that’s OK. If you want it - you have to put in the persistent hard work. There is no other way.
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That’s tough to read Josh, it is a sign of frustration and many / all of us have been there to a greater or lesser extent.
I can’t play the F barre chord
What about Fmaj7 or F mini-barre?
For a huge number of people, F barre is the biggest early obstacle. Forget F major at fret 1. Move along the neck and try A major at fret 5. It will / should seem easier. Plus, simply enjoy the songs you know that use something called ‘F’ and use Fmaj7 until you improve. Which can be months away and that is wholly fine.
I am trying the enter sandman riff
That is a tough riff to play. The fingering, the timing, the whole riff is a challenge. Move on. Learn other riffs. Park it in the garage.
I think the no progress thing is doing me in
In that case, take what you have, check in with the Nitsuj videos (is a left-handed Justin ready to move to the next module / grade?) and move on to whatever comes next in the course. Do not get bogged down in treacle and stop. Instead, recognise that some skills simply take much longer to come good and forward progress can still take place while those remain as items to eventually catch up through continued practice and work.
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Great advice from Richard. Don’t let things like certain chords or riffs discourage you. I was able to constantly play F chord after 2-2,5 years of playing, much later than I was able to play songs with barre chords higher up the neck. Acoustic guitar with 12 gauge strings added some difficulty too. So relax and take your time. There’s a lot of ways to play the same chord, so don’t limit yourself only to barre version. And that applies to everything.
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The title reminded me of this cool song One Advice, Space
What makes me quit makes you go back for more…
Watch me fall to the floor, but I’ll go back for more.
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