I would appreciate some advice.
I’m currently on Module 11. I find most of the exercises in each module to be challenging but I get to a point when I think I could move on. However, what stops me moving on straight away is learning songs. While some of the exercises take a few days to learn and a few weeks to practice, the songs take me much longer. Because of this, I keep wondering whether I should stay in each module until I have got to a good level with a couple of the song suggestions or whether I should move on. If I don’ t move on, I feel like I’m getting a bit stuck in each module.
Most of the time the difficulty learning the songs is not so much remembering the chords and the strumming patterns but being able to play them in time to a metronome or drum machine and trying to sing along. Without singing, I could move on faster as I do get to the point where I can play them at the right speed and in time. but putting the guitar playing and singing together really slows everything down. Now obviously, the course is to learn guitar, not singing. So I sort of feel like it would be ok to move on once I’ve got the guitar bit OK. However, at the same time, a lot of those songs are not as satisfying if you can’t sing along as well. So because of that I don’t feel I’ve really learnt the song until I can sing and play at the same time. But this might be holding me up. At present I’m a bit frustrated by this as I can see some really exciting stuff coming up in the next modules of grade 2 which I would like to start learning.
Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks.
I think it comes down to what you want and what satisfies you which won’t be the same as my answer. I may learn to sing and play some day but it’s not my priority. Equally I have no interest in grades, I did grade 1 as a foundation and now I’m learning to play songs that I enjoy.
From what you say, it sounds like playing and singing is important to you, so go with that if it makes you happy. If there’s specific lessons that interest you then do them on an adhoc basis rather than trying to learn all of guitar. My opinion is don’t get hung up on grades, I see lots of people do though so you’ll definitely get people saying the exact opposite of what I say.
I don’t know if this will help but it helped me a lot… I can’t sing to save my life and not particularly fussed so I use the Moises app and remove everything from a track except for the vocal – actually have the guitars and drums at a very low volume to help me keep in time when I play along.
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but you re not forced to sing on songs …
You do it if you really feels like it and enjoys it
Modules are about learning to play guitar , not singing 
in the end its all up to you and how you are satisfied with what you’ve learned so far
Module 11 is particularly difficult , there are many stuff to learn
take the time you need , its not a race , move on if you re happy or keep on practicing songs if you feel like you need it
Hi Ian,
Avoid frustration…move on 
. I don’t sing and so I moved fast ( alitle to fast sometimes and now look back sometimes but always with pleasure)…and some songs in grade 3 are difficult for me even without singing and take me months to learn, and sometimes a grade 6 song is done in a few days…
Have fun 
Singing and playing together is challenging and requires a lot of automation of the playing technique. That takes time. I wouldn’t wait for the singing to get sorted. There’s plenty to learn in the beginner grades and time for consolidation in later stages, and you can play the same songs with different techniques as you progress.
Also watch the Nitsuj videos where Justin learns to play left handed and talks about when to move on.
Thanks so much for all the replies. All the comments are really helpful.
Indeed singing the lyrics while playing is quite important for me as I like singing and my wife likes it when I sing. So I’m quite motivated to do that. But it does hold me back from learning more guitar, so I think I’ll try and move along a bit more in the course. As @Beatup6String said, I can always come back to the songs at any time and during consolidation.
I originally took up guitar because I wanted to play punk songs that I liked in my youth, and I can see that the next modules cover the basics of power chords which I think are going to be very useful!!!
I really appreciate everyones advice.
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Are you playing the song because you love it, or just because it’s grade appropriate? If the latter, bin it and choose one you love, in either case move on to the next module once you can play the chord progression from memory, no matter how sucky the actual performance, just keep it in your practice routine until you’re happy with it.
Hi @Prof_Thunder
I recommend coming to terms with learning two things at once is going to take some extra time beyond just learning one thing. You are doing extra and it isn’t something that is simple.
Consider learning songs you like that do not have much technical effort involved beyond the lessons you have been through. Avoid picking songs with complex chord progressions or overly difficult stretches, vocal runs, etc. Keep it simple and make sure your guitar timing and accuracy is good shape while you are singing. This should get some songs under your control that enforce the lessons you have seen. Once you have those, then maybe you’ll feel really good about moving on.
Hopefully, keeping the songs simple will help speed up getting them under control so you feel like moving on is the right thing to do.
Personally, I did not follow that advice. I moved on when my brain was begging for new material, but my physical coordination still needed work. I find myself needing to go back to some basics fairly often to get them under control so that the new material is possible for me to work on.
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Yes I think this is good advice. Thanks.
The songs I’m learning are not very difficult (playing the easy version) and i can play some of them all almost as fast as the original. I can almost sing along to some of them going slowly. None have particularly difficult progressions. My current ones I’m learning are:
One, U2 Difficult to sing and get the right strumming. Not too bad without singing
Everybody hurts, REM. My first song finger style. Not too difficult to sing and play, slowly. I’m nowhere near the right bpm yet when singing but almost there when not singing
Patience, Guns n roses. Absolutely cannot play and sing this and can’t play it anywhere near correctly yet, except very slowly.
Rise, Gabrielle. Can play it. It’s almost the same as knocking on heavens door by Dylan. Cant play and sing it all the way through and keep the right strumming rhythm
Don’t open the door to strangers. The Church. A bit more obscure. Not a Justin lesson and I worked out the chord progression and strumming pattern myself, which I’m proud of. I can almost sing and play this one right through as I know the lyrics by heart.
Someone you loved. Lewis capaldi. I can quite easily play it just strumming chords. Singing and playing is difficult but I’m slowly getting there.
Good riddance, Green day. Can sing and play it if i strum the chords but not at full speed. I’ve got the chord progression down pretty well. I cannot play it or play and sing if trying to pick the individual notes like in the Justin lesson.
I may try the Moises app as someone suggested and mute the guitar track and then just play along to the original with original singing, bass and drums.