So I first picked up a guitar in May 2019. Hacked around on Youtube etc for a couple of months. Had lessons since Sept 19 until March this year. Been practicing quite hard throughout. Now I have no intention of stopping as I am enjoying the learning, but... I can't play any complete songs, I can do some very basic E, A, D rifts (?). I was expecting on being far further forward than I am and the self discipline in not checking Youtube for "After a year of playing I can do this" videos has not worked. Am I expecting too much or is there a case of old dog new tricks or some people just cant?
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"Am I expecting too much"
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I believe there is probably too much stuff out there , a five minuet video can present a few thing that will take years to master .
Two things that took me years find out . Most of the player I liked did not play in stranded tuning . The other thing I learnt, When learning something new , only play at the speed you can , and not make mistakes.
Regardless of what level we're at it's all to easy to fall back on the things we are comfortable with and can already play and not really challenge ourselves.
Playing the intro to Back in Black over and over isn't practising, it's just noodling.
Youtube is a great resource for guitarists but it's also an enabler for the above. It's very easy to flit between channels learning a bit of this and a bit of that.
Our bass player went from non player to being able to gig 60+ tunes in 2yrs. He does 30 mins a day but is completely focused on learning the set.
That'll get you practising!
If you want a suggestion how about knocking on heaven's door.
1) How long it takes is dependant on so many factors, including natural ability and dexterity, the level you want to achieve, strength and durability of fretting hand and wrist, inclination, practice time, quality of kit etc. etc. and
2) The important bit is to enjoy the journey, not see it is an end result. I've now been playing over 45 years, taught my son (who is now better than me), taught a friends son, and I'm still learning, so target learning a song or Riff by all means, but don't worry about overall level, as this will take care of it's self, dependant on the factors in A. Enjoy your journey!
I started a bit before you, Jan 2019 at 57 and basically wasted the first year having weekly one-to-one lessons, brilliant well respected teacher, great player, but I never did respond well to that kind of learning/work environment and felt under pressure to keep up. Switched to Justin's on line course and been making great progress, probably because I can work at my own pace and the only person I'm trying to impress is me.
The best advise I can give is keep practicing, you don't have to be the best, just try to be the best that you can be.
Cheers
Grampa
But the biggest jump in my confidence and ability came after joining a band(who are all way more talented than me).
We've not played together for a while, for obvious reasons, but learning new material and practicing becomes so much more focused when you don't want to let your band mates down.
You also realise that in order to REALLY learn a piece of music you have to play it so many times that you don't have to think about it any more... Sometimes to the point that your fed up with playing it. But that is when the 'muscle memory' really works.
Sorry.. Long, waffling post but it genuinely does make a massive difference.
I really don't think that anyone is so limited that they can't get to playing full songs though, it will just take more time and effort.
I can think of a specific person I know who is completely tone deaf and has quite a poor sense of timing but has learned to play many full songs including some solos etc.
If you're youtubing people's progress after a year then you'll likely get as good as that but it might take longer. Only if the person is highly gifted, imo, could they already be at an unattainable level after a year.
Don't know what your long term goals are but I am quite sure you'll get to the point of playing songs.
Oh sorry I thought we were talking about masturbation.
tosser