Fellow Guitarists approaching or just passing 1 year check in HERE!

[Clemson_John]

I think I started taking lessons in April last year, so I'm approaching the one year mark. I'm also 40 this year with small children. I actually took it up because marriage and kids pretty much ended my older outdoor hobbies like golf and fishing.

I'm pretty much the exact opposite of the original post. I'm pretty poor with rhythm strumming and quick chord transitions, but I'm good with reading sheet music and playing a melody. It's what my teacher and instruction book have focused on so far, so I guess it's all in what you practice. I try to get in an hour of practice each day, but am not always successful. We've been moving into fingerstyle the past few weeks, which has been fun.

I've also developed the GAS problem early on. I've accumulated the acoustics below plus a American Telecaster and one of the higher end Epiphone Les Pauls. It's getting better though, as I was able to resist the ridiculous deal on the American Deluxe strat last week.

[radiomanjh]

my Sister bought me a cheap Tokai acoustic when I was 13 (wish I still had it) and Iv'e been playing off and on since then and thats been 51 years now. I just play at home and the wife likes it now and then and in the last month when I was noodling my dog started to howl so I guess that means something! all kidding aside it has been a wonderful hobby and I don't set goals, I just play. also have learned to work on my guitars which I really enjoy also. WHOOPS! got carried away with the years but all of you that have a year or so under your belts don't get discouraged, just enjoy yourselves.

[Freedbaby]

Originally Posted by Clemson_John

I think I started taking lessons in April last year, so I'm approaching the one year mark. I'm also 40 this year with small children. I actually took it up because marriage and kids pretty much ended my older outdoor hobbies like golf and fishing.

I'm pretty much the exact opposite of the original post. I'm pretty poor with rhythm strumming and quick chord transitions, but I'm good with reading sheet music and playing a melody. It's what my teacher and instruction book have focused on so far, so I guess it's all in what you practice. I try to get in an hour of practice each day, but am not always successful. We've been moving into fingerstyle the past few weeks, which has been fun.

I've also developed the GAS problem early on. I've accumulated the acoustics below plus a American Telecaster and one of the higher end Epiphone Les Pauls. It's getting better though, as I was able to resist the ridiculous deal on the American Deluxe strat last week.

An hour a day?!?! WOW that's ambitious.

Oh, and I still fish a LOT....so come on down and bring your Geetar and I'll learn you how you can still do BOTH! LOL

Originally Posted by radiomanjh

my Sister bought me a cheap Tokai acoustic when I was 13 (wish I still had it) and Iv'e been playing off and on since then and thats been 51 years now. I just play at home and the wife likes it now and then and in the last month when I was noodling my dog started to howl so I guess that means something! all kidding aside it has been a wonderful hobby and I don't set goals, I just play. also have learned to work on my guitars which I really enjoy also. WHOOPS! got carried away with the years but all of you that have a year or so under your belts don't get discouraged, just enjoy yourselves.

Thanks! It's been really fun reading all your posts. Keep em coming.

I think my wife is still surprised I have stuck with it so long.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Freedbaby

An hour a day?!?! WOW that's ambitious

I would call one hour per day a good start.
If it is concentrated and focused.
In the beginning it is harder because you won't know enough to keep going.
But very few will get past some simple cowboy chord songs on anything less.
Nothing wrong with 3 chord songs but it takes a lot for the average person to advance past that plateau.

[Kenbike]

Started October of 2013 and took 3 months in the spring of 2014 so really started over. Did my first open mic last week and had a blast! Never played anything until starting out at 52. Have more guitars then needed but collecting is half the fun.
Working on currently for next open mic.
Long Black Vail.
Angel from Montgomery.
Paradise
Really liking the acoustic over electric. In fact bonated my fender strat for a auction this past Saturday.

[ChibanaChosin]

Originally Posted by Guitartanzon

I am 63 and retired. Took up ukulele 3 years ago and got pretty good at it. started guitar about a year ago.......came accross 2 great bargain finds in a second hand shop.....a mint recording king rp-06 parlor for $100 bucks and a
1970 kiso suzuki hummingbird law suit copy 12 string for 100.00 bucks. since then I added a yamaha ls-06 and bought my brothers gibson j45 when he needed some fast cash. Also got a blueridge br 40tce 4 string tenor. Tip...want to make guitar playing easier.....get a uke and a tenor guitar....in many ways its a l harder to play than a guitar in some respects...especially chords on the tenor guitar tuned in fifths cgda...like all the d chord varients which require 4 fretlong 4 finger positions. i know playing muliple instruments has helped my guitar learning curve a lot.

That's similar to my story. I got into ukulele first when I saw cheap ones on the wall at Marshall Music when I was there for my son's viola lessons (part of school, and he's since stopped playing, unfortunately). That was about 3.5 years ago. I'm now on my fifth uke (the others have all been traded in), a mahogany tenor Kala that I like a great deal for the price. I would say that with uke, I'm fairly good, although music by ear does NOT come naturally for me. I do know a fair number of chords, and am fairly good at changing between them. I can sight read (which comes from my school clarinet and glee club days), and can do it pretty well on the uke. I even made my own arrangement of a Christmas song with the free software MuseScore. It turned out pretty well.

I'm just over a year with guitar, and I'm nowhere near where the OP is at! Then again, I've been focusing on basic exercises most of the time, mostly major scales, learning the notes on the fretboard, and fretboard walking exercises. I started with justinguitar.com, but started getting bored with the all-chords approach (at least in the early stages that I've done), and recently switched to the Hal Leonard method book I purchased months ago at Elderly Instruments. I've been much more interested in that. I learned uke primary through Hal Leonard method books. I like the focus on sight reading/melody while at the same time learning chords. I know 10 chords now, but I can only change fairly rapidly between D, A, and E, and to a lesser extent, Dmin, Amin, and Emin. I'm working on C, G7, G, and D7 now, in addition to those others. I'm getting there.

My main struggle is the fact that I just don't have an ear for this stuff. I've always been an intellectual/mathematical person (my degrees are in physics, and I work in network security), but not so great with this kind of thing. So I get the music theory (I've also spent quite a bit of time on that) pretty well, and the concept of sight reading isn't terribly difficult for me. But when it comes to just trying to make some music with strumming and notes, forget about it. I'm hoping that I can develop an ear for this with time. Even if I don't, I'm having a lot of fun, and would be satisfied if all I do is play melody combined with chords via sight reading the printed page. I also really enjoyed making that arrangement for uke, so I see me doing that for guitar once I get there. Because of this, I think my favorite type of guitar will likely end up being classical. I don't own one, yet, but that will probably happen sometime in the next year or two. For now I'm in love with my Martin 000-15M.

[dnj300]

Originally Posted by ChibanaChosin

That's similar to my story. I got into ukulele first when I saw cheap ones on the wall at Marshall Music when I was there for my son's viola lessons (part of school, and he's since stopped playing, unfortunately). That was about 3.5 years ago. I'm now on my fifth uke (the others have all been traded in), a mahogany tenor Kala that I like a great deal for the price. I would say that with uke, I'm fairly good, although music by ear does NOT come naturally for me. I do know a fair number of chords, and am fairly good at changing between them. I can sight read (which comes from my school clarinet and glee club days), and can do it pretty well on the uke. I even made my own arrangement of a Christmas song with the free software MuseScore. It turned out pretty well.

I'm just over a year with guitar, and I'm nowhere near where the OP is at! Then again, I've been focusing on basic exercises most of the time, mostly major scales, learning the notes on the fretboard, and fretboard walking exercises. I started with justinguitar.com, but started getting bored with the all-chords approach (at least in the early stages that I've done), and recently switched to the Hal Leonard method book I purchased months ago at Elderly Instruments. I've been much more interested in that. I learned uke primary through Hal Leonard method books. I like the focus on sight reading/melody while at the same time learning chords. I know 10 chords now, but I can only change fairly rapidly between D, A, and E, and to a lesser extent, Dmin, Amin, and Emin. I'm working on C, G7, G, and D7 now, in addition to those others. I'm getting there.

My main struggle is the fact that I just don't have an ear for this stuff. I've always been an intellectual/mathematical person (my degrees are in physics, and I work in network security), but not so great with this kind of thing. So I get the music theory (I've also spent quite a bit of time on that) pretty well, and the concept of sight reading isn't terribly difficult for me. But when it comes to just trying to make some music with strumming and notes, forget about it. I'm hoping that I can develop an ear for this with time. Even if I don't, I'm having a lot of fun, and would be satisfied if all I do is play melody combined with chords via sight reading the printed page. I also really enjoyed making that arrangement for uke, so I see me doing that for guitar once I get there. Because of this, I think my favorite type of guitar will likely end up being classical. I don't own one, yet, but that will probably happen sometime in the next year or two. For now I'm in love with my Martin 000-15M.

I'm in a very similar place as you with my acoustic. When I first started I tried learning the basics, finger walking the fret board, scales, various other exercises. I found it too tedious. Obviously you have to learn the basic chords, but since then I've found more success and enjoyment by spending more of my time learning songs. I still do some basic exercises for more difficult chords like barres. I have found that I'm learning new chords all the time just by stumbling across new ones when I learn a new song. Seems to be working better for me. Yes, this will leave gaps in my abilities that will need filling down the road, but I'll tackle those when needed.
I also, like you, do not have an ear at all. I have a good friend who has been playing all his life. I'm amazed how he can listen to a song hes never heard before, pick up his guitar and fiddle around with for 15mins, and nail every chord just by ear. He has told me that over time I will develop a good ear too, so I am hopeful.

[mlbman]

I have been playing since July of 2014.......I do most of my playing on a Seagull S6 and a Fender CD 60..........recently purchased an Alvarez Mahogony 00 size.....and am loving them all.........I am basically a strummer and wanting to learn lead and fingerstyle but that will have to come at a slower pace. I enjoy strumming and am working on my singing. I love music and this gets me in the game. Keep playing!