When I learned to play guitar....

[TBman]

Originally Posted by KDepew

TBman, I love the advice that accuracy is the most important thing. That speed will come with practice. Gonna totally steal the "playing too fast just helps you make mistakes faster" comment if you don't mind!

Sometimes I also say "playing too fast just teaches you fast mistakes", lol. Help yourself to the comments. Whatever it takes to spread the fun of playing to others.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

That's the most unusual thing I've seen posted here on the AGF.

I don't know why. The convenience store clerks in Nashville can probably outplay 95% of the pros elsewhere.

I remember the story Ken Dykes told about moving to Austin. He had been the hottest thing in Mississippi and everyone told him to go to Austin. He was gassing his car and the attendant saw his guitar case and asked if he could see it. Dykes gave him the guitar and stood slack jawed as this kid just tore into all these amazing blues riffs. After that, he figured it might be harder to crack in than he expected.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by TBman

Just remember that accuracy is more important than speed. Speed comes with time. Practicing or playing too fast, just teaches you to make mistakes faster.

That is something I struggle with all the time.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by colchar

That is something I struggle with all the time.

Yep I believe it's called mistake rehearsing. Super hard to unlearn.

[billder99]

Originally Posted by fazool

The most important and profound advice I got (which I share at every opportunity) was from one of my two guitar mentors. When asking about figuring out a song, I wanted to know UDUDUUDDUD but he was exasperated and said "you guys need to stop trying to figure out the strum pattern and just feelthe music". I embraced this approach and it has made all the difference for me.

Fazool, I am envious that you had the ability to learn by feel. I tried, but failed and failed... I couldn't "get it" on my own, too spastic. After months of never being quite right, I did 3 things:

1. Go Slow: I found Rob Hampton's guitar lessons, and then Justin Sandercoe's lessons (both on YouTube)... both guys teach strum patterns with songs, and emphasize using a metronome for scales. It took me about a year to finally start to "feel" the music, another year to start to play joyfully. The trick for me (Mr Spastic) was learning to SLOW DOWN the patterns, keep it in time with the metronome, and then slowly build up speed while keeping it clean. Timing is everything... I never could have learned good timing by feel.
2. Right Hand Technique: I had trouble holding the pick. I learned pick holding technique and correct right hand position, and also cross picking (CLEAN cross picking) from Adam Schenkler (YouTube). These are critical skills to master.
3. String Time: I committed to logging my practice, playing 12 hours per week, and playing with intense focus (not noodling... paying close attention to doing virtually everything right). Everyone learns differently, but one thing we all have in common... if we invest the string time and focus, it will pay off. It is easy to play a bit, it takes a lot of play time to play well... I suspect for most of us it takes years to feel comfortable with the guitar.

Billder99, the three points you mentioned are the things which give me the most problems.
Thank you for spelling them out for me.
Recognizing ones problems is the first step towards correcting them!
I have a lot of work in front of me...(but I aim to enjoy it).