Next shiny thing
 

I know I am not alone. I have about 20 songs that I know about 30-70% of the song.

Whether its flatpicking, fingerpicking or even strumming with difficult chords like lots of us beginners I get very disappointed in myself when I approach a song until it gets to a difficult part and then move on to something else.

I have two questions:

1. How long do you take to learn a new song? (I know they all have different degrees of difficulty but in general how long)

2. How do you fight through the urge to abandon the song when the going gets tough.

Ready, set, go........

Depends on difficulty of piece and if it's a nice enough piece to be worth the time of learning to play it. I would say if it takes more than a month to learn to play a three minute long piece half way decently it may be worth a reconsideration (I have read several times a fairly new guitarist say he is right off trying to learn some Tommy Emmanuel tune).

Sometimes it takes a few minutes, sometimes it takes a lifetime. Sometimes it’s both for the same song.

For example I play two Guy Clark songs that took only minutes to learn well enough to play for an audience, but both are songs that I’m continually adding bits and perfecting the performance. I’m not sure if I’m ever completely satisfied with a performance; it could always be more soulful, more melodic, sung with more authenticity, etc.

The two Guy Clark Songs are: Boats to Build and The Guitar. Actually, most of the Guy Clark songs I play could be done better. They are such good songs.

I often use tunes over my head to build up skills instead of just doing exercises.

So instead of doing speed drills I'm using Stephen Wake's Loch Awe. It also jumps around the fretboard a bit so it'll be good to use for that as well.

To keep from getting bored with Loch Awe I'm bouncing around to other things and writing my own short tunes as well. My guitar playing is sort of like
doing crossword puzzles. Once I learn a tune I just go on to the next. I don't work a tune until I get it memorized either as my dog can't tell if I'm sight reading or not :D

First of all, there is no "general" period of time to learn a new song, not for me... it takes what it takes and depends largely on the piece in question... if I were working up a fingerstyle arrangement of Ellington and Strayhorn's classic, "Lush Life", I could be at it for a LOOOONG time! Ha! If I'm learning a new Bob Dylan tune, not very long at all.

I haven't given up on a song because I think it's too difficult, but I HAVE given up when I realized that the song just wasn't going to work for my style or voice... I usually play solo, guitar and voice, and I have to able to cop a decent groove/feel with the songs I play, or I won't do them.

Maybe think about "Why" you want to play music, and let the answer to that question guide you. There's nothing wrong with learning a song 70%, if you don't plan on playing it for someone... always nice to "complete" a task, though.

I choose to play songs that I TRULY love and can "get into", so I'm always excited about learning something new that works for me and what I do!