Patience is a Virtue

[ALBD]

Does anyone else find that patience is hard to master with everything guitar or is it just me? Gotta get that song to tempo NOW. Must have that type of guitar ASAP. Etc etc

[Bob from Brooklyn]

I like 'persistence' better.

[ALBD]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

I like 'persistence' better.

Haha! I’ll go with that! Thx

[vintageom]

It is Discipline for me. When I want to learn something difficult, I have to remind myself that if I want to play it fast and play it consistently well, I have to be able to play it slowly and PERFECTLY first...

I learned long ago to not get impatient and try to rip out a tune at full speed before I can play is slowly, without mistakes consistently.

Speed comes, trust the process.

[ALBD]

Originally Posted by vintageom

Speed comes, trust the process.

That’s a great reminder

[The Bard Rocks]

It's just you. No one else has that problem.... 'ceptin' for a few thousand

[Paddy1951]

Ask AGF members that TEACH, about patience. IMO, you cannot be a good teacher without huge amounts of patience.

Student or teacher, patience is necessary for success.

[maggard]

Originally Posted by Paddy1951

Ask AGF members that TEACH, about patience. IMO, you cannot be a good teacher without huge amounts of patience.

Student or teacher, patience is necessary for success.

I teach 7th grade Math. My patience is tested daily. [emoji21]

But on a serious note, the students that test your patience the most are the ones that need you the most.

[BluesKing777]

The classic line: ‘Three steps forward, two steps back!’


BluesKing777.

[tbeltrans]

It takes so long to learn to play guitar WELL, that we move from "patience is a virtue" to "flatulence is a virtue" because we reach old age before we reach guitar virtuosity. Don't worry, it happens to all of us. Another old adage that assures you that you will live long enough to gain that sought after virtuosity is "guitar players never die, they just smell that way".

So there are a couple of affirmations to keep ready at hand as you slog through the process of learning to play guitar.

Tony

[rokdog49]

As simple as it is, I'm having the hardest time playing the intro to the song " The Weight" by the band. It has this cutesy little timing thing I just can't seem to get into my little pea brain.

[ALBD]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

As simple as it is, I'm having the hardest time playing the intro to the song " The Weight" by the band. It has this cutesy little timing thing I just can't seem to get into my little pea brain.

Yep. That's a tricky little bit. Try carrying the strums on the beat thru the pause--get that down, then hold back (miss the strings) on a couple of strums. That's how I got it down.

[Misifus]

A great race driver has counseled aspiring racers to learn to drive smoothly, then speed will come. Analogous in guitar would be work on playing smoothly, and correctly, and speed will come.

I have had periods when I felt I had made no progress for some time only to have a friend explain, “Wow, when did you learn to do that!” We are often the poorest judges of our own progress.

[menhir]

At almost-but-not-quite 65 years of age, I've learned to accept the way I learn.

That doesn't mean I haven't thrown a piece of sheet music off that stand in frustration once in a while, but I'm been over that for a long time.

For me, everything takes a while to sink in. I'll sometimes practice a section for hours and and still stumble over it, but I now know that I'll "get it," maybe not that night or in the following day(s), but I'll still get it. So I just patiently and persistently keep at it. It's just the way I learn.

Oh yes, I'm a teacher (not guitar), too. I totally get the patience thing with some students. One thing I've noticed: Some (not all, obviously) of my students who had the easiest time at the beginning of training were the first to wash out when things later got tougher...They never had to deal with the frustration of having to work hard to to get to a higher level. They would sometimes quit in sheer frustration once things got difficult for them.
Other students who tried, failed, and tried again as often as it took, who learned to deal with frustration and the reward of ultimate success after a lot of sweat and sometimes, tears, tended to be the best performers in the long run.

In martial arts training, we teach that the only real failure is giving up.

[rmp]

it's all about developing the muscle memory, it takes time...

the guys you see ripping up and down the neck playing insane scales, took them TIME to be able do that.. you don't learn that crap in a day