If you could go back to your first year.....

I'd say to my 13 year old self "Way to go kid. It's awesome that you chose to learn the guitar instead of wasting your life playing video games!"

[Joe Beamish]

1) I wish I would have learned the basics of music....memorizing and applying the circle of fifths, the triads and major scales, memorizing the notes on the fretboard. If not during the first year, then at least earlier than I actually did. These things only help you. Immensely.

2) Playing more often with other people. Not just guitarists, but singers, bass players, fiddlers, anybody.

3) Practicing/playing with a metronome or drum machine.

4) In fact, take up drumming as well. Get a small kit and practice.

[bufflehead]

I bought a Guild D25 my sophomore year of college because the Martin D-18 I wanted cost twice as much. ($240 for the Guild as opposed to $450 for the Martin back then.) That Guild was my only guitar for 30+ years until I absolutely wore it out.

If I had to do it all over, I would have sold my car for the extra cash I needed to buy the Martin. The car was a '68 Fiat 850 coup, and wasn't worth much more than the Martin.

[BluesBelly]

Originally Posted by sloar

What would you change? Would you change how you learned or certain paths you took? I’m heading into my second year and I’m on this journey by myself. I’m from a small town with very little opportunity to play or learn from someone in person and I’m always questioning my progress or how I’m going about it. What have you learned later on in your journey that you wish you would’ve done differently?

Sloar
You don't really have a specific subject matter so:
1)I would have started paying more attention to the ladies at an earlier age.
2)I would have studied harder
3)I would have saved every cent I ever made or earned
4)I would have moved to a warmer climate
5)I would have learned to walk away from toxic and negative people
6)I would have punched a Bully in the face
7)I would have listened to older folks because they know what the score is
8)I would have learned how to be a smart Alec at an earlier age.

The list is never ending

BS aside, I would have invested in a good guitar first thing. I would have paid more attention to acoustic than electric. I would have studied music theory. I would have practiced way more than I did. I Would have studied fingerstyle and classical as well as popular music. I would have hung on to some of the vintage equipment that I once owned and that is now worth HUGE money

Blues

[Ludere]

Originally Posted by LifesShort

I would have had my guitar setup properly. I had no idea such a thing could be done. I was 12 years old when I got my first guitar and knew nothing about them except that I wanted to learn to play. The action on mine was so high that I hated playing it and gave up after about a year. I didn't get serious about guitar for many years simply because I thought that all guitars played like that. I had monster callouses and it was impossible for me to play a bar chord on it.

^^^ This times 100! ^^^

...

[buddyhu]

I think every one of the previous recommendations is good, and many are great.

I wish I had known about the magic of repetition: Choosing something that you want to learn, like a lick, or a shift from one chord to another, or a particular chord shape, and just doing it 10 times on a row each day (or if you touch the guitar more than once a day, 10 repetitions each time you touch it). And stick with it every day for 2 or 3 weeks (or more). If you put in focused repetition and time, LOTS of things become possible.

[fongie]

I would love to read music but I probably wouldn't change anything. I love the way I learnt the guitar, I had so much fun. I've had great teachers most importantly. Hard work yes but fun. I've seen so many that have studied music professionally and I don't think I can do that. Started late but it was all worth it. Should anything happen to me now, I would be a happy man.

[gmel555]

1) I'd have learned (gotten instruction) in fingerpicking and scales much earlier than I did; and 2) would have kept my first couple of guitars instead of selling for what was really a pittance versus what those guitar would mean to me today.

[Bob Womack]

In my first year, 1970, I got about four lessons before my teacher basically gave up on me (he told me about it later) and then spent the rest of the year as a latchkey kid. I didn't have a lot of options so I spend hours learning guitar on my own. These days they call it "woodshedding."

Being that I didn't have a lot of options I don't have a lot of regrets. What the heck: I still have my first guitar!

Bob

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by sloar

What would you change? Would you change how you learned or certain paths you took?...What have you learned later on in your journey that you wish you would’ve done differently?

Had an excellent teacher - a then-teenage jazz phenom named Jack Wilkins - but as the music world was going through extensive changes in the early/mid-60's I drifted almost exclusively into the rock side of things (haven't really played jazz seriously since my early high-school days); although I can still do chord-solo vocal backup and lay down a mean eight-to-the-bar comp line, I probably would've kept up with the more intricate single-string stuff...

Probably would've also talked my father into picking up some of those sweet old Big Band-era Epiphones that could be had for $100 or less on Manhattan's 14th Street "Pawnshop Row" - be worth a small fortune today...

[Glennwillow]

I remember being ecstatic about the guitar after my first year of playing. From my viewpoint then, I would not have changed anything.

If I could go back as a grandfather to myself after one year of playing, I would probably have a lot to offer myself on how to play better and improve faster. Or... maybe not. I was playing for money by age 18 after only two years of playing because I was so immersed in learning and playing the guitar. So it's hard to think about what I would have had to offer that would have resulted in any different outcome.

But then I don't have a time machine...

- Glenn

[David Eastwood]

I transitioned from the oboe to the guitar at the age of 14 or so.

I went from being able to sight-read complex single-note lines to being an absolute dunce. I wish I'd recognized it at the time, and worked to transfer the skill.

In (slightly) later life, I went through a similar transition from a single-cylinder motorcycle to a car. The former was easy, the latter had entirely too many of everything going on at once. I went from being a fairly adept mechanic to not knowing which end of the screwdriver to use.

The other thing I'd love to have had is some understanding of the mechanics and geometry of the guitar. I know a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (as is demonstrated here quite frequently ), but knowing about those aspects of the instrument would, I believe, have saved me quite a lot of time, pain and money in those early days.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by LifesShort

I would have had my guitar setup properly. I had no idea such a thing could be done.

This too! My first guitar didn't have a setup until I'd played it so much that I needed a fret job. Sheesh. It was not a playable guitar up to that point, but that was because of my own ignorance.

Back in the '70s, I don't remember anyone talking about setups. And of course, we didn't have internet forums to expand our horizons.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

And of course, we didn't have internet forums to expand our horizons.

Or turn us all into experts

[guitararmy]

I would have told myself to learn the piano first...I can always learn to be a mediocre guitar player like I am now later.
And pay more attention to girls.