When you get frustrated with the pace of your improvement, how do you manage?

[Dru Edwards]

Horse, do you think in person lessons may help? A teacher may be able to point out some technique aspects that may help you progress.

[Horsehockey]

I started at age 67. Slower than a one legged man in an *** kicking contest. What I found important for me was to pick up the guitar and play some thing, or practice something for a few minutes every day – whether I was in the mood or not. What I discovered? I always felt a little bit better after practicing. I think if you don’t feel a little bit better afterwards, something ain’t right.

[Horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Horse, do you think in person lessons may help? A teacher may be able to point out some technique aspects that may help you progress.

I have had some in-person lessons recently, and they have been very helpful. I shouldn't have put that off so long.

What seems to be most frustrating at my level of development is there's no skill that is developed enough to feel good about. It's not like I am playing OK rhythm guitar and now trying to learn fingerpicking. There's no foundation to fall back on and enjoy, because everything is still hard.

I understand this is how it goes for everyone at first but that does not make it easier to swallow.

Like I said, I know I am too hard on myself. I know I have unrealistic expectations and I know I ain't going to be playing anything at the speed of the original recording for a while... but knowing my flaws is only half the battle, hah.

Thanks for listening to my griping... there is a lot of good stuff here to think about. I appreciate it.

[TheGITM]

I have been playing guitar for something like 40 years (hey, I started young!).

At first, it seems impossible. Just getting the right pressure on a string and in the right spot to make it ring out was so hard (it didn't help that my first guitars were not good, easily playable guitars).

Then there are chords. Take the tablature and get the fingers in the right places... then strum. Some strings don't sound right. Not enough pressure or not correct fingering position. Work work work!

Then there's strumming patterns. I can play an open G to D to C and back to G... but how do I get the same sound as the song I am trying to play? Start working on the down/up patterns. Along with that, start to learn the subtleties of which strings to include in the strumming patterns. Sometime you need to mute something... Aeeeeiiiyy! This is hard!

But how do I do finger picking? Guess I need to teach the fingers to memorize patterns. How do I do that? As with everything else we learn well... hours and hours and hours of repetition! Do it until it becomes muscle memory!

Guitar is hard. But not really. Going back through my memories I find that the actual hardest part was getting past sore fingers/finger tips. It took so long to get the fretting fingers tough enough so that I could practice for hours day after day. Once I had that, then it was just repetition of the old and adding in some new challenges. I also had a lot of other guitar players around that I could watch and learn from.

What I found were jumps in ability, not slow progression. What I mean by that is that I could work hard on a strumming pattern for hours... days... and not seem to make progress, and then suddenly it would click and I'd have it down. Same thing with certain picking patterns. I would practice and practice and practice... and get very frustrated... then one day BOOM it would click. There is something about pushing practice to a certain point... and then it works.

At the end of the day we each have our own learning path, and we advance at different rates, but basic idea is that the key to achieving your goals is relentless pursuit (by way of practice). If you stay with it long enough you will accomplish your goals!

I don't think I thought of myself as a good guitar player until well after 10 years of playing... and I kept improving for a good 10 years after that. The past 20 years or so I've just been doing what I do... and that's been good enough for me.

All the best with your guitar playing! Play more!!!

[tbeltrans]

Play more, worry less.

That sounds like yet another dumb platitude. However, digging down into it a bit, a lot is covered in that short sentence.

As others have pointed out, enjoy the journey. In my own experience, if the time I am putting in every day is simply the work I have to get through for that "someday" when I will be able to play, then it is likely that I will never get there.

If, on the other hand, each day that I get to play guitar is an enjoyable, relaxing time out from my daily routine, then each day becomes an experience more important than that "someday" since I am already playing.

Realize that you can already play something at any stage of your development and enjoy that simple fact. Don't compare yourself to others, especially those who have been playing longer and/or are able to put in much more time. There could be many reasons that somebody else can play something you can't (yet).

I would just continue plodding along as the rest of us do, and make sure you are working on material that you want to play. Everything comes in time, so enjoy your playing today and don't let tomorrow intrude.

In short, play more and worry less. If there is any portion of your day where that can be absolutely true, it is when you have your guitar in hand.

Tony

[Skarsaune]

Lots of good advice in this thread.

When I've taught beginners, there are definitely plateaus that can be discouraging until you can get past them. Two in particular are: developing the muscle memory to make chord shapes - this finger goes here, that one goes there, etc. - and then transitioning between chord shapes in time (even if that time is very slow!).

Once you can make chord shapes, and change between them, you're making music. This is a super rewarding level to get to. Then it's strum patterns, more chords, etc etc.

I'm 30+ years in, and I'm a competent, if rudimentary, guitarist. The beauty of the guitar to me is that it is a lifetime learning journey - there is always another technique, a unique artist, another song.

Don't let it frustrate you. Take a short break if you need to, but do try to pick up the guitar even just 10 minutes a day. And remember it's called PLAYING the guitar - take time to just have fun with it, too.

[TRose]

Horseflesh,
As a relative beginner I understand the impatience,frustration and discouragement that can complicate our guitar study. I’m four years in and though still on the scary ( and exhilaratingly )steep part of the learning curve I’m learning to play things that I once thought would be forever out of reach. Stick with it. It will happen for you too.

Remember that “Talent” is most often simply the willingness and determination to stick with an activity through the period of time that you are not very good at it. Yes, there are prodigies, born with special abilities. But the overwhelming majority of great musicians, artists , athletes, astronauts, surgeons-name it-had to be trained and then work hard to achieve mastery. We, you and I, are wonderfully normal in that way!

Stick with it and enjoy your journey.

Best,
Tom

[EZYPIKINS]

With all the tutorials on Youtube, I don't know how people can still run into this wall.

I don't read music. None of the musicians I know read either.

When I was learning. When am I not learning.

There was only records to get your intel .

[Joe Beamish]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

With all the tutorials on Youtube, I don't know how people can still run into this wall.

I don't read music. None of the musicians I know read either.

When I was learning. When am I not learning.

There was only records to get your intel .

In a way you’ve answered your own question. Now there are so many instructional videos. So many shiny new techniques. Another new direction to take. And another. And another.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Horseflesh

Did you ever reach a point in your studies where you felt like, "even if I never get any better, I am happy with where I am now," or does the road always feel infinite?

Yes, I felt that a few months into learning to play, and then continuously for more than 40 years. It's a fuzzy balance: using and enjoying what you have -- and then improving what you know into what you can do better as well as finding out new things.

[Glennwillow]

I think the key to making progress on the guitar and staying with it is to enjoy each step along the way. I would suggest trying to avoid being a perfectionist; it's really poisonous to motivation. You will never be perfect.

We are never done learning, not on the guitar, not in many areas of life. I was learning to use new design simulation computer programs the year before I retired from my engineering job at age 68. I am age 74 and have been playing seriously since I was 16, much of that time professionally. I learn new stuff all the time. I'm working on learning a new way to finger pick right now. Yes, it's frustrating at times, but you have to be patient with yourself and enjoy seeing the progress you are making.

I look at it this way. It takes time to learn something new and hard. I have to keep working at it every day for as much as I can stand it, and then let my brain work at it in my sleep to process that new knowledge and skills. Then I pick it up the next day and try again, then repeat until I have it. Learning to play the guitar takes time, it's a process, and you will never be done unless you give up.

Things take time.

- Glenn

[rokdog49]

I’m just content to be able to do what I do. I can play a mean rhythm guitar, play some fills and a few blues riffs and sing acceptably. That’s a lot more meaningful to me than fingerpicking instrumentals…not my thing.
Any improvement no matter how modest, is icing on the cake.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Horseflesh

This is mostly some beginner venting but if anyone has advice I am all ears.

Learning the guitar is hard. Like, super hard. I had a rough patch the other day where I got really frustrated, and it was demoralizing. There are so many separate skills that need to come together in perfect sync to play something cleanly... And just when you make progress on one, you realize there's something new blocking you from perfect execution. Or even good execution.

When you get frustrated trying to improve your skills, how do you break through, and keep from getting discouraged?

Did you ever reach a point in your studies where you felt like, "even if I never get any better, I am happy with where I am now," or does the road always feel infinite?

I know that I am making progress, but I am unreasonably self-critical and picky which does not help. My instructor keeps telling me, "you're honestly doing well, try to have fun, relax, drink a beer if you gotta," but that is hard advice to take when I only ever see the next hurdle, not what I have already accomplished.

Given you user name, Interestingly enough one possible suggestion actually comes from the world of horse training '

Each new lesson is (or should be) predicated on the building blocks of previous more fundamental lessons ,,, and when you hit a wall,, go back and work on a more basic lesson agin,,, get that really solid agin and then try to move forward ...

[Pura Vida]

I usually drink more and remind myself that I'll never be the rock star I wished I'd be. Kidding (well, I did want to be a rock star when I was younger!).

My advice would be to pay close attention to where you think your improvement areas are, and then focus on one item at a time. Then go back to your normal playing / practice routine. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[tinnitus]

More than a few self-help type gurus (musical and otherwise) strongly recommend taking tiny bite-size chunks when endeavoring to eat an elephant.

They all agree that a minute a day for a month will yield far better results than a single 30-minute cram-fest. I found some version of this to be true (actually 3-5 minutes a day) when I was woodshedding new cover songs at home to get ready for weekly band practice. We (humans) tend to keep working on stuff subconsciously between practices, even while we're sleeping.