A big welcome from Sydney Judes.
You've been given great advice so far. If you play everyday you'll gradually be able to increase the amount of time you spend playing. THe more you play the faster you learn. One great piece of advice that I received was to practice a few times a day if you can because it is better to play more often than to play for the same amount of time in one chunk. It's better for your brain as it reinforces what you're learning. So once you get past 15-20 minutes or even before that, start to break your practice up. You could work on changing notes or forming chords or changing chords, or learning a simple song for a short period of time, go and do something else and then come back later and play a little again. If you get a stand and place your guitar somewhere accessible, you can pick it up and play for a few minutes when you walk past. This can help to stop your fingers getting too sore too.
I can't say how long it takes to become proficient. I'm definitely not there myself - no where near in fact. But, I will tell you that if you play everyday, use the resources on this site and challenge yourself a little trying new stuff that before you know it you'll be playing things that you didn't think you'd be capable of just a little while before. THat's how it was for me anyway.
And remember it is suppose to be fun - if it is feeling like a chore and making you feel, bad put the guitar down and come back later when you're a little fresher and definitely don't play until your fingers are really sore or you'll impeded your progress.
GOod luck - enjoy the journey.
Michele
Complete Beginner......ugh!
Proficient? That's a hard question to answer especially since most of here think we suck beyond belief! LOL It is very subjective. Just stick with it and in a month or two (if you practice everyday for 1/2 hour to and hour) you will be playing songs. And amazingly enough, your first tune will be by the Beatles! :laugh:
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jmichellen
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Thanks for the information! I might try that.... playing a few different times of the day and see how that works out. I am excited about this though!!
Thanks everyone!!
Thanks everyone!!
Hi Judy,
Dennis in Seattle. Trust me, we feel your pain because we've all experienced it. But you've done the right thing by becoming a Target member and going after the learning process.
A couple words about your question regarding proficiency: forget it. First, the ability to obtain proficiency varies wildly from person to person. It's like asking how long it takes to be proficient at playing basketball. Some people will become good at it right away, while others will never be any good at it -- and all points in between those two extremes. Second, proficiency is in the eye of the beholder -- what I might describe as proficient might be mediocrity to someone else.
The beauty of guitar playing is that it's very easy to measure your own success: chord changes that you weren't able to do smoothly one day suddenly become much easier, with less time spent fumbling around for proper fingering.
It's important to practice the things that are difficult for you, but it's equally important to just play songs and have fun. Playing the guitar shouldn't be drudgery; it should be something you look forward to every day.
There's something amazing that happens when you work hard at playing the guitar: for me, it was the song "Here comes the sun," a song I've loved since it was released in 1969. I never ever imagined that I could play it on the guitar -- and then one day I could. It was a great feeling. The better you get, the more weapons you can use to slay the dragons that once seemed so large and powerful.
Dennis in Seattle. Trust me, we feel your pain because we've all experienced it. But you've done the right thing by becoming a Target member and going after the learning process.
A couple words about your question regarding proficiency: forget it. First, the ability to obtain proficiency varies wildly from person to person. It's like asking how long it takes to be proficient at playing basketball. Some people will become good at it right away, while others will never be any good at it -- and all points in between those two extremes. Second, proficiency is in the eye of the beholder -- what I might describe as proficient might be mediocrity to someone else.
The beauty of guitar playing is that it's very easy to measure your own success: chord changes that you weren't able to do smoothly one day suddenly become much easier, with less time spent fumbling around for proper fingering.
It's important to practice the things that are difficult for you, but it's equally important to just play songs and have fun. Playing the guitar shouldn't be drudgery; it should be something you look forward to every day.
There's something amazing that happens when you work hard at playing the guitar: for me, it was the song "Here comes the sun," a song I've loved since it was released in 1969. I never ever imagined that I could play it on the guitar -- and then one day I could. It was a great feeling. The better you get, the more weapons you can use to slay the dragons that once seemed so large and powerful.
Hi and welcome. Izzy in Colorado. You have gotten good advice here. The key for me is repetition. I get impatient and want to learn the whole song. But what works for me is to break down the first few measures, and get the first measure down before moving on. Somehow that doesn't seem so daunting, especially on something complicated. Even though I so BADLY want to play a whole song. Well - it is motivating to play a whole song. And if you can find an easy one, go for it. I just learned Blackbird and I spent one whole practice session doing just one chord progression over and over, because it was awkward for me. How does it feel? Where are my fingers? Am I fretting in the right place? Can I do it without looking? Just all these little tricks to get that one spot imbedded in my brain. I also put a guitar stand in my living room. I pick the guitar up a bunch of times during the day. I work from home so I have that luxury. But then I do have dedicated practice time every day. With the advent of tablature, you don't really need to be able to read music. You have picked the best place to learn. The Beginner lessons are top notch. And you can go through the same lesson over and over and over. But like someone else said, don't make this drudgery. It is supposed to be joyous. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself, or it will become work. We are all here for you, and will help you in any way we can. You are lucky in a way that you are new. I have so many bad habits from being self-taught, so I really have to work to un-learn some things. If you start playing right from the very beginning, those theories and finger placements will make new songs so much easier to learn. Have a blast !! You have certainly made the best decision for learning to play. Neil is the best. Can't wait for your first video. :silly:
Hi Judy and welcome aboard from New Jersey. There's not much I can add to the responses you've already received here except that the pain and frustration that we all go through when beginning to play is the single best argument for not ever stopping. I've had a few lapses in my playing since I began and each time it's that same agony of waiting for callouses to build up and the muscle memory to return. Keep your practices enjoyable but by all means keep them up; you'll be a star in not time. All the best,
Tom
Tom
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Music Junkie
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Hey Judy!
Welcome from Ventura, CA. Everyone has given great advice. We HAVE all been there (some of us still are - myself included). I still don't have the smooth note transitions like you hear coming from Neil. However, playing has never been more fun since I joined this site. If you stick with it and practice regularly, you will be amazed at how fast things improve. Most importantly, have fun with it and ask all the questions you can. There is a great bit of knowledge floating around this site and lots of great folks willing to share it.
Cheers!
MJ
Welcome from Ventura, CA. Everyone has given great advice. We HAVE all been there (some of us still are - myself included). I still don't have the smooth note transitions like you hear coming from Neil. However, playing has never been more fun since I joined this site. If you stick with it and practice regularly, you will be amazed at how fast things improve. Most importantly, have fun with it and ask all the questions you can. There is a great bit of knowledge floating around this site and lots of great folks willing to share it.
Cheers!
MJ
Hi Judy,
You already received a lot of good input here, so I won't repeat any of it, but I will add that the problem you first noted (fingers don't spread much and all of them want to move together) can be improved quickly by simple and painless hand exercises.
I think the best way for you to see what you can expect to achieve at TG is to look at TG Student Review videos. Look at some of our first uploads then look at the most recent uploads from the same players and compare the quality of their playing. Some members were already fine players when they got here, but I can name a number of members who have shown much improvement in the six or seven months we have been uploading videos.
I'm confident that whatever work you put into TG will yield results many times over what you might expect. And then there's the forum community......There's lots of help there for the asking.
You already received a lot of good input here, so I won't repeat any of it, but I will add that the problem you first noted (fingers don't spread much and all of them want to move together) can be improved quickly by simple and painless hand exercises.
I think the best way for you to see what you can expect to achieve at TG is to look at TG Student Review videos. Look at some of our first uploads then look at the most recent uploads from the same players and compare the quality of their playing. Some members were already fine players when they got here, but I can name a number of members who have shown much improvement in the six or seven months we have been uploading videos.
I'm confident that whatever work you put into TG will yield results many times over what you might expect. And then there's the forum community......There's lots of help there for the asking.