Beginners blues

The obvious question is to look at where we're starting from.

How do you allocate that 30 minutes now?

Kinda random, I like to warm up by going up and down the first 4 frets using all 4 fingers. Then practice through my basic chords. Then I'll try and do some scales. At the end I try and do some basic 3 chord song and practice rythm. It all feels rushed, but if I don't get through it all I don't know if I'll advance my learning.

You probably don't need to practise all those scales or chromatics every day, and I'd suggest dropping some of the chords in favour of whatever different chords you need to work to play song "X"

For a 30-minute session, I'd recommend a couple of minutes warming up on scales and chords, and then get stuck into a song. I'd have two or three songs on the chopping block at a time.

We have bucketloads of uncomplicated songs here; take youself over to our lessons pages. Anything you can't understand there we can fix here.

You should be able to follow any blues backing track on the internet if you have been at it for two years. Theres not alot of chords in blues that I found out. If you know your pentatonic scales, you should be well on your way to playing blues. I've been at it for a little over two years, and I can improvise with any blues backing track. I just started wtih A minor penta scale

How should I go about making the most of my practice time, I only have about 30 minutes a day except for one day a week when I can practice up to several hours. I have also started to get the blues about not getting anywhere, been trying for 2 years and feel I should be able to do more but I think I'm still at that beginner in the first month stage. Very depressing. Thanks for advice in advance.

Easy.
1. Learn some fundamentals of how harmony works and some basics of reharmonization
2. Learn the I major pentatonic scale for each key that you're working in
3. use that 30 minutes in one of the following ways (mix it up during the week):
a. practice the pentatonic scale in each key for the songs you are working on
b. listen to different recordings of the song, try to imitate the rhythm guitar player
c. listen to different recordings of the song, play your pentatonic scale over the changes
d. listen to random songs on the radio and try to imitate the rhythm guitar in real-time
e. by ear figure out the melody and chords to simple well known folks songs, Christmas songs, etc like "When Johnny comes Marching home", Greensleeves, It's a Merry Christmas, etc.

A major blues scale is the same as a major pentatonic scale with a b3
A minor blues scale is the same as a major blues scale, starting on the 6 instead of the 1

I think keeping your motivation is key. If you feel you are just going through the motions you'll just be spinning your wheels and won't get anywhere.

I'd ask... what are your goals? Why do you want to play guitar anyways?

If it's to accompany yourself while you sing, that's a different goal than being able to go to a blues jam and sit in and play some leads.

My point is... you have to see yourself making progress for what you want to do in the long run. For me I knew I wanted to sing and play guitar so that's all I worked on in the beginning. I learned chords to songs I wanted to sing. And because I was doing what I liked it went quickly.

Much later on I got interested in playing leads so once my interest was there I focused on that and made good progress.

So again, if you keep in mind what your musical goals are...what's going to be the most fun... then you will make better progress because it becomes a labor of love... rather than just "labor."

Musicians are always learning and improving their chops. As someone said before, figure out what you want to do as a musician. Do you want to play lead guitar or rhythm? Do you want to play folk music and accompany your own singing? Do you want to be in a blues band? Focus on one style of music and limit yourself to the standard chord changes for that style - no need to try to get proficient in all twelve keys right off the bat. Regardless, music has to always pique your interest. There has to be some motivation to practice. It needs to be enjoyable, not something you're just trying to slog your way through. Play what you like. Play what you want to play, not what someone else is telling you to do.