good practice ?

Welcome to the party, Dana. We think you'll like it here.

There's a "lessons" tab on the homepage and some stuff specifically for beginners. Anything by David Hodge is a good starting point. Anything you don't understand we can usually fix here in the forum pages.

Read what others talk about too. Sometimes, what wil;l fix something for somebody else will also fix something you're struggling with.

i'd start learning songs. don't worry too much about "getting better". that just happens naturally as the hours pile up. just have fun, play what you wanna hear.

The book that helped me a lot with putting all the pieces together was The Complete Idiots Guide To Rock Guitar by David Hodge. It will give you a well rounded look at both lead and rhythm guitar. It is a wonderful resource and I've been finding myself going back to it every once in a while. It is written in such a way that you can learn from it no matter what level your playing.

i'd start learning songs. don't worry too much about "getting better". that just happens naturally as the hours pile up. just have fun, play what you wanna hear.
I second that. Technique is very important, but learning things like rhythm and memorization is essential. Most of all, have fun with it!

I have noticed many times when you ask what to practice or where to begin, people often say to listen to a song you like and try to play along, just have fun with it. What if you have no idea where to start and all you do is freeze up? I mean does this mean I have no musical ability what so ever? I can hear the music in my head but I can't get that to translate to playing, yes I know it takes years of dedicated practice. I would just like to know what to practice at for those beginner thousands of hours, to know I'm not just going in circles. By the way I have been practice for 2 years pretty steady, but obviously not correctly, I don't know how to play a song. I'm 42 and try and practice everyday, I can usually get about 30 minutes in the morning and about 30 to 45 minutes at night. With a good 6 to 8 hour practice 1 day a week. Am I just to old a dog to learn new tricks or musically challenged. Any help is very much appreciated.

I would suggest what jason already said start learning songs. Find a few 3-4 chord songs and start playing them. I realize playing them may be a bit difficult now but take it slow and you will eventually get it.

I was in the same boat for awhile when I first started and had no real focus. When I finally learned a few songs it was a big break through and then I just keep adding and adding them.

I have noticed many times when you ask what to practice or where to begin, people often say to listen to a song you like and try to play along, just have fun with it. What if you have no idea where to start and all you do is freeze up? I mean does this mean I have no musical ability what so ever? I can hear the music in my head but I can't get that to translate to playing, yes I know it takes years of dedicated practice. I would just like to know what to practice at for those beginner thousands of hours, to know I'm not just going in circles. By the way I have been practice for 2 years pretty steady, but obviously not correctly, I don't know how to play a song. I'm 42 and try and practice everyday, I can usually get about 30 minutes in the morning and about 30 to 45 minutes at night. With a good 6 to 8 hour practice 1 day a week. Am I just to old a dog to learn new tricks or musically challenged. Any help is very much appreciated.

That doesn't mean you have no musical ability. How do you practice? What can you play (if not songs)? Can you keep a beat?

Also, you've been playing for 2 years. There must been some area's you have progressed in. What are those? I don't know if this pertains to your or not, but i know one mistake I made the first several years of playing was that I tried to do things that were literally impossible for me at the time because I never took the time to work up to it. I'd get frustrated that it didn't sound like how it should've. You might actually be doing something that will physically impair your playing. Do you feel comfortable with the way you hold the neck and pick the strings (assuming you use a pick)? I used to strain my wrist when picking and fretting for the first few years. Specifically, I realized the way I held the pick was really getting in the way of doing things i wanted to, so I pretty much learned a different way of picking (Again, a lot of time was put into that but it was so worth it).

I have improved some what with chords, although they sometimes are still sloppy sounding to me. I try to use a pick most of the time but I also practice a little finger style, not much though. My biggest fear is that I'm going to go another 2 years and still be going in circles. I guess what I'm looking for is a practice regimen, some thing like practice this for 10 minutes then this for 5 and so on. I only have about 30 minutes a day except 1 day a week when I can put a good 5 to 7 hours in.

It only takes a little time to put together a practice plan that best fits your needs. This article might help:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/a-question-of-balance/

We're got a lot of other pieces here at Guitar Noise on practicing that might be of use to you as well. You can check them out here:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/topics/practice-tips/

Hope this helps.

Peace

Wow, talk about some crazy good articles on practice!
Any chance they are all together in a printable version?
Together with this site and books I have also been going through the justinguitar.com lesson plans. You should check it out as his lesson plans, they quickly get you playing some easy songs and his practice schedule starts at only 15 min a day. I come back here for all of the beginner and advanced picking stuff.
Hope that helps from another guitarist who is also perpetually trapped in that grey land between beginner and advanced. :)

but i know one mistake I made the first several years of playing was that I tried to do things that were literally impossible for me at the time because I never took the time to work up to it.

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My biggest fear is that I'm going to go another 2 years and still be going in circles. I guess what I'm looking for is a practice regimen

it depends on where you are now, if there are practices like scales that'll help you, but really, it's always the same thing. learn songs that you can play, or possibly that aren't too far out of your current level of ability. improvise in plenty of different ways. that's what making music is. it's mostly up to you and your imagination. don't worry if it gets frustrating. it'll get better.
if you do run scales, don't just run them up and down. skip notes and go back, up two back one up two... make up other patterns. improvise. play more than one note at a time. make music. try to transition to other scales smoothly, or play different styles, or flavors. pretty soon your scales become songs. you can do that with anything. picking styles. chord changes. rhythms. all at the same time as you learn to handle it. and you learn by doing. there's nothing better for improvement than playing.