losing my mind

Welcome to the club. Advice? None. This is part of learning an instrument and reason why so many people stop. See it as a mental test to check if you want it badly enough. You've said you tried writing your own songs: awesome! However, you probably (like most including me) discover that your first songs aren't much good. But so what, your first chord probably didn't sound that well initially either.

How about writing *one* song completely, do your very best and upload it to the hear hear forum. It's the process of actually finishing an entire song that will have you learn so much. Once your song is done don't change it, regardless of critic. Instead, use all comments to write a new song with the only goal being that the second song is a bit better then the first. Try and write a basic blues song, a basic pop song and a basic reggae song, each genre has basic techniques that, once learned, are tools you can use in any song. Then keep going and after a while you'll have your first 'album'. I'm 100% sure that once you're there you can look back and see massive improvements in all aspects: dexterity, techniques, musical understanding, originality. Suppose you'll live for another 42 years (not an unreasonable expectation, right?) and you can write one song every two months (not unreasonable either). That means you'll end up with over 250 original songs, or about 25 albums. Don't rush things, you have all the time you need. If you like music and care about guitar nothing can stop you from getting wherever you want to go. Just try your best, keep criticising yourself but be proud of what you've archieved at the same time. Even the worst guitar player in history is better at it then 99% of the world population.

Thank mate

I have recorded my music ( on my link ) and I I do participate in SSG , and yes sir my first songs aren't that good I put that down to the lack of ability and lack of talent .

Having said that I appreciate your time and it was really nice reading your reply .

So thank you Arjen , I wasn't looking for advise just wanted to let some steam off and find out if , " I am wasting my time ? as that is how I feel right now "

Have been trying to play 8 days a week by the Beatles now for about a month and just can not even come close .

Oh well I suppose if I die tomorrow at least my bad music willl live on for ever in here , by people clicking link I suppose .

Will check out the music as soon as I get the opportunity and PM you about it. And ofcourse you can't get close to the beatles in a month, I'm pretty sure they didn;t play like that after 17 months themselves. There was a big scientic research program in the US some time ago, researching 'musical talent'. After investigating thousands of violin players (both professional and amateur) they found that the only variable that correlates with 'skill' is 'total hours practiced'. None of the 'prodigies' showed any kind of advanced musical skills before starting their musical training, no pianist ever ripped through rachmaninov's third piano concerto after the first few lessons and noone writes excellent tunes immediately. All it takes is a love for music and time put into practicing.

Do you have a lack of talent? Doubt anything like that exists, so no. Do you have a lack of ability? Sure, how could you've mastered the guitar in 17 months? What to do about it? Continuing practicing. Continue writing songs, playing chords, trying new things. You are now no doubt better then 16 months ago, and 16 months from now you'll be way better then you are at this moment. But most of all: enjoy the ride.

Venting is good but never think you're wasting your time: That's not possible with guitar, no matter who you are and what you can or can't (yet!) do. Cheers. :D

Arjen's right. Never wasting your time. Its a long process but if you make the effort to pick up and play your guitar then you will get better. I know how you feel though. Its such a slow process sometimes that it feels like you are going no where. I have been playing a year now. I was thinking this morning how sad it is that I only know 3 songs from start to finish, and they arent the songs that people wanna hear you play when sitting around a campfire. But then I reminded myself that 12 months ago I couldnt even make a chord.

And as far as you music goes, I can call BS on that. I have read your songs. I make it a point to read your songs even on the weeks that I dont have time to read anyone elses. There is value in reading them for me. I can see what you are trying to do and the effort you are putting into it. But its another area that you are definately going to grow in if you just stick with it.

All that said.. Vent away anytime you need to. We all feel the same way from time to time.

Geoo

G'day Hilch

we ALL have these times. Last night i was laying in bed thinking "how come i still only play the same old tunes as when i started???". But then i thought it through, its just not true, i can play far more than even 6 months ago. Sometimes its just in your head.

Do yourself a favour, put the guitar in the corner for a few days. Go and LISTEN to some music, all sorts of stuff. Then go back to the guitar. Try playing a new style, or re-visit a song you haven't done for ages because it was a bit too hard for you. Re learn how to enjoy just picking the damn thing up.

You'll get over this, just chill a little and remember how lucky you were to have picked it up to start with!

all the best

Matt

Hey Hilch,
Don't suppose in are in Sydney?
Cheers
Keith

Gidday everyone and greetings from Australia

I'm 42 ( as alot of you already know )

beginner , been practicing for 17 months

( I would not call what I do playing )

I feel I'm stuck in a big rutt and I am looking for something ( but I don't know what )

My playing seems like it's standing still I don't feel like it's improving at all . :twisted: :twisted:

I have even tried writting and recording my own songs since for some unknown reason I just can't seem to able to play songs from the masters .This is becoming very frustrating and bloody annoying , I practice my chords / scales finger exercises / even got some backing tracks to play along to . :oops: :oops:

But AGHHHHH this is so frustrating that at times I just wanna throw that darn bloddy thing out the window and give it up as a bad joke , but I have invested far too much time in this just to quit now . :evil: :evil:

If anyone reads this just remember I had to vent my frustration out somewhere , sorry in advance if this post is annoying .

But I am interested in other beginners ( do you also have these times ) or is it just me trying to re-live my very forgettable youth .

Thanks for reading

Hilch :?:

Hey Hitch....from one beginner to another, your not alone in your frustration..and, your not alone as far as trying to remember a forgotten youth. I othen wonder why I started playing (im 43), and sometimes I look at much better, much younger players and think I'll just chuck it all in and take up golf or something! :x I then remember that I'm not in a competion here, and that this process called learning guitar will take time, patience and determination. I recommend taking a read through David Hodges "Recharging your batteries" article https://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=32 that helped me put things into perspective.

Many a times i feel like you.Then what i do best is , that i put earphones in my head and start listening to my favourite songs with guitar in the bag.

Hilch,

I can totally relate so don't feel bad. At 17 months I don't think I could even play one complete song. About that time I started with a teacher and the first thing he stared doing was giving me easy strumming songs, like Eight days a week, etc. He would write out the chord progression and he would have just strum eighth notes. In a short time I had several songs under my belt. Unfortunately they really weren't the type of music I really wanted to play but I realized I needed them to develop my rhythm and timing better.

Once I got some of those down I started going back and trying some of the songs I couldn't play before and all of them wer much easier to play the second time around.

Not sure what my point is but I am about 3 1/2 years into it now and I still feel I can't play the things I want to.I really want to be able to play solos but even after practicing skills forever it doesn't ever feel like I am getting any faster and that's usually the part of the song that I can't play and it's frustrating. To give you an example I tried playing the solo to Aqualung about a year ago. Worked at it for about a month and just could never seem to get it right. I tried it again a couple months ago and finally got it to where I could play all the notes but necessarily with the correct timing etc. That's frustarting and now that I haven't played it in a couple months I don't remember all the notes I'll have to go relearn it.

The only thing you can do is what Arjen and others have said, practice and just keep playing and try not to get down on yourself, have fun with it.

Thanks everyone for the kind words .

I suppose I am not being patient enough ..

I had big plans and now I will reveal them

12 months to learn the guitar --
( I thought that was resonable with out even picking one up )
wrong Hilch very wrong

Then after that 12 months I was going to learn the Banjo
( in another 12 months )

My own expectations were not realalistic , but I did not know how hard this actually was .

I have watched guitar players for years I have always thought to myself it's not that hard look at them .

Nothing is hard when you can do something , it's getting there is the hard bit I am finding .

Yeah 16 months ago Icould not even change from open G to open C , can do that now , could not play barre chords at all I can play them now but would not say I have totally mastered them .

Thanks again

Hilch :?:

ps I from Rockhampton - Central Queensland

But I am interested in other beginners ( do you also have these times ) or is it just me trying to re-live my very forgettable youth .

Re-live? Hell, I never left my youth to begin with. Ok, so I'm only 32 ... just a whippersnapper on these boards ... but still. :P

Anyhoo, feel free to vent anytime mate. Some great inspirational posts in this thread too, particularly from Arjen. 8)

And like others have said, we all go through this. I think it's just important to look at why you play. For me it is most definitely the journey. Like sitting down with a cold beer on a Sunday arvo or enjoying a nice glass of red with some fine chocolate ... it's only enjoyable while I'm doing it. I live to savour it, take my time with it. :)

I've only been playing for nine months or so now, but I've had the highs and lows. And honestly, I don't think the highs would've been as high if I didn't experience the lows. It's the balance of the universe. ;)

My most recent "blown away" moment was when I finally managed to play Neil Young's Heart of Gold with both the harmonica and guitar together. I can tell you now, I felt high after that. 8)

My only other suggestion is to go back to something very simple. I did this just last night. Looked up a tab for Paul Kelly's From Little Things Big Things Grow. Very easy to play. If you don't mind Paul Kelly maybe give it a go and see what you think. Tab can be found here.

Good luck mate!

Been playing for maybe 2 years now, yeah I still suck, but every day I like to believe that I suck less.

I'm in Melbourne, VIC btw.

I have times when my playing is in a rut, what do I do about it? Actually the thing I just did was to tune everything down a half-step and with the less tension in the strings I can play for longer. Can't play along to much though ;) but it makes me feel good.

cnev: Unfortunately they really weren't the type of music I really wanted to play but I realized I needed them to develop my rhythm and timing better.

That's where I'm at at the moment. I'm playing major blues progressions, just straight bass notes & chords, to a metronome.

I sometimes feel that I have no talent so should give up, actually this whole week I basically went "sod it, I'm crap" and didn't touch the thing, but then I recall that the times when it works, when it's therapeutic, when it sounds like something, are the times that everything else builds for. So I keep playing.

I'm 51 been at this 16 months. The thing is I can strum easy songs in time but not much more, so the thing is I saw no point to just playing like that. Learning another song played the same way seemed boring. I think I know what your saying. If you can strum chords and change in time then you can strum a tune, but what after that?....maybe nothing for a while, maybe you got other things on your mind and don't have the time to forge ahead, thats me so I fiddle around with scales, hammer ons, slides. I sometimes play the notes in chords with these techniques and make a little medley of my fooling around. Just something to keep active in playing so I don't quit. I want to learn one of hodges songs fully not just strummed with a little finger picked intro, but fully played with all the fullness he teaches, but I may have to wait till I can devote that time. I may take lessons when the time is right, but right now its just a rut of breaking even with my progress.

I realise, of course, that you have no intention of giving up the guitar, so I won't waste your time with advice :D

I feel the same often. Sometimes I feel like I can do anything (or more specifically, play through the C major scale 6 times backwards and forwards at 110bpm without a single mistake), and other times I can't get anything right (i.e. can't get through the C major scale even once without at least two mistakes at 60bpm).

But a change of scenery really helps. You say you're looking for something new. And you want to play the banjo? You may have answered your own question.

Learning to play is a gradual process. I doubt there is ever a clear line one can draw between "can play" and "can't play". So waiting until you can play the guitar before you start the banjo is...you'll be waiting a while.

And think of it this way...what you learn playing banjo will likely also improve your guitar skills.

Oh dear, I gave advice...