I seem to lack the motivation needed to sit down and practice playing guitar regularly. I've basically only learned the basic chords so far, and when I have practiced I've been focusing on changing between chords faster, but I've seen very little improvement in that so far. I know I'm getting easily discouraged, but practicing seems like such a chore with little reward. I did learn a couple simple riffs, and that was cool, but other than that I haven't gotten very little out of it so far. There are few songs on the beginner guitar lessons on this site that I think I'd be interested in enough to want to learn, so that's also a problem for me. As far as music notation and the like, I know next to nothing about that. I've been looking up tabs for songs I'd like to learn, but even some of the tabs seem to be in a different language, with weird symbols that I don't understand.
I know I'm being a baby, but I felt I just needed to vent a little bit.
Nobody can push you to want to learn to play or to do anything at all for that matter. It's easy to get frustrated when you don't pick things up quickly, it's easy to say you don't have time or to say that you can't understand what you're trying to figure out. It's easy to talk yourself out of doing something that is hard and takes time. All of that is easy. What's hard is accepting the fact that what you want to do - learn to play the guitar - takes time and effort. You didn't learn to walk right away and you didn't learn to talk right away so there's no reason to think that playing guitar and understanding music theory or even being able to read all of the variations from guitar tabs will come instantly. If you think it's worth the time and effort then you'll keep at it. I can't discourage you from learning if you want to learn or encourage you if you don't really want to learn. If you do continue to work at it consider the fact that time will continue to pass anyways and every day that you practice gets you closer to your goals. Every post you read here will add just a tiny bit more to your understanding, every article you read will get you a little closer to really knowing what you are doing. Every chord that you form and every strum you strum gets you closer. As long as you know you are working toward your goals and you are enjoying the journey you'll be fine.
Enjoy your karma, after all you earned it.
http://www.gadlaw.com
I know I'm supposed to chant the usual "we all have it, don't worry, keep on working" but I don't believe in it. If you like playing guitar you will practice. If you don't like it you wont, your guitar will end up on ebay and you will move on to other things that interest you more. Like playing a flute, painting, shooting genetically mutated ducks or travelling to northern Peru. That's ok, we all have different interests. So if you're in doubt, write down why you want to play guitar anyway, what your goals are, how you expect to reach them and if you find those methods rewarding enough. To be realistic, if you need the encouragement of total strangers to even pick the darn thing up then chances are you don't really love it.
And if it's just a lack of progress that's frustrating you:
1) Get a teacher
2) Take a close look at your playing and write down what seems to be going wrong
3) Think of excercises to practice those things
4) Learn the 'easy songs for beginners', starting with horse with no name and going to the next one as soon as you are ready.
5) Make sure you still have a teacher
As with anything: Got a problem? Locate it, describe it, fix it. Simple as that.
I'm a novice when it comes to playing a guitar as well, but I always look at it as fun time when playing around with a guitar.
One thing I never did and still wont do is expect too much in too little time. I don't have alot of patience when it comes to many things but I seem to be fairly so-so with a guitar,I know I wont get something right away and I accept that. The best thing about the whole matter is when you do finally catch on to something then you feel greatly rewarded (atleast I do)... Right now I feel I'm to a point where things are coming along a bit easier for me, I'm still finger slow even though I can play a couple easy songs that I like with little to no problems. I dont have all the chords memorized yet and some I still have trouble switching back and forth from but as time goes by it's improving.
I usually practice about 3 to 4 hours a day minimum considering I own a bar and sit around most of the day(what else better to do?). I'm starting to get to the point where I can play a song with out looking at the scale (not entirely unless it's something easy like "smoke on the water") so that helps a bit.
I don't really know what to say, I understand that it can be discouraging and hard to motivate yourself to go any further but thats part of learning, noting comes overnight. I felt a little slow too awhile back but then I came upon an area where I am picking things up a little faster so it makes things easier so it finally feels like progress,I totally suck at playing but I feel some progress in my finger strength,speed and slight ability to switch between chords that I know.
I'd just say to look at it as fun and not a chore even though you feel it's like one. To me it's a huge accomplishment to learn a guitar and as I said very rewarding.
It's puts a smile on my face when I overcome a problem that I've been having...
Practice makes perfect..
BTW,I'm new here so hello folks...
"GO BIG RED!"
You could try looking in the "easy songs" forum, there may be songs in there more to your liking....
Don't be too easily discouraged at perceived lack of progress...I've been playing for 30 years, on and off, but it's only the last couple of years or so I've taken it seriously...
Stick around, don't be afraid to ask questions....you may think the answer should be obvious and you'll look silly for asking, but that's not how Guitarnoise works...people are treated with respect, ditto their questions, and you'll be surprised how quickly an old pro will jump in with a well-thought out explanation...
Welcome to GN, by the way, Goat Punishment....and welcome to you too, Apoxx - like I said, stick around, you'll be surprised how much and how quickly you'll improve...
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
You need to think positive at the big picture. try just playing and not thinking about it, let it happen.
Joe
I'll offer another viewpoint, one that's not very popular but is very common among successfull people in all fields, including musicians.
Practicing isn't about motivation. It's about discipline and dedication.
You either are committed to your practice schedule or you are not. If you are, you either have the character to do what you've committed to, or you don't.
Practice isn't fun, that's why it's called "practice" and not "happy fun time." It's long, it's boring, it's drudgery.
You don't do it because you're motivated. You do it because you've made a commitment to yourself and you have the character to see that commitment through.
Motivation is what drives you to make the commitment. Discipline is what gets you sitting down and working on schedule.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
"When inspiration strikes, it's a gift: take it. Do whatever you can to nurture it and keep it hangin' around. But don't always expect it. Sometimes you gotta do your part, too. Sometimes you need to push a little to get the ball rolling. You have to strike the mood. How? By fist reducing the task at hand to something small enough, easy enough, that you can start right now. Once you're started, you'll probably get into it and your motivation will build. Second, keep your guitar out and ready to go, and keep all your ‘tools' together in one place so it's always easy to get started. Finally, remember that you ‘choose to' practice: you don't ‘have to' do anything. "
- Troy Stetina
You can read the full article at http://www.stetina.com/popstips/06_inspired.html
Latest addition: Cover of "Don't Panic" by Coldplay
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=502670
I must be the other extreme, I have always enjoyed practicing, maybe I just love the challenge but I'm never bored with a guitar in my hand no matter what I'm doing on it and I get frustrated when I'm too busy to be able to pick it up enough.
Lee
Usually if I'm learning something new, it's because it's in a song I want to play. It could be a chord, technique or whatever. So I play the heck out of whatever part of the song has the new skill, once I get to that part, that is. This makes it fun because I feel like I'm playing a song rather than just doing drills.
Practice isn't fun but it's not boring. It's what you make of it.
[pep talk alert]...
Been there, not too long ago. When I began, I found changing between chords so difficult that about half a year to a year later, I gave up guitar in frustration. So little progress for so much time & effort. Decided to give it a try again several months later, got a metronome, tried to take things more slowly and be a bit easier on myself. Ever so slowly, chord changes got easier and practise was more enjoyable because it was less of an exercise in futility...I was finally making some modest progress...I earlier thought I never would.
To me it sounds like you do have the motivation, but it's difficult to enjoy practise when there's little to show for it. Take a break when you need to, maybe move on to something else, like some lead. I actually found lead to be less frustrating than rhythm. Find anything that you enjoy. As you gradually improve, you'll enjoy it more, which will make you want to practise and play more. It just takes time.
