need encouragement

Hiya mate

I see by your post your only playing a week!!!!! Relax.

Your making progress every time you pick up the guitar you just can't notice it yet. You will though.

Put it this way, Could you play 'Horse with no name' two weeks ago?

Take your time, enjoy yourself. What's the rush??

I am 22, I already wasted all those years I could have been practicing through highschoo. Trying to make up time

I am 22, I already wasted all those years I could have been practicing through highschoo. Trying to make up time

You haven't wasted any time, you were in High School. I didn't start playing until I was 34. Try not to worry about what you haven't done, concentrate on what you are about to do. Playing guitar can be a life-long enjoyment. I believe that we're our own worst critics. I'm sure you sound exactly the way you should at this level of your playing. You might want to record some of your playing. In a couple of weeks, check back on the recording and I'll bet you'll hear marked improvement. Keep it fun, relax and enjoy the learning process. Good luck.

Denny

hey, I wasted around 4 rs during uni when I just packed in playing, but I'm not letting that hold me back. And I know guys who've only started playing in their 20s or later who, after enough practise, end up being really great. I also know guys who've been playing since they were 10 or so but don't practise and rarely get better.

And I remember how ahrd the first 6 months were. Actually, its only now that I feel anywhere near comfortable or confident in my plying. And even now I have sleepless nights over how much I still have left to cover and get comfortable with.

Don't let it get ya down mate, and welcome to the forums - if you stick with it, you'll find this place a real boon.

1luv

Trade ya. I'm starting at 45.

STICK WITH IT. Please, please don't give up. You've got all the time in the world, and if you do a little each day, you WILL improve. You are in an envious position and have some good times ahead of you.

:mrgreen:

Give it some time and push forward. You'll start seeing improvement soon enough. Are you playing songs you like? If not, go find a tab or chord web site, like http://www.chordie.com , find a song that you like and have been listening to for years. Play with it some. If you can't play it yet, use it as a goal and play easier songs like it. Then when you come back to it it will be easier. The lessons on this site are good to help you learn and be inspired but you need to find songs you love and know by heart or else it might get boring. :mrgreen:

Just keep at it, practice for a little bit every day. I think the biggest mistake people make is they play like mad for a few weeks then get fed up with it and stop long enough that they lose all the progress.

Keep up with the beginners songs, but keep one or two around that you really like that are just a bit too challenging, and keep revisiting them. I remember when I thought that if I could play and sing "Blister in the Sun" then I would be satisfied, now that song seems incredibly easy just a few months later.

I am 22, I already wasted all those years I could have been practicing through highschoo. Trying to make up time

Playing guitar can be a life-long enjoyment.

It is also a life-long commitment, and a life-long learning process. It's going to take much more than a month or two to start sounding the way you want it to in your head. You have to train your fingers, not only to fret chords and individual notes, but there's also that pesky strumming hand (which can and does do much more than just strum). You have to train your mind to understand modes and the multitude of other things involved in music on any instrument.

I'd say, start recording yourself right now. But don't listen to it for a year. In a year's time you will have made so much progress that you'll be laughing at the way you sound right now (at only a week or so in). Patience is a virtue and in guitar playing it's also a necessity. Don't expect improvement in leaps and bounds or you will stay disappointed and frustrated. Look for it in small, intermittent doses that may not seem like much at the time, but, once accumulated, are the bedrock of becoming a good guitarist. (Notice that I didn't say great guitarist. Great guitarists are few and far between.)

Persevere and be patient.

If you're 22 and have already wasted years....I don't wanna hear about it!

I'll be 35 in a bit- my best friend, and fellow beginner guitar addict, is 45. I just went with another friend to pick out his first guitar- says he's always wanted one. He's 61. Things happen. Time gets away from you.

I played in high school, then packed it in for a decade and a half. This time, I'm really doing it. (about 9 months so far- but we're talking every day!)

The thing is- do you like playing? (I'm assuming you're saying yes) Then stay with that! Play it, like it, play it as often as you can, and you will get better. Just have faith- in playing the guitar, as in absolutely everything, we can't always see, hear or feel our own progress. But just do it! Practice as often as you can, and the improvements are real- whether you can see them every day or not. When I'm feeling down, I also like to remind myself- this is something I do for ME. If I sound bad, let the neighbors suffer. But as soon as I finish writing this, I'm going home to plug in, turn on, turn UP, and scream through Paradise City. And that makes me happy. Maybe I'll really play it great today. More likely, not. But I LOVE doing it. MAybe one day I'll be good enough that someone else will want to hear me. Again, maybe not. But I'm having a BLAST.

Keep the faith,

Ande

Hang in there, it's far from too late and thanks for encouraging me. I was just thinking of all the years I wasted not gigging, I'm 47 and haven't been in a band since 1992, but I'm not too old to do that either. Guitar isn't easy. If it was everyone would do it. Enjoy yourself and look ahead not back. Your still young enough you can get good real fast.

I too thought that I was late in the game of learning guitar as I'm now 24 (yeah, I know I'm real old...haha). I "wished" I would have learned the guitar when I was even younger, but at that time I probably wouldn't have wanted to play. Now I do. In fact I just had my first guitar lesson last week. The instructor showed me a few tabbed riff's, a few chords, and some rhythm patterns to get used to. Everything still seems overwhelming but I've been at it for 3 days now, but I am having fun. I know it's will get frustrating at times...

Stick with it, i promise you will not regret it, you get to a stage soon where it will get a bit eaiser, it did for me, if you need help with anything ask people here, i've looked at some of your post and some of them are the same things i was asking, i'm new to playing and i'm 29yrs old, you'll play something right through and then you'll feel so pleased with yourself and enthusiastic about playing the guitar, One of my first songs was Time of your life (Greenday) i remember being thrilled about putting 4 0r 5 easy chords together. I've set myself a goal of playing and singing a song to my wife in a few months no rush as i want it to be spot on, then join a band next year..Take some lessons that helps so much..i've been playing about 4 months PM me if you want help as i've been through what your going through only a few months ago.

Okay, I might get shot for this but still, honesty above all and such:

Guitar ain't for everyone. If you can't remember on you're own why you're bothering with it then chances are that there's something else that'll be better suited. If you are convinced that guitar is The Thing then just keep going. Get a teacher if you can. In my experience people who need encouragment from people they never have met in their life are going to quit sooner or later anyway. I know this sounds tough but atleast it's honest toughness and I think it's worth saying. Hold your head up high and tell yourself you're going to practice until you can do what you want to do or put the guitar away for a while. In the end it's really just up to you.

ah...that's what I like about you Ignar, you always stick your neck out and tell it like it is.

Not sure if that was the best in terms of encouragement, but it is true all the same.

Stay with it man....I started at 40 something. Like wounds, time will take care of everything esle. YOU just have to stay with it.