Hello everyone, first of all; I'm new to Guitarnoise but I've already found the loads of information on these forums and on the site itself to be extremely helpful. Thanks to everyone for their contributions--they make the life of a beginning guitar player such as myself a hell of a lot easier.
On to my main question, though. I've been playing guitar since August (immediately bought a good guitar since I was 100% sure I wanted to go on with it--an American Deluxe Fat Strat, I'm SO proud of it and it invites me to keep playing deep into the night), and I was wondering whether I was making enough progress.
Today I finally got the hang of Jack Johnson's 'Sitting Waiting Wishing'. It's basically the most difficult song I can play properly right now--based on the difficulty (or ease, I suspect) of the song, would you say my progress has been slow or good enough for these past three months of playing? I want to know, because if my progress has been slow I may need to look into getting a teacher after all, or refine my practice techniques: I have been putting in the hours.
Regards and TYA for replies,
Rich
Rich
Welcome to GN. I hope and think you will find most everything here that you will need and a lot of talented people to answer your questions.
I think it will be difficult at best to give you a definitive answer on your progress based on one song. There are a lot of factors that go into your progress like what type of chords you know, how well you change chords, do you know your scales, do you know the notes on the fretboard and many many more.
From your brief description I would guess you are doing well but you need to measure what you can do compared to what your goals are. One of the benefits of having a teacher is that they can help you set achievable goals and help you measure against them.
By the way, there are a lot of discussions on progress in the beginners forum so do a search on "progress" and you can find some good food for thought.
i agree with what Nils said.
it's important to set achievable goals as you start and gradually increase the difficulty of your goals as you improve.
it's very easy to become frustrated especially when you first start.
i suggest going thru the lessons and the easy song database to keep variety in the mix. you'd be surprised at the amount of songs you will be playing in no time :wink:
Oh and welcome to GN!
#4491....
first of all....NICE AX!!!!!
you will have a lifetime of enjoyment form that Fender. good decision.
as for progress. you will experience fits and starts. plateaus that seemingly last forever.
dont measure progress with someone else's ruler. just remember to have fun playing and learning.
practice and repetition creates muscle memory. you fingers can do the walking, in a way.
find thing that inspire you.
find a few people to play with. it makes for fast learning.
Welcome, and I must echo the senitment NICE AXE!
I am a beginner also, and I find that I learn in spurts. I'll go a couple weeks and seemingly not get anywhere, not play for a couple days for whatever reason, then pick up one of my guitars and POW! it's like I was never stalled. Other times I progress smoothly.
I don't beat myself up about any of it, as we all progress at different rates, and my expectations are such that I don't expect to be a guitar god tomorrow (although I will be a guitar god day after tomorrow! :wink: )
I try to take a half hour or so and practice what I am worst at. Seems to work pretty well so far.
Bettie Page is the most beautiful woman who ever lived. You better recognize, G!
progress goes in surges. you will find yourself playing someting you never had before.
then, after that, it'll be all you can play. that same old same old stuff.
drives me crazy.
just hang in there for the next wave. it can be self induced. finding inspiration helps. a new CD can do it.
and did I say NICE AX!!!!
Thanks much for the replies and comments (nice axe indeed! :D).
I just want to emphisize the "Dont track your progress" statement. If you are playing on a regular basis then you are progressing. Your style of practice will change from time to time as the need arises. Its a very fluid thing and putting task lists on it will only discourage in the long term.
With a beautiful guitar like that, or even if you were making music on an ugly one.. its all about the ride and the enjoyment of playing.
And in ten years it wont matter much what your practiced but how often
Git er done
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
First welcome to GN! Secondly, you and I started at almost the same time (july 4th for me)...
All I am going to say is do a search for some of my posts. EVERYONE here will tell you that I ask this question ALL the time! I know everyone says don't judge your progress based on other's...but it's only natural...
You'll also find in my posts a LOT of frustration..and again like everyone said...it will pass...and it does...and then more frustration sets in...and it too passes...
Currently I am in the "frustration" stage...once I get back on path it will pass...
