How long?

Julius,

I would say it's fairly normal so I wouldn't worry about. You will definitely have days when you feel like your playing great and making improvements and the other days it will feel like you went backwards.

I've been playing for about a year longer than you and I still feel the same way but in the end I know I'm making progress.

I have a fulltime job and although I play everyday I don't always practice diligently, but that's OK, I know it'll just take me a bit longer.

I'm also working on scales so I can solo some day and have to admit I find playing scales over and over to be quite boring and it never seems like I'm getting faster.

Hang in there you'll get there.

Thanks Cnev,

I hear ya on the scales, but I know that i'm getting faster and more precise, like you said...it takes time. As far as improving, I know I am, it's just that sometimes my progress wants to show itself, and other times it's hiding away and probably waiting to reveal itself four or five years down the line when I hit that chord change in time and go...

"Oh, that's where you've been hiding!"

Thanks again!

Julius

same way for me...Its frustrating feeling like you don't improve with all the hard work that you put in. Seems that guitar is only for the patient.

Just last night I was in my groove and pretty happy with my playing.
This morning I tried playing the exact same things I did last night and just couldn't seem to get it to come out right, I even said to my wife "my playing really sucks right now"
Everyone has good days and bad, no matter how long you have played.
You may think you are slow but compare yourself to the way you played six months ago.
Just keep at it and you will continue to improve.

Hey!

I've been playing for a few years now and I find the same thing still happens, only over the longer term. Sometimes for weeks I will be playing great and loving it - during this time I can barely put my guitar down. Then something will happen and I will start not playing so well - not hitting notes so cleanly, not absorbing new techniques/riffs as quickly and generally running out of ideas. During these times the struggle is to pick my guitar up.

It's like hills and valleys! Currently I am on the up-slope of what i hope will be a mountain!!!

So yeah - you'll always find that this is the case. Main thing: keep playing. Even during the bad times you are still improving - it's just not as obvious.
You may think you are slow but compare yourself to the way you played six months ago - couldn't have put it better myself, so I didn't try.

G

The most common sentiment among more veteran guitarists is: "I don't feel like I'm a whole lot better now, but my bad days now sound like my good days then."

I accept the fact that at some point, your progress stops being so dramatic as when you first start, but that's cool. Try recording yourself once a month or so, then go back 6 months later and listen to those first recordings... you'll notice, you'll here all those little mistakes, you'll know you've gotten better.