YES!.....It's That Time.....

your actually doig realy well. but i've been playing for about a year and a half and i wanted to know were i should be. now i'm not going to tell you what i can do because i just want to see what people say :)

Mike,

It looks like we started around the same time - it'll be a year for me at the end of June. This is all very subjective of course, but I thought it might help you to know that your list is strikingly similar to my own right down to the one pentatonic scale (also have only learned one pattern so far!) - although, I am having major issues with the A shaped bar chords :-)

I practice/play about an hour a day and get together with my other guitar-playing friends on a semi-regular basis and that tends to keep things interesting.

From my perspective I'd say you're moving right along...

Steed

Mike,

It looks like we started around the same time - it'll be a year for me at the end of June. This is all very subjective of course, but I thought it might help you to know that your list is strikingly similar to my own right down to the one pentatonic scale (also have only learned one pattern so far!) - although, I am having major issues with the A shaped bar chords :-)

I practice/play about an hour a day and get together with my other guitar-playing friends on a semi-regular basis and that tends to keep things interesting.

From my perspective I'd say you're moving right along...

Steed

Thank you steeder! I started around July 4th so we are about the same. I truely do understand that this is all subjective but it feels good to know you're not alone. I just need to keep my personal life out of my guitar playing and I'll be fine.

Thank you steeder! I started around July 4th so we are about the same. I truely do understand that this is all subjective but it feels good to know you're not alone. I just need to keep my personal life out of my guitar playing and I'll be fine.

I started in July too, play at least an hour a day and seem to be nowhere near what you can do, so stick at it.

Mike, everyone moves along at their own pace. By your list, you are further along than I am and I've been playing for about a year and a half. Maybe I learn slowly, I don't know, but I also don't care. I REALLY enjoy guitar and I have fun with it. I've had feelings like yours too though. I might go a day or two without playing when I feel in a slump. 99% of the time I come back playing better (for some odd reason). Stick with it and you'll overcome this plateau too.

Jason

Mike, everyone moves along at their own pace. By your list, you are further along than I am and I've been playing for about a year and a half. Maybe I learn slowly, I don't know, but I also don't care. I REALLY enjoy guitar and I have fun with it. I've had feelings like yours too though. I might go a day or two without playing when I feel in a slump. 99% of the time I come back playing better (for some odd reason). Stick with it and you'll overcome this plateau too.

Jason

Thanks Jason,

I knew when I wrote this post that we all learn at our own pace (heck I'm a teacher!). I also remember when I posted this same question at I think 6 months everyone told me the same. But as you know it at least eases my mind when I see others at the same level as as me even though they may be learning classical and me rock & blues. It's not really a comparison but more of a question "Am I learning what I should be learning?" I know we all hit those slumps and I have accepted that (not like when I first started here I would get all flustered about it!). Like I wrote earlier, I have hit the fork in the road and there are a million directions I can go...I just want to make sure I have the tools I need to go down ANY of those roads...no matter which one I choose.

Thanks (And thanks to you biker_jim_uk...I appreciate the response!)

Mike i think youre doing very well man, after 5 years i still don't know the notes on the guitar or what the hell a pentatonic scale is :D

its just more rock and roll that way - i tell myself that anyway 8)

But the suggestions here to learn complete songs are very good ones I'd say. When I started playing those 5 min on a song felt like 15 min concentrating to get it “right' as best I could.

You might also try getting a “setlist” together for yourself at one point and run through all the songs you can play all at once almost like your own “concert” of course the more the songs get you'll split it up.
I found this helped because it kinda helps with “endurance” if you will. You'll get better and playing more songs correctly all the way through instead of going downhill after the 1st or second song.

Good Luck,

minus

You like fine mike. Like minus, I've been playing a while and I don't have some of the cards you do. But you look like your on to a great starts. The set list idea is really good. If you ever start a band, you can walk in and say, I know how to play this, this, and this. It gives the other band members a starting point. A guitarist who has it together generally makes a happy band.

I began thinking about this post today as I was practicing and I realized that I feel much more comfortable around the fretboard now. Things seem a tad bit easier to figure out and it doesn't take as long to learn a new skill. I am FAR from being a "guitarist" but compared to where I was last July I can honestly see the improvement in my playing.

Thanks again everyone for your support! 8) 8)

Mike, I passed my 10 months last week......I think. I lost count. I think we are more or less on the same level. I have no idea what a shuffle is, so I'll assume I can't do it. Also take away a couple barre chord shapes, throw in tremolo picking and you have it. So you're doing fine. And I think you're a guitarist.

THANKS OWA! However I have a different take on the term "guitarist". I 'll use the terms "vocalist" and "singer". A vocalist basically just adds vocals to the song with the natural talent she/he has. A singer on the other hand can control her/his voice and has a wider range of abilities. I got this from Garth Brooks when a reporter called him a singer and he said that he was a vocalist and Trisha Yearwood was a singer. It really made a lot of sense to me.

I play the guitar but I am not a "guitarist" (at least I don't think I am.). It may be petty but it's something I believe to be true.

Anyway, I guess I'll put the soapbox away now...sorry :oops: :oops: !

You say you don't know what a shuffle is...well I have no clue as to what tremlo picking is? So I guess it truely is subjective as to where we should be at different times.

Thanks again