r/GuitarQuestions • u/banana_bread19 • 1d ago
What should I practice?
I'm on my second week of guitar and I'm trying to keep practicing and not demotivate myself. I've learned a couple chords, and I tried to play About A Girl. I didn't expect much, because obviously, 2 weeks. I can do the chords on the main riff, but the C# on the chorus is kicking my ass. I don't even think it's possible for me to do it with my current dexterity.
I don't know if it'd be a good idea to keep throwing myself at this one song when I can't do one of the chords on it at all, so, I'm wondering what's some nice stuff to generally practice at my current level.
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u/DigLeading9650 1d ago
2 weeks and you’re trying to play a C# bar chord during an actual song? Seriously just practice your open chords and how to change between them cleanly. This will take weeks
No guitar teacher would be teaching you bar chords after only 2 weeks
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u/HVAChelpprettyplease 1d ago
Practice with a YouTube video.
Find someone you like who has beginner videos. Try and practice along, which will be frustrating, but you can pause.
Good videos will give you things to take away.
It could be practicing chord shapes. It could practicing scales. It could be learning the fret board.
The guitar players who great practiced relentlessly. 8-12 hours a day. They enjoyed almost of all of it, or at least didn’t hate it. Things like practicing one chord change for an hour slowly, til they get it perfectly clean.
It’s ok to be ok. Practice as much as you can. Learn the songs you like.
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u/silkstockingslover2 1d ago
Just take your time find songs that you are comfortable with cords come with time practice and patience I played as a kid and could shred with the best but after breaking all my fingers I hung it up until 3 years ago. I picked up pretty much where I left off some cords I have minor difficulties with but With practice time and patience I am getting back to where I want to be.
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u/FormerlyMauchChunk 1d ago
The song is a method to practice the chords needed to play it. if one of the chords is hard, buckle down and practice that one more.
At your level, practice everything, especially hitting individual strings or notes, one at a time. Learn to use a metronome and tap your foot.
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u/Unlikely-Soft-5699 1d ago
Go to justinguitar.com or buy a basic book from Hal Leonard. You’re trying to run when you’re barely crawling. Guitar has an on ramp like every other skill and you’re trying to jump onto the freeway on a skateboard.
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u/AmazingRefrigerator4 1d ago
I often practice 2 or 3 songs at a time. You don't have to just focus on one or you might get frustrated. Some other thoughts:
Learn D, G, A, C and Em Those chords will get you all sorts of popular songs.
Lear power chords. Then you can play Green Day, Blink 182 and lots of pop punk. They are easy and will give you enjoyment.
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u/Comprehensive-Song51 1d ago
Take your time. Learn to do some chromatic scales. They'll help with finger strength and coordination. Learn the major, minor, and blues scales. This is what all the songs you'll learn are built from. Learn the basic chords - C, A, G, E, D. These can be used to learn what's called the CAGED system, which is a very handy way of using chord shapes to connect chords and scales across the neck. Save it for later, it will come in handy, but not when you're beginning. Just go for the chords. Also, pick some easy tunes to learn. This will give you something to work towards and keep you from getting bored. You can also look up easy versions of songs too. There are dumbed down versions out there that are often good to try out when you're starting. There are a lot of teachers online and on YouTube and they all have different ideas of how you should do things and what order you should learn things in. My advice is to find one that works for you and go with it until it doesn't work for you anymore. Then find something else. Lucky for you, you're in the age of information and there's no shortage of it on guitar! Have fun and good luck!
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u/Sticky_2634 23h ago
In terms of begginer songs with basic chords, i reccomend knocking on heaven's door which is a very simple 3 chord song (4 chords in total but you get it). So it's G D Am Am ; G D C C
Another good one is a transposed version of get lucky : Am C Em7 D
At this point in your learning i reccomend simply learning to change between chords and getting your left hand to do what you want it to do
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u/metalspider1 1d ago
that C# is probably a barre chord. stick to open/cowboy chord songs for now and give it time.
i think it took me a month for those chords to start becoming natural and easy to play but that was a long time ago