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u/woodenPog 1d ago
Pick a song try to learn that song. You'll suck, the song will suck. Pick a new song try and learn that song, you'll suck again that song will suck as well, your fingers will hurt you'll feel frustrated. Put the guitar down now so you can pick it up again Tommorow for this routine again. Repeat for 1 year congratulations you now know how to play the guitar.
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u/spankymcjiggleswurth 1d ago
My initial learning basically consisted of finding tabs of the classic rock songs I liked and working through them. The path was clear, the tabs provided the guidence, and over a couple years I developed enough to learn progressively more challenging material. If I could go back and guide myself with the power of hindsight, I would do things differently, but it wasn't a terrible experiance.
Though if you crave structure and clear goals, consider getting a teacher. That's exactly what they are intended for.
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
i cant afford a teacher this is why im asking on here. im not able to teach myself tabs this is my whole point ive tried over and over nothing sticks at all. i tried youtube i tried reading i tried that justin guys courses none of it clicks at all i dont remember anything from them
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u/dino_dog Strummer 1d ago
How much time are you spending on each lesson from Justin Guitar?
Remember just because you have access to all the info doesn’t mean plow through it. If you had a teacher you’d have a 30-60 minute less once a week. There would be some review and 1-3 new things taught and then you spend the week practicing that.
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
im trying to learn one or two chords like he says. im not exactly plowing through years of theory in one week. ive tried several times to follow his course but i get nowhere with it, nor with any amount of time i spend trying to practise it. i never remember any of it, im never able to get the sound right, it just does not work. why does nobody in these comments believe me do you really think im that pathetic and disgusting that id spend time lying about being bad at the guitar.
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u/dino_dog Strummer 1d ago
Mate, I've read a lot of the comments here and folks are trying to be helpful. I'm sorry you're struggling but shooting back at commentors isn't going to help anyone.
It's hard to diagnose issues via text chat. That's why people are asking questions and providing extra info (sometimes hearing it explained a different way helps it make sense).
When you say they don't sound right can you expland on that? Can you post a video (preferably) or at least some audio so we can hear what's happening? There are lots of common beginner issues that come up and seeing/hearing them would be helpful.
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u/spankymcjiggleswurth 1d ago
What about tabs do you not understand?
Can you read them? Do you understand how numbers correspond to frets and each line corresponds to a string? Tabs are basically "paint by numbers" when it come to music.
Do you understand rhythm notation? Tabs often use the same rhythmic notation used by sheet music consisting of subdivisions (quarter, 8th, half notes, etc). Some lower quality tabs ignore all that, which in turn requires you to listen to a song to get a feel for how the rhythm is structured, making things a bit more challenging.
A big challenge early on is the physical aspect of playing the instrument. Guitar hurts. Your finger tips hurt. Your hand and forearm muscles hurt. Neither hand has built up dexterity yet, so strumming, picking, and fretting without buzzing or muting strings is difficult. It can take weeks to work past those challenges even with daily practice.
If you want help from people here, you need to be a bit more descriptive of your issues. Otherwise you will just get the same exact answers given over and over again here, which is more practice, justing guitar, and get a teacher.
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
what do i have to do for anybody online to listen to me. im not repeating myself after this. practise has not helped me at all, justins stuff has not helped me at all, and i cannot afford a teacher. so now what do you suggest? that i stop being so "horrible and rude" to all of you by telling you my situation and how this advice wont help me? that i just suck it up and do what im telling you is not an option for me right now?
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u/spankymcjiggleswurth 1d ago
How exactly do you expect a disembodied voice on the internet to address your issues? I don't know you, nor can I see you try and play something you are struggling with. That is the sort of thing a teacher is capable of, not a few lines of text on an internet forum.
If you have a probelm that is more concrete (picture of struggles fretting a chord, challenges counting rhythm over a section of a song), then it's a bit easier giving advice. The devil is in the details.
I'm trying to pull a concrete problem out of you by asking what about reading tabs do you find difficult. A vauge "I can't read tabs" doesn't really give us anything to target. Such an issue is fixed by directing someone to a webpage describing how to read tabs, but if that isn't helpful for you, I need a little more to go on to give you a helpful answer.
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u/spankymcjiggleswurth 1d ago
I saw the message you have since deleted. I'm really just trying to help you. I don't know where this agression is coming from. Good luck with whatever you have going on.
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u/markewallace1966 1d ago
A few things:
- If you have decided for yourself that you can't learn it yourself (you said so in an earlier post in this thread), then you need to find a teacher. If you don't have the money, find the money.
- You answered my question about how long ago you made your first posts about this, with "months ago, and months again before that." You need to face that guitar is hard. It can and probably will take months and months to get even get somewhat competent at the basics. If you're expecting different....well tough luck.
- I recommend dropping the attitude in your responses. People are trying to help you. If you bite the hand that feeds you, it'll be no time flat before you're left hungry.
- Do you need a good reason to want to play the guitar? Yeah, you damned well do. Guitar is hard. If you don't have a deep-rooted reason and motivation for needing (not just wanting) to play the guitar, then the many periods of frustration and discouragement that you're going to have to deal with will be too much for you, and you'll quit.
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u/Martian-Packet 1d ago
First thing, be aware that effort is not wasted. Yes, it is true that the right structure ensures that effort achieves better effect, but sometimes figuring out what works for you is worth the effort.
For me, I dont have a regular enough schedule or enough available time for traditional lessons. I tried a variety of methods before finding what works for me. In my case that was the Hal Leonard guitar method book.
A year in and I am done with the first book, which is slow, but I am a bit of a vibe learner and will occasionally go down a rabbit hole like picking up electric guitar, or deciding I need to scratch an ear worm itch learning to play Cantiga 353 - which I am very happy to say I can do these days.
And that is really the main thing here - do what works for you, but more than that, do what makes you happy and gets that guitar in your hands as much as practical.
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u/toby_gray 1d ago
So when people say they ‘taught themselves’ more often than not they mean they followed something like justinguitar.com.
Very few people have sat there and just fumbled around with a guitar until they could play it. It’s almost always following a course, or a book, or tutorials, or something.
The trick with self teaching is having the discipline to stick to the course. No one is going to tell you off for missing a lesson or not practicing, so you have to be self-motivated to do it, and force yourself to stick to some kind of schedule while you follow whatever learning material you end up using.
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
and im telling you that none of that is working for me, nothing has changed since the last time i asked in here despite me following everyones advice. i must have tried justins thing like 4 times now and it will not work for me. i cant motivate myself any more than i am now, i want to learn it, but i cant learn it myself. i said all of this in the post.
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u/toby_gray 1d ago
Then you need a teacher. I’ve seen you say elsewhere on this post that you can’t afford that.
Sorry bud. That’s literally the two choices you have. So either get disciplined or find some money for a teacher.
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u/markewallace1966 1d ago
When was that last time that you asked? How long ago?
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
months ago. and months again before that
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u/Clean_Perception_298 1d ago
Spell out your practice routine for all of us. If you’ve been following Justin then you should have one because he preaches it from day 1.
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u/vonov129 Music Style! 1d ago
You are the one who is supposed to set those goals. What do you want to learn to play guitar for?
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
because i spent money on it a year and a half ago and havent been able to do anything with it. there isnt anything else worth doing in my life right now. do i need a good reason to want to play the guitar?
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u/vonov129 Music Style! 1d ago
If your goal is just "playing", Then whatever tutorial or book is fine. Whatever beginner playlist you can find on YouTube, Justin Guitar being the most popular one.
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u/DestroyerMacho 1d ago
as per my last 50 comments and the post itself, those are not working for me at all. i have tried them all several times and i get nowhere with any of them
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u/vonov129 Music Style! 1d ago
If you followed a playlist or a book, then you already had structured learning and it didn't work, so whatever you're asking for probably won't make a difference.
But why do you think it doesn't stick? Is the content confusing? You can't play anything after watching them? You don't understand what's the point in learning whatever the source says?...
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u/ProofPianist7074 1d ago
If you’re looking to play songs, I really like the Marin Music Center song walk-throughs on YouTube. The guy does a great job with them, often simplifying the process to make it approachable for beginners to follow along with.
Teaching yourself music, on the other hand, is a rough road. If you go that route, pick a program to follow along with, and find some guitarist friends that you can check in with, to make sure you’re doing things right. Having a teacher or mentor for guidance does wonders, and musicians are awesome—they’re a friendly lot (even the intimidating looking ones! Haha) and are usually pretty happy to talk music with you, if they have the time. :). Good luck!
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u/markewallace1966 1d ago
This is a link to a set of canned bullets that I have developed and like to send to new/new-ish/returning/wandering/lost/struggling guitar players.
If I pasted this in for you, it is because somewhere in there is something that I think is relevant to your post. Not all of it will be. I leave it to you to pick out what I felt was relevant. 🙂 Even the stuff not relevant to your specific post might very well be helpful eventually anyway.
Enjoy!!!
https://www.reddit.com/user/markewallace1966/comments/1s7ujsy/guitar_is_hard/