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My guitar is slowly killing me:)


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Posted

Picked up a guitar for my B-day last year and gave it a bit of a go, but wasn't at all prepared for how difficult it was going to be for me. Let it sit for quite awhile and decided last month to either give it away or give it another go. Have put in a lot of hours this time and I just feel like it's not going to click for me.

 

I can play most chords including barre chords (get into position and strum them cleanly) but I can't switch from one to the next quickly enough to play a song. I literally must have gone from G to D a few thousand times now and I still miss when I try to hit it while strumming:)

 

I've been messing with doing chord changes with the metronome on one change per beat and was curious what I should be aiming for. What's a number that most guitarist can hit easily? 100? Higher?

 

Bought the Mark Hanson Travis Picking book that gets lots of good feedback around here and was wondering about chord changes when fingerpicking. When strumming I've seen quite a few people mention cheating/changing after the last downstroke and just letting the upstroke hit whatever it will which gives you a little extra time. Same with fingerpicking? Hit the last bass note and start to change? It just seems almost superhuman on some songs that you could get into another chord position in between the last pluck of one position and the first of the next... it's literally a fraction of a second.

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Posted

When you say you can play most chords, how long does it take to finger them. Say D, A and E Major. Without already holding a chord, how long does it take you to get your fingers in position and play these chords? It's not just about knowing them, you need to be able to finger them quickly, then worry about moving from one to another.

  • Members
Posted

If you quit that easily you'll never learn to play.


You've been playing a month?
:facepalm:

 

 

Maybe five total now. I'd say I've easily put a hundred plus hours in now and I did throw in a couple smiley faces to show that I was being a bit tongue in cheek, but it is frustrating that I don't feel anything gelling for me yet. I can't imagine that it's normal to take this kind of effort to even play a simple song. I'm beginning to feel like I'm borderline challenged:) I played trumpet for 6 years in school and I don't remember there being any struggle whatsoever to play.... to master some things was difficult, but the ability to just play a simple song was almost immediate.

  • Members
Posted

 

When you say you can play most chords, how long does it take to finger them. Say D, A and E Major. Without already holding a chord, how long does it take you to get your fingers in position and play these chords? It's not just about knowing them, you need to be able to finger them quickly, then worry about moving from one to another.

 

 

Some better than others. Is there an exercise other than chord changes that I should be doing? Just hand floating above and trying to get into positions? The barre chords still take real effort. Quite a few of the open chords feel like they're close to automatic. E, Em, A, Am, G all feel natural and I can hit them without looking at the fretboard now. D and C for some reason are giving me fits. I've been doing a rotation. G - D , C - D, A - D etc and I'm in the 60's or 70's bpm on most of the open chord changes, but it all falls apart when I throw in a strumming pattern.

 

Like trying DDUDU, DDUDU in Aeroplane Over the Sea which is just G Em C D over and over. I can hit the G to Em perfectly, but the other two changes just aren't clicking. I watch videos of people playing - not even Tommy Emmanuel caliber, but just people playing and it blows my mind:) I'm sure if I keep plugging away I'll be able to play some basic songs after awhile, but I'm pretty sure if I had the ability to play well it would be apparent by now. I'm not going to give up because I'm enjoying banging my head against it, but it's been rather humbling:)

  • Members
Posted

Consistent practice of fundamentals over time.

 

Patience Yago, patience.

 

Enjoy the journey.

 

Nothing you have mentioned is unusual. You are doing fine.

 

Improvement is very gradual over long time frames.

 

Taylor your practice to the skills you need to play the music you want to play.

 

Pick a song you desire to play. Practice the skills needed to play that song.

 

Work on the changes below that give you trouble. Spend at least a week on just those changes. Spend a week on each thing you want to learn. Concentrate on the sticking point.

 

"Like trying DDUDU, DDUDU in Aeroplane Over the Sea which is just G Em C D over and over. I can hit the G to Em perfectly, but the other two changes just aren't clicking."

 

Playing the guitar is an Art. The process of learning never stops.

 

[YOUTUBE]LYKXrATefSQ[/YOUTUBE]

  • Moderators
Posted

I'm in line with Bernie on this one. If you take these challenges that the guitar presents and work on them consistently, you will eventually find what it is that is holding you back. If we concentrate on those things that we don't do well while practicing, eventually we'll have more weaknesses.

 

I have no idea what happens then. Maybe our heads explodes or time as we know it ceases to exist. Whatever, I'm will to take that train and see where it goes.

 

cheers,

  • Members
Posted

Do you type well? Play piano? I'm thinking maybe your hands are not fully 'configured' and you may need a program of preliminary drills to get up to speed.

  • Members
Posted

dude I'm gonna make an embarassing confession so you can feel better about yourself.

 

When I started playing guitar I DINT KNOW ANYTHING, literally, and had nobody to teach me. for the first month, I did not realize a guitar needed to be tuned. (and yes my ear was that bad that it sounded fine to me)

 

after that i dindt really learn chords for another 6 months probably. it took me about a month to learn how to play power chords (involve me walking all day long with my fingers forced into the power chord position so that theyd get used to it) and after that I just never bothered with learning chords.

 

I was a punk kid so power chords and riffage was all I needed.

 

so yeah, dont feel bad, if i think about my first year playing the guitar, I can honestly say that the same progress could have been made in a month by anybody else. Just keep practicing, youll be fine.

  • Members
Posted

 

Some better than others. Is there an exercise other than chord changes that I should be doing? Just hand floating above and trying to get into positions? The barre chords still take real effort. Quite a few of the open chords feel like they're close to automatic. E, Em, A, Am, G all feel natural and I can hit them without looking at the fretboard now. D and C for some reason are giving me fits. I've been doing a rotation. G - D , C - D, A - D etc and I'm in the 60's or 70's bpm on most of the open chord changes, but it all falls apart when I throw in a strumming pattern.


Like trying DDUDU, DDUDU in Aeroplane Over the Sea which is just G Em C D over and over. I can hit the G to Em perfectly, but the other two changes just aren't clicking. I watch videos of people playing - not even Tommy Emmanuel caliber, but just people playing and it blows my mind:) I'm sure if I keep plugging away I'll be able to play some basic songs after awhile, but I'm pretty sure if I had the ability to play well it would be apparent by now. I'm not going to give up because I'm enjoying banging my head against it, but it's been rather humbling:)

 

 

 

 

It sounds like your getting waaaaaaay ahead of yourself here. Counting your chords changes in bpm and making comparisons with Tommy Emmanuel are way off what you need to be thinking about if your struggling to smoothly change open chords.

 

If I was you I'd forget barre chords for now. Keep practising your D and C majors and learn simple song. Try Knocking On Heavens Door

 

G -> D -> Am -> G -> D -> C

 

Don't worry too much about the strumming, just keep going up and down. Concentrate on getting those transitions clean.

  • Members
Posted

 

It sounds like your getting waaaaaaay ahead of yourself here. Counting your chords changes in bpm and making comparisons with Tommy Emmanuel are way off what you need to be thinking about if your struggling to smoothly change open chords.


If I was you I'd forget barre chords for now. Keep practising your D and C majors and learn simple song. Try Knocking On Heavens Door


G -> D -> Am -> G -> D -> C


Don't worry too much about the strumming, just keep going up and down. Concentrate on getting those transitions clean.

 

 

Ugghh It does sound that way, but I'm really don't think I'm that overboard with my expectations..... Was more curious what a baseline was with the BPM. Just something to shoot for that's tangible. I just don't know if I'm wasting time working slowly through songs when I should be doing repetitive drills first..... patience is good advice:) I'll keep plugging away.

  • Members
Posted

I just don't know if I'm wasting time working slowly through songs when I should be doing repetitive drills first..... patience is good advice:) I'll keep plugging away.

 

Just imagine yourself sitting next to a beautiful girl.

 

You have your guitar. She looks at you with big eyes and says...

 

"Johnny, play me a repetitive drill." :love:

  • Members
Posted

Knocking was a perfect suggestion!! Not like I'm nailing it or anything, but my wife actually recognized the song I was playing:)

  • Members
Posted

My teacher always encouraged me to plough through sloppy chord fingering when playing a song and to always keep the rhythm (right/strumming hand) going in time, with feeling. Eventually the clean fingering changes will come he would say. They did. He felt building a sense of rhythm and timing was more important.

 

Both hands are important but the right hand (sorry lefties) gets forgotten a bit I think. I've seen plenty of players whose left hand is flawless but their playing never quite gets there because they have no mojo in the right hand. Like a drummer who does amazing fills that are probably only fractions of seconds off, but those fractions makes them weak and sterile.

 

Play Heaven's Door along with the original (or feel your own rhythm) and if the left hand fingers have to creep around here and there to get settled, don't sweat it. Just keep going, and going, and going...........

  • Members
Posted

Just imagine yourself sitting next to a beautiful girl.


You have your guitar. She looks at you with big eyes and says...


"Johnny, play me a repetitive drill."
:love:

 

 

Or drill me repeatedly

 

 

"Knockin" was always a great beginners song when I was teaching. Crawl before you walk.

  • Members
Posted

Knocking was a perfect suggestion!! Not like I'm nailing it or anything, but my wife actually recognized the song I was playing:)

 

 

:thu:

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