Frustration, Beginner -> Intermediate Options

[Oxac]

If you really want to make progress make a diary. First pick a goal, like. I want to be able to do power chords cleanly. And perhaps add a tool like a lesson or an exercise. Then write what you want to have accomplished by day one. Then when you're done with day one, write how far you got, did you accomplish your goals? If not, perhaps you need to rework them or play a little more. At the end of day one, write down what you want to accomplish for day two. etc.

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[Scott Gentzen]

Other than that...I don't know. Don't give up though, maybe take a day off, then come back and go for it again. I find it hard with the habits I've acquired through GMC to even stop at all, so it works, just gotta find your niche.

I'm kinda up against the same wall. Lower speed though.

But I've seen that in my practice when I get stuck on something, I'll skip it for a few days and come back to it. For some reason sometimes when I come back to it, it suddenly works for me.

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[Kizaze44]

Don't give up, dude! Be patient - it will come. I've been playing for 20 years and still not where I want to be - BUT--- I see small gains here and there, and then maybe 2 or 3 times a year, see major gains.

Could it be that you're on the verge of a major breakthrough? Sounds like it. Give it some time and you'll see.

-Kizaze

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

I would say you are a bit impatient mate, you play 4 months, and compare to guys that play for few years! That's not fair to YOU man. Guitar takes time, don't think you will become a good player for next couple of years, but you must believe in it and have fun while playing. The rest will come in time. All of us had situations that made us stop playing the guitar, but in the end when you come home and take it in your hands, you just HAVE to play it, cause you believe in yourself as a player and you love to play it. This is what it's all about not some trivial song that you cannot play in class. There will be a lot of these situations and they should never put you down, because you will be good some day, and if you are persistent and keep practicing, that day will come sooner than you can imagine. So be brave, have a strong will, love your guitar, and it will be OK, trust me.

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This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: Oct 2 2008, 10:41 PM

[Guitar1969]

Hey GMC

I've been playing for around 3½ -4 months I rate myself as a beginner, I know the pentatonic scale (with blues extension) I can do o.k hammer ons and pulloffs
I can make a bend and a subtle vibrato.. I know some chords .. I've been practicing to music, while watching TV..

And well.. thats it .. I keep buzzing often, hit the wrong string with the pick and accidential mutes ..

I practice at least 1 hour every day.. often more .. Still I'm not going anywhere and I stumble through some lessons but don't find it any rewarding .. The beginner lessons I can do with ease but as soon as I near intermediate it crashes.

At school we are playing "Sleeping my day away" and I volunteered for rythm guitar .. I've practiced this couple of days a week for 3 weeks and I still suck bottom.. Today I was in the corner "playing along" on my guitar without amp while a better guy took over.

How do I break that invisible barrier to being able to play anything besides a silly scale and a simple pentatonic lick?

Several people I play with have played for a few years and I feel like a joke ..

I love playing guitar, I'm keen on practicing everyday. But when it gets trivial and your not going anywhere, it's not fun to practice, and your friends make you look like an idiot ..

I must say, yeah and I said it. I seriously consider putting down the guitar and stop fooling myself.

greatly discouraged
Rooks

As someone who's been playing 6 years and still feels that way but to a lesser degree, I think you are expecting way too much after only 3-4 months. From what you've described, It sounds like you have accomplished quite a bit in the short time you have been playing - Possibly your problem is that you've jumped into the "band scene" too early, where it is easy to compare yourself with others.

As I am sure others will say as well, developing your individual tone(Phrasing) can't really be taught, and takes time to develop - way longer than just 4 months.

Stick with it, and don't be so hard on yourself.

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[Muris Varajic]

3-4 months are not that much,if you take a look at big picture,
I'm scared to even remember how bad I was playing
with only few months of experience.
Focus,yeah,I guess that is the key..and don't give up.

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[kjutte]

Hey GMC

I've been playing for around 3½ -4 months I rate myself as a beginner, I know the pentatonic scale (with blues extension) I can do o.k hammer ons and pulloffs
I can make a bend and a subtle vibrato.. I know some chords .. I've been practicing to music, while watching TV..

And well.. thats it .. I keep buzzing often, hit the wrong string with the pick and accidential mutes ..

I practice at least 1 hour every day.. often more .. Still I'm not going anywhere and I stumble through some lessons but don't find it any rewarding .. The beginner lessons I can do with ease but as soon as I near intermediate it crashes.

At school we are playing "Sleeping my day away" and I volunteered for rythm guitar .. I've practiced this couple of days a week for 3 weeks and I still suck bottom.. Today I was in the corner "playing along" on my guitar without amp while a better guy took over.

How do I break that invisible barrier to being able to play anything besides a silly scale and a simple pentatonic lick?

Several people I play with have played for a few years and I feel like a joke ..

I love playing guitar, I'm keen on practicing everyday. But when it gets trivial and your not going anywhere, it's not fun to practice, and your friends make you look like an idiot ..

I must say, yeah and I said it. I seriously consider putting down the guitar and stop fooling myself.

greatly discouraged
Rooks

Grinding is boring. To hone yourself you gotta train while having fun.
Naturally jamming is the answer here.

Learn the 7 positions of the major scale, and get going!
Personally I especially love ballads, because it forces you to get feeling.

Good luck, and keep asking if you want more info.

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[besip]

you be ok i'm also something betwen Beginner -> Intermediate and it's no easy top go up
there is lot of recomnendations to take 2-3 things and stay with them but somethime when i'm dont have good day and my practising is bad i'm also booring......usualy whats happen to me it's i'm get up 1 day{there is 2-4 weak period} and play better...and then again i'm, stuck...

keep practising and you will se your progres..record your self on video when you trying to play some song and the repeat this next mont and you will se how u better

GL man
Rene

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This post has been edited by besip: Oct 3 2008, 01:26 AM

[sidewas lightnin...]

I made a post about this a couple of weeks ago that I was feeling the exact same way. What I did was I started changing what I'm doing every day. Try new things!

Stupid quote of the day:
If practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, than why practice?

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[besip]

Stupid quote of the day:
If practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, than why practice?

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[kjutte]

Wise words here! Don't expect too much man, and please, don't ever think of quitting! Practice as often as you can but don't make it a chor, you have to keep it fun and you will see yourself progress nicely.

Try not to compare youself as we all progress differently. I bet you can find a technique or some aspect of your playing that you feel good about. Work on the ones that you don't and when you feel discouraged, go back to what you know for a little while.

It's a lifelong commitment so just have fun!

I disagree. Starting guitar is very hard, so you gotta make it a chor to get to a comfortable level.
Then atleast you can jam whenever you want, although you don't practise alot.

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[superize]

The only thing i can say here is that you have to be patience..... You dont become a star over night you have to work your way there.

You cant compare yourself with your friends who have been playing for years and feel that you suck. You got to work at your own pace and at the things you feel comfortable playing.

Pick something you like(A song, a lesson, a solo) and practise that at lower speeds and work your way up untill you know it. that usually works to keep me motivated

Remember playing guitar should be fun....

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[Chris Evans]

I disagree. Starting guitar is very hard, so you gotta make it a chor to get to a comfortable level.
Then atleast you can jam whenever you want, although you don't practise alot.

I`d agree to a point but calling it a chore is possibly the wrong way of putting it.

Its a commitment, dedication and plain hard work, the rewards are frustration, anger, confusion but ultimatly extremely satisfying!

You need to find what works for you, but you have to hammer away and chip away at the mountain all the time, never giving up on what seems at the time impossible, play those things that you can play already over and over and over again you need that info cemented in your head, to begin with it is a slow process but you need to go through the pain barrier at the start to give you the tools you essentially need later on,

to make things fun I used to have a wall chart of chords that I put up on my bedroom wall and I went through the process of learning them all, once I had done that I started learning songs by my fav bands by ear refering to the wall chart, this effectivly was my metronome I guess and taught me to play "in time", (playing "in time" is the most important thing!) at the same time I started the learning process on scales, I started with the major scale, and then tried picking out the easier sounding solos, things started to click when I saw what they were playing related to the major scale box`s that I was learning, its a never ending thing, you then move on to bending, vibrato etc and you`ll go on learning for the rest of your life but things just become slightly easier if you put in the foundations at the beginning.

It is tough and there is no shortcuts or miracle solutions but so worth it if you just keep going

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[TheOldOnes]

This is a really critical time period for your playing - I must know at least a dozen people with nice guitars and amps sitting in the corner of their rooms collecting dust because they stopped playing after a few months. I suspect you are having second thoughts about it but I would recommend you stick with it because in a relatively short time you are going to breakthrough and be really happy that you stuck with it.

My own personal experience is that I wanted, more than anything else, was to gallop (e.g. Iron Maiden's Trooper) - it took me 3 months to finally do it. As for having problems with parts of some intermediate lessons, join the club - leave them be for a while and come back to them after a few days and try again until you come to realize that you can do them (Once you know you can do them, its all about practice to make them perfect).

Good luck!

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[-Zion-]

Someone before me just touched on the subject, but i will just say it again..

If you want to be better (at anything), surround yourself with people that are better at it than you.

Next time, instead of sitting in the corner playing without an amp, get as close as you can (with your guitar) to the other guitarists, and take in as much as you can.. They will probably also help you out.

I would definately not call it a chore either. Chores are boring stuff you are TOLD you HAVE to do. Learning to play an instrument is indeed hard work, but a chore it should never become.

But if it is such hard work then why do we do it? After 10 years I have found the answer for me.. There are plenty of reasons. Music does something to our souls. We "require" music like oxygen and without it we are lost. We love the way the music makes us feel, and we want to share that experience with the people we love and all others that are interested in listening.

10 years ago I played guitar. I thought I was pretty good, and I played in a band. It was great. At some point the band split up, and school homework (and girls) became a bigger part of my life. After two years of playing I suddenly just stopped playing guitar.

I just picked up my guitar again this april, and within the first couple of months I have already become much much better than I used to be. Dedication and "hard" work has gotten me this far. I say "hard" work, because it's not really hard work when you love doing it. It may be difficult, it may be frustrating, but it's never hard work.


If you find yourself not getting anywhere or simple getting tired of it, it could be because the routine has been the same for too long. Change it. Listen and learn your favorite guitar solos. Jam with other people. That will definately make it fun.

Last piece of advice (and this advice goes for EVERYTHING you do, have done, and ever will do in the future)

FOCUS on what you have control over.
Don't spend your time focussing on things that are out of your control. It will make you miserable, and eventually take you down. If there are things that are out of your control, TAKE control. If you can't take control, forget about it.

an example could be: "I dont feel like I am good at playing guitar. I am not progressing.." with thoughts like this, you dont have control.. so what can you do to take control? well.. do what you did here. write on the forums.. maybe take lessons.. learn new solos.. jam with friends.. talk about guitar playing with other people.. all these suggestions is "taking" control. surround yourself with people that are better than you and think "this is a great opportunity to improve my skills" instead of "they are so much better than i am.. i suck".

It's all about taking control and focussing on the "good" things. This may sound corny but life will be much easier.

anyways, i may have been rambling too much but it's late. I hope you can make something of it.

Stupid quote of the day:
If practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, than why practice?

well.. if you decide to learn a solo, and actually practice sooo much that you cannot tell the difference between the original solo and your solo.. I guess that would be "perfect". A perfect copy anyways.

In generel there is always new stuff to learn which in turn will never make you "perfect". And that i think is what makes this (and overall, this life) GREAT. Could you imagine if you at some point reached perfection? what are you supposed to be doing then?

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This post has been edited by -Zion-: Oct 3 2008, 10:09 PM