Frustrated

[Loraine]

@MamaMedic I’m sorry you’re frustrated. When you say Lesson 1, is that in the 30 days to play or the daily challenge? If it’s the 30 days to play, take a step back, mark the lesson complete and move onto the next lesson. You can return to the first lesson any time you want, but the goal is to keep moving forward if possible and to develope a steady practice routine. The lessons are not meant to be perfected but to progress upon what we’ve practiced and learned. Hang tough and keep trying. You’ll realize in a short period of time that you’re making progress. The guitar is a difficult instrument to play, but commitment to a minimum of 10 minutes a day is all that’s really suggested (and to have fun).

[ChuckS]

Mama, there is on old saying = “A thousand mile journey starts with a single step”. 100% agree with Lorraine’s advice. Don’t try to perfect or you will go nuts. Enjoy the journey. I’ve been at this for about 2 years now (after a 35 year layoff from what was a rudimentary foundation) and the progress just takes time.

When I first started TAC, I really could not do any of the daily exercises at all and I used to feel really guilty checking off the “Complete” box. But after sticking to it CONSISTENTLY, for almost 2 year things finally started to go a bit smoother. Now I find that the exercises seem to come much easier (still can’t hit them error free) and if I give a song a shot, that cool, challenging part starts to become doable. When you do manage to nail something, you get a real sense of accomplishment.

Also recommend you do shorter sessions vice going at it for 2 hours. Maybe 30 minutes and then walk away and come back later.

Hope this helps. Hang in there, it will get better.

[jumpinjeff]

Where are you @MamaMedic on your guitar journey? Have you played before but not for a while or brand new or somewhere in between. Knowing your experience will help me compare to where I have been so we can be on the same page.

[Moonhare]

Just want to add my support to the great comments above and say you are not alone at all in this experience. Keep moving forward, don’t aim for perfection. There are no rules here that you have to ‘complete’ one thing before the next. Also if you spend hours struggling on one thing then that’s no fun. If you find another that you get after 10 minutes you can start to feel good about where it’s going. I started in April, was really difficult doing the 30 Day Challenge but carried on with TAC then to see how I was doing I tried again in December and hit them all at 2x speed. I was thrilled. It just takes time and the daily routine but a few months down the line you will have one of those lightbulb moments too. Take care and welcome to TAC!

[speckpgh]

Learning any new skill can be frustrating. I am working my way through the 30 days to play myself, and about 20 days in, and I can say with certainty I won’t finish it in 30 days in spite of probably playing/practicing 1- 2 hours a day every day (not all at one sitting, 10-20 minutes generally several times a day, and occasionally will just lose myself and have a 30 minute to hour long session.

Right now I am frustrated with my chord transition speed, particularly into and out of C, weeks now of work and I see small improvements but my transitions are still far too slow to play anything and have it actually sound like what I hear in my mind. around 30-35BPM to get a consistently good chord when into or out of C… Using a metronome, doing the 1 minute drills, etc.. but still slow and frustrating at times… especially once you mess up… get a good rhythm, and then FWANG… fingers go down in complete wrong positions, then start thinking way too much about everything, and everything falls apart because I then overthink every move and slow down even further and make even more mistakes, rather than trusting myself.

I am old enough to know, I just have to put in the time, though I have certainly put in more time for this, than anything else I have tried in a long long time, and progress is slow. I tend to want to run before I can walk, so have to fight my instincts on this constantly… Want to play something and have it sound reasonably correct… but just not there yet.

Don’t give up, you’ll get there.

[crarod]

@MamaMedic

Impressive… 2 hours on your 2nd day? Your fingers are sore? Everyone here has replied back to you and I totally agree with them.

Step back, mark it complete and go onto the next lesson. You can always come back to it and you might realize that it wasn’t so hard the next time around.

All the guitarists here have been in your same boat and it will get easier.

Cheers

crarod