I put my guitar in the closet, I was ready to give up. After 7 months no joy

[Moose408]

My frustration almost always comes from one of 2 things. Either my progress is not meeting my expectations, or I’m practicing only skills and not having any enjoyment.

I have solved the first one by just continuously telling myself that I suck at guitar, I’m going to suck for a long time, and that is OK.

I solved the 2nd by adding dedicated practice time to learn songs and riffs so I feel like I’m actually playing guitar. I also supplement my learning with other guitar courses so when I’m really struggling with a specific week of TAC and I have place to go and feel like I’m making progress.

[albert_d]

What @Moose408 is good advice. Don’t beat up on yourself and supplemented TAC (practice) with easy songs (an actual game).

I looked at your profile and noted that your goal is to play and you recall the joy you shared with music and your Mom. I too am recently retired and lost my Mom in 2022 so I relate with your goal. But it isn’t specific enough. You might spend some time thinking about what it is that you actually want to do. I want to play like a piano lounge singer plays not a concert pianist. I want to share songs even if I am an audience of one. They don’t have to be good and I don’t have to be good. But I need to have songs not just techniques and licks, scales and chords. And I do have all those now over time but all along the way I am enjoying a song or two.

So I would suggest using some of that “retirement” time to ponder and get very specific as to what you want to do regarding guitar. A friend of mine says anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first. But doing TAC isn’t the goal and playing guitar isn’t the goal. The goal is more intrensic and unique to you.

[Loraine]

@Rob503 I completely understand your frustration. I didn’t have any play it skills whatsoever when I started on this journey. I became frustrated about the same time as you. I almost gave up. I began simply admitting that guitar is a difficult instrument to play, but it’s possible. I had to quit comparing myself to others. I was further along than when I began, and I started small by posting my small wins, and I said I was going to post my journey online – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In the beginning, everything seems difficult and impossible, but if you do th minim of 10 minutes daily, you will progress – happens sometimes quickly and other times slow. Think back to when to began until now. Have you gotten better?

Learning an instrument takes time and perseverance but it is possible. Keep trying. Don’t stress about effecting a skill. You’ll be introduced to them multiple times, and you’ll notice each time you’re a little better and better.

Consider supplementing with guitar lessons,. I did this after a year of TAC, and I was lucky I found a teacher that wasn’t threatened by me doing the lessons on TAC, and he said I was further along than some of his,students with a few years of lessons. If you’d like a reference to him, let me know. He does virtual lessons.

The biggest thing is to be kind to yourself, try and still have some fun. Find a song with 2 chords that is easy and begin with them. Just google easy 2 chord songs. Take the skills/scale learned during the week and based on the key of the scale (Tony typically tells you this, search for the letter of the key and type in major or minor backing track in that key. Then just goof around playing different parts of the scale to different backing tracks. Take the Gretboard Wizard course. It opens up the fretboard to you.

I was one of the slowest learners ever, and the guitar has not come easy to me, but I had wanted to play since I was young. I’m not great even today, but I can play upwards of a hundred songs. I hit a period where all of a sudden things just clicked, and I started playing and playing and playing and having so much fun. I still hit,plateaus,and rough spells, but I know they’re temporary. Don’t leave before the miracle happensr.

[Mrfredsporty]

I’m 80 and I made a couple of choices. This is my last go around. Now my guitar never goes in the case but sits beside me. I also realize that I’m only going to play some of the challenges ok.i also decided to learn songs from my era for nostalgic reasons and to help remember those times “ when I wore a younger man’s clothes “. So now I call myself a “folk croaker” who plays my version of mostly old Bob Dylan type songs.i get a couple things from the challenges every once in awhile and am really starting to get better. Stick with it and show up!

[gw5me-com]

You are definitely an inspiration Sir!!

[nashvilleskyline]

nothing better than strumming and picking out some Dylan

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @Rob503 , sorry to hear that you’re not happy with your progress up to this point. I’m in my 4th year with TAC and I’ve read countless posts like yours. The root problem with each and every one of them was THEIR EXPECTATIONS WERE WAY TO HIGH from the start. They all thought that they would be playing like rock stars after a couple months of TAC challenges. Is this where you are now, feeling disappointed because you haven’t been able to achieve the goals you set for yourself? Reality check: rock stars don’t become “stars” in a day! My advise to you is to DIAL BACK YOUR EXPECTATIONS, and make a commitment to your guitar journey. Never compare yourself to someone else and remember, you only get out what you’re willing to put in.

Best of luck to you Rob!

[dylangmiles]

Hi Rob,

I have been on TAC for three years and some of the exercises I am now coming back to for the third time. All I can say is I have improved and can now play a song or two from beginning to end. I have also now a good base of skills that I can build on.

I realise again and again through this journey there are no short cuts. Regular consistent practice is the only way to progress.

Guided by TAC I started to look for ways I could make practice a pleasure and get hooked rather than rely on grim determination.

Here are a few ways I have found that bring pleasure to my playing:

1. If I find grim determination and tension creeping into my playing, usually as a result of feeling like I am not getting it … I slow down. I force myself to slow down. As sloooow as I can go.

By slowing down and trying to feel the music I start to hear the story in the music rather than single notes. Hering the story in the music brings me joy.

Playing fast almost happens automatically over time from here.

2. If the lesson is to complicated and I am struggling to grasp the full sequence or technique I will take just one part of the lesson and just practice that as slowly as possible.

The pleasure of grasping one simple thing far outweighs the frustration of not getting something complicated.

After practicing a few of the pieces in isolation I try and string them together but even if this is not successful at least I got one step of progress which can fuel next steps.

3. I would often find myself losing context in chord sequences. Even one or two chords in to a 12 bar blues I would get lost and not know what is next. I found that by focusing more on the rhythm rather than notes has improved this. Playing with a metronome or some backing track also helps to have a counterpoint to what I am doing and seems to accelerate progress and has improved my memory enormously. Also playing with a metronome or backing track makes practice so much more fun.

I hope you find the fun in your playing.

Kind regards,

Dylan

[jumpinjeff]

This is the whole kit and boodle. Well thought! I found many of the same strategy’s and frames essential to my progress.

[petelanger]

I’m only 32 days in but I’m so much better than 32 days ago! That’s all I’m looking at and it keeps me going. I see that things I couldn’t do yesterday are almost working today, still rough but a little better than yesterday. I try to focus on doing one element of the skill a little bit better each time. Sometimes it takes 10 tries before there is improvement, sometimes more but other times less!

[dbvirago]

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. TAC can be a part of your routine, but it’s not the end all, do all. Find some stuff you like to play and some more lessons to mix in.

[Rob503]

Thanks to you all for your support. Today is the first time i have opened a lesson this week, which is only Monday but it’s late for me on Monday. I did not pick up my guitar this weekend at all which is strange for me. I feel like my callouses have went away(I know they didn’t). I do like the cross picking stuff so I am looking forward to getting back on the horse. It’s time to turn the frown upside down if I could teach Boolean algebra to a bunch of people who thought that was something you made a sandwich out of. 🙂 I just need to find out how to make it fun… and sound like music.

Right….Damn Right I am Right.

Thanks

Your friend in AZ

Rob