Guitar "Break Throughs"...

[SWillibr]

Hi everyone!
I'm new to guitar playing (less than one year) and have several friends that play guitar as well, most for many years.

I have a question that I'm afraid to ask any of them for fear I'll fall into an inside joke, so I want to throw it out and see what the general response is.

I was told to expect a "Break Through", several of them in fact, as I continue down the path of guitar playing. One would arrive around my "second month" of playing and then I'd have another one a little further down the road, etc.

Question: What is a "Break Through" and how would I know if I had one? Is there such a thing?

What are the signs?
- Should my toes curl and I bite my lip?
- Should I begin channeling Slash and play "Sweet Child of Mine" behind my back?
- Is there a party involved afterwards?

So please let me know if I should keep an eye out for Break Throughs, or if I should file this away along with Left-handed Monkey Wrenches and Easter Bunnies? (Sorry if I just broke it to you there's no Easter Bunny.)

Thanks for your expert insight into this matter.
SWillibr

[hunter1801]

If this is a serious post...then I suggest you start looking for that file. You'll get better no doubt, but it's not like a growth spurt. It happens over time, not all of a sudden in a short period. And definitely not at certain time intervals lol.

[hunter60]

Well, I don't know. Yes, learning the guitar is like learning anything else. It takes time and practice. PLENTY of practice. But there are times when there will be something that will have vexed you for a while and then one day "pop", there it is. A good example, for me anyway, were bar chords. I couldn't make a bar chord for the first few months. Then one day, it just worked. I don't know how or why but it did.

I wouldn't expect this sort of thing to happen over and over but you might have a few of those moments as you continue to learn. :)

[andrewjreid]

ahh i remember my breakthrough wait no i dont i just practice alot and u should too there wont be any sudden ability to play better. skill comes from practice your not just going to realize "holy crap this isnt how i should be playing" then start playing insanely well any ability you may gain will come gradually and only with constant practice and if someone told u otherwise then they were screwing with u.

[light487]

Well it does sound like a silly question but it's not really. Every new musician goes through the same thing.. you're waiting for "aha!" moments. I have no idea why the person said 2 months. These "break through" moments are just moments where you go "aha! so that's how it works!".. and your playing improves automatically from it. It's not something you can really put a time on unless you are studying music at college or something like that.. and even then it's still a matter of you personally understanding the "break through".

May be the person who told you that had a breakthrough themselves at around 2 months after playing.. that doesn't necessarily mean you will also have a revelation at the same point.. or even the same revelation for that matter. That's all this is about really.. There are lots of little breakthroughs along the way of course.. like the simple act of strumming down AND up... at first, a lot of people find this difficult.. once they get over the awkwardness they have a sort of breakthrough moment. Being able to strum up and down opens up a whole world of rhythmic opportunities that weren't accessible before.

Having a "breakthrough" moment doesn't end a particular avenue of learning.. it just opens it up wider.

[Geeetar4Life]

Nothing will happen over night if that's what you're thinking. It happens over periods of time and I guess you eventually start to realize that you have gotten better. But yeah...I don't know if Breakthrough is the right word...more like progress.