Will it ever happen? ? ?

:mad: Firstly let me start, hi all, im jason 17 male, i stay in scotland, moved here a year and a half ago from south africa!!
ok now u know all about me let me start the thread.... ok last year i desided to pick a guitar, not know what was install for me, i also managed to get hoocked up with a book, whitch i stuck to! practising everyday not having any teachers to help me, but i found out that i havnt been making any progress i practise at least 2 house a day playing the same old chords E5 A5 D5, and go really slow,just to find out im doing the same thing the next day, not getting anywhere by that i mean i pick up the guitar with the same feeling as yesterday (i'm gonna be doing this my whole life) i'll'd really like it if some one could give me advise, who know also may be meet some more friends thankz jason

Originally Posted by: yacoolman:mad: Firstly let me start, hi all, im jason 17 male, i stay in scotland, moved here a year and a half ago from south africa!!
ok now u know all about me let me start the thread.... ok last year i desided to pick a guitar, not know what was install for me, i also managed to get hoocked up with a book, whitch i stuck to! practising everyday not having any teachers to help me, but i found out that i havnt been making any progress i practise at least 2 house a day playing the same old chords E5 A5 D5, and go really slow,just to find out im doing the same thing the next day, not getting anywhere by that i mean i pick up the guitar with the same feeling as yesterday (i'm gonna be doing this my whole life) i'll'd really like it if some one could give me advise, who know also may be meet some more friends thankz jason

hi jason , i play the guitar now allready six monds
I'm just trying to cover a lot of songs
I started covering and I'm still doing it
you really get better by playing it until you know it perfect
you just have to start with new things
you won't get better if you keep playing the same I think
greetz,
galdor from belgium

Originally Posted by: galdorhi jason , i play the guitar now allready six monds
I'm just trying to cover a lot of songs
I started covering and I'm still doing it
you really get better by playing it until you know it perfect
you just have to start with new things
you won't get better if you keep playing the same I think
greetz,
galdor from belgium

thankz,i know what you mean, but the probleme is that everytime i look away i mess up, ok heres a quiestion, say now i start learning to play these three chords now,with an avarage of 2hours a day, how many days or weeks about would it be befor i can try to look away?? thankz

You can't put a timeline on when you can start to play without looking. It all just depands on how long it takes your fingers to get trained on the proper chorde fingering. You also said you are getting bored with playing the same 3 chords-try learning some others. Learning the 12 major chords is a good place to start.

Originally Posted by: crazywolfYou can't put a timeline on when you can start to play without looking. It all just depands on how long it takes your fingers to get trained on the proper chorde fingering. You also said you are getting bored with playing the same 3 chords-try learning some others. Learning the 12 major chords is a good place to start.

thats the thing i first tried learning the 7 major chords, but it got me all tangled up like a live wire readdy to shock :D i also know that learning the chords are a natural thing, but im just want to make sure i know the chords perfect befor i move on

Originally Posted by: AkiraI wouldn't be too bothered about being able to play whilst not looking, work on your actual playing; playing 3 chords everyday for 2 hours a time isn't going to do you any good. Take a look around this site.

I've been playing for a tad over 2 years, I still mess up if I look away sometimes, who cares?

what do u mean its not gonna do me any good?do u have a better plane?what im trying to do is stick to this no longer than 2 weeks, witch means learning 3 new chords every 2 weeks, does guitar playing get easer and hurt less ??

Don't get bummed out about not progressing very fast either.
You need to look at it in terms of how far you've progressed each year rather than expecting it to take days or weeks.
Hell, after 2 years I was still playing Smoke on the Water with my thumb and using open tuning.

Sad but true, I still don't know any chords after 2 years of playing, heh. I guess I've just never been interested in them. My fingers fly don't the fretboard while soloing, but if you were to ask me to play a chord, itd take me a good 2 mins before i got it right

I got better at playing by just having fun, just jamming and writing my own music. I picked up some bad habits but they were easily fixed after a couple weeks of owrking on them

Good luck

Originally Posted by: AkiraYou'll undoubtedly get bored of playing 3 chords over and over for 2 weeks. Add some variation into your routine. You could try learning the Minor Pentatonic Scale.

It does hurt less as you practice more. Your fingers will build up callouses (sp?), these are rubbery pads on the ends of your fingers.

I remember when I first picked up guitar, I was learning major chords, I went round to a friends house so I could use his electric (a Stagg Strat); I went home at the end of the night with blisters on the end of every finger!

its not the tip of my fingers im worried about lol, its my knuckes they hurt like hell, whitch kind of effets the presure i can use while pushing down the strings!! and i cant really move on to minor scales or major chords or domanantes just yet! u know that big famouse american instament shop called Fender? ive got the dvd thats recomended by them. and your right just doing the same thing over for a half an hour can be more boaring than watching ur gran parents fish!!!and not to meantion fustrating and putting yourself in a deeper depresion!but any way u still havnt told me weather learning new chords as u progress becomes easyer :confused:

Is the action of the guitar to high or are you playing in the cold?These can cause your knuckles to hurt.

And yes,it gets easier.You wont wake up one day and say "hey,now i'm better' but it will happen gradually.

Originally Posted by: chucklivesoninmyheartIs the action of the guitar to high or are you playing in the cold?These can cause your knuckles to hurt.

And yes,it gets easier.You wont wake up one day and say "hey,now i'm better' but it will happen gradually.

i just want to know will this pain of my knuckels go away? and does learning new chords while progressing get easyer

I never had pain in my knuckles, so I wouldn't know about that. My pain was always in my fingertips. But that goes away after you practice. About the chords getting easier as you progress question, I think they will. You'll have more practice, thus making other chords easier. About trying to play without looking, I've been playing nearly a year and still can't do that. I play for fun, and don't care whether or not I can look away and still play.

Just practice, practice, practice! I know you've probably heard that alot, but trust me... it works!

well apparently some teachers say that you must learn a song first, but ive never had a teacher b4 so im leaft clueless again this is really getting to me now, i really dont know what to do :(

Just keep practicing!

And it might help you to find a good teacher- whether it's a friend or a relative.

hey man how u doin

um well it took me 3 years to get good by teachin myself.

and the first year i was basically doing wat u wer doing.

then i learned power chords.
and i suddenly could play songs! powerchords are easy and u dont really have to watch urself because they all are the same...just on different frets.

try those out bud.

I never of heard of someone with pain in their knockles from chords.

Check your posture. Is your thumb behind the neck, and is your guitar neck slightly tilted upwards?

Pardon for being newbish, but why does everyone start out with chords? I started with notes and went smooth sailing after repeating the same exercises, then moved to chords when i was ready for them.

Everybody so far has given you good advice, so hopefully I can throw in my two cents here and hopefully help ya out some. A couple of previous posts made have hit upon a few things which I think you should definately pay particular attention to. One is the action (the distance between the strings and your fretboard) of your guitar. If this distance is to great, it will make it more uncomfortable for you to play your instrument. Make sure your guitar is in tune to standard pitch if possible also, because if by some chance your guitar is tuned to high, the increased tension of the strings will work against you also. The tuning can be corrected easily by a tuner, but setting the action can be more tricky if you are not used to doing it. I would suggest having someone who is familiar with this procedure do it for you, as it could involve adjusting the truss-rod and bridge of your instrument. Once these issues are corrected, your instrument should play easier, resulting in you having to place less pressure against the strings, therefore.....less pain. Second, I agree with the idea of starting out with power chords such as fifth-type chords. If you have any books, videos, etc., on guitar playing, then research these types of chords. Basically, they are just stripped-down, simplified chords. They are much easier to play than full chords and will be less stressful and painful on your hands. Once you have learned one power chord "shape", you've most likely actually learned twenty or more, because you simply move the "shape" up and down the neck for different chords. When you feel ready, you can learn the more advanced versions of the chords, and by then your hands should have become stronger.......resulting in less or no hand pain. One additional note about playing chords......, in my opinion you should keep your thumb on the back of the neck while playing, creating a type of "vice" effect with your hand. Don't wrap your thumb flat against the back of the neck. As I said, this is my opinion. Third, and most important of all!!! If you REALLY want to play guitar and become a decent player at it, you will find that there are no "magic formulas" that take the place of Determined Practice! You have to train your mind and hands to play guitar. Remember, they have never done this before, so it seems impossible at first because.....it is! But just like learning to walk, write, talk, read, etc., etc........., if you want to do it bad enough, and tell yourself "I will learn to do this!" Before you know it you'll be playing guitar, and the pain of learning will be a distant memory. Take it easy at first to avoid injury and..........keep practicing!
Good luck to ya. :cool:

Hey, sorry if it's hard to follow.

I started typing, and did'nt think about "paragraphs"!

Damn dude.....I feel like my old high school English teacher is coming back to haunt me!!!

Trust me, I'll paragraph from now on....

Cool???? :cool:

How 'about we concentrate on helping fellow guitar players, instead of worrying about my grammar mistake.

The post was hard to read without paragraphs.
I should have realized this when I was typing it.
I apoligize.

Now let's get back to what's "ACTUALLY" important.