What is your guitar learning nemesis, how do you overcome it?

Too all that wish to add to this post..

Just curious, what are the roadblocks that you come across that make learning difficult? Or progress?

1) For me, I guess the most difficult thing so far is switching between chords. I've found that because I find this difficult, I spend very little time on chords. More time on melodies.

My resolution s that I've made myself go back to Fundamentals 2 and start over with anything that deals with chord switching...


2) Staying focued. I drift. I wonder. I play too much rather than staying focused on the material here on this site. Hell, I wonder off into directions that don't even have me PLAYING my guitar, such as reading up on pedals, amps, guitar building... All of which is fine, but, it takes my focus away from actually learning how to play the damn thing.

No resolution for this yet. :o


3) Dicipline to learn the actual notes on the fredboard. Been learning for over three months now and I still can't name 90% of the notes on the board.

This week I'm going to use Visio to create some fretboards on a standard sheet of paper, then print them out and start filling them in over and over and over...

Think back when you were in grade school and you got in trouble, teacher made you write your "I will be good in class" 200 times. :D


Anyone else?

Thats it man. I always start with the chords. I played them over and over not only with the lessons I made up my own stuff too. I really spend the majority of my time practicing chord changes. A few things that I came up with was too download a stopwatch. Then for 2 mins I would change between 2 chords with no stops or distractions. This really helped me out.

As far as my current roadblock its the open A major. My fat fingers just don't always go were I tell them lol but I am making progress.

Also still hammering away on Barre Chords which in my opinion are much easier to play except for the A major shaped HAHAH.

Now with all that concentration on switching chords I now am lagging behind in picking skills. Not so much with scales but going from chords to picking a few notes then back to chords.

I am still trying to memorize the notes, I think this would make everything so much easier, and at the same time also trying to actually learn what the notes represent on sheet music. This is defiantly where I am hung up but I am not complaining it is just still too much fun,

Ed

BTW what is Visio?
I have been using this
http://www.thecipher.com/free.html

Sounds like you have the right approach to chords. Typically, how many will you try to switch between?

I've gotten a lot better at A major... Lucky, i have skinny fingers, can't imagine how people with fat fingers do it. I think the one barre chord that I have the most trouble with is F major.

I agree, I like barre chords. Well, the E shaped, I agree the A shaped barre is difficult. I just found this out the other day, but you can use ALL open shaped chords for barring. I thought you only used E and A major and minor, but I just found out you can use them all. Same theory applies for each

Visio is a Microsoft tool used for flow diagrams, flow charts and things like that.. All kinds of stuff like that... I have created my own steciles for the application. I have things like fretboards, notes.

well i haven't been at it as long as you guys, but i will still comment :)

As far as avoiding things i suck at i kinda come from a different background.

When younger i used to do a lot of full contact fighting(Before UFC etc :) ) and slight of hand magic.

Both required you to be on top of your game by working out the weakness in your technique or skill till those same weakness suddenly became assests.

For me a big part of the enjoyment is the challenge some of this stuff poses, and there are many *Yucks*

Right now my major struggle is chord switching. specifically doing the F open. that things make my hand feel like its in one of those old medieval racks being stretched across the fretboard, heh. Sometimes its nice to have tiny hands when squeezing all those fingers into a little area on the fret, sometimes it sucks when you have to stretch across multiple frets, give and take i guess , heh

I worked on those chord switching lessons in GF1 and it certainly has improved.

Also i was taught a different way of fretting the A open chord which has made it a lot easier for me to switch that between, D, E and A open. Ofcourse there is probably some major drawback i do not know of yet ;)

About being distracted. I started just having GT open in my browser as to not get distracted by people trying to IM or message me or seeing new email etc. That has helped cut down on my google syndrome. Sometimes i see a term or something i don't understand here or in the lessons and i will google it. Well an hour later i will be back to the lesson having forgot while i stopped
:o

Now i just force myself to ignore it till later after i am done with the lesson i am working on.

Regards

Nox

I think my biggest aggravation right now is not being able to put it all together. I mean i can play a few decent chords smoothly and am working on my bars. I can also follow my scales decently. Right now I am practicing on them hard. Im just waiting on some revelation some come along and help me put it all together so i can play along with my friends in some sort of jam atmosphere without me having to play the same old dry licks. I know alot of this should come in time but its frustrating. I have all this information floating around in my head and there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it right now. I keep expecting to have some lite bulb moment and something will just start to click. Well im only a couple of months in and I should realize that it will happen, but you asked me :)

I know what your saying. For me, there's is a lack of musical tie in between chords and scales. I can play scales and melodies, but, trying to put chords in there is proving to be difficult for me. I suspect in time things will start to gel.

Originally Posted by: RickBlackerFor me, there's is a lack of musical tie in between chords and scales. I can play scales and melodies, but, trying to put chords in there is proving to be difficult for me.

That's a big hurdle for all beginners and continues to be for more experienced players as well. It's why we did so many lessons on combining them in GF2!

I think one of the things that aggrivates me is my attachement to the pick. I have always played with a pick and never attempted much finger picking. Now...I kinda feel lost without it and I am feeling like I have taken 5 steps backwards when I play without one....I even put hole punches in a bunch of picks and put them on my keys....so if I am out..I always have a pick with me! I have a friend who I dont think even owns a pick...

Im working on forming a practice schedule routine so I
can stay focused and on task and make sure I mix in all the things I can and cant do and what I want to learn/and am learning

scales...
knowing the names of things...notes, chords and such

I think I am my own worst problem though

I need a smack in the head and a neon sign that syas JUST DO IT

I don't think playing without a pick will ever be a problem with me, I always chew my nails, so, I'll never have long enough nails to play with... Problem solved. :p

Originally Posted by: CSchlegelThat's a big hurdle for all beginners and continues to be for more experienced players as well. It's why we did so many lessons on combining them in GF2!

And I'm actually finding myself back in GF2 now... I realized I blew through the material too fast.

Originally Posted by: CSchlegelThat's a big hurdle for all beginners and continues to be for more experienced players as well. It's why we did so many lessons on combining them in GF2!

Yeah im all over that very thing right now. I think im my worst critic most of the time. If I sit back and realize I just got my strat on Christmas, and before that , all I could do was plunk around with 4 or 5 chords, then I would realize that not doing so bad. Thanks guys

Right now, my speed and dexterity playing lead are my roadblock. I do get noticeably faster, more precise and more fluid from one week to the next, but improving on the physical-ness seems to be the toughest thing right now.

"Wandering" is also a big factor for me. Probably the worst thing I could have done for my lessons was install recording software! ...And also playing with pedals and reading about everything. But that's part of the allure.

Originally Posted by: RickBlackerToo all that wish to add to this post..

Just curious, what are the roadblocks that you come across that make learning difficult? Or progress?

1) For me, I guess the most difficult thing so far is switching between chords. I've found that because I find this difficult, I spend very little time on chords. More time on melodies.

My resolution s that I've made myself go back to Fundamentals 2 and start over with anything that deals with chord switching...


2) Staying focued. I drift. I wonder. I play too much rather than staying focused on the material here on this site. Hell, I wonder off into directions that don't even have me PLAYING my guitar, such as reading up on pedals, amps, guitar building... All of which is fine, but, it takes my focus away from actually learning how to play the damn thing.

No resolution for this yet. :o


3) Dicipline to learn the actual notes on the fredboard. Been learning for over three months now and I still can't name 90% of the notes on the board.

This week I'm going to use Visio to create some fretboards on a standard sheet of paper, then print them out and start filling them in over and over and over...

Think back when you were in grade school and you got in trouble, teacher made you write your "I will be good in class" 200 times. :D


Anyone else?

This will sound weird but my biggest problem is a small one that really screws everything else up big time. I can't control the damn pick!!!
For the most part I have not had many problems playing and switching between chords and so far I understand everything theory wise (just finished Fudimentals 2) Barre chords feel comfortable (A major forms, a little tougher!)
But the pick won't stay where it's supposed to. I can feel it spinning around as I'm playing and before I know it it's pointing the wrong way. It hasn't actually flew across the room yet but it's just a matter of time...
I am holding the pick as suggested in the first lesson and realize that I need to hold it tighter but when I concentrate on that part, I screw up on the chord changing/scale work.

Help!

Hey...
they sell picks with a grip on it where the edge you pinch is rough....Ive also seen picks with a sandpaper on it...so a search on picks and you should find them
good luck

Cool, didn't know that. I'll check into it right know. Thanks!

Originally Posted by: ItsmesillyHey...
they sell picks with a grip on it where the edge you pinch is rough....Ive also seen picks with a sandpaper on it...so a search on picks and you should find them
good luck

That's not a bad idea... Glue a little sand paper on them.

I found some picks made by Dunlop that have what feels like a micro-suede texture. The don't seem to be effected as much by sweaty fingers as the hard plastic ones that I started with. I can't remember the "model" name on them but it sounds like tortoise and the shape of the letters look like one.

Like most, my biggest hurdle has been chord changes. I have found the most progress when attempting to apply them to an actual song. Not that the song is better practice but I will stay with it longer as it begins to sound like it should.

And one of the few things that my middle-school band teacher actually taught me was: Practice, practice, practice. But I never learned to apply this lesson until I decided to try guitar as a hobby.

Edit,
Tortex is the name. I thought it had robbed off of all of them but one was still ok

Tortex is what I use. Back when I last played and started using them, they used to be a bit concave, as I suppose a piece of tortise shell would be. They seem to be flat now.

Dunlop also makes a nylon pick which has a significant 'tread' on the holdin' end.

The one thing that I really need to work on is timing. Keeping time just takes practice but the temptation is to go faster.

Scales. Sometimes the patterns throw me, and I want to get ahead and know what notes are in every scale. Again, the temptation is to rush a bit, but I will do what is in GF2 and allow the rest to come in time.

To solve my wandering pick problem ..

I use a small piece of hockey tape (athletic tape) the cloth textured kind on
each side. Small enough that it doesn't interfere with the tip but big enough
to hold. Sticks by itself .. no glue required
It works for me.
Cheers