Just riding by

New to GT, hoping it will get me motivated more. Thought I would try online lessons since the diy way does not seem to be working for me and live lessons i juct can't afford. Have had a little Jasmine by Takamine for years and plays very well from what I am told. Then I wanted electric, so I now have Ibanez ART100 and Squire Infinity Strat with a VOX AD30VT-XL. Any idea to help motivate or just encouragement would be nice. Also any input on the products I have would be nice also. Now if I will just get off my bike long enough to practice lol!

Welcome man! It is important to stay motivated because everyone goes through rough parts in their guitar playing. One way to stay motivated is write out your goals for playing. Take consistent action each day to achieve your playing goals. Be proud of even little accomplishments because guitar is a hard instrument to learn! Good luck!

Hi Bob.. Welcome to GT..
I have a Vox 30 valvetronic.. Probably a grade down from yours.. So far it's a great amp for me.. and worth the money..I haven't gotten to crank it up, but may before the weeks out..
Good luck and keep on rockin'
Gordon..

Thanks for the input so far. Most likely the same Valvetronix yet different. My son and his girl have one also, just not the XL and it has 22 amp settings where my older one has only 11. Also the newer one of that size has a 10" speaker instead of a 12". What guitar do you have may I ask?

Hey Bob..What's up..?
I have a MIM Tele, and an Alverez a/e
An old Roland digital amp that's retired and a line 6 pocket pod that I now use for silent practice...

Hi Bob, welcome to the forums.

To keep myself motivated I got involved with other musicians, got together and jam regularly. We have so much fun making music, and it makes it easier to keep at it because you actually start looking forward to playing with them.

I also make sure my guitar is in reach, so I can grab it when I want to. Worst thing you can do is keep your guitar packed. Make it as easy as possible and as much fun as you can.

If you're a busy person, try to schedule time for yourself when you can play and have fun with your guitar.

Thanks FranR, I do keep them within reach for sure. Not many people I know that play though, and not sure what I would do but sit and watch. I am trying to make time to sit and learn more. I know practice, practice, practice. I am to the point now where I know if i really want to learn I will have to stop and make myself play, not just think about it.

Yup, just thinking about it isn't going to do it for you. So, stop reading these forums (for now) and go practice! :p

Kidding of course.

Other things I do is listen to my guitar hero's and try to play along. This doesn't work for everyone. I don't try to think like: Oh no, that's too hard, but rather like: wow, that sounds cool, I want to learn that!

So every often I pick a song that's hard for me to do, but by just trying everything I did before will become easier. If that makes any sense.

It's like when you try to work up your speed. You set a pace (on drum machine or metronome) higher than you're comfortable with - you'll struggle to keep up, but then when you go back to your comfort zone you notice you can play it a little faster than before.