Hey Emily,

I'm a guitar teacher.

Don't worry - I think we all went through those more frustrating stages of wanting to be awesome and not exactly knowing how.

One of the main things for beginners is they try to run before they can walk - they try to make their fingers do things that they are not capable of yet. Sooo send your fingers to the gym and make them more capable. Do the finger gym exercise while you are watching TV or something - where you practice on the first four frets of the guitar - all on the first string first - 1st finger, 1st fret, 2nd finger, 2nd fret, 3rd finger, 3rd fret, 4th finger fourth fret. Do this slowly as you watch TV until you can do it really well and easily without thinking about it. Of course you will want to practice the same thing on each string - 1 2 3 4, switch strings, 1 2 3 4, switch strings, etc.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

Also, they say becoming a master in any subject generally takes about 10,000 hours, and you could subdivide that 4 times - you will be feeling pretty good about yourself when you hit the milestone of 2500 hours of playing probably, provided that you are using good technique and playing stuff you like. It will feel good. If 2500 hours still sounds like a lot right now, you can divide that 4 times and you get 625 hours, which is a lot less daunting. There are about 8,760 hours in a year, btw. if you were wondering. So it's totally doable to get to a comfortable level in a year probably, depending on the practice.

Best,
~ Zac Sullivan ~
http://www.fretzeroguitar.com


Oh, and music and a healthy life do go hand in hand:
http://www.lifestylebreak.com/family/music-and-life-a-partnership-for-health/