Attended my first guitar workshop

WOT (wall of text) Warning. Just wanted to share a guitar clinic experience.

I have been playing, or I should really say learning guitar for about a year now. I attended my first guitar workshop this weekend at our local School of Rock here in Richmond, VA. It was a guitar workshop on british rock stars. The instructor picked three artists to focus on, Beck, Clapton and Page. There were four of us in the session, three teenagers, my self (41yrs old) and the owner of the school. I called ahead of time and asked if it was open to all levels and they indicated it was, so I signed up. 50$ for a three hour guitar clinic I thought was an awesome deal.

The instructor was an amazing guitarist, he was an established musician and was a teacher of teachers. Watching him up close and how fast he moved and his knowledge of the fretboard was amazing. About an hour into it I realized that I did NOT belong there and I was in WAY over my head. The instructor was nice and took the time to get up and physically show me what he was trying to demonstrate and I greatly appreciated that, but then again I was the ONLY one struggling and was becoming really embarrassed by it. I was going to leave, but I decided to stick it out for the full three hours and just try and get what I can get out of it. It got to the the point that even the owner of the school would look over and ask if I was alright. Maybe my eyes glazing over the information gave it away.

Now the other students that were in the class room all had more years on me, two of the teenagers have been playing for about 3 or more years, the owner for more than ten and the other teenager was playing at the school for about six months. A few of the exercises was to play a scale over a chord progression that the instructor was doing. The instructor would demonstrate the chord progression and scale and then he would go person to person. This is what pretty much did me in. I had to pass every time, I just froze and in no way, shape or form do it. I asked politely for the instructor to just continue to pass on me doing any playing. It got to a point that I just unplugged my guitar from the amp and tried my best to learn and/or figure out what was going on.

When the class was over, I thanked the instructor, who was truly awesome and very sincere. Walked back to my car just feeling like ****. This was Saturday, and I did not play the guitar all weekend, mainly because I was just frustrated with myself for not knowing more after a year of learning.

I went into the session feeling pretty proud of what I accomplished this past year.

After about a year I can:

Play all my open chords cleanly
Transition between all open chords smoothly with different strum patterns.
I still practice my minor, major pentatonics to mentranome every session, current working at 160 bpm.
Still working on my bar chords, but getting better.

I have played along with the blues courses by Christopher Schlegel and Anders Mouridsen. Those were my first jam alongs.

I have played along with some songs like:

AC/DC highway to hell,
Wagon Wheel (Dylan),
Star Spangled Banner,
Glycerine (Bush)
Opening and Rhythm to I Got Mine (Black Keys)
Are you going to be my girl (work in progress)

I was not able to do any of this a year ago, so it felt good to say I can do it now. But after that class it felt like '****, I suck'.

Should I be further along after a year? Am I learning slower than the average person? Am I doing things wrong?

Just chalk it up as a learning experience... Probably nerves from being out of your comfort zone. A session with less experienced players may have been more productive. Maybe the school will have another clinic for less experienced player. I doesn't hurt to socialize with other with similar interest.
I been overwhelmed most every time I try to take lessons. Even a lesson with a friend I work with for years was pretty much a wash.
Hang in there for your own enjoyment.

Don't be so hard on yourself!!! What you've accomplished in 1 year is fantastic!

You put yourself into a very high pressure situation. Everybody is different and progresses differently. What do you think those teenagers do with their time? The probably hang out in their room practicing. What you have all of the time in the world to practice, you'll advance more quickly.

Also, the environment of a clinic is much different than learning at this website. That alone could throw you off.

Your experience reminds me a bit of when I took personal lessons. My teacher would show me something and I would attempt it...and fail miserably with it. We would go over it a few more times and I would realize that this was pointless. So I'd suggest we move on. My perference was to go off and practice it myself and then come back with any questions I had. I was too self concious to work through it in front of somebody. So I could see myself reacting exactly as you did in that situation :-).

Perhaps age has something to do with it too. I was less self concious when I was younger.

But yes, chalk it up to a learning experience and don't let it get you down or deter you from continuing to play. In another year, if you feel up to it you could try again. At least now you know what is involved and you'll know exactly what you are getting yourself into. Look upon it as a goal - to be able to participate in one of these clinics at a level where you can get something from it.

thanks for the feedback guys, I needed that. Was feeling really down this weekend on where I was at. I talked with a friend of mine that plays (he lives in Indiana) and he has listened to some of my recorded practice sessions and he said that he noticed me getting better. Thanks again for the feedback.



some practice recordings, listen at your own risk ;-)...

trying to play along with Glycerine by Bush http://snd.sc/17hRsFa
trying to play the star spangled banner http://snd.sc/15w2d9y
trying to play ssb while using a wah wah pedal http://snd.sc/14uISV1