what am I doing wrong?

I have been at guitar for over a year now and my progress is so low it's embarrassing. I prefer the travis style finger picking. But I cant do even one song well. Not one. I play almost every day. Would like to have the confidence to sit around a campfire and do a few songs. but I wouldn't dare. I suck!
I have small hands and I'm starting at an older age (56). Is it just too darn late?

I hope it's not too late! I'm 10 years older than you and trying to learn. And I've now been at it for about 2 years and am now where near ready to play in front of someone. (Except my dog!)

At our age, especially my age, that muscle memory takes longer to imprint. Longer than these dam# kids.

Just keep practicing and enjoy the journey. It does get frustrating some days, I agree.

How much are you practicing per day?

Hi Tracy im 63 started 9 months feel the same as you at times, have been a drummer most of my life and its a difficult swap.you will have good times and bad times ,but its still wonderful fun.

Tracy,

Below is a link to an article on this web site, I think it should be a sticky for all guitar players to read. I'm sure as a guitar player you will identify with lots of what is said.

http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37902

Wildwoman1313 has a few other articles that may help you through this moment and many others as you continue through the years.

Hey tracy , its never to late to learn how to play guitar.
I would say make a goal for your self,you must have a goal without one you will not improve. 2cd start with the core system. And dont try to learn any kind of song that is out of ur league. There are so many songs on gt for the beginner, songs u can play with only 2 or 3 chords,now ur playing to fill ur apatite.
Take it slow , we ALL BEEN WERE UR AT NOW.
So just hang in there tracy, the rewards are overwhelming.

just keep playing. it took me a few years to play a complete song. it was more of a mental block. stick with ONE song. don't jump around. jmtc

Never too late nor too old. I'll be 49 this year and have been 'learning' for 39 years or so. Here I am again now starting all over to 'unlearn'. I'm forcing myself to go through the fundamentals course again and amazed at all the bad habits I've picked up over the years. I'd suggest to you to pick one beginner song and put that in your practice routine along with the course lessons. Its always more fun to be playing a song you know and before you know it you're getting better and better almost without realizing it. Stick with it, at our older ages the muscle memory is harder to instill in the brain but it does come.

and I've been putzing around with the guitar for years. I still can't play anything. I don't know why I do it and I really don't put a lot of time into it either. That's probably why I've never developed a high skill level. I have a piano, too - I will NEVER learn to play that well. But I'm fine with it.

It's just fun. That's all. Enjoy. Don't worry about being good. There are a lot of things I'll never excel at in my life.

I don't know how much time I've got left but I don't want to waste any of it worrying about how good I am at this that or the other.

Have a good one, everybody!

I'll be 59 in a couple of weeks. Don't get down on yourself. The issue as I see it is that if it snowed gold it would be the new mess to be swept away. In other words the ability to do certain things well is not universal. The thing to do is find out what your best at and play within you limits. Age hasn't slowed me down. I've just never been able to play particularly fast. I've tried bluegrass, rock, blues. Having brain and hand dexterity is a talent. Lots of people hide behind distortion to make themselves sound powerful. But most of us fail. That's why good players are so highly valued. If one accepts that, it makes for still enjoyable playing as sometimes you will have a day or an event that thrills you because you did it, But try it ten more times and you'll probably blow eight of them. No big whoop. It's a good pass time. If you were meant to be a great guitarist, you would have eaten and slept with your guitar as a kid. Now watch me get slammed by the immature. Good luck and enjoy it for what it is.

thanks for the feed back guys. it helps. very cool to hear some of you feel the same.
....I hate to sound fussy, but I don't like most of the beginners songs on here...all kinda geeky and syrupy. So I'm working on St. James Infirmary...its got a nice bluesy sound and its fun. Odd, it's actually a little easier than Billy Joe, which is on the beginner list and way harder!
I can get through it but I sure don't sound good. Thought I should be doing better after one year. ....I will take all of your advice and 'try' to be patient.
thanks again

Another thing you could do is switch it up and start learning some lead. Pick some simple rock or even classical songs where you're picking one note at a time and even using some legato. To me, this is much more fun than learning "campfire" chords, and it might strengthen your fingers a bit and it will definitely help you get some finger independence and dexterity.

I guess it's not JUST my guitar playing....I am probably doing ok with it ... Im doing well with the travis picking and its fun, and I've learned about 5 or six songs on here. ....My voice is pretty good, and my guitar playing is not bad, but when I try to sing WITH the guitar, that's when I really suck. Can't do one song well.

Have you tried humming the the tune so not to be worried about the lyrics.
Are you singing in the same key. If not try a capo.
You are not adding a third thing to be doing simultaneously with guitar playing so it's going to be practice practice practice..
You'll get it...

bbzswa777, it's interesting that playing melodies rather than "campfire chords" was more interesting to you. Back when I was first learning, I had the opposite experience. I was learning melodies and stuff for about a year and I was bored to tears. A friend of mine showed me a few chords and some cool songs that used them...and I was off an running!! Just goes to show how everybody is different!

Tracy, I'm not a singer, but I know it can be hard to do 2 things at once, which is what you are doing when you play and sing at the same time. If you look through these forums, you'll find plenty of people that run into the same problem. You need to get to where one of the things you are doing is totally automatic to the point that you don't have to think about it.

I just read back and I see you are focusing on travis picking. Can you just strum the chords and sing? That sould simplify things. If you are struggling with that, I would focus on getting that down first. Then work on doing it with the travis pick and singing.