Hello everyone! My name is Doug, from northern VA, USA. My father played guitar for most of his life but I never took an interest in it, even after he passed away and left me his gear, over a decade ago. Well, a friendship with a professional musician lit a fire under my ass to pick it up and get started. So, here I am; chasing a new skill at 30.

At his recommendation, I picked up the classic Mel Bay starter book and downloaded a fret trainer app, both of which I play with from time to time. I'm impressed with the site and really excited to see my fingers loosening up over the weeks. I've joked that if I have another lifetime, maybe I'll pick up some Johnny Cash but I'm thinking maybe a decade will suffice.

While I listen mostly to rock music, I find I'm drawn to more acoustic guitar styles like Credence and Cash, Dave Matthews and the 90s grunge rock acoustic sets. Anyway, on to my question:

How proficient should I be at the skills presented in a given lesson before moving on? I'm currently towards the end of the core level 1 lessons and find that while I can play the E, A, and D major open chords fairly well, my fingers are still too discombobulated to switch between and play with the backing track. Before moving on, should I get comfortable enough with them that that's happening, or should I move along and keep practicing with the next few chord groups - especially since it looks like we revisit everything in the second level lessons?

If you made it this far, sorry for the long post and thanks for sticking around! Happy strumming everyone!