Re-starting to learn...again!

So I am going to be 49 (*gasp*) in a month! The first time I picked up a guitar, I fell in love. I was 16 and bought some used cheap ass dime store brand from a friend for $20 and stripped it down and put on an EVH frankenstein style paint job. I was the shit. After screwing around with it for about 2 weeks, I put a brand new Ibanez RS550 on layaway (GOD I WISH I still had that guitar!), it was sweet. "Purple Haze" metalic burst with gold trim. Badass. I took lessons from the local guitar store. The first guy was kinda a dud, the second guy basically got paid to let me watch him jam. Gave up on lessons after the third guy and decided I would figure it out myself. After all the lessons, I knew the 5 basic "cowboy chords", and how to form a rock/metal style power chord. Played with those for about 1-2 years, then hung it up after "jamming" (mostly watching) with a few friends and realized I was way behind them.

Fast forward to about 6-8 years ago. A new inde guitar shop opens up in town. I was "in between jobs" (unemployed) at the time, so I stopped in to see if they needed a part time guy or something. Of course I knew they didn't that was just my subconsicence making an excuse to go see what was what. I once again, was in love. It was pure this time I thought. So I asked my wife if she minded that I bought an acoustic guitar, of course she mentioned that I was unemployed and probably not a great time. So I of course did what every man would do: I put it on layaway, including a practice amp! Somehow, she found out and for my birthday surprised me and paid off the layaway! What a cool chick I have, huh?! So I started up again. This time I was armed with YouTube, so many ways to learn! After about 2 months on the acoustic, learning a few more chords and a scale or two, I ran out and bought a used (from the same local shop) Mexican fat strat. Yes, love. But once again, it was very unstructured and the guitars eventually got packed away.

Now, about a week ago I got the itch, AGAIN. Love-hate relationship here for SURE! But this time is different. I have a plan. I have direction. I have structure. I have GUITAR TRICKS! This could quite possibly be, after more than 30 YEARS, the thing that does the trick! I am so grateful to have found this site! I am 4-5 days in, and have burned through the first half of Guitar Fundamentals 1 (I kinda had a headstart)! I work form home, so I even put in 15 minutes on my "lunch" sometimes! This is GREAT!

So that's my story. Not a beginer, but kinda. I will say though, the one thing I wrestle with is "what" to work on. Or better put, what a practice regime should look like. I don't want to keep just working through the lessons, I feel like just "doing" a lesson is just the begining. The tips in "Learning and Practice" lesson are great, but I feel are a little too generic/unstructured. Any tips on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!

We're really glad to have you!

I like your style, finneus. I feel like we have a lot in common other than all the stuff you wrote. Now that we've bonded I'll share my practice routine:

Chord transitions. This eats up at least half of my pracitce time, and also in my head, at work.

Guitar Tricks tutorials. The other half of my practice time. Slow, steady and DELIBERATE. I also have no qualms about jumping around a little bit.

Goofin off. I'm always looking for new songs to try on youtube, even if it's above my skill level. This is what keeps me enthusiastic. Boredom and frustration kill. I aslo have the luxury of practicing 2+ hours a day, so I never feel "forced" to speed things along.

Best of luck!

Good stuff Magnatar! Any suggestions for chord transition excrcises?

Originally Posted by: Magnetar[p]I like your style, finneus. I feel like we have a lot in common other than all the stuff you wrote. Now that we've bonded I'll share my practice routine:

Chord transitions. This eats up at least half of my pracitce time, and also in my head, at work.

Guitar Tricks tutorials. The other half of my practice time. Slow, steady and DELIBERATE. I also have no qualms about jumping around a little bit.

Goofin off. I'm always looking for new songs to try on youtube, even if it's above my skill level. This is what keeps me enthusiastic. Boredom and frustration kill. I aslo have the luxury of practicing 2+ hours a day, so I never feel "forced" to speed things along.

Best of luck!

I practice chord transitions with songs. You can google up chord combo's and the search gods deliver a bounty.

This guy here has some good practyice tips too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZciVu5o_Bg

And remember, mastery is failing every way possible.

Hi finneus,

I have been through the Fundamentals 1 and 2 courses and the Blues 1 course. I'm currently on Blues 2. I have a few songs I'm working on - both challenging and basic strum-alongs songs. Any lesson that I've particularly enjoyed or struggled to master at full speed I've added to my 'Favourites'. My usual routine is:

* Play a song or two (I use the Ultimate Guitar ipad/android app for song tabs as well as GT)

* Practice a few scales with a metronome (blues, minor pentatonic in various positions, major scales)

* Noodle about a bit with some of the blues licks in Blues 2

* Do some work on the next lesson or two in the Core Learning System (Blues 2 at the moment)

* Maybe practice vibrato, trills, bends for a minute

* Play a song or two

* Wish I was better at the above

* Repeat