Originally Posted by: js_miller99Ok, so I'm in Fundamentals 1 and am learning the first 5 chords. I can change through them ok in practice, but its a mess trying to keep up with a song. I guess maybe I'm just a really slow learner, but Roll Like Water and especially I Get It Now seem like there is zero chance I can do these. Maybe its just me, but it just seems like we jumped ahead pretyy quick. I know everyone progresses differently, but these chords have me down. I just don't see much improvement and makes me want to quit.
I've been playing since 1981/82 (with a small break in there) and one of the first songs I ever learned was Led Zep's Black Dog. That was out of ignorance that it was a hard song but still, I did alright getting it down. As one of my first songs (Rush 'Fly by Night' was the other first), I took on something way more advanced than I should but I practiced the heck out of that thing. It's not easy in terms of patter and riff.
Not to tell you an old story but that yesterday, I was just noodling on the acoustic and Black Dog popped in my head so I played it, of course. Wanna know what's funny, I still screwed it up. It's still a pretty hard song to get right. It's not a hard theory song since it's mostly based on an A Major pentatonic but the pattern and timing are still not normal. So, I still screwed it up. I've played it off and on for well over 30 years!
Moral of the story, though you're thinking you might have zero chance to do them, you can do them eventually. Why did I figure it out back 30 years ago? I just kept on going until I (mostly) got it..even when I shouldn't have. Yesterday? I was sloppy and and messed up because I hadn't played it in a while and if I really wanted to 'get it down', I'd have to practice it more. I won't cuz I just like playing the riff for fun..no other reason. It's about persisting. Take your time and learn it bit by bit and build up your skill...you just don't get there. It's learning.