Originally Posted by: danaandkim

Been at this for 5 months and am seeing no improvement what so ever. Go back and forth trying to change to different chords and still always stop and fumble to get it right. I would think after this long something would be getting better but it's not. Seen online that everyone can learn to play guitar but I don't think that is true what so ever. I think some people just have to say that's for the other guy. I think by now I would be able to play a simple song and keep up with Lisa on "begin again" but she leaves me in the dust and I just keep fumbling. I find Myself now just getting frustrated and mad and have seen online that if your not having fun with it you probably should stop. I have always admired anyone who can play guitar and wished I could play like they do.So I practiced almost three hours a night non stop for 5 months and have now decided I suck and it's time to throw in the towel. game over. I would like to thank Lisa for her time and lessons and also Mike. At least I know I can give my guitar to my grandson and it won't go to waste. best of luck to everyone.

If you choose to come back to this thread, I wanted to share a thought; slow down. Go very, very slow.

I'd be willing to guess that you might be thinking; 'well, I already am going slow'. And I'd grant you that. But I'm not sure that from your post, that's what I'm getting.

From your post, you did tell us that you were practicing often and for long hours. That is great and shows dedication. That is awesome and many people will never even get to the point of trying that hard.

My observation is more about how you're practicing. This gets to the point of slowing down. You said you're trying to play along with Lisa and keep up. Eventually we all want to keep up to something we're learning. It may take a very long time to get there or no time at all.

I little life motto I have is; if you've failed 9 out of 10 times, you've succeeded. The first 9 times only taught me what I did wrong.

Thus my observation, don't try to keep up with Lisa. Don't keep up with anyone for that matter.

If you aren't quite to the point where you can play along with at song at speed, so be it. Work on only one chord change until you get that. Then go to the next and so on. For example, if you have a song part that is Am-D-G. Practice the Am to D change. Only that change. Do it really slow. Get used to your fingers going to that place. I'd say just to drill on that. Once you feel like it is a little comfortable. Then do the D to G change. Do the same until that feels ok. Then string them together. Key here is to get down only one thing at a time and do it slowly.

In posts I've made to similar questions recently, I give an example of a song that I'm learning. I've been playing for 30+ years and am a solid player (played in bands yadda yadda). Like many guitarists, I skipped things I didn't want to do at the time. I was in to metal so I never learned 'strummy songs'. Major weakness. Both in the type of chords, chord changes and strum patterns. Strum patterns I'm ok with. But some songs do have funky chord changes.

The most, most recent example is Frampton's 'Show Me the Way'. The opening chords of the main strummed rhythm is a brain teaser for me. Without going in to long detailed chord description, the 1st chord that is simple to fret as a D in the 7th position. But, the second chord (C#) only requires me dropping one fret from my ring to my middle finger. Neither finger wants to cooperate for this little chord change. One finger! My middle finger wants to lift, not the ring.

So, I go slow and I've been playing for decades! It happens.

So, there's that. Food for thought.