Hi! Greetings from Berlin!
This is my third attempt at trying to learn guitar - my first was when I was 20 in college, then again at 24, and now 11 years later at 35. And this time, it's "taking", in that I'm practicing every day and seeing encouraging progress, I have confidence that I'll learn this time, because I look forward to practice, it's not this chore I'm forcing myself to do like it was when I was in my 20s.
I have some theories on why it's working this time, that I wanted to share, I don't know, maybe it will help people inspire people who are struggling like I was before.
1. Different mindset
Picking up the guitar again has showed me how much my thinking as evolved on things like natural talent. Despite plenty of people telling me that success is about work and drive, not talent, it took years to hit me. When I first tried to pick up guitar, my mindset was - let's see if I have any talent. But guitar was hard, and I convinced myself I must not have any, and if guitar was going to be harder for me than most other people, why even bother? I know the error in my thinking - it's taking now because I have confidence it will, I just need to be patient with myself. If you are thinking you don't have musical talent - check out the book Mindset. And if you're not into that self-helpy stuff, I can also recommend Bruce Springsteen's biography Born to Run, who talks at length about how he never considered himself a very good guitar player, but he had a vision and he worked damn hard for it.
2. My ear improved
As I got older and my appreciation for music, in particular for rock and roll from the 60s and folk music from the 70s, I started hearing it differently. I noticed this how this affected my guitar playing, with a Led Zeppelin song I had tried to learn from tab in my 20s - I remember learning a measure but struggling to fit the parts together, getting the timing right, even after playing the song on my computer over and over...When I tried again it came natually - I can't play it particularly well, but I understand how the pieces fit, the timing of it all. Perhaps this is just from just listening to the same songs over the years, I know them better, but I also think I've gotten better at picking out the different instruments.
3. The right teacher and pace!
When I first started, I was biting off more than I could chew. I wanted to short cut to knowing how to play my favorite songs without understanding anything about music. It didn't work. I love the feeling of learning this mysterious language I once thought I was too math-stupid to learn. Also Lisa is a wonderful teacher, I love practicing with her band, and as someone who was raised in New England but living in Germany, her accent is like a little slice of home I get to enjoy everyday. The video about the different kinds of unique talents that people bring to guitar was particarly inspiring.
Not suprisingly, my favorite song I've learned from Lisa so far is "I get it now." ;)
Another tip - if you like Bob Seger and want to practice basic chord changes, I can recommend checking out the songs "Against the Wind" and "Still the Same". They use basic chords, speed is manageable and strumming patterns are pretty consistent. Also fun to sing along with! Good luck everyone and thanks for reading :)