45 year old beginner

I started in june '18 by just teaching myself via youtube. I plateaued badly for months and finally decided to take structured lessons. Man, am I soooooo glad I did. Guitar Tricks in only 4 days has exponentially increased my knowledge! All those random chords and scales are starting to all make sense. I wish I had signed up MONTHS ago. Best $20/month i have spent in a very long time!!

Hi there,

Thanks for giving Guitar Tricks a shot! We're glad to have you and as always, be sure to let us know if you have any questions.

I share your sentiment. I strummed for years in college with no formal training. We didn't have the internet and personal computers and lessons were too expensive. Later in life, lessons were too hard to plan with a job, kids and everything else. Now my son is 13 and wants to learn, so I pulled the acoustics out of the closet and looked for an online solution to get us started. GuitarTricks has been incredible and I've already learned so much in a couple of months. I hope my son sticks with it, but even if he doesn't, I am pretty sure that I will.

I’m about 2.5 months in and started strictly with Guitar Tricks. Since starting, I’ve actually built a routine by:

- Picking a new song I want to learn on Marty Schwartz’s YouTube channel.

- selecting new chords I want to learn through JustinGuitar.

- Following the structured course material through GuitarTricks.

Although I enjoy GuitarTricks and will continue to follow the course material, I find the diversity of teaching methods between Marty, Justin, and the folks here keeps me engaged in practice for hours on end!

Originally Posted by: sgautier8th

I share your sentiment. I strummed for years in college with no formal training. We didn't have the internet and personal computers and lessons were too expensive. Later in life, lessons were too hard to plan with a job, kids and everything else. Now my son is 13 and wants to learn, so I pulled the acoustics out of the closet and looked for an online solution to get us started. GuitarTricks has been incredible and I've already learned so much in a couple of months. I hope my son sticks with it, but even if he doesn't, I am pretty sure that I will.

Apparently, you can teach old dogs new tricks!

Woof woof

Originally Posted by: stevechristian1

I’m about 2.5 months in and started strictly with Guitar Tricks. Since starting, I’ve actually built a routine by:

- Picking a new song I want to learn on Marty Schwartz’s YouTube channel.

- selecting new chords I want to learn through JustinGuitar.

- Following the structured course material through GuitarTricks.

Although I enjoy GuitarTricks and will continue to follow the course material, I find the diversity of teaching methods between Marty, Justin, and the folks here keeps me engaged in practice for hours on end!

That's a pretty good routine. I've been using Marty and Justin to learn quite a bit. And they are a GREAT resource, but I was getting pretty lost at times because they dont go into theory much.. Guitar Tricks tied it all together. But I will definitely continue learning some songs from them (especially for some glaring omissions from the Guitar Tricks artist selection, which I'm sure is a licensing thing)

Thanks for the welcome!

Originally Posted by: stevechristian1

I’m about 2.5 months in and started strictly with Guitar Tricks. Since starting, I’ve actually built a routine by:

- Picking a new song I want to learn on Marty Schwartz’s YouTube channel.

- selecting new chords I want to learn through JustinGuitar.

- Following the structured course material through GuitarTricks.

Although I enjoy GuitarTricks and will continue to follow the course material, I find the diversity of teaching methods between Marty, Justin, and the folks here keeps me engaged in practice for hours on end!

You must have WAY more available time than I do, but I have seen some of Justin Guitar's videos. I love the Song tutorials on GuitarTricks, but I've only done a handful of songs thus far (also about 2 mos. into it). I want to be careful not to allow myself to use all of my practice-time learing a song that I like rather than building some new basic skills. It's all a matter of balance and it's different for each of us based on so many factors. The beauty of GuitarTricks and the internet is that we can each find our own balance and pace, and if we are throughtful and a little bit disciplined, the tools are there to build a sensible course that will get us there.

Hope to contnue to see you on the boards !

Originally Posted by: sgautier8th

Originally Posted by: stevechristian1

I’m about 2.5 months in and started strictly with Guitar Tricks. Since starting, I’ve actually built a routine by:

- Picking a new song I want to learn on Marty Schwartz’s YouTube channel.

- selecting new chords I want to learn through JustinGuitar.

- Following the structured course material through GuitarTricks.

Although I enjoy GuitarTricks and will continue to follow the course material, I find the diversity of teaching methods between Marty, Justin, and the folks here keeps me engaged in practice for hours on end!

You must have WAY more available time than I do, but I have seen some of Justin Guitar's videos. I love the Song tutorials on GuitarTricks, but I've only done a handful of songs thus far (also about 2 mos. into it). I want to be careful not to allow myself to use all of my practice-time learing a song that I like rather than building some new basic skills. It's all a matter of balance and it's different for each of us based on so many factors. The beauty of GuitarTricks and the internet is that we can each find our own balance and pace, and if we are throughtful and a little bit disciplined, the tools are there to build a sensible course that will get us there.

Hope to contnue to see you on the boards !

It might be that this dude is structuring his day to use multiple sources. I do same. I’m a newbie as well and use many sources to pickup techniques and to learn songs.

Originally Posted by: sgautier8th

Originally Posted by: stevechristian1

I’m about 2.5 months in and started strictly with Guitar Tricks. Since starting, I’ve actually built a routine by:

- Picking a new song I want to learn on Marty Schwartz’s YouTube channel.

- selecting new chords I want to learn through JustinGuitar.

- Following the structured course material through GuitarTricks.

Although I enjoy GuitarTricks and will continue to follow the course material, I find the diversity of teaching methods between Marty, Justin, and the folks here keeps me engaged in practice for hours on end!

You must have WAY more available time than I do, but I have seen some of Justin Guitar's videos. I love the Song tutorials on GuitarTricks, but I've only done a handful of songs thus far (also about 2 mos. into it). I want to be careful not to allow myself to use all of my practice-time learing a song that I like rather than building some new basic skills. It's all a matter of balance and it's different for each of us based on so many factors. The beauty of GuitarTricks and the internet is that we can each find our own balance and pace, and if we are throughtful and a little bit disciplined, the tools are there to build a sensible course that will get us there.

Hope to contnue to see you on the boards !

Be careful not to discount the value of learning other artists songs though, it really does train your fingers and your feel. Heck I think a feel or a groove is half the battle. Just think when you play a scale straight up and down compared to when you put a little groove on it. Finding the groove is a hard skill to master. Im kinda glad I learned so much and trained my fingers by learning others riffs. Made it less work-like and really prepared me to where I've burned through guitars basics 1 and 2 and blues 1 in less than a week. And before you ask, yes fortunately I have all the time in the world to play and practice.

Dude, I am sooooooo jealous. I am here at work and all I really want to do is go home and play my guitars! I'm not certain how long it will take, but it's going to take me a bit more time to develop the dexterity to make seamless chord changes and find notes on the fretboard.

I started Fundies-2 this weekend and found the theory and secrets of the Major scales mind-blowing. I can certainly see that, with my dexterity and speed increasing every time I pick up the guitar, I will get through Fundies-2 much much faster than Fundies-1.

What guitars are you playing? I bought my first electric - a Sheraton II hollow-body - a week ago and have been playing that off and on. I still play my Tacoma acoustic quite a bit and love the sound.

Originally Posted by: William MG

It might be that this dude is structuring his day to use multiple sources. I do same. I’m a newbie as well and use many sources to pickup techniques and to learn songs.

I agree with this! Multiple sources is the key imho otherwise you invaribly start developing the style of somebody else. I think an individual style (as long as it's technically "correct") is key. I say "correct" because one has to slightly adapt things to what works for you in terms of body mechanics.

The internet is so valuable today for things like learning an instrument. I took piano lessons for several years, gave up at 15 then dabbled in the guitar in my teens & 20s, (in the 1990s) took some lessons but never gave it a real go because I was young and unfocused. Now in my early forties I've started guitar again with the intention of doing what - in hindsight - I've always wanted to do which is play to a proficient level.

I watch countless youtube videos from all sorts of players from proficient amateurs to guys like Steve Lukather, Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai to name a few and take what I need from each one according to what works and resonates with me.