Where to start?

I've been piddling around with you tube for a couple of years and finally signed up for this site. I know several chords and can finally play an F & B barr chord (not great but OK). My question is how to find the place I need to be in the lessons? Is there a particular order, seems the introduction is too elementary but, it's not like I feel I know very much either. Also, do you recommend fingerscaling every day and for how long to get comfortable enough to eventually be able to do fingerstyle?

Hi jboy and welcome.

I would advise starting at the beginning. You may be surprised at the things you pick up. It will also highlight any bad habits you may have picked up and help you rectify them.

So go through Fundamentals 1 and 2. This will show you how far you've already come and give you an idea of where to go next. (Blues, Country, Rock whatever your fancy)

Depending on the level you are already at, you may be able to skim through the Fundamentals quite quickly but I bet you will pick up on some good tips and expand your knowledge.

Look at it as a refresher course and then go from there.

Kind regards

Joe.

Hi and welcome,

I am going to be a bit of a contrarian with Joe, which is odd, but I know he won’t mind.

I have never finished Fundamentals. I just couldn’t do it. Here is what I have focused on in the year of learning:

1) Songs – I got right into learning songs.

2) Chords – but only the chords I needed. I decided this by looking at the songs I wanted to learn. There really aren’t that many that I need. If I need more in the future I will learn them.

3) Chord transition. This is really important. If I can’t keep up to the tempo I can’t play the song. I will often practice these while this watching tv.

4) Scales – there are a lot of scales and a lot of positions. I focus on what I need for what I am working on. The others can come as needed. So here, I think you do need a direction. For instance when I started messing about with the Blues I looked at the Blues scale in A, its positions and extentions. But if you don't have a direction, you won't have a focus. The direction should be whatever catches your fancy, then dive in.

5) Theory – this came on late for me, about 4 mos ago I guess. The reason I wanted to learn some theory is so that I would have a better idea of how to solo over a given track (jam track) and improvise. In this effort, I have begun writing my own licks. This is great fun. For me the writing of licks is a great exercise in helping me understand why a certain note should be played at a certain time. And then, what should I do with that note: should I play it flat, should I embellish it a tad – perhaps a bend, a vibrato etc. Great fun!

There is a spider exercise I do taught by Andrew Wassen. I used to do it everyday, now I do it maybe a couple of times per month. I play every day so I don’t really feel my hands tightening up that much. His exercise definately helped in finger dexterity. Especially my ring and pinky fingers.

Good luck.

Spider

Originally Posted by: William MG

Hi and welcome,

I am going to be a bit of a contrarian with Joe, which is odd, but I know he won’t mind.

I don't mind at all. Good to have a different perspective.

Brother, the killer of any hobby is boredom. Personally learning scales bores the hell out of me. Fortunately, most of the songs I like are chord based and only use a scale run as a means of joining the next chord in sequence. So I try to master chord progressions, barre chords etc etc. but that's me.

only you know what you want to learn, music genre wise. Start with finding that out and then learn it, eventually, natural curiousity rather than "you must follow this path" will move you in your direction.

to maintain interest try to incorporate instrument maintenance skills, or guitar/gear collecting. Something related to the hobby that is a diversion away from practice but still keeps you in the arena. [br]in this case, it has gotta be all about YOU baby 😂