when to move on to guitar fund. 2?

Hey everyone,

I think this is an issue many beginners wonder about? I have completed fundamentals 1 for about 3 weeks ago. From the moment we were introduced to most of the open chords I have been trying to find songs online with chords and chord progressions I theoretically should be able to play.

By now my list is about 20 songs longs, ranging from REM (very hard) to Coldplay, The National, 4 Non Blondes, Mazzistar and many more. I have had a go at all of them. For some of them I cannot find the right strumming pattern and i just leave them alone. For about half of them though I sort of have the strumming pattern down and can play along with the song in the right rythm and speed. For about 3 or 4 of the songs I know the chords by heart, i.e. I don't have to read the tab sheet while playing. Playing along AND singing along is impossible. I get lost almost immediately. For ALL of the songs though there is still a fair amount of buzzing strings around - especially switching to D and C. So this is pretty much my level at the moment

I have decided to make Runaway Train by Soul Asylum (the easy lesson on this site) my "graduation" project, trying to hone it to perfection. It has a fair amount of C's and F's in it, but the strumming is easy throughout. But I'm not there yet.

I'm eager to move to Fund. 2 though, intrigued as I am by power chords, they dont seem so hard. When would it be time to move on? I'm sure this question has been asked before but does anyone want to share any thoughts on this subject?

Rgds, Gert.

Hi Gert

This has been my experience over the past 17 months.

I don't look for perfection, I only need a general concept and I will make that part of my practice. I can't practice everything everyday - there is too much - so I bascially rotate things that need work. But I am at a stage where I have pretty good fundamental knowledge of theory and the fretboard and now my goal is to make things come together in a more seemless way. Right now I am too mechanical, needing to think before I move, but I believe that with continued practice my movements on the fretboard will be more from "muscle memory" than deliberate thought.

Buzzing strings still happen for me. I don't like it, but I find it has a lot to do with tempo. I think with more practice you will find strings buzzing less.

Singing and playing is very difficult. I began song writing not long ago and I have to break it into parts - chords - words - combine the two literally 1 bar at a time. But like everything else with guitar it will just take time in to come together.

And since I have always excelled at making a fool of myself, here is what I mean on the singing / playing aspect.

https://youtu.be/da4dOwOR8Eo

It's all good fun Gert, enjoy your guitar journey!

Hi Gert,

I second a lot of what William Said. I don't strive for perfection either. Get the information down to a level of understanding that your comfortable with and move on. Since this is an online learning academy we as users and players have to be our own coaches to some extent. That's a hard concept for some us older newbies to understand. Were used to teachers controlling our development whether it's classroom or one on one. Here there are no diplomas or certificates handed out telling you your allowed to go to next level. It's really kind of up to you to make that call. I would say if your comfortable with what you learned in GF 1 then by all means move on to GF2 cause that's where theory and technique really ramp up. Some of it you might enjoy and some of it you might not. That was my Personal experience anyway.

However since you paid for the site your free to move around at your will. For example right now I'm jumping around between Acoustic and Country Levels 1. I also have a few songs I play mostly the (made easy) versions but there are a few that I take on as projects that are at a higher level and also working on fingerpicking tutorials with both Lisa and Anders. For fun I go on Youtube and there are a few songs I play along to as well so my practice routine is pretty full as you can see, but again I don't harbor in one area and try to master it to death. I'm not saying you can't it's just you have to decide for yourself when you feel ready to move on. The one advantage to this site is you can always go back to things later on. I still go back to fundamentals 1 and 2 once in a while to reinforce some areas I may have breezed through too quickly or just to play some of the melodies that Lisa taught to see how far I've come. They're a lot easier now then when I started and that provides me the motivation to keep going.

Good Luck,

Moe

Originally Posted by: William MG

And since I have always excelled at making a fool of myself, here is what I mean on the singing / playing aspect.

https://youtu.be/VYBmrNtLaTA

It's all good fun Gert, enjoy your guitar journey!

I have to say in agreement about playing and singing together William, it's really hard and I'm sure requires years of practice. Loved your song, well done!

I'm about 18 months in mostly from youtube and recently joined the site. The one thing I will say is, don't try to rush, it's worth taking your time. Good to luck to all of you!

Cheers,

theMolster

Thank you Molster, I have written a few silly little things. I am really enjoying this part of learning guitar.

All the best.

Thanks all for the encouraging replies. You confirmed a lot of my suspicions 😊.

I don't strive to "perfection", but for this one song, just to see if I can do it really. Also it has a lot of chords, including the feared F. So it's good exercise.

Delving in to new material, in time, will make the earlier learned skills more easy. I hope!

😎

I really like your song, William. Once you get it a little smoother you should definitely break that out on an open mic night or just hanging with friends or family. Feels like you can easily put together three or four verses and a good singalong chorus. What you've got so far made me smile and want to sing along.

Regards,

Dave...

P.S. I used the word should up there. Obviously you should do what you want to do.

Originally Posted by: William MG

https://youtu.be/da4dOwOR8Eo

It's all good fun Gert, enjoy your guitar journey!

Tx! I was actually quite impressed. I didn't realize how combining singing and playing is so hard for most beginners and needs so much practice just on its own.

Originally Posted by: DavesGuitarJourney

I really like your song, William.

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Thanks very much Dave

Originally Posted by: vanrooy.gert[quote=William MG]

[br]

[br]https://youtu.be/da4dOwOR8Eo

[br]It's all good fun Gert, enjoy your guitar journey!

[br]

[p]

[br]Tx! I was actually quite impressed. I didn't realize how combining singing and playing is so hard for most beginners and needs so much practice just on its own.

Thanks Gert. It will come together for you.

I'm now 10 weeks in (from absolute beginner) and have already moved to fundamentals 2. I'm just about to get to barre chords. Mainly because some of the songs I want to practice need them. I'm much further behind you in skill level already as I get bored easily. So I have to learn something new for fear of giving up altogether. When I finish fundamentals 2 I think its going to be a real good time to take stock and have some projects. maybe 1 or 2 songs I want to learn to play fully and well enough to feel proud of.

It's different for everyone so if you feel ready then I'd say go for it.

How much you practice is clearly going to make a differece too.

My rule is I MUST pick up the guitar every single day. no excuses.

Sometimes this really is simply playing a few chords and putting it down. Other times it's 2 hours later and I really need to cook dinner!

I'd say I average 30 mins a day.

It's good to have a rule like this to stick to.

My rule after fundamentals 2 will be to learn A song. Not sure what yet but one full song I like and fell I can achieve. Only after this will I then look at the rest of the lessons for further teachings.

Enjoy your travels through the learning experience.