I'm only going to focus and reinforce this part of what Dave said since the other part of the post is really just pretty darned spot on. So is this section below. Pretty spot on.
Originally Posted by: DavesGuitarJourneyA final thought - by all accounts from people who have gone through this, you are going through the hardest part of the guitar learning journey right now. This is the part where probably well over half of beginners walk away. Those who push through this become guitar players. It will take some of us longer than others, but if we stick with it, we will become guitar players. And I ask you, what's cooler than that?
My wife started playing a few months ago. The first few weeks were enormous frustration for her. She was regularly saying; 'I can't do this'. Still, she tried and tried.
The end of the story is that over the weekend, we were talking a little bit about playing and she'd said that she finally felt like she got over that 'I can't do this' hump. She totally knows that there is much more to do since really, she's only covered the cowboy chords and some variations of the majot scale. She's still working in strum timing and so on. She's not playing songs at this point in as much as she's becomming comfortable with what to do with the guitar and understanding that simply because she's not immediately picking everything up, she can see the pth to get there.
To Dave's point; that's the hump most people fall out from. They give up during the hardest part of the beginner's journey. That's kinda sad since that's exactly the point where, when you overcome it, you realize you can actually do it. Those that gave up when it was hardest gave up just at the wrong time.
My wife has seen me play for years and there is a little bit of the 'I'll never be that good'...Well, on my third month, I wasn't all that good either but now I've also been playing for 35 years!!! I help with her lessons and when I do 'teach' her, I barely play at all in order to keep focused on what she's doing, not me.
As others have said; you'll always hit some level of plateau. It just happens and usually means you need to challenge and expand your skills. In this early stage though, it's the 'beginner hump'. Perservere and you'll get there.