Extremely slow progress

Hiya

I've been playing the guitar for approximately 25 years, but over the past 2 years more intensively, practising approximately 1 hour a day for at least 5 days a week. I have been working through guitar fundamentals for nearly all of the past 2 years and progress is extremely slow. I can play chords individually, reasonably quick with scales, but changing chords often feels as slow as the first time I picked up a guitar. The result is that I've never been able to play a single song comfortably, and I feel like I'm glumly plodding through practice. I've a huge amount of patience and will stick with it, but it's sometimes difficult to see the fun! Any tips hugely appreciated.

Many thanks

What about a few private lessons? Having an outsider look at your skills and progress might be helpful. Without any input, we will tend to do the same things over and over again.

Thanks for the response! I had lessons towards the end of the 90's, but not since unfortunately. I can barely tolerate my own playing so it's difficult for me to inflict on anyone else! The GuitarTricks courses do keep me doing different things and there is a kind of progress, just not to the point where I'm playing any of the music I enjoy, even after a couple of years of fairly intensive practice.

I don't know if this will help or hurt.

I can pretty much make the chords I need and get up to tempo and really enjoy playing songs, but I have 2 left feet when it comes to hands. However, since I play for myself or with friends, it all good. I play anyway and live with it. People at least recognize the songs.

When I record something, I have to break the guitar parts into sections and record slowly, piecing the bits together in my daw.

Good luck.

Hey song2siren --

Some of our instructors do One On One lessons online. Doing even one of these could help!

http://www.guitartricks.com/pro

-Carl.

Hello,

I can relate to your frustration. I’m frustrated as well. I started with Guitar Tricks last April and found myself stuck with chord changes as well. No matter how I try I can’t seem to change chords at anything but the slowest speed, which doesn’t sound like I’m making music at all. I tried moving forward in the lessons and coming back to the troublesome lessons, but that didn’t work. I took a month off after abdominal surgery then returned with renewed interest. I soon found myself stuck in the same place as before. I’m of the opinion that chord changes are an essential facet of guitar playing. Without mastering it there is no progress. My year is up in April and now I have to ask myself, do I renew and go on or call it quits?

Best of luck to you.

Karl

Hello All,

I think many of us can relate to this subject. About 9 months ago I had my guitar set up changed by lowering the action and switching in lighter guage strings and it made a HUGE difference. May even want to consider putting in nylon strings for awhile . I only play acoustic so that`s the approach I used. Just throwing that out there in case it might help someone.

Thanks for the responses guys!

I'm not too bad at holding down chords - it's mainly changing chords that involve moving anything more than 1 finger. Just don't seem to develop that all important muscle memory. I struggle to keep up at 50% speed on the tutorials and can't really play anything over 30 BPM even after weeks on a single lesson. I have an acoustic with a fairly low action and it feels comfortable plus an electric that I prefer because I'm ashamed to plug in and it's quieter. My practise is focused and regular and I'm not even that frustrated, just an awful player!

Originally Posted by: song2siren

I can play chords individually, reasonably quick with scales, but changing chords often feels as slow as the first time I picked up a guitar.

I encourage you to focus all of your practice time on changing chords. Do this exclusively for those 5 hours a week you practice.

Pick any 3 related chords.

Play an A major chord. Strum it once just to make sure it rings clearly.

Play a D major chord. Strum it once just to make sure it rings clearly.

Play an A major chord. Strum it once just to make sure it rings clearly.

Play a E major chord. Strum it once just to make sure it rings clearly.

Repeat!

The point here is to focus completely on the problem area. Don't waste time doing anything else. Don't try to strum in time with a song, a backing track or metronome. Trying to change chords in time before you are effectively able to do so is only going to be frustrating & unmotivating.

Keep focusing on & drilling just the changes for those 5 hours of practice next week. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the suggestion Christopher, will give it a go!

Have been doing something similar with 2 chords rather than 3, going back and forth as much as possible during my practice sessions. The chords sound OK, no buzzing, and I can usually get the shapes in one go without having to place each finger. If I could eliminate the gaps between changes, which sometimes can be a few seconds, that would seem like progress to me. My fingers never seem to land in the same place twice and are often slightly off, so have to correct a little before I strum (which always has to be a downstroke because the pick falls out my hand if I try upstrokes!).

I've never been able to play songs in all the years I've been trying so under no illusion this could be a lot more struggle to come!

Start practicing grabbing chord shapes in the air. I used to practice changing chords by fingering them on the back of my right arm. I would just practice remembering the chord form, placing it on my arm and then changing to another chord. I kept this up and the end result was that I learned how to grab those chords in the air and land on the strings in one movement. I finally got to where I could grab all the chords by just thinking "d" and going to it. Then think another chord and another. I did this when I was watching tv or when there was slow times at work. You can do this any where any time and it really helped me!

Learning how to form the chords all at once in the air and land on the neck ready to play the chord was critical for my learning process. That process started when I 1. learned to the shapes in my head, 2. then in my hand and 3. when I could grab any chord at once. This made quick changes possible.

It would seem this is the normal for so many beginners.

It's maybe our expectations are also normal but normally expecting too much too soon from all the internet promises of playing a song after 5minutes

Yes, holding one chord and strumming on the first note of a measure

Not a tune you hear regularly on the radio

I know I'm in the same boat.

I have written out the 1,1V, V chords in the keys and practice going between the changes occasionally adding a ii, or a vi

I am at around 75 bpm on some of the changes.

I have a couple of single melodies and riffs under my fingers so even if I'm only practising various scales and chord changes I can always play something remotely musical to myself

Frustrating as anything but still enjoying the electric , the acoustic and the ukulele

We get better

Dave

To khagenbuch

renewing for the second year is also something I am considering.

Going away for a while. Practicing all my chord changes and following all the free stuff around on the internet. Then coming back to see where I have reached

Knowing we can now recognise good info from bad info.

While another platform would be a change of direction which is often a good thing we still have the chord changes to master.

Some very good free platforms available which have their uses but then if you look at our history on GT and realise how many ways we have used the numerous instructors and all their various lessons the cost per lesson becomes very very reasonable and low.

So much available in the toolbox with scale and chord diagrams.

We can go so many ways to keep improving

or even to stay bad.

Why stay bad at only the one thing

With some endeavor we can be bad at so much else in any style we choose. Rock , Blues .Country

Fingerpicking, arpeggio, strum patterns. timings 3/4, 4/4 ,6/8 , scale patterns, along the fingerboard, up the fingerboard, diagonally across the fingerboard

There are so many ways we can be bad, knowing if we stick at it , we get less bad, kind of OK, then not bad.

Dave

Yeah, have reduced my expectations a lot over the years and realise at my current rate of progress it's extremely unlikely I'll ever be able to play songs, but nevertheless will keep going! Guitar seems much more like a dexterity challenge now, and prefer it to be as quiet as possible so often forget it's a musical instrument!