Hey Kevin,

I hear ya, and I know what you're talking about. Outside of a few formal lessons as a child, I'm relatively new to the guitar as well. I've been through the entire Guitar Tricks curriculum, some of it more than once. And I still basically suck at it. Consequently, I too find it difficult to summon the motivation to engage in an activity fraught with endless small failures and infrequent hard-fought miniscule gains. That's unfortunately the nature of the beast when learning to play guitar. No way around it.

But that doesn't mean you can't have some fun, too. Fortunately, you have just the thing for that - an electric guitar, a powerful speaker, and a programmable amp capable of a dizzying array of effects and modulations. Now all you need are a few open chords, some simple power chords, and maybe a few easy licks, and you're ready to be a rock star. Turn up the volume until the windows start to rattle and just play anything that sounds good to you. Go to the Song Library or search the internet for the "Easy" version of your favorite rock tunes - those requiring nothing more than strumming open chords and power chords. Play those until your ears bleed. Sing, scream, jump around... whatever floats your boat.

How many present day rock bands are made up of guys who can't play guitar beyond what I just described? I watch a lot of late night talk shows, each of which have a nightly guest band play a song or two. Once I started learning guitar I started watching the guitarist very closely. It's amazing. I'd say at least half of them can't play anything but power chords. Yet, they're traveling the world, filling arenas, playing concerts, having their pictures taken by screaming adoring fans.... they're being rock stars. So can you. Maybe only in your basement or living room, but it's still fun.

Getting back to the motivation thing. Do whatever you have to in order to complete the lessons in the curriculum and get proficient at whatever is being taught. Just grit your teeth and practice that stuff. Then reward yourself by going back to being a rock star. Cherry pick the fun parts of songs in the library. Learn a few of Anders' licks, or whatever it is that makes you WANT to play that guitar. But doing the curriculum... that's still going to suck most of the time. I know of no way to change that. Learning guitar is difficult and it's frustrating, and it's often not fun. Period. Most students can't handle it and they quit.

You should have seen this place during the pandemic. It was filled to the rafters with new wanna-be guitarists of every age and nationality. New messages were going up on this forum every few minutes. The whole operation was abuzz with fantasy-fueled excitement. Now look at this place. All that's left is a bunch of middle aged masochists clinging to a fading dream. Where did they all go? Why did they leave? I'll tell you why. Because they eventually found themselves sitting with their guitars in their laps, wondering where the hell they were going to get the motivation to do what's required to become a proficient guitarist. Most of them just didn't have it in them, and they faded away with the pandemic.

Sascha