Staying Motivated

Hello all,

I am a recent retiree and have always wanted to learn guitar. I picked up a used Godin Session along with a Boss Katana amp. I really love the gear and it sounds awesome. I've been playing now for about 4 months, and I try to play at 30 - 60 minutes every day. What I'm struggling with is:

1. I don't feel like I'm progressing much. While I know that's likely not true, my playing is still choppy and chord changes are sloppy.


2. I struggle to stay on task with the lessons, which leads me off to You Tube to learn some riff of a song I like


3. This has led to me feeling a bit frustrated and at times demotivating

I understand that after 4 months I'm not going to be a seasoned musician who's able to play in front of an audience. I also know everyone learns at a different rate / pace. My question for the group is how do you stay focused and motivated ? I've listened to some of the instructors talk about patience and time, and I get that, but just looking to see what others do to keep themselves motivated and on task.

Thanks all !

Kevin

Hi Kevin

my playing is still choppy and chord changes are sloppy.

This is normal and may have a lot to do with the chords you are playing. But, assuming you are on Fundamentals, they will be some of the easier chords. Slow it down using a metronome and set the tempo to whatever you need to make the transitions clean. The metronome in the tool section here will go down to 20.

I struggle to stay on task with the lessons

This is a bit more difficult. Maybe you don't actually want to learn music but want to learn to play songs. With all the resources available today you could just learn to play songs without learning the foundations of music. Example: learn the chords E major - A major and D major, you have what you need to learn many popular songs.

This has led to me feeling a bit frustrated and at times demotivating

It would be good to sort out what you want to accomplish and works towards that. This, at our age, should be for enjoyment only.

Good luck

Bill

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

Bill makes a very good point when he says:

"It would be good to sort out what you want to accomplish and works towards that. This, at our age, should be for enjoyment only."

Here's the hard cold truth about why it's so fricking difficult for us Boomers to learn new guitar skills

Kevin, I don't want to be a dick, but I have a bit of OCD and I keep ruminating about a word you used: "demotivating"

Everyone who reads that part of your post knows exactly what you mean, but it's unfortunately still not a word registered in the English language. Proper English dictates that you use a word like "discouraging", an antonym for "motivating". But the word "discouraging" really doesn't capture the essence of what you meant when you said "demotivating", does it? It's a great bit of slang and, in my opinion, should be formally adopted by Webster.

"Discouraging" refers to something that temporarily makes a person want to stop what they are doing, while "demotivating" (as I interpret it) refers to something much more enduring; something that weighs on one's soul to the point of nearly crushing it altogether.

Sascha

Great point johndavid! I have been doing that for years and it’s an objective way to hear how you are making progress over time. Even just recording the same same song, riff or lead line over the course of time will demonstrate changes in your playing ability.

Hi Kevin,

First of all, congratulations on starting your guitar journey! In my experience, it’s completely normal to feel like google baseball you’re not progressing as quickly as you’d like after just four months. To help you stay motivated and focused, I suggest trying to set small goals rather than aiming for big milestones; focus on manageable goals for each practice session, such as mastering a particular chord or riff. Also, try to stay consistent by sticking to a practice schedule that includes a mix of lessons, exercises, and songs that you enjoy; this balance can help keep things interesting.

Remember, everyone learns at their own pace, so be patient with yourself and enjoy the process!

Regards,

I agree completely, you need to give yourself small wins. Mastering a particular chord change, learning a lick you like etc.. It's important to have fun too, sometimes I just play with my amp settings to see what sounds I can come up with, take a few chords that I know and see what I can make out of it  or even fool around making up your own licks. Just for kicks I bought a wah pedal and I play around with that.

I also try to stay away from things that are beyond my skill level, tried that a couple of times, just wound up frustrated as hell, a motivation killer for sure. Learned my lesson now in that regard.

Ken

Hey Sascha, hey Bill

I am in the same age group as you guys. Same stuff with the guitar, I started playing with 56, and now, I am 18 months in. The bottom line is that we are old geezers, we don't pick up stuff like a 15 year old anymore. But you learn, every time you touch the guitar, you learn. Just look at what you knew 4 months ago, and what you know now..there is a difference I guess. I often think back and say to myself, I wished I could play what I play today 40 years ago, I am sure I would have gotten laid more often😃. I knew diddly squat about the guitar, Not one note, not a chord. I bit the bullet working every day on it, and still play 1.5 hours every day. The first 10 months were a pain, it is hard, very hard but you get there. You must not set your goals too high, as Sascha said, take your open chords a few power chords and shredd away. You are playing for yourself man, for fun, you won't fill the Wembley stadium any time soon, but who knows man

keep it up

Hey man, yup, there's still gas in the tank for us old guys!