Where "should" we be at each stage of GT?

Dear community,

What level of mastery over Fundamentals I+II exercises and practice songs should we require of ourselves before progressing? I tend to dig into each exercise until I know how to *practice* it, then move on a lesson or two until I have a session's worth of practice tunes to work on. I'll chip away at those until I feel myself stalling out, then feed myself a new lesson for excitement and inspiration.

Thing is, some lessons and songs are (way) more difficult or more/less engaging than others. I practice scales regularly, but even after several months I still can't do A and E (box/open) at 145 tempo. My D string whines like a sitar on the sus4 exercise, I keep missing bass notes on the final 7th-chord song, et cetera.

I know that fundamentals are built slowly, so I shouldn't rush. But what kind of mastery should we require before we let ourselves go on? Full tempo, problem-free?

Great question! Guitar Tricks is built so you can progress at your own pace. So as you have been doing, you are able to go over the fundamentals over and over until you feel comfortable.

You can progress forward at any time! Please try using our song search tool to find spcific songs you might enjoy.

https://www.guitartricks.com/songs/

You can search songs based on difficulty as well. The easier songs don't require deep knowledge of scales and techniques to be able to play. We suggest digging into the songs a bit, if nothing else just to have a bit of fun!

Hope this helps. Enjoy the course!

Originally Posted by: canaan.morse

Dear community,

What level of mastery over Fundamentals I+II exercises and practice songs should we require of ourselves before progressing? I tend to dig into each exercise until I know how to *practice* it, then move on a lesson or two until I have a session's worth of practice tunes to work on. I'll chip away at those until I feel myself stalling out, then feed myself a new lesson for excitement and inspiration.

Thing is, some lessons and songs are (way) more difficult or more/less engaging than others. I practice scales regularly, but even after several months I still can't do A and E (box/open) at 145 tempo. My D string whines like a sitar on the sus4 exercise, I keep missing bass notes on the final 7th-chord song, et cetera.

I know that fundamentals are built slowly, so I shouldn't rush. But what kind of mastery should we require before we let ourselves go on? Full tempo, problem-free?

Like you I have been taking my time going through the fundamental lessons, trying to master each practice song. But once I got to the sus4 and 7th chords, I had to simplify my open G (sus4 and 7th) to just strings 1 through 4. And even then I had to slow the speed way down on that "7th Time Around" song. They have that song listed at a difficulty level of 3, but it's much harder than previous stuff that was also 3.

Maybe it looks like I'm taking the easy way out. I know how to make all the full open chords including suspended and 7ths. I know how they sound, and the mechanics of shifting these chords. And through most of the Fundamentals I've been able to keep up at her speed. It's just these suspended and 7th chords have slowed me up. I can't play them at her speed.

The thing is, I don't care for these songs much anyway. Actually I don't like acoustic that much, but especially that open chord strumming stuff. It all sounds like this to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFJ2jxIe4CQ&list=PLs-bO32gmOCngCnczDKINR-fSVd-MUWMw

But I'm finally starting the barre chord chapter tonight, and soon, the Rock Lessons.

Good luck,

Matt

I wouldn't focus on "Mastering" or playing lessons at full tempo. That all comes in time and it's difficult to put a timeframe on it as everyone has different strengths and styles they prefer to play. Since were all students at some level, I don't think the term 'Master" should even be in our vocabulary.

You and I might have the exact same timeframe with playing guitar, but I love fingerpicking and so I might be better at that than you because I spend a great deal of time practicing that versus doing power chords which might be something you prefer to do so your probably more proficient than me at them. Not that we don't each understand how to do either.

Tha main thing is to learn as much technique as you can which is what the fundamental courses provide and learn them to the point of understanding their purpose, when and how to apply them and how to perform them to a resonable level. One that is comfortable to you. As you move into the styles courses you will see certain things repeat as the lessons build on each other so you'll still be using concepts you learned in Fundamentals just a little deeper.

Again don't try to play as fast as the instructors. They have decades of playing over us. When they play the lesson or song at full speed in the performance section they're showing you how it should sound when it all comes together so it gives you something to work towards, but that all depends on you and how much time you want to put into it.

Hope this helps,

Moe

I've got to agree with the admin, I'm at the very early stages, still doing the 5 chords with Lisa, however, for some fun I've been learning ''Dirty Deeds'' intro with Mike, and I'm not that far off, which is great fun.

Another thing I found, if try to force myself into a fast pace and don't get my fretting hand positioned properly for my chord shape, I'll get one of those "tendon pops". I hate those, it feels like a shot of electricity going through my hand and wrist. It can't be healthy either.

This happens to me if I rush into a B-Minor chord. It's real important I get my hand positioned properly first, with my index finger barred across the strings, before applying pressure with my remaining fingers. If I apply fret pressure with my pinky and ring finger and don't have my hand positioned properly..."pop" ouch.

I'm becoming less obsessed with following Lisa McCormicks exact strum patterns. I can do them all, but they can make it difficult to transition to certain chords. So often I'll just brake it down to a simpler strum pattern, and focus on clean chord changes.