Also just starting :-)

[uagrad89]

I first started playing guitar probably 15 years ago and took lessons from a couple of people for a couple of years. Although I liked both instructors personally, other than learning what the notes were and a few scales, I never really felt like I learned anything useful, so I quit playing entirely for several years. In April of 2010, my 10-year-old son and I started taking lessons. He played for about a year until he got bored with it and quit (with his parents' approval, of course) but I have continued with my lessons.

I received Jamie's book as a Christmas present in 2011 and read through it and tried to perform the exercises as well as I could but wandered away from it over time. I really like the ideas as she presents them in the book and in her essays and realize that it is very important to think about these things as you are learning to play (I pretty much still consider myself a total beginner).

I don't really know how to describe my questions/problem/issue/whatever it is - it's more just a feeling that I'm swimming in quicksand - so I'll just say it this way...I get along great with my instructor and think he is a good teacher and knows his stuff, but I feel like I've hit a wall with my playing and don't really see myself making a lot of improvement. I am interested in applying the principles more stringently but I'm really just not sure where to start.

I see the order of material presented in the book (in my edition this is on page 10) but my innate style of learning requires me to have more structure as opposed to a vague presentation of ideas. I know everyone is different with regard to how much time they have to practice, how long it takes to learn things, etc. but in general I wonder if there is some sort of schedule that I could/should go by that might help me get over this hump. I know a lot of chords but changing between them quickly is still extremely difficult for me (some more than others, naturally) and my barre chords are hit and miss (still get a lot of string buzzing).

I feel like I am an incredibly slow player, much slower than I should be by this time. I also have a little bit of an issue in that I broke my left wrist while in college (1987) and it was never set correctly so I have slightly limited mobility and strength in my wrist and fingers that I have to work around. I know it takes a long time and a lot of practice to get really good but I have recently started to think that I just don't have the "it" factor that people who play well seem to have.

Because of my schedule the amount of time I have to practice varies and sometimes even when I have time I don't really feel like I know how to practice correctly so I avoid this feeling and choose not to. I have reached a level of frustration a few times over the past year or so where I strongly considered quitting and saving myself the heartache. I have discussed this with my instructor and we are now just getting together somewhat informally (no payment) just to play so that I can get more comfortable playing with someone there to help and also so he doesn't have to come up with new things to try to teach me all the time.

I apologize for this post being a little bit "stream of consciousness" but it is difficult to put into words my feelings about it. I do have the desire to play but seriously question whether I have the God-given talent to do so. I know that not everybody can do everything so I wonder if I might be beating my head against a wall. Any suggestions/encouragement/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Augustine]

I'm not sure what you mean by your "innate style of learning" and whether it is any different for the rest of us, if you are having trouble understanding the exercises just post it in the forum.

Don't let a hand injury stop you. Serious hand injuries didn't stop Django Reinhardt or Tony Iommi, two of the most influential guitarists in history.

The "it" factor you seek is already in your possession. (It's the contents of the book.)

[guitar66]

For some reason I love these types of questions. Maybe because it relates not only to guitar, but to anything you try in life. I want to be a runner, but I am afraid to put in 2 years of training because what if I am not the fastest runner in the race, or I want to be an X, and fear wasting my time because what if I do not have the talent to be an X.

Keep in mind that what I write below is partly written to remind and inspire myself

For the black and white version - am I doing it for the journey, or the final result? I believe anyone doing an activity solely for the final result will have a hard time finding joy in the process, because for the 10 years it takes you to get there (if you are lucky) you will be in constant frustration from not being in contact with the end result. The ironic thing is that if by some miracle you do happen to become a good guitarist with such an attitude, once you reach your goal you will simply make a new one and start upon a new journey of frustration. For most people the way to finding joy in an activity is to love the process, the everyday practice and work. The pleasure comes from not only getting good at guitar, but from learning how to be more efficient with practice, fine tuning not only physical skills, but the mental attitudes, fears, goals, etc. Practicing guitar is practicing at life, learning about guitar is learning about the self.

How can practicing at something you love be a waste of time, regardless of the result? If you love the guitar, are passionate about it, but don't know a single deep thing about it even though you have worked at it for 15 years, it is not a waste of time, you are simply working your way towards something unique and beautiful, and these things take time.

Perhaps your desire to learn guitar is moderate, and the exuberance of playing/practicing is on a level of 5 out of 10. If this is the case, you should not expect to get much out of the journey and the process, because your heart is not fully involved. If there is an "IT" factor, this is it, because how is it possible to get far on the road if you are not willing to put in the time for the journey? From what I know about people and life, most people fall into this category. It is why there are so few masters in any activity, the majority of people are along for the ride, and take what is given to them - watch tv, dawdle on the internet (oops), play video games, go to work 8 hours a day at a job they are not passionate about. It can lead to a comfortable, socially acceptable existence, but learning deeply about an activity, forget about it, it isn't going to happen, because that takes discipline, structure, and a balls to the wall attitude that nothing is going to take the time away from doing that activity. When I was training for ultra marathons, putting in 2-8 hours of running/cross training every day for 18 months, people constantly asked, "where do you find the time?" The time is there, readily available, all you have to do is pick it up and use it.

While I am no teacher, I would like to offer a suggestion on where to start. You say you know chords, but changing quickly from one to another is difficult. If you cannot do what you want with chords yet, it may be that what you know of them is superficial. Wouldn't you love to know those chords a little better? Why not dedicate a small amount of time each day, say, 30 minutes, to focusing on a single chord change? After 30 days of practice (15 hours), I imagine you will know more about that chord change than you did before you started, and perhaps have a bit more control of it. Your confidence will also grow, because you will have done something most people will have not - focused on a small movement, over and over, for 15 hours. That kind of focus and dedication is what leads to knowledge, improvement, confidence, and it will fuel your desire to learn more things. What you will find out is that by starting with basic structures, you are building a foundation for more complex movements. The runner Zatopek said "You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it". So, find something which on the surface seems simple, and work the hell out of it. You will begin to see subtleties that you had no idea existed, and this will lead to other discoveries, and before you know it things that seemed beyond your reach will be there in your grasp. Hemingway started by writing poems, worked his way up to short stories, and doubted he could ever write a novel, but by starting small, he was able to work his way up.

For myself, I chose the walking exercises described in the Principles to be the thing I would work the hell out of. That was more than 18 months ago, and I am still working away at it. I am far from having it mastered, yet the time put in has been invaluable because the required movements are related to chord changes, scale work, etc. I have a passionate desire to play the blues - by starting small and simple, I hope to one day reach a level where I can feel the joy of playing an endless array of blues solos, with precision and emotion - so I patiently travel upon this road, enjoying the journey, and if I am not able to reach the level of blues mastery I would like to get to - hey, I gave it shot, and it sure is a lot of fun trying!

To end, the famous quote from Jacob Riis :

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter
hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as
much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first
blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last
blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

[GAA43]

That's a really really great post G66.

A few additional comments. Uagrad, I understand your frustration about not making progress as fast as you think you should. In my case, I am fortunate to have a reasonable knack for this stuff, and a fair amount of spare time, so my progress is good. However it's plodding and painful compared to my 15 year old kid, who plays not very much, with no discipline, but has speed and ease and musicality and an ear that one could really envy. So that's the basis for my 'should' comparison that can be frustrating.
More importantly - I've come to realize that the word and concept 'should' is one of the more pernicious and evil plagues on humanity. It implies some level of expectation and even entitlement, and only can be a basis for disappointment,whether one is referring to how people should drive in traffic, or should load the dishwasher, or how fast one should learn the guitar. Learn to take joy in the journey as Guitar66 says, and abandon expectations of how fast your progress should be.

Beyond that, perhaps someone will chime in here with practical advice about using the Principles. I can say absolutely from personal experience that they really work, and the more patient and process-focused you are, versus end-result oriented, the better they work.

Good Luck.

Greg

[Ruby6092]

Hi All,

I will jump in here. I've been working with Jamie on the Guitar Sherpa site for almost six weeks. I am new to Guitar Principles and came to it because of sore thumbs and tendonitis in my right hand from 6 mos of lessons without concern about technique. I submitted video daily at first and got immediate feedback from her. This venue, along with a webcam lesson, has been an awesome way for me to dive deeply and intensely into this Path. She has been able to offer modifications for my concerns about injury ( which have vanished) and personally guide me through the appropriate Foundation exercises. Gary Marcus, author of Guitar Zero, explains that the older brain can still learn, but needs new material broken down into smaller chunks. Jamie has been doing that for me as my Guitar Sherpa. I've given up other things to be able to study with her in this manner. The reward far surpasses the investment. I could rave on, but t'is enough for now.

Marilyn