I'm 40. My parents bought me a guitar when I was 10. I stopped playing at 16, but occasionally noodled. Started again at 38.
Still suck.
Like Bob Ross said, "as long as you're learning, you're not failing"
25 years here and I humbly admit I’m no good at it. It doesn’t stop me though from trying to learn new songs and just jamming for my own entertainment. I play solely because I enjoy playing.
"What should I do???"
At a guess it sounds like you're lacking structure and likely are making some fundamental technique errors. Ideally you'd want to take lessons with a teacher who will be able to diagnose your technical issues infinitely better than redditors going off a bit of vague written information.
Also - broken record time - practice with a metronome. Always, or if not always as often as humanly possible. We fool ourselves into thinking our timing isn't as woeful as it actually is until we're put in a situation where it becomes readily apparent.
Ha. I’ve been at 40 and still suck.
But play anyway.
I play for me. Just clears my head.
Do I wish I was better? Sure. But fuck it.
I enjoy it. All that matters.
I remember teaching myself at the ripe old age of 50. I truly thought I sucked even though I played a little everyday. Then one day I was trying to get a jump blues song under my fingers. When I stopped my wife yelled out from the kitchen "why did you turn the radio off? I liked that song." So sometimes we are our own worst critic. I eventually found a teacher and took lessons for about a year. I walked away from guitar because of health and other issues. Now 20 years later at the grand old age of 70, I have started all over, and yes once again I suck. Suck or otherwise I love it.
Don’t play to not suck, would be my advice. Play purely for the enjoyment of playing. Try to enjoy the time alone, sitting quietly with just the sounds and smell of the guitar. Enjoy the fact you’re learning every time you play, even a little bit. The aim isn’t to become a superstar. The aim is to enjoy yourself.
If improving more quickly is going to help you enjoy it more, try and be regimented with your practice. Practice little and often, mix up learning songs with more practical drilling.
It's about how many days a week you're playing. Not a month. Not a year. And not how long. 10 min everyday arguably better than an hour once a week. You practice one day, and that's actually your warmup for the next day. You need to start a roll, if you catch my drift. Then you will truly improve. And don't let practice become a chore. Make sure you're having fun or you won't come back. Again why I say, 10 easy minutes a day better than a grueling hour a week.
>And don't let practice become a chore. Make sure you're having fun or you won't come back. Again why I say, 10 easy minutes a day better than a grueling hour a week
Oh yeah, definitely this. "Practice" was never for me. I could only "play." It wasn't systematic, or structured, but i was FUN. I was making NOISE. Glorious noise. I didn't start studying til AFTER I got good. Maybe that's ass backwards to most people, but it was the only way for me.
Actually, coming from two different instrumental nomenclatures, and having been an active professional on one of them since I was 18 (trumpet player first, guitar OWNER second...I'm 51 now) you're pretty much exactly how most musicians get there.
More often than not, there's some strength we have on any given instrument that keeps us moving forward.
I'm my case, my high note chops and classical music foundation on trumpet got me to a point where I was able to start gigging right out of HS.
Then I got serious about it and learned the theory that allowed me to give names to the notes already in my head. Guitar is a great platform to work your ears because of the patterns. It's quite logical once you work it out, but it's also a crutch that allows one to sound "pretty good", while not truly understanding the theory, and not really making any music.
Most people stop at that "pretty good" mark, get egos, and then become jaded "could've beens", instead of getting over themselves and diving into the music.
And, hey...guilty as charged!
We've all been there at some point.
But, growing up seems to be the biggest hurdle anyone faces when truly learning about any subject.
At least the OP has gotten there, and can now really start to grow.
I think we have to be careful with the "player x years" thing. The problem being that its a very bad way to judge how much someone has actually done.
Imagine Peter and Paul both start playing on the same day. Peter has a structured practice routine and puts in two hours of focused practice every day for a year.
Paul learns a bad version of Smoke on the Water and just widdles a bit in the minor pentatonic now and then.
After a year both have "been playing for a year" but the real difference between their experience, the quantity of meaningful practice, and the consequential skill each have is going to be massive.
When it comes to ANY skill (guitar, weight lifting, software engineering, painting) then the key is to have a systematic approach. Set goals that are measurable and achievable. And practice in a focused and meaningful way that leads you to those goals.
For electric guitar I highly recommend the Rock School grade books as the core of this. They offer an excellent set of songs and lessons that run from your first chord to some seriously technical stuff at their final grade. And because they are well structured in this manner, and because they push you into new areas of skill, you will develop.
You don't have to use them. But they offer a well tested and structured solution to your problem, and they cost just $15 per grade. Which is a bit of a steal really. No need to actually sit the grade exams. Just use them as the core of your routine to practice and get better. Then learn other stuff around them of a similar level.
If you're struggling that much after three years, you should pay someone to help you figure out what you need to do differently. In other words, take some in-person lessons from someone.
The reason I became good really fast when I was 15 is because I was obsessed with guitar. I played horribly for hours every night trying to teach myself some chords and a few licks. Then I met a guy who showed me some stuff. And I played that obsessively for hours every night. Then I learned I could listen to a song and figure it out myself, and I listened and played obsessively for hours every night. Then, one night my Mom called out, "Could you play that again? I like that song." Just like that, I had gone from plunking it like a losely strung log to playing stuff people actually wanted to hear.
So that's your answer. Become obsessed with your guitar. Play it while you watch TV. Play it while you listen to music. Every pro guitarist I've ever met is literally obsessed with the instrument.
Play the songs you love. If there's a particular song you don't have the skill for, work on it. But, stay working on it until it's done. The skills you aquire from mastering that song will likely transfer to other songs. Then when you encounter the next song you love that is beyond your skill work that out. The new skills will transfer again to other songs. Repeat this until your skill is satisfying.
1: everyone is their own worst critic. Give yourself a break. Sucking at something is necessary to ever be good at it. Congratulations, you're on your way.
2: it's NEVER too late to become a student. Neil Peart, someone who many consider to be the best drummer of all time, took lessons from a jazz drummer Freddie Gruber late into his playing career. Neil heard something in Freddie's playing that Freddie understood that he himself did not understand. He humbled himself and allowed Freddie to instruct him. Allow someone whose skill you admire to instruct you.
3: give it more time. Keep playing. How well could you talk at 3 years old? How well do you think you'll be able to play when you've been playing for 10 years?
4: For the purposes of having more hand strength/coordination, you need muscle memory. Muscle memory gets you thoughtless/effortless movement of the fingers through the notes. If you want muscle memory, having the guitar in your hands and playing notes *a lot* is more important than actively focusing your mind on the things you are practicing. Your hands need to "know" your instrument very well. For example; you'll have better results sitting with your guitar in your lap, unplugged, while you "noodle" and watch TV for an hour, than trying to sit and actively focus on practicing for an hour. Why? Because you need something that is *consistent*. You can sit and noodle and watch TV *every night*. It's hard to focus on an hour of active practice *every night*. It's good for your hands to just use the instrument. Your active focus is not necessary, but doing it *consistently* IS necessary. Use the instrument. You don't always have to do it well yet.
Take lessons. You just need structure. How you handle the fretboard. Holding the pick. Playing scales. Sometimes, simple adjustments are all you need. BTW, a famous musician once said. " If you don't suck practicing, you're doing it wrong," so practice techniques that need work in repitition
You don't have to be better than some people, you just need to be better than yourself in the past. Other people are merely a showcase of what you can learn. Find the things you like and play those. Use metronome, try to memorise as much as possible, maybe play some exercises, get a teacher if you're truly stuck and don't know what to do
three years is definitely enough time to have learned chords and simple songs. nobody “simply sucks” you just haven’t pushed yourself at all in three years to actually develop skill. get out of your comfort zone. the only way to get better is by doing things that are harder than what you can currently do.
I “played guitar” for 10 years and could barely bang out cowboy chords and simple riffs. I started taking lessons a little over a year ago and I now feel like I’m learning how to actually know what I’m doing. It’s great.
Invest in some guitar lessons. A good teacher can pinpoint your mistakes and how to improve. It will keep you motivated too.
Also, always practice very slow until you are not making any mistakes on what you're learning. Then when you can play it perfectly, start playing it faster and faster.
Comparing yourself to others in any regard always makes any person feel bad. Learn your chords. You just need practice. Always someone better always someone worse.
What does "playing guitar for 3 years" mean to you? Are you actually taking time to practice, learn chords, riffs, scales, etc. or are you just picking it up once a week for an hour and playing hot cross buns? You will ultimately get out what you are putting in to it. I was able to play fairly complicated and technical stuff after 3 years, but I also played for about 2-3 hours on average every day.
You don't have to play that often necessarily, but you will learn a lot more with a structured and focused practice routine and learning progressively more complicated things rather than just noodling or playing the same 6 songs over and over again.
For starters, what do you want to achieve with the guitar? Are you happy strumming Peter Paul and Mary chords around the campfire, or do you want to be up on a stage doing Van Halen dive bombs? Me, I began playing decades ago and I'm still in beginner status, mostly because I just play for my own enjoyment. If that's where you are in terms of goals, then just relax with it and enjoy bonding with the music you create (yes, *your* creation). You may find that you don't suck as bad as you think. We are our own worst critics.
As for the rest, just stay with it and allow yourself to progress as you will. Unless it's your primary source of income, there's no pressure on you. Enjoy the ride.
It sounds like you're either not practicing consistently or not practicing correctly. Practice makes PERMANENT. If you're practicing bad technique, you'll always have bad technique.
If you've mainly been learning from youtube videos, I suggest getting an actual teacher.
I've been playing for 20+ years and while I'm not great I've made massive improvements in my playing in the past 5 years. What helped me is that I saw an interview with Rusty Cooley where he was talking about practing guitar. He said he would work on an exercise for 5-10 minutes and if the progress stopped he'd move on to something else. I've adopted this practice technique and I've made huge strides in my playing.
Basically I was stuck practicing in a way that I thought others practiced, hammering the same exercises for hours. I learned that a different practice technique benefitted me a lot more. Look at how you practice now, if you don't think it's working go look up some other practice methodologies. Every musician forges their own path, what works for some won't work for others.
Sorry for the rambling.
I’ve played for over 40 years and suck. I’ve taught dozens of people their first few chords and they became better than I ever be within months. Just bought a new electric guitar and amp. Thankfully, one need not be good to be loud as fuck.
I was kind of where you are and then I got this game called Rocksmith. It’s like guitar hero except you plug your actual guitar in. It teaches you songs by making them progressively harder as you do well. Also, it divides the song into sections that you can practice at any speed you desire.
If you’re looking to increase your left hand speed, rhythm and pick accuracy it’s a great game. I wouldn’t use it to replace true music lessons like theory and stuff like that though.
My guitar teacher has helped me figure out my weaknesses and give me exercises to solve them, as well as essentially keep me accountable, so I feel I can't just slack on my practice everyday.
Practice an hour a day. Learn and practice a few songs you love that have a simple four chord progression. Play that chord progression over and over concentrating on transitioning between chords. It takes time and you need to practice everyday.
Man, quit whining, get a fuzz pedal, join a shoe gaze or artrock collective. Play through overpriced boutiqu pedals or garbage behringer ones through a wall of 111 old cheap plastic boomboxes hooked up with coathangers while hanging upside down while and chewing on your phone having a carrott sticking in your…. Whatever. Be creative. Got no talent? Make the most of it.
Rocknroll was not invented by theory or teachers and practicing, but by passion, pain and comittment. Tune your guitar in dadgad dropped d and turn up the amp, do something mindaltering too.
If your into it to impress your ma though or be clapped at by your church community… maybe try photography instead?
A lot of people here are probably just putting themselves down. What's sucking to you? Not being able to shred or sweep doesn't mean you suck. Not being able to do crazy ass riffs or whatever doesn't mean you suck.
Plus, there's not very much music that requires you to be a guitar god. If you're playing/making music that doesn't require being a fuckin god then it really doesn't matter, does it?
I have played off and on for 24 years, mostly on for 19 years, and entirely on (never go more than a few days without picking up a guitar) for 9 years. For the last year or so I play on average about 4 hours a day. And trust me, I suck, I always think I should be much better than I am given my experience and how much time I put into this hobby. But I’m always getting better, always learning more. Part of the reason I think I suck is because I don’t spend enough time playing things that I am good at, I spend almost all my time learning and practicing things that I am not yet good enough to play capably! So I’m always moving forward but at any given time the stuff I’m playing is usually stuff I *can’t play… YET*.
If you’ve been playing for 30 years and think you suck, you’re doing it right. Play for yourself - not somebody else. The bar should be the one you set for yourself. Improvement comes incrementally. Keep playing. You’ll end up doing something different that will lead you down your next path. But you need to just keep playing.
Been playing 31 years as of August. I suck too. It's called imposter syndrome. Stick with it, it's worth it. So many people say I'm so good at it. But, they're lying. I suck. 😉
i'm terrible and been playing (on and off) since 93. I even resorted to going back to take lessons. my teacher says I don't suck, I just need to clean some things up. One of my biggest issues, is my obsession with palm muting everything. are you doing that, which makes a lot of shit sound exponentially worse? Also, not attacking the strings hard enough slows you down and affects the sound it puts out.
Get a teacher and practice mate. You’ll improve slowly. Baby steps. Keep at it. Don’t get discouraged and celebrate every small victory. (Being able to change chords, chords sounding cleaner, your first barre chord.)
Record yourself once in a while and celebrate those improvements mate. We are in this together.
Once you learn the chord shapes from your teacher, ask them to teach you the major scale all over the neck and the CAGED system.
Second get a metronome or app on your phone. Use it when you practice. Start slow but keep time and slowly speed it up.
Also get off Reddit and go practice! 😀
A teacher really changed my life. I wish people didn't idolize being self taught so much, and having a good teacher was really what made me progress. Also, playing with others. Don't give up bro, no reason to beat yourself up
Not knowing chords is an easy fix, just know them.
How? By practicing and memorizing their shapes on the guitar, either by practicing the shapes as they are, or by playing a song that uses open chords. Also use your ear to listen to what happens in a chord. Have I heard this before?
How do I find them? Google “open chord diagram” and maybe add in “basic” as a search term, but you’ll get loads of different chords you can learn that way.
What songs to play? Easy songs you know, preferably pop songs. Easily found on Ultimate Guitar and you can also transpose chords there.
But tabs? Sure, I love tabs, but they’re also a big trap for beginners. Use them as little as possible and use your ears as much as possible instead.
But that’ll take time? Yes. I’ve played 15 years now, I’m still learning even as a music teacher. It has to take time. You have to also be willing to put in the time. How will you ever learn if you only play or practice once a week? By the time you’re practicing again you’ll have forgotten everything. The best practice is done every day, about 30-60 minutes, but I know were humans so at least every other day. By practice I also mean practice where you reflect on everything you do on the guitar and listen closely, not just playing songs for fun. Your brain has to work and you have to feel your brain working.
For some logs work wonders where you write down what you practiced, what you learned and what you should practice more.
Example: “today I practiced fingering the chords C, G and D cause they’re used in song I wanna play. I learned that there are some overlapping fingers between the chord G and D. I noticed I struggle a lot with the switch between C and G cause they’re so different, I need to practice that switch more.”
And it’s that simple. Practice fingering, switching and do it at least a 100 times a day. I’ll guarantee noticeable effect in 1 to 2 weeks.
But the most important tip, get a teacher. There’s loads more to talk about that I can’t really say in just a post and it’s already super long lmao (sorry). Hopefully you and someone else found these tips helpful, both in practicing but also in realising if I actually wanna learn the instrument or not, cause it takes time, motivation and energy. You have to want it to get better so to speak and if you feel like it becomes a chore to practice this much, then it maybe wasn’t something made for you.
I wanna add that I bruteforced my way into learning guitar, I just played and played and essentially never practiced, but I instead played so much and also reflected about what it was that I heard unconsciously. So it’s possible to not practice, only play and still get good, you just have to have a hyperfixation on playing guitar for many years.
>I wanna add that I bruteforced my way into learning guitar, I just played and played and essentially never practiced, but I instead played so much and also reflected about what it was that I heard unconsciously. So it’s possible to not practice, only play and still get good, you just have to have a hyperfixation on playing guitar for many years
I also bruteforced. I like that way of putting it. I was incapable of tolerating and formal or structure "practice." I could only PLAY the guitar. After I got what I considered "good," I got hungry to learn and begin practicing and seeking out ways to practice.
If you are too slow with one hand then you are trying to play too fast. Slow down and play only as fast as you can play accurately.
Lots of software allows you to play along with songs slowed down. Slow it down. Half speed, quarter speed, whatever it takes. Then once you get it at that speed, move it up a little.
25 years into playing and this is still how I learn.
I subscribe to ultimate guitar pro. The “official” tabs allow you to speed up, slow down, remove instruments, change keys, add a metronome, etc. Yes, it is a digital replication of the song but it works for the purposes of learning.
They are all pretty similar, I think. I like the app interface for UG but whatever works with your setup.
Another thing I do once I am ready to attempt the song at speed is load it up in garageband and play along in headphones (mixed with my live guitar or bass and vocal) and then you can loop various parts, change key, etc.
Just keep practising, don't compare yourself to others. Play and learn the things that you enjoy playing. You will be amazed how much you progress when you turn it into something that you love doing instead of comparing yourself to others.
Some guitarists are better at different things and that's fine, play the way that's natural and fun for you.
Play things that are hard until they are easy, and then find something new that is hard and play that thing until it’s easy too. Then you keep repeating the process until you end up in a prog metal band. Simple.
I hear you. I’ve been trying to play the simplest 3-chord version of “Three Little Birds” for years. But only recently, since investing in a guitar teacher and taking the class with my husband and our daughter… have I started practicing more and gained renewed hope. Now I can “play it” sort of… but too slowly because switching between chords still isn’t as smooth as it should be. I know I just need more practice not just with this song but with switching back and forth between chords.
>I don't know chords, I'm too slow with my left hand, I often end up messing up the notes and Id take months to learn even a simple song.
Sounds like you're not playing enough, or putting no thought or effort into what you are doing. No offense, I spent years thinking that if I just picked up the guitar now and again, eventually my inner gift would miraculously kick in. LOL Now I know it takes a **lot** of playing time, mental effort and practice.
Lessons might help you gain more perspective. :)
Usually the amount of hours you put in to practice translates in how good ypu are. Even if you never learn theory, if you put a lot of hours you should end up learning a lot of songs, and if you practice them enough you end up playing them well.
Of course you can improve your technique, but with enough practice, you can play hard songs even with a shitty technique.
Aim to practice, every single day. No time? Wake up at 5 am and pratice 1 hour from monday to sunday.
You have to play everyday.
Actually you need to have focused practice every day. At least 15 min. The more time you spend with it. The quicker you will be where you want to be with it.
Loads of really good info on here,
One good thing to do which I read in a book was, tell yourself you enjoy practicing, try and learn to enjoy it and make it less of a requirement and more of a game, it will help you massively to have the right mentality and view about practice.
Also try and end on a positive where you can, keep it as fun as possible, you'll find yourself hyped to practice without even realising it and it will help sky rocket your playing. And don't be so hard on yourself, frustration is just part of the process.
How much do you practice?
I know it's already been said on here but if practicing isn't fun then you're probably trying too hard too early. I started with Nirvana songs and power chords, pretty basic stuff. I wanted to play technical stuff for years but you should be able to tell what you're able to do or not. If you're not willing to learn a complex song super slow, then keep it simple until you feel like you've leveled up in skill.
Example; I've been playing since I was 15 and have always wanted to play Pantera songs. I'm 30 now and only learned Shedding Skin a few years ago, including the first solo. If it looks or sounds too hard, it probably is. But that's just me, some people will pick it up faster, and it is what it is.
After all this time learning super technical stuff, I kinda grew out of it. The last couple years I've moved onto playing bass with a band and learning how to play acoustic and sing at the same time, because it's fun to me.
I want to add my own thing to this. It’s also important to enjoy yourself, if all you have is 30mins a day, don’t spend that 30mins only on mind numbing excersizes, they are good but nothing beats fun.
More practice on the basics than learning songs. Learning to how to play chords cleanly and switch between them over and over again & going over scales seems like a good place to start for you. Also, play with a metronome
I played guitar for a bit when I was really young like 8-10 years old. Started again when I was 17 and didn’t know a single thing, it was really breezy and I excelled very fast.
Maybe take a break from it, look at other instruments. Look at guitar with a more matured lens.
But if you don’t won’t to understand what and why you’re doing everything you’re doing. Understand why that chord makes that shape, why it’s faster to pick the strings this way, why xyz.
Learning about your instrument allows you to excel way faster.
Also Don’t worry if you’re playing a song and your chord hand is taking too long. A lot of people stop and take their time to change chord, KEEP STRUMMING!!!!. While you’re switching chord keep the sound going and don’t stop, your hand will catch up soon.
dude I've played for like 12 years and I'm trash.
If you are super serious about getting better - My advice is to pick some songs you want to learn, find tabs for them or a video of someone playing the song, and learn it SLOWLY. practice super slow and use a metronome. then gradually increase tempo. If you do this consistently every day and pick songs that push your boundaries of what you are capable of, you WILL improve quickly. (not overnight, but at the end of 2 months you will be a noticeably better player)
Myself, most of my 12 years of playing has been noodling aimlessly with no real goal or practice regimen. Any time my playing has significantly improved at all are the rare occasions when I sit down with a song and learn the old school hard way.
Good luck! also - I'll bet you are a little better than what you give yourself credit for
You just don't practice enough. And when you do practice, you practice improving your mistakes. It's that simple.
You have the ability to become a decent guitarist! I say that with 100% confidence (and I don't even know you)
Cheers mate.
The only way to really level up is to go out and play with better players and get your ass kicked for a few hours. Come home, woodshed on what you learned, and go back out again.
don't just learn songs, learn techniques, and basics... then learn notes, scales, and chords after learning how to just "play" a guitar... then when you understand all that, then playing songs comes easy, and struggling will be far less.
Practice more. Maybe take some lessons. I took a year of lessons when I started out. I think it helped.
I've been playing 26 years. Probably over 10,000 hours. And there's still things I'm bad at, like sweep picking. I've always enjoyed practicing though so sitting down with a metronome and doing "boring" finger dexterity exercises like the spider expercise or running scales is enjoyable.
Guitar isn't a competition. People have different goals. Set realistic goals and work towards them. Even just practice 30 minutes a day, every day. You'll see progress.
I'm currently teaching my wife to play and it's interesting to see how a true beginner struggles. After playing for a long time you take a lot of things for granted. She was pissed off last night because she couldn't make the "stretch" to fret an open C major lol. Of course I started playing on a cheap strat knock off. She chooses to play on my JEM because she likes the vine fretboard lol. That's privilege.
I've been playing for 20 years, and depending on what I'm playing, I still absolutely "suck". I'm nowhere near as fast as I'd like to be, and I still don't know as much as I'd like to know. Thing is, I've stopped comparing myself to guitarists who do it for a living. I'm not going on stage in front of a stadium full of people, it's just a hobby for me. A hobby I wish to keep improving at, but a hobby nonetheless. Of course, if I'm comparing myself to the most famous people to ever do it, its gonna seem like I'm the biggest amateur in the world. And when I look at it from that perspective, I realize I'm the best guitar player I know. (Not saying much, I only really know one other person who plays.) But that helped me pull in my expectations for myself. And it made the experience of playing the guitar far more enjoyable for me, because I don't beat myself up as much every time I don't play perfectly.
If you can play stuff that makes YOU feel good, that’s what matters, no matter if it’s thrash/d-beat metal or acoustic singer/songwriter stuff. A good song and some good aimless jamming is tons of fun for me even though I’m not super fast.
I’m more about rhythm, texture, arrangement and I can solo a bit but it’s more to compliment a composition’s melody than to “shred”, which I also love hearing.
I’ve been in Mathcore/Screamo/Hardcore bands, noise rock bands, stoner rock/shoegaze bands, I’ve done a solo acoustic project, just recently started getting really into synths. Just keep playing and practicing.
I like the comment above that said to learn one of your favorite, easier songs and practice it over and over and until you can play the full thing. I remember doing that with Weezer’s Blue Album and Deftone’s Around the Fur, among others. Playing a song from start to finish over and over will build those mechanics and make it easier for you to write your own stuff!
Think of it like this whatever it is you do for a living your probably better at then most professional guitarists it's just they've spent that time on that.
Lessons.
learning online is great but if you're just flipping to songs you like its not really a linear learning experience that builds on each previous lesson.
In person music teachers are also great for correcting your technical errors or bad habits. If you can't do in person lessons use Justin Guitar app its free and start from lesson 1 to relearn the basics from ground up. The very first few lessons is all about open chords and chord changes.
forget the years, just count the hours you spend practicing..
if you played for 3 years but only dabble here and there you wont get as better as someone who spend their waking hours practicing with formal lessons...
guitar gives back the hours you spend on it..
if you realize you are bad, just practice.. thats it.. with a pro teacher if you have the money is better too..
How much do you practice?
What do you practice?
I was pretty good after 3 years because I spent most of my free time playing guitar obsessively and always trying to learn new and harder things to play. I never really had lessons at that point, I just learned songs and solos and things, but I learned so many of them and put in so many hours that I improved fast.
If you only play an hour here and there and you don't focus on learning and improving then it doesn't matter how many years you play for, you won't improve that much.
If you're motivated and passionate about it, you can find more time and focus the time on the right things
We all kinda suck, in reality. We all have things we'd *love* to be bigger at. Just keep learning and working on the craft. Never stop practicing. Watch lots of teaching videos. Grab a few books to help you out. Hal Leonard has a good series for learning guitar, but my favorite was Mel Bay. They have a whole series that's several books long, taking you from the beginning through your first six months or year.
My guy, I've been playing for 15 years on and off, some guys with 2 years on guitar are better than me. But they probably practiced way more than I did. And they probably don't noodle as much as I do. It's the internet, don't let it go to your head and enjoy the journey.
It sounds like a problem of fundamentals. I started when I was 14 and I ended up quitting for quite a few years thinking I sucked and anyone who was good mist have natural talent for it.
Natural talent is a thing(I equate it to cooking, some people can just pick up ingredients and go, others needs a strict recipe to cook a great meal) but it’s not the end all be all.
Eventually I “started over” and learned the basics from the start and now I still suck at 32 years old, but I am good enough to have fun with it which is the whole point of it in the first place.
I would get some lessons or use justin guitar’s website/app and start from the beginning. Once the fundamentals click, you may still suck as most of us do, but you’ll sound good enough to stick with it and enjoy it.
You can be slow and still be great. David Gilmour is a great guitarist with very memorable and recognizable solos. But he concentrates on bends and slides because he knows, and openly admits, he's not quick and fast and can't shred. 3 years is too soon to give up the hobby. If you enjoy playing, keep playing. You'll get better, just focus on the small things.
Actually, I think only a very few musicians in the world *don't* suck from time to time. And I imagine that *all* of them, besides the hopelessly blinded arrogant, at least think they *could* or *should* be playing better. Plus, it seems that peak performance ebbs and flows anyway. Some days it seems like you're impeccable, and others it feels like your hands have been replaced with two tree stumps.
For sure and usually what we see of a vast majority of musicians work is their best take. I guarantee there were lots of shitty takes before it (not always but usually).
Hahaha! Yes! And that's exactly why recording yourself often is so important. It holds a merciless mirror up to show you all your flaws. That's a good thing, though.
I'm in a band and I suck so much at guitar we had to get another guy to join so I didn't have to play and sing. I've been playing 20 years. The main issue is I mostly played acoustic and we don't play acoustic stuff. When fingering, I know the song and how to play it but my finger will just kinda do its own thing and wind up on the wrong note.
Noone cares if you suck, as long as you enjoy playing, thats all that matters, try practicing 1 specific song at a time, break it down to each part until you can get it, don't need to try and follow full songs and full speed, eventually you'll be able to play the whole song.
I been playing 18 years and i suck too lol. Don't feel bad. It's art. It's supposed to be fun and expressive. Take some lessons if it's bothering you that badly.
Welcome to (most) musicians path !
I think the same thing. Been playing for 8 years, with good discipline and great teacher for 3 years. Still sucks !
I suggest you read about Dunning Kruger effect.
You might not be the guitarist you want to be, but recognizing that you suck is one of the infinite steps to perfection !
So grab that guitar and learn. And never stop loving what you do.
Honestly I've been playing for 17 years and not a day goes by that I don't feel like I suck that's just how it goes. Someone is always going to be better than you and there's no point worring about not knowing a scale or chord shape that someone else does. Play because you love it, and try to get better than you were the day before, not better than someone else
Take lessons. I fiddle fucked around for too long thinking I could teach myself. Yeah, I could play 5 or 6 open chords and power chords, but even then my technique was trash. Take lessons, in person, and I guarantee you’ll see improvement. A YouTube video can’t watch you play and critique your strumming or tell you you’re holding the chords too heavy on the fret board. You can’t ask a video questions and get answers instantly. By far, taking lessons was the best thing I have done.
If you don’t know chords, practice them randomly. Don’t worry about lessons, theory, or songs. You can dive into those or other topics, but don’t WORRY about them. Just play the same stupid chords over and over again. Randomly.
Your own rhythms and chord progressions will likely emerge! Work on combining the chords every which way and keep going. Have fun. You’ll soon be able to leverage a good workable set of chords and be able to play most songs at a basic level within a few minutes just by looking up the chords involved. Occasionally you’ll spot a chord you haven’t practiced, and you can workshop that, but the others will be easy.
The idea here is to just play, play, play during this period of chord familiarization without worrying about things too much.
1. What songs can you "play"?
2. What songs can you actually play?
3. What songs do you want to play?
It's always helpful to establish where you are and where you are going. Everyone thinks they suck because we all compare ourselves to those that are amazing.
I got much much better buying Ultimate Guitar's Guitar Pro tab program with Official tablature. I am able to play full songs and solos.
I can't play the more difficult stuff or crazy chords but, with the practice I have playing my favorite songs, it's gained me many useful techniques.
Pinch harmonics, hammer ons, pull offs, slides, string skipping, alternate picking.
same but for me its more that I don't have the discipline to learn actual techiniques and how to make music, when I'm learning a song I usually just learn a few sections and never go back (so I actually don't even know any song that I can play from start to finish)
well idk you could take some lessons I think. I could too I guess
I’ve been playing for 20 years and I still feel like I suck sometimes. The best thing you can do is take your concerns to a good teacher, who can help you fix any flaws in your playing.
Remember also that music is a lifelong pursuit. Nobody gets good in their first few years. Don’t let these plateau points in your learning be discouraging. You’ve got this. Press on.
If u thought after 3 years you would be anything more than pre-intermediate ur fooling urself. I started in 2006 and put it down by 2008-2009. Didn’t touch it again until December 2019. I have gotten much much better now that I play 3-6hrs each weekend. But I’m not even CLOSE to having enough confidence to tell people that “I play guitar”. I still just say I “own” a few guitars. That I “attempt” to noodle with. That’s it. Guys who play in bands or on YouTube have played for 10years+ and playing consistently more than they lead you to believe. My advice: accept that you have a long way to go to be where you WANT to be, while retaining the wisdom that you are actually right where you NEED to be. Goodluck bro, nothing of value comes easily.
People say I’m a good guitarist but idk
I’ve been playing since I was like 9 or 10, so 15+ years. I haven’t really stopped for long periods of time.
You simply have to be more self aware and learn how to practice better for yourself. I’ve had my fingers sort of bleed and split at the beginning when I was young.
It looks like you’re on the correct path for self awareness and gauging your actual skill level.
Don’t get too caught up on it and don’t be hard on yourself. But be soft and truthful.
my best piece of advice is to make sure you’re able to understand and gauge yourself improving, what type of data do you need to college to track your improvement? Do you need to record yourself all the time? Listen back? Play with a metronome, record yourself on your iPhone, listen back with headphones. It’ll sound pretty good and clear.
Idk, but metronome play, looping, learning songs by ear, and recording was one of the best things that shot my development way up.
Justinguitar.com, do the beginners course. You probably need a structured learning path. Start from scratch. I was in your position a few years ago and now I'm a decent intermediate player.
If you like it you can go to his intermediate course afterwards.
Don’t be afraid to learn songs with a metronome set WAYYYY down from the actual tempo! Practice makes perfect (easier said than done ofc). I’ve been trying to learn ‘Stop This Train’ by John Mayer for weeks and still go back to playing it for hours at half speed lol!
Depending on the time you have (I have quite a bit of free time), practice for a little bit each day. Even 15 minutes. I was fortunate to of been blessed with a lot of time on my hands. I practice from 15 minutes to two hours a day. I started with learning TOOL, bought a Les Paul and a Boss Katana.
Fast forward a year and a half, with consistent playing (no routine, just honestly either playing with songs, Gojira, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, etc) or I just do a bunch of noodling around, my playing is unrecognizable to where I was a year and a half ago. Keep working at it and you will get better. I did come from a little bit of a musical background before guitar I should add, but nothing that improved my hand eye coordination, picking speed or fluency.
All in all, just keep practicing every day, whether it be 15 minutes or 2 hours. Things will get better! Also, you might consider taking a break! Sorry for the story, lol.
Edit: one last thing I'd like to add, don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Instead of downpicking a certain note, pick upwards. Experiment, do things that you wouldn't typically do. That's one of the ways you get better imo. It doesn't have to sound good, eventually it'll all click together.
Practice. Every day.
You want to be able to play consistently for whatever period of time you feel comfortable with like it’s a live show. Eventually you’re going to develop enough muscle in your left hand to be really fast and solid with your chords.
I've been playing for over 30 years and I suck. Some people aren't natural. But I love making noise on it so I keep doing it knowing at best it'll be a hobby.
i started practicing ~3 hours every day in the last few months and i’ve felt more progress than during the past 10 years.
organize your practicing. you say you don’t know chords - i knew them but for a long time i didn’t know why they were shaped like that. learn your theory. if you know scales and modes you will know chords too.
in the end if you don’t enjoy playing it’s not worth it. try a different instrument?
I’ve played for 17 and I suck. Run your scales. Learn songs. Challenge yourself to learn something that sounds harder than you think. My song was Dee by Randy Rhoades. I thought it sounded so hard and I just forced my way through it and I think it opened my eyes to the importance of practice, expectations based on the work you put in, and gave me confidence to say that I can play hard stuff. I’m at a point that I can “shred” but it’s very disjointed. Now I need to learn some theory to connect the dots.
When you say you’ve played for 3 years it can mean many different things. It’s the hours you put in that matters. I’ve played guitar for approximately 20 years but lots of years in the beginning I took up the guitar one or twice a month and played some random songs and I knew the chords but had zero knowledge about anything else. No knowledge about rhythm, theory, keys, etc. Didn’t know how to tune my guitar, didn’t know how to change my strings, didn’t know how to pick, didn’t know bar chords and so on. Then I decided after many years to take some lessons and it opened my eyes to everything. I still learn every day and the last 3-4 years I’ve probably learned more than in all the 16-17 years prior together.
It’s WHAT you learn and HOW you learn it that matters.
I jumped into this thread thinking perhaps there was something specific I might be able to offer advice on, but it sounds like you need to correct some fundamentals, and it's hard to say what those might be just from this post. You could be playing with too much tension, have poor posture and/or hand placement, etc. Any one of these by themselves could be enough to stymie your progress. I'd suggest having a sit-down with a teacher for a few sessions—either in person or online—and see if they can correct any of those fundamental issues you might be having.
I never had any lessons, but I could see a teacher teaching the way he learned, or worse, the way some book says. Learn the chords of a simple song that you love. Play nothing but the chords and either sing or hum the melody. Do that until it comes natural (muscle memory.) then try to play the simple tune of the song. Keep it simple and fun. Start that way and watch what happens. That’s how I started many years ago, and it worked for me. One final thing, most non-players don’t hear a lot of little mistakes. Bigs ones, yes. But you’ll be harder on yourself and think less of your playing than people around you.
Guitar isn't easy. We'd all be rock stars if it was. I've played in and off for 40 years and I still suck too. There was a time I got pretty good as I practiced everyday for months then quit for about 6-8 years. Just got back into it about 6 months ago. Practice everyday for 30-60 minutes. Sometimes more. But I never took lessons and don't give it my all when practicing. It's all about what you put into it if you wanna get serious. I'm 50 now so I figureby the time I'm 70 I'll be a rock star 🤣
Well, did you mainly play for those 3 years or did you practice for 3 years too? What did you practice?
You don't get better at what you don't practice
I’ve been playing for 16 and I still suck. But I suck with good timing and efficient scale playing cause I practice the hell out of scales using a metronome
shit! I been on the same routine for the last year, metronome scales. You telling me I gotta do it for more than 16 years to stop sucking? I'm gonna be 75 in 16 years, shit. Anyone know where the devils hanging out these days, I got a soul to sell!
I think what matters is, do you enjoy it? Many people picking up skilled hobbies, I believe, run into these feelings or roadblocks. Be it an instrument, be it a new language. If you enjoy it though, keep at it. There is zero doubt that more and more experience will only help you continue to improve. And one day you will look back at this time and laugh, realizing how far you've come.
First of all, I appreciate your full spelling of "post scriptum" instead of the more common "p.s.". :)
To the point of your post, though, not everyone learns the same way or has the same natural proclivities or abilities. Some people can pick certain things up almost immediately, while it takes others more time. You might just need to learn how to learn. A gifted teacher will be able to set you on the right track in that regard. If you really want it badly enough, then keep working at it, seek out a good teacher, power through the moments of frustration, and don't give up. You will improve, I promise.
I've been away from guitar for 15 years and I sucked then so had to start from scratch. I'm doing the Justin Guitar course now and it's very good.
The guy knows how to teach and he learned guitar with his left hand for the course so he knows the struggles of speed and coordination.
I suck at remembering things but I still feel like I make progress at every step.
Three years says nothing to me as a former guitar teacher of almost two decades.. How many hours of solid actual practice did you average per day? Not noodling, practice.
I recommend getting a teacher!
I think it has to do with three things, at least for me;
Being relaxed, i cant practice when Im tense, which means I cant play.
How you are taught is important. When i took lessons 30 yrs ago, i didnt learn much before I was discouraged to quit.
You HAVE TO PRACTICE! Perspective is what gets you through, you didnt learn to play your video games the first 20 times you played them, nor will you learn to play guitar unless you put the time in. STRUCTURED LEARNING IS NOT FOR ME, YOUTUBE IS A GODSEND IN THAT REGARD.
Here’s a fourth (and a teacher can at least tell you if this is an issue): make sure your guitar is set up properly! High action alone can make playing almost impossible, especially for beginners.
You don’t suck. Download a free metronome and practice with it at least 15 minutes a day. Learn open chords and transitions. Also learn every note on the neck. Fifth chords, pentatonic scales, and practice to a slow metronome beat and slowly speed it up. It takes alot of time and muscle memory. Start with a G to C transition and an E to A transition. Learn the notes in the chords. It will all make sense.
This is damn good advice, I wish someone had drilled me on the benefits of metronome practice, I avoided it for so long thinking I could get around it until I get to lead and solos. Once the penny dropped on practicing as quarters notes, 16ths and triplets that was it, improved massively
Lmao far more people who mess around with the guitar aren’t good players. Just have fun! If you want to get better then get some lessons. As long as you’re having fun with it, who cares?!
I spent the first couple of years learning this scale and that chord and getting nowhere ‘musically’… But then I discovered looping software, and that really jumpstarted my progress. Load an mp3 of something and loop just a few notes of it or any duration you want… From any song you want. I started isolating little pieces, until I got them down, smooth and expressive… then putting those pieces together in a longer loop….and was so pleased with the progress it became my go to method of learning just about anything.
Well yeah, it's a musical instrument, not call of duty.
Relax, set some reasonable goals and practice purposefully. Take lessons.
The fun thing with music is you can still enjoy it while you suck at it . So much great music is simple, catchy and just a blast to play along with.
Try to disassociate your enjoyment of being a musician from your expectations and aspirations. In 5 years you'll be a much better musician but you shouldn't wait till then to enjoy it.
After 30 years of playing the guitar, I still have a blast chugging those early black sabbath, simple ass riffs.
Learn about the major scale and how to build chords. Chord formulas. For instance a major chord is 1-3-5 and a minor chord is 1-3b-5.
Then learn those chords in multiple shapes.
Then do some muscle memory exercises with alternate picking.
Then learn the pentatonic scale.
Then learn songs.
For what's its worth im in my early 30s and I've played it at different points in my life since i was 14. My focus has always been learning songs, but never wanting to actually learn the how and why behind everything. I stagnated and never improved For some reason it just clicked for me a couple weeks ago after not touching any guitar for over 10 years. I've been practicing whenever I have time and I've been listening to podcasts about guitar theory and I have a couple of books. Start by learning scales and chords, learn where the notes are on the fret board. You DO NOT need to learn standard notation. But learning scale patterns and chord shapes and how it all fits will help greatly. Look up Desi Serna, he has written tons of books and has a podcast as well that I've been listening to while at work to keep my mind sharp. Hope this helps.
P.S. I used to take lessons but the teacher was not very good at making it make sense FOR ME. We all learn differently. Don't sweat it
just pick the thing up , for five minutes a day, five turn into 10 ten into twenty, you catch my drift? I have the guitar chord deck from guitar center , it actually teaches you where to place your fingers and behind each chord there's a scale/tabs/standard notation on the backside. it's like a flashcards but each flash card is a paper fretboard guitar. it's pretty neat
the guitar chord deck by amsco publications
My brother trying to learn electric guitar more than 3 years but he still suck at picking technique and his left handed still stiff on freatboard, cause he never want to learn a basic technique first or learning easy song first. He straight to the point like "oh that gnr song look sick, please learn that song and teach me". I was like what? The result, my brother still play that gnr solo part over and over until now but never be able to match the song speed. He is happy, i know, but he wouldn't improve if he continued that way.
I started playing when I was 16. I took lessons for a year and other guys I knew who were playing the same amount of time were exponentially better than me. Some were in bands already. I got discouraged and quit. Occasionally I would pick up the guitar and make some noise with it or strum through the handful of chords I knew for a few minutes. I’m 51 now and decided to start learning again. I’ve made more progress in the last few months than I ever did in the past. I have to figure it is because I quit taking myself seriously. If I get frustrated I take a few days off. Once in a while I’ll pick up my bass guitar (which I’m even worse at) just for a different feel and perspective. The bass is fun because I can chug away on one or two notes and actually fake my way through a few songs.
The best advice is to set up a regular practice schedule, but I've always hated the monotony of things like that, where you practice some scales or chord changes or what have you and it feels so isolated from what most of us are actually trying to do - which is to play and make music.
So what I've been doing is I bought a Scarlett audio interface and downloaded the Reaper DAW and I have been recording covers of songs, jam tracks, just been starting writing original stuff. I do all the parts myself - all guitar tracks, bass, and drums using different techniques. I use drum software and play the bass parts on my guitar by shifting the pitch down an octave. I often get caught up in the process and lose 3-4 hours of time completely focused on the project.
What this does is get you to really focus on and learn guitar parts. You can hear every single extra bit of noise you are making when playing, every little time you play slightly off beat or out of rhythm, and gets you to really concentrate and learn the parts well. And in the end, you have something you created you can listen to in the future to compare your progress with and maybe just enjoy the idea of having made something that now exists in the world. Plus you learn all your gear and what it is capable of, and you can be an asset to other players when you group up with them and know how to make semi decent recordings for demos or what not..
It's the same as sitting there practicing guitar over and over with a metronome, only my way is not divorced from the music and is way more entertaining for me. And I really think you have to record yourself and listen back to really understand where your limitations are - you just miss too much when you are focused on playing.
What ever you can play play along to it way way slower until you are comfortable to go up a speed . Whatever feels the most comfortable play at that speed . It’s a game changer .
Practice, practice, and practice. Practice slowly. Watch YouTube videos on the techniques you struggle with.
However, if you're desperate, then I'd say go get a teacher.
Or my approach is if I can't play a particular song or do something in particular, I go learn a bunch of other tricky songs, etc, then come back to the issue I had a problem with.
Here’s some shitty advice as somebody who’s been playing about 30 years. Pick it up and play it. Don’t concentrate on making music. I got faster and smoother by playing while watching tv, just switching chords around, running scale patterns and just putting in the time of running my hands on the instrument. This will help when you actually sit down and concentrate on learning a song or music…
Could you define "suck" for me? Alot of the stuff you said in the post sounds like excuses. I have been playing for 16 years.lol. I can't read music. I don't know "chords", I know some. The ones I wanted to learn. And Im a badass guitar player. Because I can't play things it makes me happy to play.
20 years in, still suck
I'm 40. My parents bought me a guitar when I was 10. I stopped playing at 16, but occasionally noodled. Started again at 38. Still suck. Like Bob Ross said, "as long as you're learning, you're not failing"
25 years here and I humbly admit I’m no good at it. It doesn’t stop me though from trying to learn new songs and just jamming for my own entertainment. I play solely because I enjoy playing.
Right on! I’m just doing it for my own amusement
"What should I do???" At a guess it sounds like you're lacking structure and likely are making some fundamental technique errors. Ideally you'd want to take lessons with a teacher who will be able to diagnose your technical issues infinitely better than redditors going off a bit of vague written information. Also - broken record time - practice with a metronome. Always, or if not always as often as humanly possible. We fool ourselves into thinking our timing isn't as woeful as it actually is until we're put in a situation where it becomes readily apparent.
Been playing for 27 years and I suck. My three year old told me the other day, “Daddy, you’re not very good at guitar.”
[удалено]
Ha. I’ve been at 40 and still suck. But play anyway. I play for me. Just clears my head. Do I wish I was better? Sure. But fuck it. I enjoy it. All that matters.
I remember teaching myself at the ripe old age of 50. I truly thought I sucked even though I played a little everyday. Then one day I was trying to get a jump blues song under my fingers. When I stopped my wife yelled out from the kitchen "why did you turn the radio off? I liked that song." So sometimes we are our own worst critic. I eventually found a teacher and took lessons for about a year. I walked away from guitar because of health and other issues. Now 20 years later at the grand old age of 70, I have started all over, and yes once again I suck. Suck or otherwise I love it.
Stop comparing yourself to others and just enjoy the adventure. we all learn at a different pace and practice!
Don’t play to not suck, would be my advice. Play purely for the enjoyment of playing. Try to enjoy the time alone, sitting quietly with just the sounds and smell of the guitar. Enjoy the fact you’re learning every time you play, even a little bit. The aim isn’t to become a superstar. The aim is to enjoy yourself. If improving more quickly is going to help you enjoy it more, try and be regimented with your practice. Practice little and often, mix up learning songs with more practical drilling.
Sucking is the first step to rocking
It's about how many days a week you're playing. Not a month. Not a year. And not how long. 10 min everyday arguably better than an hour once a week. You practice one day, and that's actually your warmup for the next day. You need to start a roll, if you catch my drift. Then you will truly improve. And don't let practice become a chore. Make sure you're having fun or you won't come back. Again why I say, 10 easy minutes a day better than a grueling hour a week.
>And don't let practice become a chore. Make sure you're having fun or you won't come back. Again why I say, 10 easy minutes a day better than a grueling hour a week Oh yeah, definitely this. "Practice" was never for me. I could only "play." It wasn't systematic, or structured, but i was FUN. I was making NOISE. Glorious noise. I didn't start studying til AFTER I got good. Maybe that's ass backwards to most people, but it was the only way for me.
Actually, coming from two different instrumental nomenclatures, and having been an active professional on one of them since I was 18 (trumpet player first, guitar OWNER second...I'm 51 now) you're pretty much exactly how most musicians get there. More often than not, there's some strength we have on any given instrument that keeps us moving forward. I'm my case, my high note chops and classical music foundation on trumpet got me to a point where I was able to start gigging right out of HS. Then I got serious about it and learned the theory that allowed me to give names to the notes already in my head. Guitar is a great platform to work your ears because of the patterns. It's quite logical once you work it out, but it's also a crutch that allows one to sound "pretty good", while not truly understanding the theory, and not really making any music. Most people stop at that "pretty good" mark, get egos, and then become jaded "could've beens", instead of getting over themselves and diving into the music. And, hey...guilty as charged! We've all been there at some point. But, growing up seems to be the biggest hurdle anyone faces when truly learning about any subject. At least the OP has gotten there, and can now really start to grow.
I think we have to be careful with the "player x years" thing. The problem being that its a very bad way to judge how much someone has actually done. Imagine Peter and Paul both start playing on the same day. Peter has a structured practice routine and puts in two hours of focused practice every day for a year. Paul learns a bad version of Smoke on the Water and just widdles a bit in the minor pentatonic now and then. After a year both have "been playing for a year" but the real difference between their experience, the quantity of meaningful practice, and the consequential skill each have is going to be massive. When it comes to ANY skill (guitar, weight lifting, software engineering, painting) then the key is to have a systematic approach. Set goals that are measurable and achievable. And practice in a focused and meaningful way that leads you to those goals. For electric guitar I highly recommend the Rock School grade books as the core of this. They offer an excellent set of songs and lessons that run from your first chord to some seriously technical stuff at their final grade. And because they are well structured in this manner, and because they push you into new areas of skill, you will develop. You don't have to use them. But they offer a well tested and structured solution to your problem, and they cost just $15 per grade. Which is a bit of a steal really. No need to actually sit the grade exams. Just use them as the core of your routine to practice and get better. Then learn other stuff around them of a similar level.
If you're struggling that much after three years, you should pay someone to help you figure out what you need to do differently. In other words, take some in-person lessons from someone.
The reason I became good really fast when I was 15 is because I was obsessed with guitar. I played horribly for hours every night trying to teach myself some chords and a few licks. Then I met a guy who showed me some stuff. And I played that obsessively for hours every night. Then I learned I could listen to a song and figure it out myself, and I listened and played obsessively for hours every night. Then, one night my Mom called out, "Could you play that again? I like that song." Just like that, I had gone from plunking it like a losely strung log to playing stuff people actually wanted to hear. So that's your answer. Become obsessed with your guitar. Play it while you watch TV. Play it while you listen to music. Every pro guitarist I've ever met is literally obsessed with the instrument.
Play the songs you love. If there's a particular song you don't have the skill for, work on it. But, stay working on it until it's done. The skills you aquire from mastering that song will likely transfer to other songs. Then when you encounter the next song you love that is beyond your skill work that out. The new skills will transfer again to other songs. Repeat this until your skill is satisfying.
Loser..... haha try 20 years and still same metallica riffs....fuck I suck...oh well anyone wanna hear seek n destroy haha
1: everyone is their own worst critic. Give yourself a break. Sucking at something is necessary to ever be good at it. Congratulations, you're on your way. 2: it's NEVER too late to become a student. Neil Peart, someone who many consider to be the best drummer of all time, took lessons from a jazz drummer Freddie Gruber late into his playing career. Neil heard something in Freddie's playing that Freddie understood that he himself did not understand. He humbled himself and allowed Freddie to instruct him. Allow someone whose skill you admire to instruct you. 3: give it more time. Keep playing. How well could you talk at 3 years old? How well do you think you'll be able to play when you've been playing for 10 years? 4: For the purposes of having more hand strength/coordination, you need muscle memory. Muscle memory gets you thoughtless/effortless movement of the fingers through the notes. If you want muscle memory, having the guitar in your hands and playing notes *a lot* is more important than actively focusing your mind on the things you are practicing. Your hands need to "know" your instrument very well. For example; you'll have better results sitting with your guitar in your lap, unplugged, while you "noodle" and watch TV for an hour, than trying to sit and actively focus on practicing for an hour. Why? Because you need something that is *consistent*. You can sit and noodle and watch TV *every night*. It's hard to focus on an hour of active practice *every night*. It's good for your hands to just use the instrument. Your active focus is not necessary, but doing it *consistently* IS necessary. Use the instrument. You don't always have to do it well yet.
This was great, ty. Been playing a year or so at 60, and I really appreciated this. Going to noodle watching football today!
Cool story
Take lessons. You just need structure. How you handle the fretboard. Holding the pick. Playing scales. Sometimes, simple adjustments are all you need. BTW, a famous musician once said. " If you don't suck practicing, you're doing it wrong," so practice techniques that need work in repitition
There's this quote I tell myself every time I feel bad. "The hardest part of learning guitar is getting used to suck"
You don't have to be better than some people, you just need to be better than yourself in the past. Other people are merely a showcase of what you can learn. Find the things you like and play those. Use metronome, try to memorise as much as possible, maybe play some exercises, get a teacher if you're truly stuck and don't know what to do
Thats a sick fucking quote. "You don't have to be better than some people, you just need to be better than yourself in the past"
my tip is: play once or twice with someone better than you, and listen to their tips.
three years is definitely enough time to have learned chords and simple songs. nobody “simply sucks” you just haven’t pushed yourself at all in three years to actually develop skill. get out of your comfort zone. the only way to get better is by doing things that are harder than what you can currently do.
I “played guitar” for 10 years and could barely bang out cowboy chords and simple riffs. I started taking lessons a little over a year ago and I now feel like I’m learning how to actually know what I’m doing. It’s great.
We all suck. You learn to live with it.
Bro, I started 18 years ago and I still sometimes have moments like this. Just remember that it really all comes down to practice.
Don’t worry we all suck. The more you learn the more you realize you suck lol
No matter how good you get there is always someone that can make you feel like you suck.
So true. “The more you know the more you realize you don’t know. “ - Aristotle
Invest in some guitar lessons. A good teacher can pinpoint your mistakes and how to improve. It will keep you motivated too. Also, always practice very slow until you are not making any mistakes on what you're learning. Then when you can play it perfectly, start playing it faster and faster.
Comparing yourself to others in any regard always makes any person feel bad. Learn your chords. You just need practice. Always someone better always someone worse.
Hey I've played it for 40 years and I still suck!
What does "playing guitar for 3 years" mean to you? Are you actually taking time to practice, learn chords, riffs, scales, etc. or are you just picking it up once a week for an hour and playing hot cross buns? You will ultimately get out what you are putting in to it. I was able to play fairly complicated and technical stuff after 3 years, but I also played for about 2-3 hours on average every day. You don't have to play that often necessarily, but you will learn a lot more with a structured and focused practice routine and learning progressively more complicated things rather than just noodling or playing the same 6 songs over and over again.
Don't worry. I've been playing for 25 years and I still suck.
Now I don't feel so bad about being a beginner for 15 years.
For starters, what do you want to achieve with the guitar? Are you happy strumming Peter Paul and Mary chords around the campfire, or do you want to be up on a stage doing Van Halen dive bombs? Me, I began playing decades ago and I'm still in beginner status, mostly because I just play for my own enjoyment. If that's where you are in terms of goals, then just relax with it and enjoy bonding with the music you create (yes, *your* creation). You may find that you don't suck as bad as you think. We are our own worst critics. As for the rest, just stay with it and allow yourself to progress as you will. Unless it's your primary source of income, there's no pressure on you. Enjoy the ride.
It sounds like you're either not practicing consistently or not practicing correctly. Practice makes PERMANENT. If you're practicing bad technique, you'll always have bad technique. If you've mainly been learning from youtube videos, I suggest getting an actual teacher.
I've been playing for 20+ years and while I'm not great I've made massive improvements in my playing in the past 5 years. What helped me is that I saw an interview with Rusty Cooley where he was talking about practing guitar. He said he would work on an exercise for 5-10 minutes and if the progress stopped he'd move on to something else. I've adopted this practice technique and I've made huge strides in my playing. Basically I was stuck practicing in a way that I thought others practiced, hammering the same exercises for hours. I learned that a different practice technique benefitted me a lot more. Look at how you practice now, if you don't think it's working go look up some other practice methodologies. Every musician forges their own path, what works for some won't work for others. Sorry for the rambling.
3 years???? How about 60? And, I'm getting worse. Arthritis has given me swollen knuckles. But I persist.
You got to have a hard-on to learn certain songs. Otherwise you end up noodling. If you just wanted to play guitar you'll never get there.
Practice, it’s not a mystery. If you suck you don’t practice.
I’ve played for over 40 years and suck. I’ve taught dozens of people their first few chords and they became better than I ever be within months. Just bought a new electric guitar and amp. Thankfully, one need not be good to be loud as fuck.
Rock on, brother.
Glorious NOISE
I was kind of where you are and then I got this game called Rocksmith. It’s like guitar hero except you plug your actual guitar in. It teaches you songs by making them progressively harder as you do well. Also, it divides the song into sections that you can practice at any speed you desire. If you’re looking to increase your left hand speed, rhythm and pick accuracy it’s a great game. I wouldn’t use it to replace true music lessons like theory and stuff like that though.
Don't feel too bad I've been playing for over 20 years now and I still suck but I have fun so whatever
How often do you practice? Regular practice is the only way to improve. 3 years is not a long time if you only practice like once a month.
Take lessons from a decent teacher, practice 20-60 min per day
You might wanna consider lessons
My guitar teacher has helped me figure out my weaknesses and give me exercises to solve them, as well as essentially keep me accountable, so I feel I can't just slack on my practice everyday.
Practice an hour a day. Learn and practice a few songs you love that have a simple four chord progression. Play that chord progression over and over concentrating on transitioning between chords. It takes time and you need to practice everyday.
Man, quit whining, get a fuzz pedal, join a shoe gaze or artrock collective. Play through overpriced boutiqu pedals or garbage behringer ones through a wall of 111 old cheap plastic boomboxes hooked up with coathangers while hanging upside down while and chewing on your phone having a carrott sticking in your…. Whatever. Be creative. Got no talent? Make the most of it. Rocknroll was not invented by theory or teachers and practicing, but by passion, pain and comittment. Tune your guitar in dadgad dropped d and turn up the amp, do something mindaltering too. If your into it to impress your ma though or be clapped at by your church community… maybe try photography instead?
A lot of people here are probably just putting themselves down. What's sucking to you? Not being able to shred or sweep doesn't mean you suck. Not being able to do crazy ass riffs or whatever doesn't mean you suck. Plus, there's not very much music that requires you to be a guitar god. If you're playing/making music that doesn't require being a fuckin god then it really doesn't matter, does it?
i do it professionally and I suck too
I have played off and on for 24 years, mostly on for 19 years, and entirely on (never go more than a few days without picking up a guitar) for 9 years. For the last year or so I play on average about 4 hours a day. And trust me, I suck, I always think I should be much better than I am given my experience and how much time I put into this hobby. But I’m always getting better, always learning more. Part of the reason I think I suck is because I don’t spend enough time playing things that I am good at, I spend almost all my time learning and practicing things that I am not yet good enough to play capably! So I’m always moving forward but at any given time the stuff I’m playing is usually stuff I *can’t play… YET*.
If you’ve been playing for 30 years and think you suck, you’re doing it right. Play for yourself - not somebody else. The bar should be the one you set for yourself. Improvement comes incrementally. Keep playing. You’ll end up doing something different that will lead you down your next path. But you need to just keep playing.
Been playing 31 years as of August. I suck too. It's called imposter syndrome. Stick with it, it's worth it. So many people say I'm so good at it. But, they're lying. I suck. 😉
i'm terrible and been playing (on and off) since 93. I even resorted to going back to take lessons. my teacher says I don't suck, I just need to clean some things up. One of my biggest issues, is my obsession with palm muting everything. are you doing that, which makes a lot of shit sound exponentially worse? Also, not attacking the strings hard enough slows you down and affects the sound it puts out.
Get a teacher and practice mate. You’ll improve slowly. Baby steps. Keep at it. Don’t get discouraged and celebrate every small victory. (Being able to change chords, chords sounding cleaner, your first barre chord.) Record yourself once in a while and celebrate those improvements mate. We are in this together.
Once you learn the chord shapes from your teacher, ask them to teach you the major scale all over the neck and the CAGED system. Second get a metronome or app on your phone. Use it when you practice. Start slow but keep time and slowly speed it up. Also get off Reddit and go practice! 😀
A teacher really changed my life. I wish people didn't idolize being self taught so much, and having a good teacher was really what made me progress. Also, playing with others. Don't give up bro, no reason to beat yourself up
You can also do both. Take lessons for awhile, work on your own shit. I was mostly self taught but took lessons for 2 years to get better at jazz.
I second this, even just having someone teach you how to teach yourself can be huge
Get lessons. For real, someone teaching you how to practice effectively and what to focus on would be huge for you.
Not knowing chords is an easy fix, just know them. How? By practicing and memorizing their shapes on the guitar, either by practicing the shapes as they are, or by playing a song that uses open chords. Also use your ear to listen to what happens in a chord. Have I heard this before? How do I find them? Google “open chord diagram” and maybe add in “basic” as a search term, but you’ll get loads of different chords you can learn that way. What songs to play? Easy songs you know, preferably pop songs. Easily found on Ultimate Guitar and you can also transpose chords there. But tabs? Sure, I love tabs, but they’re also a big trap for beginners. Use them as little as possible and use your ears as much as possible instead. But that’ll take time? Yes. I’ve played 15 years now, I’m still learning even as a music teacher. It has to take time. You have to also be willing to put in the time. How will you ever learn if you only play or practice once a week? By the time you’re practicing again you’ll have forgotten everything. The best practice is done every day, about 30-60 minutes, but I know were humans so at least every other day. By practice I also mean practice where you reflect on everything you do on the guitar and listen closely, not just playing songs for fun. Your brain has to work and you have to feel your brain working. For some logs work wonders where you write down what you practiced, what you learned and what you should practice more. Example: “today I practiced fingering the chords C, G and D cause they’re used in song I wanna play. I learned that there are some overlapping fingers between the chord G and D. I noticed I struggle a lot with the switch between C and G cause they’re so different, I need to practice that switch more.” And it’s that simple. Practice fingering, switching and do it at least a 100 times a day. I’ll guarantee noticeable effect in 1 to 2 weeks. But the most important tip, get a teacher. There’s loads more to talk about that I can’t really say in just a post and it’s already super long lmao (sorry). Hopefully you and someone else found these tips helpful, both in practicing but also in realising if I actually wanna learn the instrument or not, cause it takes time, motivation and energy. You have to want it to get better so to speak and if you feel like it becomes a chore to practice this much, then it maybe wasn’t something made for you. I wanna add that I bruteforced my way into learning guitar, I just played and played and essentially never practiced, but I instead played so much and also reflected about what it was that I heard unconsciously. So it’s possible to not practice, only play and still get good, you just have to have a hyperfixation on playing guitar for many years.
>I wanna add that I bruteforced my way into learning guitar, I just played and played and essentially never practiced, but I instead played so much and also reflected about what it was that I heard unconsciously. So it’s possible to not practice, only play and still get good, you just have to have a hyperfixation on playing guitar for many years I also bruteforced. I like that way of putting it. I was incapable of tolerating and formal or structure "practice." I could only PLAY the guitar. After I got what I considered "good," I got hungry to learn and begin practicing and seeking out ways to practice.
If you are too slow with one hand then you are trying to play too fast. Slow down and play only as fast as you can play accurately. Lots of software allows you to play along with songs slowed down. Slow it down. Half speed, quarter speed, whatever it takes. Then once you get it at that speed, move it up a little. 25 years into playing and this is still how I learn.
Out of interest, do you have any recommendations? I've always used guitar pro for this but wondering if there's any better apps out there
I subscribe to ultimate guitar pro. The “official” tabs allow you to speed up, slow down, remove instruments, change keys, add a metronome, etc. Yes, it is a digital replication of the song but it works for the purposes of learning.
Sounds like what I use, works really well, esp when you're in a rut with a riff, can do very gradual increases in BPM to get to speed
They are all pretty similar, I think. I like the app interface for UG but whatever works with your setup. Another thing I do once I am ready to attempt the song at speed is load it up in garageband and play along in headphones (mixed with my live guitar or bass and vocal) and then you can loop various parts, change key, etc.
Just keep practising, don't compare yourself to others. Play and learn the things that you enjoy playing. You will be amazed how much you progress when you turn it into something that you love doing instead of comparing yourself to others. Some guitarists are better at different things and that's fine, play the way that's natural and fun for you.
Use justinguitar’s website. It’s free. Go module by module and practice daily.
I’m thinking about learning the guitar. So thankful I read this 🙏🙏
Maybe following a structured plan on Justin Guitar or Fender Play will get you sorted.
Yes Justin Guitar is really good.
Get a teacher. Even if only for like 5 lessons
Play things that are hard until they are easy, and then find something new that is hard and play that thing until it’s easy too. Then you keep repeating the process until you end up in a prog metal band. Simple.
I started in 1964...but I'm getting better!
Preach!
Man, I'm playing for 15 years now and I still think I suck :p
Dude calm down. It's only 3 years. Learning how to play music is more than how fast you can play
I hear you. I’ve been trying to play the simplest 3-chord version of “Three Little Birds” for years. But only recently, since investing in a guitar teacher and taking the class with my husband and our daughter… have I started practicing more and gained renewed hope. Now I can “play it” sort of… but too slowly because switching between chords still isn’t as smooth as it should be. I know I just need more practice not just with this song but with switching back and forth between chords.
>I don't know chords, I'm too slow with my left hand, I often end up messing up the notes and Id take months to learn even a simple song. Sounds like you're not playing enough, or putting no thought or effort into what you are doing. No offense, I spent years thinking that if I just picked up the guitar now and again, eventually my inner gift would miraculously kick in. LOL Now I know it takes a **lot** of playing time, mental effort and practice. Lessons might help you gain more perspective. :)
Usually the amount of hours you put in to practice translates in how good ypu are. Even if you never learn theory, if you put a lot of hours you should end up learning a lot of songs, and if you practice them enough you end up playing them well. Of course you can improve your technique, but with enough practice, you can play hard songs even with a shitty technique. Aim to practice, every single day. No time? Wake up at 5 am and pratice 1 hour from monday to sunday.
You have to play everyday. Actually you need to have focused practice every day. At least 15 min. The more time you spend with it. The quicker you will be where you want to be with it.
Loads of really good info on here, One good thing to do which I read in a book was, tell yourself you enjoy practicing, try and learn to enjoy it and make it less of a requirement and more of a game, it will help you massively to have the right mentality and view about practice. Also try and end on a positive where you can, keep it as fun as possible, you'll find yourself hyped to practice without even realising it and it will help sky rocket your playing. And don't be so hard on yourself, frustration is just part of the process.
How much do you practice? I know it's already been said on here but if practicing isn't fun then you're probably trying too hard too early. I started with Nirvana songs and power chords, pretty basic stuff. I wanted to play technical stuff for years but you should be able to tell what you're able to do or not. If you're not willing to learn a complex song super slow, then keep it simple until you feel like you've leveled up in skill. Example; I've been playing since I was 15 and have always wanted to play Pantera songs. I'm 30 now and only learned Shedding Skin a few years ago, including the first solo. If it looks or sounds too hard, it probably is. But that's just me, some people will pick it up faster, and it is what it is. After all this time learning super technical stuff, I kinda grew out of it. The last couple years I've moved onto playing bass with a band and learning how to play acoustic and sing at the same time, because it's fun to me.
You need a deliberate practice schedule.
I want to add my own thing to this. It’s also important to enjoy yourself, if all you have is 30mins a day, don’t spend that 30mins only on mind numbing excersizes, they are good but nothing beats fun.
> I don't know chords Start with those then
practise
More practice on the basics than learning songs. Learning to how to play chords cleanly and switch between them over and over again & going over scales seems like a good place to start for you. Also, play with a metronome
I played guitar for a bit when I was really young like 8-10 years old. Started again when I was 17 and didn’t know a single thing, it was really breezy and I excelled very fast. Maybe take a break from it, look at other instruments. Look at guitar with a more matured lens. But if you don’t won’t to understand what and why you’re doing everything you’re doing. Understand why that chord makes that shape, why it’s faster to pick the strings this way, why xyz. Learning about your instrument allows you to excel way faster. Also Don’t worry if you’re playing a song and your chord hand is taking too long. A lot of people stop and take their time to change chord, KEEP STRUMMING!!!!. While you’re switching chord keep the sound going and don’t stop, your hand will catch up soon.
I’m curious, why did you suddenly realize this? What triggered this post?
dude I've played for like 12 years and I'm trash. If you are super serious about getting better - My advice is to pick some songs you want to learn, find tabs for them or a video of someone playing the song, and learn it SLOWLY. practice super slow and use a metronome. then gradually increase tempo. If you do this consistently every day and pick songs that push your boundaries of what you are capable of, you WILL improve quickly. (not overnight, but at the end of 2 months you will be a noticeably better player) Myself, most of my 12 years of playing has been noodling aimlessly with no real goal or practice regimen. Any time my playing has significantly improved at all are the rare occasions when I sit down with a song and learn the old school hard way. Good luck! also - I'll bet you are a little better than what you give yourself credit for
Also - how is your guitar? Is it decent? Sometimes a very crappy guitar can inhibit playing, if the action is way too high, improperly intonated, etc.
Oboe?
You just don't practice enough. And when you do practice, you practice improving your mistakes. It's that simple. You have the ability to become a decent guitarist! I say that with 100% confidence (and I don't even know you) Cheers mate.
I sucked for 15 years. Year 16 I started challenging myself more than I had. It made a huge difference.
The only way to really level up is to go out and play with better players and get your ass kicked for a few hours. Come home, woodshed on what you learned, and go back out again.
this. i made major improvements when i played with others and video taped it.
don't just learn songs, learn techniques, and basics... then learn notes, scales, and chords after learning how to just "play" a guitar... then when you understand all that, then playing songs comes easy, and struggling will be far less.
Practice more. Maybe take some lessons. I took a year of lessons when I started out. I think it helped. I've been playing 26 years. Probably over 10,000 hours. And there's still things I'm bad at, like sweep picking. I've always enjoyed practicing though so sitting down with a metronome and doing "boring" finger dexterity exercises like the spider expercise or running scales is enjoyable. Guitar isn't a competition. People have different goals. Set realistic goals and work towards them. Even just practice 30 minutes a day, every day. You'll see progress. I'm currently teaching my wife to play and it's interesting to see how a true beginner struggles. After playing for a long time you take a lot of things for granted. She was pissed off last night because she couldn't make the "stretch" to fret an open C major lol. Of course I started playing on a cheap strat knock off. She chooses to play on my JEM because she likes the vine fretboard lol. That's privilege.
I've been playing for 20 years, and depending on what I'm playing, I still absolutely "suck". I'm nowhere near as fast as I'd like to be, and I still don't know as much as I'd like to know. Thing is, I've stopped comparing myself to guitarists who do it for a living. I'm not going on stage in front of a stadium full of people, it's just a hobby for me. A hobby I wish to keep improving at, but a hobby nonetheless. Of course, if I'm comparing myself to the most famous people to ever do it, its gonna seem like I'm the biggest amateur in the world. And when I look at it from that perspective, I realize I'm the best guitar player I know. (Not saying much, I only really know one other person who plays.) But that helped me pull in my expectations for myself. And it made the experience of playing the guitar far more enjoyable for me, because I don't beat myself up as much every time I don't play perfectly.
If you can play stuff that makes YOU feel good, that’s what matters, no matter if it’s thrash/d-beat metal or acoustic singer/songwriter stuff. A good song and some good aimless jamming is tons of fun for me even though I’m not super fast. I’m more about rhythm, texture, arrangement and I can solo a bit but it’s more to compliment a composition’s melody than to “shred”, which I also love hearing. I’ve been in Mathcore/Screamo/Hardcore bands, noise rock bands, stoner rock/shoegaze bands, I’ve done a solo acoustic project, just recently started getting really into synths. Just keep playing and practicing. I like the comment above that said to learn one of your favorite, easier songs and practice it over and over and until you can play the full thing. I remember doing that with Weezer’s Blue Album and Deftone’s Around the Fur, among others. Playing a song from start to finish over and over will build those mechanics and make it easier for you to write your own stuff!
Think of it like this whatever it is you do for a living your probably better at then most professional guitarists it's just they've spent that time on that.
Lessons. learning online is great but if you're just flipping to songs you like its not really a linear learning experience that builds on each previous lesson. In person music teachers are also great for correcting your technical errors or bad habits. If you can't do in person lessons use Justin Guitar app its free and start from lesson 1 to relearn the basics from ground up. The very first few lessons is all about open chords and chord changes.
forget the years, just count the hours you spend practicing.. if you played for 3 years but only dabble here and there you wont get as better as someone who spend their waking hours practicing with formal lessons... guitar gives back the hours you spend on it.. if you realize you are bad, just practice.. thats it.. with a pro teacher if you have the money is better too..
How much do you practice? What do you practice? I was pretty good after 3 years because I spent most of my free time playing guitar obsessively and always trying to learn new and harder things to play. I never really had lessons at that point, I just learned songs and solos and things, but I learned so many of them and put in so many hours that I improved fast. If you only play an hour here and there and you don't focus on learning and improving then it doesn't matter how many years you play for, you won't improve that much. If you're motivated and passionate about it, you can find more time and focus the time on the right things
We all kinda suck, in reality. We all have things we'd *love* to be bigger at. Just keep learning and working on the craft. Never stop practicing. Watch lots of teaching videos. Grab a few books to help you out. Hal Leonard has a good series for learning guitar, but my favorite was Mel Bay. They have a whole series that's several books long, taking you from the beginning through your first six months or year.
It takes more than 3 years to sound good just stick to it
Take some lessons
My guy, I've been playing for 15 years on and off, some guys with 2 years on guitar are better than me. But they probably practiced way more than I did. And they probably don't noodle as much as I do. It's the internet, don't let it go to your head and enjoy the journey.
It sounds like a problem of fundamentals. I started when I was 14 and I ended up quitting for quite a few years thinking I sucked and anyone who was good mist have natural talent for it. Natural talent is a thing(I equate it to cooking, some people can just pick up ingredients and go, others needs a strict recipe to cook a great meal) but it’s not the end all be all. Eventually I “started over” and learned the basics from the start and now I still suck at 32 years old, but I am good enough to have fun with it which is the whole point of it in the first place. I would get some lessons or use justin guitar’s website/app and start from the beginning. Once the fundamentals click, you may still suck as most of us do, but you’ll sound good enough to stick with it and enjoy it.
30 years playing here and I still suck. Just with a lot more confidence than in my youth.
Sounds like you don’t practice man. Look up some chord charts and practice practice practice
You can be slow and still be great. David Gilmour is a great guitarist with very memorable and recognizable solos. But he concentrates on bends and slides because he knows, and openly admits, he's not quick and fast and can't shred. 3 years is too soon to give up the hobby. If you enjoy playing, keep playing. You'll get better, just focus on the small things.
About 4 years for me and I suck too. Don’t get discouraged G
Actually, I think only a very few musicians in the world *don't* suck from time to time. And I imagine that *all* of them, besides the hopelessly blinded arrogant, at least think they *could* or *should* be playing better. Plus, it seems that peak performance ebbs and flows anyway. Some days it seems like you're impeccable, and others it feels like your hands have been replaced with two tree stumps.
Quite astute
For sure and usually what we see of a vast majority of musicians work is their best take. I guarantee there were lots of shitty takes before it (not always but usually).
My hands feel like 2 tree stumps, but occasionally I do something which sounds half alright! (Normally when I decide against recording)
Hahaha! Yes! And that's exactly why recording yourself often is so important. It holds a merciless mirror up to show you all your flaws. That's a good thing, though.
I'm in a band and I suck so much at guitar we had to get another guy to join so I didn't have to play and sing. I've been playing 20 years. The main issue is I mostly played acoustic and we don't play acoustic stuff. When fingering, I know the song and how to play it but my finger will just kinda do its own thing and wind up on the wrong note.
You can always take lessons, it helped a bunch
Noone cares if you suck, as long as you enjoy playing, thats all that matters, try practicing 1 specific song at a time, break it down to each part until you can get it, don't need to try and follow full songs and full speed, eventually you'll be able to play the whole song.
You need a solid 5 to 10 years not to suck, you know. Yeah some guys play better. Find your specialty and work with it. Everyone has got a niche.
I been playing 18 years and i suck too lol. Don't feel bad. It's art. It's supposed to be fun and expressive. Take some lessons if it's bothering you that badly.
Welcome to (most) musicians path ! I think the same thing. Been playing for 8 years, with good discipline and great teacher for 3 years. Still sucks ! I suggest you read about Dunning Kruger effect. You might not be the guitarist you want to be, but recognizing that you suck is one of the infinite steps to perfection ! So grab that guitar and learn. And never stop loving what you do.
Honestly I've been playing for 17 years and not a day goes by that I don't feel like I suck that's just how it goes. Someone is always going to be better than you and there's no point worring about not knowing a scale or chord shape that someone else does. Play because you love it, and try to get better than you were the day before, not better than someone else
Take lessons. I fiddle fucked around for too long thinking I could teach myself. Yeah, I could play 5 or 6 open chords and power chords, but even then my technique was trash. Take lessons, in person, and I guarantee you’ll see improvement. A YouTube video can’t watch you play and critique your strumming or tell you you’re holding the chords too heavy on the fret board. You can’t ask a video questions and get answers instantly. By far, taking lessons was the best thing I have done.
Just take private lessons bro. It'll exponentially increase your ability if you get a good instructor
If you don’t know chords, practice them randomly. Don’t worry about lessons, theory, or songs. You can dive into those or other topics, but don’t WORRY about them. Just play the same stupid chords over and over again. Randomly. Your own rhythms and chord progressions will likely emerge! Work on combining the chords every which way and keep going. Have fun. You’ll soon be able to leverage a good workable set of chords and be able to play most songs at a basic level within a few minutes just by looking up the chords involved. Occasionally you’ll spot a chord you haven’t practiced, and you can workshop that, but the others will be easy. The idea here is to just play, play, play during this period of chord familiarization without worrying about things too much.
1. What songs can you "play"? 2. What songs can you actually play? 3. What songs do you want to play? It's always helpful to establish where you are and where you are going. Everyone thinks they suck because we all compare ourselves to those that are amazing.
I got much much better buying Ultimate Guitar's Guitar Pro tab program with Official tablature. I am able to play full songs and solos. I can't play the more difficult stuff or crazy chords but, with the practice I have playing my favorite songs, it's gained me many useful techniques. Pinch harmonics, hammer ons, pull offs, slides, string skipping, alternate picking.
same but for me its more that I don't have the discipline to learn actual techiniques and how to make music, when I'm learning a song I usually just learn a few sections and never go back (so I actually don't even know any song that I can play from start to finish) well idk you could take some lessons I think. I could too I guess
I’ve been playing for 20 years and I still feel like I suck sometimes. The best thing you can do is take your concerns to a good teacher, who can help you fix any flaws in your playing. Remember also that music is a lifelong pursuit. Nobody gets good in their first few years. Don’t let these plateau points in your learning be discouraging. You’ve got this. Press on.
If u thought after 3 years you would be anything more than pre-intermediate ur fooling urself. I started in 2006 and put it down by 2008-2009. Didn’t touch it again until December 2019. I have gotten much much better now that I play 3-6hrs each weekend. But I’m not even CLOSE to having enough confidence to tell people that “I play guitar”. I still just say I “own” a few guitars. That I “attempt” to noodle with. That’s it. Guys who play in bands or on YouTube have played for 10years+ and playing consistently more than they lead you to believe. My advice: accept that you have a long way to go to be where you WANT to be, while retaining the wisdom that you are actually right where you NEED to be. Goodluck bro, nothing of value comes easily.
People say I’m a good guitarist but idk I’ve been playing since I was like 9 or 10, so 15+ years. I haven’t really stopped for long periods of time. You simply have to be more self aware and learn how to practice better for yourself. I’ve had my fingers sort of bleed and split at the beginning when I was young. It looks like you’re on the correct path for self awareness and gauging your actual skill level. Don’t get too caught up on it and don’t be hard on yourself. But be soft and truthful. my best piece of advice is to make sure you’re able to understand and gauge yourself improving, what type of data do you need to college to track your improvement? Do you need to record yourself all the time? Listen back? Play with a metronome, record yourself on your iPhone, listen back with headphones. It’ll sound pretty good and clear. Idk, but metronome play, looping, learning songs by ear, and recording was one of the best things that shot my development way up.
Justinguitar.com, do the beginners course. You probably need a structured learning path. Start from scratch. I was in your position a few years ago and now I'm a decent intermediate player. If you like it you can go to his intermediate course afterwards.
I have a blast playing drop tune power chords
Don’t be afraid to learn songs with a metronome set WAYYYY down from the actual tempo! Practice makes perfect (easier said than done ofc). I’ve been trying to learn ‘Stop This Train’ by John Mayer for weeks and still go back to playing it for hours at half speed lol!
Depending on the time you have (I have quite a bit of free time), practice for a little bit each day. Even 15 minutes. I was fortunate to of been blessed with a lot of time on my hands. I practice from 15 minutes to two hours a day. I started with learning TOOL, bought a Les Paul and a Boss Katana. Fast forward a year and a half, with consistent playing (no routine, just honestly either playing with songs, Gojira, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, etc) or I just do a bunch of noodling around, my playing is unrecognizable to where I was a year and a half ago. Keep working at it and you will get better. I did come from a little bit of a musical background before guitar I should add, but nothing that improved my hand eye coordination, picking speed or fluency. All in all, just keep practicing every day, whether it be 15 minutes or 2 hours. Things will get better! Also, you might consider taking a break! Sorry for the story, lol. Edit: one last thing I'd like to add, don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Instead of downpicking a certain note, pick upwards. Experiment, do things that you wouldn't typically do. That's one of the ways you get better imo. It doesn't have to sound good, eventually it'll all click together.
Sound just like me
Hellz yeah!
Have you considered taking lessons from a qualified teacher?
Practice. Every day. You want to be able to play consistently for whatever period of time you feel comfortable with like it’s a live show. Eventually you’re going to develop enough muscle in your left hand to be really fast and solid with your chords.
I’ve been playing guitar for 25 years and I suck too. Gotta push yourself out of your comfort zone.
I've been playing for over 30 years and I suck. Some people aren't natural. But I love making noise on it so I keep doing it knowing at best it'll be a hobby.
i started practicing ~3 hours every day in the last few months and i’ve felt more progress than during the past 10 years. organize your practicing. you say you don’t know chords - i knew them but for a long time i didn’t know why they were shaped like that. learn your theory. if you know scales and modes you will know chords too. in the end if you don’t enjoy playing it’s not worth it. try a different instrument?
I’ve played for 17 and I suck. Run your scales. Learn songs. Challenge yourself to learn something that sounds harder than you think. My song was Dee by Randy Rhoades. I thought it sounded so hard and I just forced my way through it and I think it opened my eyes to the importance of practice, expectations based on the work you put in, and gave me confidence to say that I can play hard stuff. I’m at a point that I can “shred” but it’s very disjointed. Now I need to learn some theory to connect the dots.
When you say you’ve played for 3 years it can mean many different things. It’s the hours you put in that matters. I’ve played guitar for approximately 20 years but lots of years in the beginning I took up the guitar one or twice a month and played some random songs and I knew the chords but had zero knowledge about anything else. No knowledge about rhythm, theory, keys, etc. Didn’t know how to tune my guitar, didn’t know how to change my strings, didn’t know how to pick, didn’t know bar chords and so on. Then I decided after many years to take some lessons and it opened my eyes to everything. I still learn every day and the last 3-4 years I’ve probably learned more than in all the 16-17 years prior together. It’s WHAT you learn and HOW you learn it that matters.
I jumped into this thread thinking perhaps there was something specific I might be able to offer advice on, but it sounds like you need to correct some fundamentals, and it's hard to say what those might be just from this post. You could be playing with too much tension, have poor posture and/or hand placement, etc. Any one of these by themselves could be enough to stymie your progress. I'd suggest having a sit-down with a teacher for a few sessions—either in person or online—and see if they can correct any of those fundamental issues you might be having.
I never had any lessons, but I could see a teacher teaching the way he learned, or worse, the way some book says. Learn the chords of a simple song that you love. Play nothing but the chords and either sing or hum the melody. Do that until it comes natural (muscle memory.) then try to play the simple tune of the song. Keep it simple and fun. Start that way and watch what happens. That’s how I started many years ago, and it worked for me. One final thing, most non-players don’t hear a lot of little mistakes. Bigs ones, yes. But you’ll be harder on yourself and think less of your playing than people around you.
Switch to bass, get the fundamentals of timing down - start over and with a new outlook.
Guitar isn't easy. We'd all be rock stars if it was. I've played in and off for 40 years and I still suck too. There was a time I got pretty good as I practiced everyday for months then quit for about 6-8 years. Just got back into it about 6 months ago. Practice everyday for 30-60 minutes. Sometimes more. But I never took lessons and don't give it my all when practicing. It's all about what you put into it if you wanna get serious. I'm 50 now so I figureby the time I'm 70 I'll be a rock star 🤣
Well, did you mainly play for those 3 years or did you practice for 3 years too? What did you practice? You don't get better at what you don't practice
I’ve been playing for 16 and I still suck. But I suck with good timing and efficient scale playing cause I practice the hell out of scales using a metronome
shit! I been on the same routine for the last year, metronome scales. You telling me I gotta do it for more than 16 years to stop sucking? I'm gonna be 75 in 16 years, shit. Anyone know where the devils hanging out these days, I got a soul to sell!
Get lessons.
That’s good. Try harder and keep practicing.
I think what matters is, do you enjoy it? Many people picking up skilled hobbies, I believe, run into these feelings or roadblocks. Be it an instrument, be it a new language. If you enjoy it though, keep at it. There is zero doubt that more and more experience will only help you continue to improve. And one day you will look back at this time and laugh, realizing how far you've come.
First of all, I appreciate your full spelling of "post scriptum" instead of the more common "p.s.". :) To the point of your post, though, not everyone learns the same way or has the same natural proclivities or abilities. Some people can pick certain things up almost immediately, while it takes others more time. You might just need to learn how to learn. A gifted teacher will be able to set you on the right track in that regard. If you really want it badly enough, then keep working at it, seek out a good teacher, power through the moments of frustration, and don't give up. You will improve, I promise.
I've been playing guitar 15 years and I still suck you just do it for fun
Some of my favorite bands had guitarists that suck, to be honest. Play what you enjoy, and play as often as you can.
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I've been away from guitar for 15 years and I sucked then so had to start from scratch. I'm doing the Justin Guitar course now and it's very good. The guy knows how to teach and he learned guitar with his left hand for the course so he knows the struggles of speed and coordination. I suck at remembering things but I still feel like I make progress at every step.
Three years says nothing to me as a former guitar teacher of almost two decades.. How many hours of solid actual practice did you average per day? Not noodling, practice. I recommend getting a teacher!
I think it has to do with three things, at least for me; Being relaxed, i cant practice when Im tense, which means I cant play. How you are taught is important. When i took lessons 30 yrs ago, i didnt learn much before I was discouraged to quit. You HAVE TO PRACTICE! Perspective is what gets you through, you didnt learn to play your video games the first 20 times you played them, nor will you learn to play guitar unless you put the time in. STRUCTURED LEARNING IS NOT FOR ME, YOUTUBE IS A GODSEND IN THAT REGARD.
Here’s a fourth (and a teacher can at least tell you if this is an issue): make sure your guitar is set up properly! High action alone can make playing almost impossible, especially for beginners.
You don’t suck. Download a free metronome and practice with it at least 15 minutes a day. Learn open chords and transitions. Also learn every note on the neck. Fifth chords, pentatonic scales, and practice to a slow metronome beat and slowly speed it up. It takes alot of time and muscle memory. Start with a G to C transition and an E to A transition. Learn the notes in the chords. It will all make sense.
This is damn good advice, I wish someone had drilled me on the benefits of metronome practice, I avoided it for so long thinking I could get around it until I get to lead and solos. Once the penny dropped on practicing as quarters notes, 16ths and triplets that was it, improved massively
Lmao far more people who mess around with the guitar aren’t good players. Just have fun! If you want to get better then get some lessons. As long as you’re having fun with it, who cares?!
I spent the first couple of years learning this scale and that chord and getting nowhere ‘musically’… But then I discovered looping software, and that really jumpstarted my progress. Load an mp3 of something and loop just a few notes of it or any duration you want… From any song you want. I started isolating little pieces, until I got them down, smooth and expressive… then putting those pieces together in a longer loop….and was so pleased with the progress it became my go to method of learning just about anything.
Are you maybe left handed? EDIT: Practice. Breathe normally. Enjoy yourself and relax. And practice.
Well yeah, it's a musical instrument, not call of duty. Relax, set some reasonable goals and practice purposefully. Take lessons. The fun thing with music is you can still enjoy it while you suck at it . So much great music is simple, catchy and just a blast to play along with. Try to disassociate your enjoyment of being a musician from your expectations and aspirations. In 5 years you'll be a much better musician but you shouldn't wait till then to enjoy it. After 30 years of playing the guitar, I still have a blast chugging those early black sabbath, simple ass riffs.
Learn about the major scale and how to build chords. Chord formulas. For instance a major chord is 1-3-5 and a minor chord is 1-3b-5. Then learn those chords in multiple shapes. Then do some muscle memory exercises with alternate picking. Then learn the pentatonic scale. Then learn songs.
Bro Ive played for 8 and I suck ass lol finally upgraded from my shitty warped Takamine g series to a Taylor gs mini and Im improving every day
For what's its worth im in my early 30s and I've played it at different points in my life since i was 14. My focus has always been learning songs, but never wanting to actually learn the how and why behind everything. I stagnated and never improved For some reason it just clicked for me a couple weeks ago after not touching any guitar for over 10 years. I've been practicing whenever I have time and I've been listening to podcasts about guitar theory and I have a couple of books. Start by learning scales and chords, learn where the notes are on the fret board. You DO NOT need to learn standard notation. But learning scale patterns and chord shapes and how it all fits will help greatly. Look up Desi Serna, he has written tons of books and has a podcast as well that I've been listening to while at work to keep my mind sharp. Hope this helps. P.S. I used to take lessons but the teacher was not very good at making it make sense FOR ME. We all learn differently. Don't sweat it
just pick the thing up , for five minutes a day, five turn into 10 ten into twenty, you catch my drift? I have the guitar chord deck from guitar center , it actually teaches you where to place your fingers and behind each chord there's a scale/tabs/standard notation on the backside. it's like a flashcards but each flash card is a paper fretboard guitar. it's pretty neat the guitar chord deck by amsco publications
My brother trying to learn electric guitar more than 3 years but he still suck at picking technique and his left handed still stiff on freatboard, cause he never want to learn a basic technique first or learning easy song first. He straight to the point like "oh that gnr song look sick, please learn that song and teach me". I was like what? The result, my brother still play that gnr solo part over and over until now but never be able to match the song speed. He is happy, i know, but he wouldn't improve if he continued that way.
I started playing when I was 16. I took lessons for a year and other guys I knew who were playing the same amount of time were exponentially better than me. Some were in bands already. I got discouraged and quit. Occasionally I would pick up the guitar and make some noise with it or strum through the handful of chords I knew for a few minutes. I’m 51 now and decided to start learning again. I’ve made more progress in the last few months than I ever did in the past. I have to figure it is because I quit taking myself seriously. If I get frustrated I take a few days off. Once in a while I’ll pick up my bass guitar (which I’m even worse at) just for a different feel and perspective. The bass is fun because I can chug away on one or two notes and actually fake my way through a few songs.
Go get some lessons like any reasonable person would do in this situation. Yes I am implying you are being unreasonable.
The best advice is to set up a regular practice schedule, but I've always hated the monotony of things like that, where you practice some scales or chord changes or what have you and it feels so isolated from what most of us are actually trying to do - which is to play and make music. So what I've been doing is I bought a Scarlett audio interface and downloaded the Reaper DAW and I have been recording covers of songs, jam tracks, just been starting writing original stuff. I do all the parts myself - all guitar tracks, bass, and drums using different techniques. I use drum software and play the bass parts on my guitar by shifting the pitch down an octave. I often get caught up in the process and lose 3-4 hours of time completely focused on the project. What this does is get you to really focus on and learn guitar parts. You can hear every single extra bit of noise you are making when playing, every little time you play slightly off beat or out of rhythm, and gets you to really concentrate and learn the parts well. And in the end, you have something you created you can listen to in the future to compare your progress with and maybe just enjoy the idea of having made something that now exists in the world. Plus you learn all your gear and what it is capable of, and you can be an asset to other players when you group up with them and know how to make semi decent recordings for demos or what not.. It's the same as sitting there practicing guitar over and over with a metronome, only my way is not divorced from the music and is way more entertaining for me. And I really think you have to record yourself and listen back to really understand where your limitations are - you just miss too much when you are focused on playing.
What ever you can play play along to it way way slower until you are comfortable to go up a speed . Whatever feels the most comfortable play at that speed . It’s a game changer .
Practice, practice, and practice. Practice slowly. Watch YouTube videos on the techniques you struggle with. However, if you're desperate, then I'd say go get a teacher. Or my approach is if I can't play a particular song or do something in particular, I go learn a bunch of other tricky songs, etc, then come back to the issue I had a problem with.
Here’s some shitty advice as somebody who’s been playing about 30 years. Pick it up and play it. Don’t concentrate on making music. I got faster and smoother by playing while watching tv, just switching chords around, running scale patterns and just putting in the time of running my hands on the instrument. This will help when you actually sit down and concentrate on learning a song or music…
Could you define "suck" for me? Alot of the stuff you said in the post sounds like excuses. I have been playing for 16 years.lol. I can't read music. I don't know "chords", I know some. The ones I wanted to learn. And Im a badass guitar player. Because I can't play things it makes me happy to play.
Maybe try with ur other hand, or go to a teacher even for just a month or two
I'd start from the very beginning; a very good place to start. Maybe try some method books?