I regret buying a guitar, I can’t even do the simplest shit on it according to YouTube… I dunno if it’s laziness or just being tired of sucking so much and not being able to play the music that I like… Maybe a mix of both?
The most important part about learning a musical instrument is consistent practice.
1 hour twice per week is not as good as 20 minutes every single day. And you do have to play every day if you want to improve. Work on one thing at a time and most importantly: use a metronome.
Guitar is a meditation exercise: you have to learn to love the process. If you aren’t having fun, maybe it just isn’t for you.
This. Except the metronome part, which is optional.
It isn’t for me according to you.
Yep. If you are not having fun, probably pick something else… Although you have to know that sometimes you have struggling stages and you should persist.
Guitar is hard. It takes months or years of practice to even develop the finger strength and speed to play some things. I always had fun learning in my early teens, because I wanted to, even though I was terrible. Then after 2 or so years of playing every day it became really fun and I was able to get the ideas from my imagination to my fingers.
It’s like a lot of things worth learning - you have to really want it, and it’s never as easy as it appears.
I believe there are 3 kinds of musicians. Keep in mind I have no evidence for this, it’s just what I’ve experienced through a life of playing music and being around lots of musicians.
#1 is someone with natural ability, these are the people who seem to be able to pick up any instrument and intuitively understand how to make it sound like music. This is the rarest kind of musician.
#2 is someone with a little bit of #1’s natural ability, but like 70% of their skill comes from honing it through sustained, long-term practice. It’s hard, and can be incredibly frustrating, but also very rewarding. I’d say many if not most successful musicians fall into this category.
#3 is someone with none of #1’s natural ability, but a passionate desire to learn. With grueling long hours of practicing the basics, studying some theory, and intentional instruction, #3 is perfectly capable of playing an instrument beautifully, but it will be a lot more work for them than it would be for #’s 1 and 2.
It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.
It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.
Being a natural at something is being good at pattern recognition, whether it is music, sports, cooking, writing, or pretty much anything prople can be good at. While the vast majority of people can get good at things through practice, there are people on the opposite end from the people where it comes naturally that won’t be able to do better than a beginnger even with a lot of practice.
There are the equivalents of being tone deaf for pretty much everything humans do.
Then I’m in #4 you just suck at it
Honestly. Start playing guitar hero and rock band. Not even joking.
They teach help you coordinate your two hands together in a very fun way… Assuming you enjoy the music in those games.
More importantly though is what are you trying to do by learning guitar? Are you just wanting to sing a few songs around a campfire? So you want to be a lead guitarist leading those wicked solos or a classical virtuoso with amazing technique?
Musicians come in many forms what is your purpose? What does success look like to YOU?
Already finished world tour and warriors of rock 10 years ago. Is a damn toy and not playing for real.
Ahh no i didn’t mean as a substitute. If you already played them then they arent going to help you.
If you enjoyed them, you might then want to check out rocksmith as it uses your real guitar. I however cant wrap my head around the UI in that one so its rough for me, but you might have a way better experience with it than me
Also a friend who is an amazing musician did a lot of content on yousician but i havent used that personally so cant attest to it
trying to start any kind of art as an adult sucks because inevitably by that point, you’ve got a fair head start on your art appreciation skill, which makes you perceive your initial attempts at art creation as particularly heinous. if you start as a kid, you’re less capable of recognizing how bad you are, and you aren’t having to compare yourself against peers who’ve got twenty years of experience on you.
Yesterday there was another AskLemmy about what was the easiest instrument to learn and I felt like anyone asking that question without already having a clear vision in their head of what they wanted to be playing as far as instruments and music was just going to waste their time and money, but even trying to be very polite I thought it was too negative so I didn’t post it.
I think people think music will be a fun relaxing hobby, but it’s really like training to be an athlete. You won’t get any good unless it’s something you truly want to do because it’s a ton of work and a good instrument is expensive and I feel you should really start by taking lessons so you didn’t waste time on trial and error figuring out what to learn instead of learning how to do it.
Craigslist and eBay are full of gear that was barely touched because music is hard. It can be very rewarding, but you will still hate it at times. I tell my teacher all the time that I hate her 3/4 of the time because she constantly challenges me, but by the end of that week, I’ve put in enough time to master the lesson, and then I’m so happy and feel the rest of the time was worth it. It’s like some people love going to the gym and getting those endorphins or runners getting a runners high. Some people live for that, but for others, it’s just hell.
It sounds like you don’t enjoy the time and money you’ve spent. Just live and learn. Maybe come back to it later in life and see if things change. But don’t force yourself into hating it.
I think name people have a thought similar to “it would be cool to know a instrument” but they just don’t actually enjoy it when they sit down with it.
Kinda
The distance from picking up the guitar to being able to play music is so far that most people give up before making it through. Building muscle memory and being able to finger those chords without fat fingering the other strings takes longer than you expect. You’re talking about trying to play a song when really you probably need a month on the open chords.
If you are over it then no shame in moving on. If you want to take one more crack at it you’ll have to slow down and just hyper focus on the basics. Or try ukulele! Ukulele is awesome because the cords are a lot easier and you’ll become a strumming master since you won’t be concentrating so hard on the chords. And then later down the line it would give you a good foundation if you take a crack at guitar again
In my opinion there is no such thing as natural talent. There is only practice and muscle memory. Once you’re up and running with robotic hands (Being able to play the chords without thinking about them, being able to strum a few patterns without thinking about them) It opens up the whole world of music and songs
Or try ukulele! Ukulele is awesome because the cords are a lot easier and you’ll become a strumming master since you won’t be concentrating so hard on the chords. And then later down the line it would give you a good foundation if you take a crack at guitar again
You are not kidding. IMO, everyone should start out with a four stringed instrument, they are fantastic. Move on to greater complexity later if you want to.
I failed out on my first attempt at guitar, it was just to much… then I lucked into a tenor guitar, and entered the four-string world of tons of one and two finger chords. Suddenly I could focus on rhythm and musicality, rather than making sure my fingers were doing half a bajillion gymnastic tricks per minute.
Four stringers are so much fun, doesn’t matter if it’s a ukulele, a cigar box guitar, a tenor guitar, whatever. Go get one and start having fun!
Yeah you explained it much better, They are so much fun! The five string banjo is also 4 strings when it comes to chords, a huge percentage of the skills you learn with these instruments translates to guitar
I really don’t care about ukulele though
Tenor guitar strung in a fourths-based tuning (DGBE, ADGC) and not fifths sounds much more like six string guitar, it’s how I usually tune mine. You can go full electric on them too.
Cigar box guitars can sound pretty damn good amped up as well, and are often much cheaper to get. I picked one up from this ebay seller almost a decade ago, and still enjoy playing it. He might only make three stringers now, but those are even easier to play. Or if you’re handy, you can even make them yourself.
Already bought 2 cheap Amazon guitars ACOUSTIC and electric plus another amp plus a pedal that I used twice. I’m not going to buy anything else
Trade one of your guitars for ukulele ha
Unfortunately I hate how that sounds plus my type of music isn’t compatible with it
Guitar is the only hobby I acquired that never took. I wanted it to take, but did not have the funds to pursue lessons.
I could not get over the beginner hurdles of how to strum, how to really hold the pick, and so forth. If I could have taken lessons or gotten past that I might have learned and still be playing today instead of seeing the case just sitting there collecting dust.
The strumming is a nightmare I agree, but even the simplest songs that only require 2 strings without wide strumming are impossible, accidentally muting the strings, not pressing enough, moving the fingers fast, using your pinky… Is such an impossible instrument
Dude it’s just practice… Id suggest spending 50 bux on a classical guitar, the nylon strings and far enough apart and gentle on your hands. You’ll be amazed.
I have both guitars. Both are just dust holders
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Months. Not years, I would NEVER try anything that take that long, not even videogames
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The typical “hur dur videogames are for childs” in what decade are you living, the 80s?
Sucking for months isn’t fun, that’s it. Also bands are literally doing THEIR JOB. Of course they can’t be doing and practicing that for just months.
Maybe the destination was more important than the journey
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I’ve been learning traditional art for nearly 2 years now. I suck constantly.
Then very rarely I paint something I like.
I find I paint things I like more often now than previously.
This stuff takes time. Stick with it.
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I’ve played and given up the mandolin several times over tge past several years. Longest continuous before now was maybe three months. What I’ve learned through my own learning process is:
- Practice in time. Even if it’s slow.
- Playing with backing tracks helps a ton
- Posture is key. On my current streak of playing I was able to go from playing the melody of kids songs to the rhythm of some grateful dead songs (at 80 bpm instead of 140 bpm) after spending time watching videos of how to hold and sit. I then had to relearn all my fingerings but it didn’t take nearly as long this time.
- Sucking is just part of learning anything new. I guess one either enjoys the act of improving independent of the current result or one doesn’t.
Post script: The reason I quit when I do is because I become frustrated with plateaus. I now believe a lot of these plateaus came from bad mechanics. My pinky could not reach the 7th fret no matter how much I practiced. I could not switch chords without destroying my rhythm or muting extra strings etc.
That’s ok. I like to play music but guitar just isn’t that fun for me either. I have trouble remembering fingering and chords and it’s hard on my squishy delicate nerd fingers. The musical instruments I’ve been able to keep with and practice I did so because I just liked messing with them and making nice sounds. Did you make this post hoping people would encourage you to keep at it? You don’t have to keep at it if it’s not fun, you can sell the guitars to some local aspiring musician. What I would recommend is trying out some other instruments, maybe at a music store. Something drove you to try out guitar, maybe that creative spark just needs a piano, or a glockenspiel, or a zither or something else instead. Just… try before you buy next time.
I started playing recorder in 2018 and have been practicing ever since, bought a couple different instruments after that and it’s been great. I joined a recorder ensemble too and we do local plays every now and then!
Since I started learning I learnt the alt recorder and tenor recorder too. Then I had a ukulele laying about I started to learn as well. I also bought a trumpet but learning that has been slow, I also got a Venova, kalimba, accordion and melodica laying about that I play on occasionally.
I think it’s a mix of finding the right instrument and inspiration to get a goal of. The only reason I started practicing recorder was because of this meme from VRChat
