Originally Posted by: Keith Altazin

I'm not one to post my personal struggles with the guitar, in fact I rarely post anything other than giving folks a warm greeting. But I have hit a wall recently and my frustration is at an all time high. In fact, I'm so frustrated I'm considering throwing in the towel. When I began this adventure last April I had not picked up a guitar since I was 12, I'm now 63. I expected learning a new skill at my age to be a challenge but for the most part I worked hard to gain some competence on the guitar. I looked forward to practicing and the only time I didn't practice was when I was out of town or away from home. I struggled but I made progress. I began learning songs about seven months ago based on the misguided notion that I had to be able to make perfect chord transisitons and be able to seamlessly play the song. Yet I made some progress that is until recently. About a month ago I noticed that playing was no longer fun even when I was practicing songs and riffs. Things that I had mastered suddenly became struggles; it was like I had not learned a thing, which of course added to my growing frustration. I convinced myself that more practice was the medicine and so my practice sessions went from an hour to almost three hours, some times longer. I even bought a new electric guitar to motivate me to continue on the journey. That apparently was not the correct remedy. Things have spiraled downward. I am now struggling with basic skills that I felt I had a good grip on. Anyway, I am not one to quit a project once I get invested but I'm now just going through the motions.

Have any of you experienced this?

Hi Keith

It sounds like you have lost your mojo. I'm not sure how you can get it back but for me, I need the instrument to "pull me along". There is so much to learn. I am captivated by it.. if this does stop, so will my practice. This is just fun and relaxation for me.

I believe I read you were a teacher. If so you can probably think of those kids who couldn't wait to get to class and those who couldn't wait to get out of class. For the former there was clearly something pulling them in. They had a need to be there.

Hopefully you can find this. Maybe step back and relax. Review what this is really all about for you.

An interesting player I came across just last night was Albert Collins. Clearly he was very talented and by no means a conventional player, but at one point in his career he put it all aside and went to work construction!