Originally Posted by: Jake_22

Hi, so I just went through the Guitar Fundamentals 1 and 2 and through half of Blues level 1. I tried learning a few songs on the side but they take me a enormous amount of time.[/quote]

Congrats on finishing those courses! And thanks for the background info.

Most of what you are asking is very individualistic & depends on the answers to these questions:

1. How long have you been playing?

2. How much knowledge & skill did you bring to learning guitar when you started GF1?

Originally Posted by: Jake_22For example, the 18 second intro to Johnny B Goode by chuck Berry took me about 10 hours to get it with minal mistakes and almost 80% of the original 170 bpm tempo. *last week). My fingernails started lifting off my skin at the end there, a lot of bend practicing.[/quote]

I'd say that's pretty good! It took me 2 years to get from absolute beginner strumming chords to playing Chuck Berry licks back when I was 10 to 12 years old.

Originally Posted by: Jake_22The 1minute and 15 seconds intro to Wish you were here : 17 hours (learned it during guitar fundamentals 1 as a side project)

The first 25 seconds of Tears in Heaven by Clapton : 6 hours. (last week)

Are these learning times even normal ?[/quote][br]Sure, you are doing fine. Much faster than some students I've seen! But, everyone learns at their own pace. And more importantly are you enjoying it? Are you accomplishing what you want to with the guitar & music?

Originally Posted by: Jake_22A lot of that time is dedicated to managing to switch rapidly between notes, learning them by heart, and being smooth overall. But I dont understand what I'm playing. I just learn a series of notes. It doesn't feel like I'm "learning" guitar, just looking at the tabs and putting my fingers where it asks me to. Anyone without any knowledge of chrod theory or scales or anything could do that as well.[/quote]

Sounds like your physical skills are moving beyond your theoretical knowledge. Learning the guitar requires both the skills & the ideas. So, at least you've got some of the skills down!

When you are ready to dive in to more of the theory side please work though my collection on music theory.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/music-theory

My collection on triads & inversions:

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/triads-and-inversions

And my collection on improvisation that will explain in depth & detail how music theory gets applied in real music.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/learning-to-improvise

[quote=Jake_22]At what point do we have to know "that", instead of just playing the notes on the tabs ?

[br]That's a great question. To some people, being able to play the notes & have them sound right is enough. Other people desire more knowledge about the hows & whys. That's what my collections linked above are for.

[quote=Jake_22]Also, at what point would I know that I have "enough" theory knowledge to freely practice songs without spending an inordinate amount of time to learn them ?

Theorectical knowledge will surely help you learn or understand songs faster. But no amount of theoretical understanding will take the place of learning the physical motions of any song or technique. The technique takes time to get into your muscle memory no matter how much you understand the notes you are supposed to play.

[quote=Jake_22]I am, and want to keep dedicating 3 hours per day for the guitar.

That's outstanding!

[quote=Jake_22]So I guess I dont know what way to take from here. With guitar fundamentals 1 and 2 it was pretty clear, since it was the only way. It seems that now There are many roads I can go down, and I just wanna make sure I'm going down an efficient and productive one.

I'd say pick a course to work on. Then, keep learning songs. And start to work on my collections listed above. Those will really help open up your music theory understanding. And if you keep practicing the courses & songs, when you start to understand the ideas more, you'll be able to play them when you need to.

Hope that helps!