Originally Posted by: Erik NettekovenSo I've been practising guitar a little over month now and I am in a bit of a mixed place. Like two voices in my head arguing with each other: Voice A "Look what you have achieved and learned, you didn't know all this 2 months ago!" vs Voice D: "It doesn't look like you are improving, you have been struggling with chord changes over a month already, you can't do this". Sometimes A wins the battle and sometimes D wins the battle, altough I do keep on practicing every day.
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Obviously, listen to voice A. It's the voice that's closer to the truth at this point than voice D. Without even hearing you play, when you're a beginner, you make quantum leaps in skill as compared to where you started from. What seem like small gains are actually huge.
You can get all self-critical when you're trying to play the solo from 'song X' three years down the road and you can't quite nail that weird ascending run and so on and so on.
By this I mean, once you've gain enough skill, you'll know better how to be self-critical when you need it. For now, keep building. It does not happen in and orderly, linear fashion so don't sweat it. Understand that learning guitar is most often in fits and spirts and not worry too much. Just keep building.
Originally Posted by: Erik NettekovenAnother thing is that this internal battle sends me to the internet and get lost in watching al kinds of youtube videos related to guitar. (10 things you must do, 5 things you must not do, and some more in depth videos etc etc). What I do try to look at in the video's is how the Pro's do it and there is something that boggles my mind.
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Though Youtube stuff can be useful, it's an opinion. Often it can be a well founded opinion, but still an opinion. Also, thesse Youtube folks need to make videos to make their living so you'll see things that appear to be the 'law of playing guitar' when it is effectively just good tips for playing. You and your hands are different than anyone else's and take a tip for what it is, a tip.
[quote=Erik Nettekoven]Take fretting chords for example. All the teachers tell you to put your finger tips on the string in the fret so it is almost in a 90 degree angle, so no other strings are touched to prevent accidental muting or buzzing of the string(s) below...Now if I look at how the pro does it, it almost seems like their fingers are flat on the fretboard (or at least very far from close to 90 degrees angle, they are almost parallel) while playing the chords, perfectly (!).
Note what I said above that hands are different and really, watch Jimmy Page; he breaks half the 'rules' that a classical guitar teacher would tell you are bad rules to break.
Ultimately, your hands are going to tell you what does and does not work. There's no way that my hands could acheive the '90 degree' thing. My hands are just not of the size where that's practical. I mean, I've got average sized hands but if I tried goin' 90, it would never happen. I've been playing since 1982 and it's never once been an issue.
The key here is not to dismiss such 'rules' in as much as digest them, see how they apply to you but also learn how your personal physiology best suits you for how to play guitar.
The most important thing you should understand about your journey playing guitar; learn how to adapt. Ultimately that's what learning guitar requires.
[quote=Erik Nettekoven]Is there a secret the pro's aren't sharing (yet)? Or is there something wrong with my guitar? Is the action height too much/high? I just can't wrap my head around how they do it.
This only adds to the above but, sure, a nice playing guitar will do much to aid in your playing growth. I was lucky (though I worked hard for it), that my first guitar was a late 1960's Les Paul. It was a dream to play and made it easy to want to play it. While not everyone these days can actually do that, it's also easy to get a great playing guitar at very affordable prices. Having no idea what you have ot how well it is set up, but it's worth considering that you want to have the most playable guitar you can afford and be sure that a pro guitar tech has set it up to maximize playability.
As a conclusion, you are most likely at that point where most people give up playing. You are the the 'Frustration Crossroads'. That is to say that, there is a point where you kinda get it about how to play a little bit but your hands and skill are still that of someone that's only been playing for two months.
This is where the guitars tests your willingness to play. This is where you have to spend time working on just one chord to see how your hands mechanically can best 'grip' that chord. It's like that thing where you hear people say, 'you have to put in that hard work'. Many give up because they simply want guitar playing to only be fun. It is fun and awesome. It's also not always that easy.
Embrace the journey of learning challenges and realize that if you play for the rest of your life, you'll look forward to that small challenge even when you can play amazing things. It's what keeps playing interesting and fun.
Good luck!
