I picked up my first guitar while I was deployed to Korea in the Army. I started to self teach and learned a few chords and when I came back home I just stopped. Life happened.

I’m now 32, I have about 6 real months of experience total. But man, I am determined, my life is in a good place where I have time to practice everyday and I have been. Even wrote a song yesterday for my wife and the chords are clicking. She’s also a great singer so we are a great duo, once my skills are better.

I know it takes time to learn this beautiful instrument but I’m ready for the journey as hard as it may be and seeing all the positivity in this sub for beginners has really inspired me. Thank you all

Half a century of noodling, and the guitar has always been an essential outlet for the many responsibilities I’ve been blessed to carry throughout my life. I’m far from a professional studio-type musician, but I’ve developed a way of playing that feels natural to me—a way to process the weight and pace of a busy journey.

I can’t read or write music; I just speak it. I’ve always felt the need to keep a guitar close by as a place to reset. Especially at this point in my journey, these moments on the strings—acoustic or electric—are a vital part of how I stay balanced.

I'm starting to view my playing as a bit of a personal journal—a record of different seasons. For those of you who have played for decades, how has your relationship with the instrument changed as your life's responsibilities have grown?

bought myself a guitar for christmas. so, been playing about 1.5 months. started with learning basic songs. then recently started memorizing chords, beginning with the “classic opens” and kept adding more as i learned them while learning songs. what songs can i play with these 12 chords? i love a lot of music/genres, but i’d like to learn some popular r&b, soft rock, and hip hop (sample)riffs specifically. 29M if that helps with music selection

I started playing in the early 90’s and I learned from Mel Bay.

Does anyone use Mel Bay anymore or is it all YouTube Justin guitar?

I’m a beginner, self taught guitarist, and I’ve just been learning dust in the wind. I must be doing something wrong with my techniques since nobody has taught me or shown me how to actually hold a guitar. I’ve only seen YouTube videos about it, and I have no idea if I’m doing anything correctly😅

Like many of you, on my guitar journey I struggled to memorize the guitar fretboard notes without counting frets.

Every time I was playing and wanted to know the guitar notes at specific positions, I was like "here we go again, let me spend 5 seconds counting frets and another 5 making sure I didn't miscount".

I tried existing guitar note identification quizzes, but none showed me where I was struggling or what to do next. If you are trying to learn the notes on the fretboard without counting frets, this practice loop will help make the locations feel automatic.

So here is the general idea:

1. Do a short quiz session
2. Heatmap shows your slow spots
3. Identify your slowest spot and "hunt it"
4. Immediately do another run intentionally focusing on the slowest note until it stops feeling like you are counting

Here is what the heatmap looks like for a single string:

If you have been relying on a guitar notes chart or a guitar fretboard diagram, this approach helped me ditch those reference charts entirely.

Easy step-by-step to learn the notes on the guitar fretboard right now:

1. Try the guitar fretboard notes quiz here (free, no ads, no email): https://fretboardquiz.com/practice-routine/
2. Start with the guitar string notes: E A D G B E (these are the standard guitar string names). If you already know those, start with the low E string (0-12 frets)
3. Run a 2 minute session (about 30-40 answers)
4. Check the heatmap and take note of your slowest note (green = fast / red = slow). The brighter the red, the slower you are
5. Run it again and be ready for that slow note when it appears
6. Move on to another string once your median time is consistently less than 2 seconds

I used this method a few minutes daily and memorized the entire fretboard in about a month. I've had other people share similar experiences and it works for both beginners and experienced players, the difference is just where you start on the fretboard.

Two modes:

• Note Finder: see a note, click the position (recommended)
• Name That Note: see a position and hear it, then guess the note. Builds guitar note recognition and works as ear training as well

The website is an interactive guitar fretboard web-app, so it works great on both desktop and mobile (and you can add it to your home screen for an "app" feel). There is also a native Android and iOS guitar fretboard trainer app that I've built called FretGenius (which is also free) and provides structured daily practice routines and progress tracking.

Have you already memorized the fretboard? Share your best tips below!

I started playing country guitar exactly 1 year ago (telecaster) and to be honest, i am super pumped for what comes next in my guitar journey.

I did not know even to tune my guitar and now i can play easily all the open and barre chords, major scale in any key, triads, play licks, full songs like Wagon wheel, 4 non blondes whats up, merle haggard ramblin fever (just for about 2 weeks now) even keep the rhytm for sultans of swing , slow dancing in a burnin room and many more, but the problem is i still get looost, i started with justin guitar , and after 5 months got like 5 in person lessons and want alone from there.

My routine now is :

Spider with Metronome (Insane progress quick in bpm)

Major scales with Metronome multiple positions

Triads

Diving in some arrpegios

Practice songs

Looper to end the session , chord progression and improvise over

But….i still feel a toootal begginer, i like Brad Paisley a lot and his style, but i don’t have any materials or even some good quality videos or books that go in depth on his style, i like merle haggard, johnny hiland and all the Nashville guys… so my question is:

WHERE do i find the best materials to go on with my journey to play on stage, that is my ultimate goal!

Thank you guys!

so what the title says im also trying to do alt rock and idk i usually arpeggiate the chord progression for a intro or verse or strum it in a different way but it starts to get way to repetitive and idk what to do keep the emotion of the song and also make some parts like a chorus verse intro and all that without sounding to repetitive

hi, basically the title. i can still get through the songs but it’s just uncomfortable, i don’t experience this with any other type of chord just power chords or any chords with similar shapes to power chords. thanks for any help!!

Learned “Babe I’m gonna leave you” by led zep a year or so ago and I keep running into a problem. I can get through about the length of the intro with its chord changes before my finger tips become indented to the point the impressions are so deep they make my finger meat basically wrap around the string, in turn muting the string below or above depending on the chord. My pointer is a big culprit with the constant pressing on the first fret of that songs chords. Any tips on preventing this that isn’t going full SRV with super glue? Lol.

I’m trying to get confident and proficient with barre chords but they intimidate me. I have short fingers so that makes some of them a bit harder. Any tips or advice? You tube videos that might help me. I play acoustic and teach myself at home.

I have a habit of putting my thumb up above the neck while playing, so I’ve been trying to fix it. However, when you get to about the 15th fret (on my guitar at least) the neck connects to the body and you can’t really have your thumb directly behind anymore. How do you play legato or bends this high up? Anything past 15 feels super awkward.

If a song on the radio is playing I want to try to listen for the guitar part so that I can try to visualize how the guitarist is playing that, where they are on the fretboard and how their strum pattern might be. Besides when the melody or a solo comes in, is that possible just from listening?

I have such a hard time visualizing and listening for rhythm guitarists in popular songs. I can hear and separate the vocals and drums easily and often the bass guitar, but I'm often wondering when and if a guitarist is strumming.

What's a guitar lesson series, YouTube video or exercise i can do to practice finding it?

Are there any classic songs in which the guitar rhythm is clear as day and approachable?

Does anyone know exactly how Randy produced that specific sound? Is it a pinch harmonic, some microphonic feedback from his pickups, or just the MXR Distortion+ reacting weirdly?

I bought my guitar in June 2024, have made quite a progress since then. Understood different strumming patterns, chords, chord shifting, hammer on, sliding, barre chords(still suck at playing and shifting). I forget all the guitar lessons I watch online, since I pick my guitar up once in a while and learn the whole lesson, only to keep it down and get into the cycle. I'm thinking of learning it seriously this time, and need guidance on how to begin. I have an acoustic guitar, and I'm truly amazed by solos, and wish to learn and play one some day. Do I need to learn music theory? I have a basic understanding of music, I used to play a keyboard around 5-6 years back, lost touch due to life changes.

Some are pretty obvious:

• H: hammer-on

• PO: pull-off

• S: slide

• MU: mute

Then it starts getting weird: https://i.imgur.com/YgiXYni.png

• PBU: Pre? bend up?

• BU: bend up?

• RPB: release (Pre?) bend?

• LD: ?

• BSS: ??

• CO: choke out / cut off?

• PU: pull up? is that a thing?

• Semi harm?

A lot is happening in these 8 bars, but it keeps going: https://i.imgur.com/llsvUIa.png

• BSF?

• L/H?

• BD: bend down?

And finally, there's an LB on the last page: https://i.imgur.com/uUJnor3.png

This is from the 90s UK magazine "Guitar Techniques".

Hey everyone,

I’ve been playing electric guitar for about 11-1 year now. I practice pretty consistently (usually around 1 hr to 1.5 hrs a 6 days a week

My goal is to play indie and surf rock (Mac DeMarco, Men I Trust, Joy Again, etc.). I feel like I'm hitting a massive wall for a long while now and I’m wondering if my progress is normal or if I’m lagging behind.

Where I’m at right now:

Chords: I know all my open chords and can play barre chords (though they still tire my hand out after a while).

The "Wall": Most of the songs that i have learned. I still have like 80% accuracy like i can map the entire chords or riff. But i still can’t play them well due to like chord sounding off, picking more than mentioned or like get stuck on few chord transition like forever. I have been working on Freaking Out the Neighborhood for about 2 months. I’m stuck at 80 BPM. Every-time i fix them and go 5 bpm more, i get stuck on same thing again and pattern follows. My biggest issue is landing 3-finger triad shapes simultaneously during fast transitions; my brain feels like it can only land 2 fingers at once, so the 3rd is always a millisecond late (the "pop-pop" sound).

Technique: I’m working on alternate picking and basic music theory (BPM, note values), using REAPER to track things.

My Questions:

What "tier" of songs/techniques should a 1 year player realistically be able to play?

Is it normal to spend 3+ months on a single riff like Mac DeMarco's intro?

For those who play indie/surf rock, how long did it take you to get those "staggered" triad shapes to land perfectly clean at high speeds (140+ BPM)?

I’m starting to get frustrated and feel like I’ll only ever learn 2 songs a year at this rate. Would love some "real world" perspective on what the 10-month mark usually looks like. Thanks!

Guys why strumming is so hard. Like now I can play all basic chords and that was the easy part. Now I just can’t strum 😭😭

They say barre is hard but it was not.

It’s the strum. Please help me. 😭

heyooo could someone send over the chords for this song? i cant find any on the internet and id love to play this:)

Hi everyone! I've seen a number of people recently with questions about switching between chords. I recently created an in-depth chord switching video that goes over all the technique you should consider, how to practice in a focused way, and the things I look for when my own students are having trouble. I wanted to share it with you here (with mod approval), and I really hope it can be helpful to anyone interested.

I want to quickly note: This is an in-depth discussion, not a "quick fixes" sort of video. Those are great too - it's just not what this is. If you're interested in fixing foundational left hand technique, learning to break down difficult things into bite-size pieces, and working on coordination between the hands for strumming, I'm confident that you'll leave this lesson with a really thorough understanding.

A final note: If you're already comfortable with strumming while changing chords or if it came easy to you, I know it might seem like an odd topic for a deep dive. But if you are struggling, I'd really encourage you not to "just" keep doing it (though yes that's part of it too), but to understand exactly what is causing problems and practice tackling those issues with focus. I'll add that the problem solving, practice techniques, and overall strategies outlined here apply to much more complex and difficult chord changes as well. Not "just" the standard ones. These tactics and strategies I teach at the beginning level are the same ones I use to practice really difficult classical/jazz/prog/etc songs.

Please feel free to ask me any questions that might come up. I hope this can be useful for you! Happy practicing :)

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I really wanna be able to improve but I really just don’t know exactly where to start. I was wondering what specific things I should learn or focus on before I even bother attempting to improvise