It’s not much, but it’s mine!
I managed to get it clean, restrung and learned how to tune it. I’ve spent the last couple weeks just practicing the chromatic scale and just started learning some basic chords yesterday.
I started with the trumpet in high school and then went on to do digital music production as a hobby for ten years and even managed to produce my own album.
I realized a lot of the tracks on my album had guitar elements and it dawned on me that I could eventually work to make those my own actual recordings rather than synthesized.
So I’m already familiar with the slow burn process of learning a new instrument and I’m already seeing massive progress from the first time I picked it up. Here’s to the next decade of learning a new instrument!
It sounds cringe, but playing in front of a mirror (once you don’t need to constantly look at the fretboard) is one of the best ways to spot poor technique.
Look up some “guitar heroes” (Brandon Ellis, Samy Elbanna, Teemu Mantysaari, Jack Gardiner, Guthrie Govan are a few examples) and just observe what their posture and hand positioning looks like and then play in front of the mirror to compare. If your posture/technique looks significantly different that means you have room to improve!
This was one of the biggest catalysts for skill gains in my novice years.
Great advice! I’ll have to get a floor mirror to try this now.
I was just watching a Post Malone song a friend sent me the other day and now that I’ve been trying to learn, I was just blown away with how smoothly and effortlessly his hands were moving.
Humbling to know every single one of the greats started out holding it just as awkwardly as I am now.
You’re absolutely right! Nobody is born with the skills. You gotta learn and practice! Once the initial frustration of getting your hands to do what you want is over, practice becomes a lot more about pushing your limits than struggling.
Trust in the process. Embrace practice and the betterment of a new skill and you’ll be jamming comfortably in no time.