New beginner YouTube channel - Going (hopefully) from dreadful to decent

[ShawnE]

First Day Learning Guitar

Hey all, I’m Shawn, 38 & fresh to the guitar.

Saturday was my very first day at getting stuck in (probably spent a little too long at it - finger tips feel like I burned them on a stove!).

I spent my first hour awkwardly & awfully strumming between D & A chords, but hey, I’m excited for the months ahead.

Looking back on this first video I can already see the importance of reallyyyyyy slowing every thing right down & it reinforces the need to let things naturally develop in its own time.

Oh, and I need to get to grips with holding the pick properly & find myself a proficient local teacher for regular in-person lessons.

After just one hour I can highly recommend recording yourself practicing if you don’t already!

I noticed there’s not a great deal of content around showcasing absolute beginners & it’s clear to see why - seasoned amateurs & pros tend to sound a lot better!

So, I decided to start this channel to not only periodically document my own progress from the very first day (for my future self to look back on), but also because I thought it may be useful & intriguing/inspiring for other beginners to watch both now & further down the line.

A visual documentation (not daily! probably bi-weekly or monthly) to help people realise that we’re not alone with the frustration while wondering if things could ever possibly improve.

Well, I’m going to find out if they do, anyway!

If you fancy offering motivation, encouragement, tips, a chat etc. do feel free to connect!

New Life With Guitar

 

[Guitar Dude]

What a great idea! I just subscribed.

 

[Guitar Dude]

Like one of the YouTube commenters mentioned, I also HIGHLY recommend Justin Guitar for beginners. The free lessons are exponentially better than most of the paid courses you'll find out there, and you can always opt for the paid versions later on as well.

Oh, and that Eastman guitar is gorgeous!

 

[Guitar Dude]

I put together a PDF to practice the "one minute chord changes" a while back. Here's the link to download it: https://theguitarforum.net/resources/one-minute-chord-changes-pdf-file.9/

 

[PLX]

Welcome to the forum !

 

[ShawnE]

Hey folks... thanks for the warm welcome!

@Guitar Dude I am actually following the Justin Guitar beginner course... taking it super slow...! That PDF for chord change practice is great... thanks a lot for hooking me up!

I have a few weeks worth of updates that I'll post below.... think it's going fairly well so far... will try to remember to post these up individually as I publish them rather than a few at a time like I'm doing now....!

Week 1:


Week 2:


Week 3:

 

[ShawnE]

One month update... that's 30 days learning & practicing how to make sounds with this beautifully handcrafted piece of wood with 6 strings.... I take a look at the progress I've made during my first month by comparing clips from day one through to week four.

 

[ShawnE]

A little run through update of the "easy" songs I've been going over (& over & over) to drum these 3 chords into my unmusical brain - Of course, I've still been doing all of my slow daily technical practice (probably up to around 45-60 minutes of total practice per day on average) & often practice these songs at a slower tempo, certainly at first.

I also introduced Am & Em chords last week & a couple of new "easy" riff practices to get my fingers working in new ways.

As of yesterday I've also introduced the Dm chord, a simplified version of the spider finger exercise to ease me into that & a slightly more difficult strumming pattern to work with (the "old faithful" - missing one downstrum for the first time - D-D-U-x-U-D-U).

Of course, with these new minor chords I have a few new practice songs added as well - I have a LOT of different things in my routine now so will see how I get on over the next week & will then look to condense the exercises & songs in the routine so as not to overwhelm myself with a ton of different things every day - maybe split things up into alternating daily exercises &/or pause things I'm more comfortable with & focus more on what I feel needs work. I'll reassess & see.

Could be a good few weeks before I'm comfortable enough to progress onto a new chord & such - Will put together a video update of all of this in the next week or two.

Thanks for watching!

 

[ShawnE]

Introduction of the Em, Am & Dm chords. Still have plenty of work to do with these minor chords (particularly the Dm) before I'll be comfortable enough to add the next chord & whatnot.

 

[bridget_murphy837]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

 

[ShawnE]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

No problem at all! Though I'm not sure it contains too much knowledge.... more just my experience haha!

 

[ShawnE]

This is after 7 weeks of learning. For the second week in a row I put the main focus on the Am, Dm & Em (I wasn't comfortable enough with them last week to move onto new stuff) so now we have a little run through of the 5 songs I've been practicing once a day to start getting to grips with them.

Took me a little while to warm up so there's plenty of mistakes in the first 3 songs in particular but pretty happy with my run through of the last two songs - overall I'm pleased enough after just 7 weeks.

Still doing all of my other regular practice of course, playing through these songs is just what I do at the end of my more technical exercises etc.

This coming week I look at the C chord for the first time.

 

[bridget_murphy837]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[ShawnE]

Thank you for sharing.

You're welcome Bridget! Great to have you watching & following along... I'm hoping you can relate to a lot of it!

 

[ShawnE]

Well.... I learned the C chord this week.

However, with that opening me up to an abundance of new songs I was immediately reminded that I have to work on continuing to polish up not only the chords I've previously learned but also the action of changing between them all - of course, I'm aware certain changes are more commonly used than others so it makes sense to at least prioritise those for now - namely the changes that specifically take place in the songs I'm practicing.

So, it took all of 10 seconds into a new song to discover that I'll be putting a ton of work into the changes between Em and D, Em and C, and C and D (just as a main focus - still doing all other standard practice stuff & whatnot) for the next week or two before I reassess. I don't expect to vastly improve these within a matter of weeks but I do want to feel more comfortable with them before introducing yet another chord (.....G!).

Thanks for watching!

 

[ShawnE]

This one isn't for the squeamish... if you don't like looking at calluses forming you may want to give this one a miss... if you're morbidly curious like I am then you may want to give it a watch...

Short 6-7 minute documentary outlining the 54 days it took for my calluses to develop before settling down.

 

[bridget_murphy837]

It was like a badge of honor when you grow calluses in learning and playing the guitar. I suggest not to try to peel the calluses of. It's better to use a nail file to smoothen rough callus edges.

 

[ShawnE]

It was like a badge of honor when you grow calluses in learning and playing the guitar. I suggest not to try to peel the calluses of. It's better to use a nail file to smoothen rough callus edges.

Haha a true badge of honour! Yes funnily enough I did actually use a nile file to smoothen them down... I think around day 40... much better after that!

 

[ShawnE]

10 weeks in... not too much change as I've mainly been going over the same things for the past 2/3 weeks... hopefully just some small improvements with bits & pieces.

The polishing of chord changes, technique, strumming, picking, rhythm etc. continues.. onwards & upwards with the G chord next.

Thanks for watching!

 

[ShawnE]

Overcoming that god-forsaken guitar quitting phase.

 

[bridget_murphy837]

Overcoming that god-forsaken guitar quitting phase.

I need to watch this hahahaha.

 

[ShawnE]

After 72 hours I reckon it's fair to say I now know the cowboy chords... even if changing between them still requires a lot of work.

 

[ShawnE]

Month three - now entering a consolidation phase until I feel comfortable enough to move onto... you know... that F thing & the second grade of the course I'm following.

 

[ShawnE]

Took a step backwards this week in hopes of eventually taking several steps forwards by mainly focusing on songs that work the two chords I find most difficult - C & D.. well, save for Dm.. but I'll tackle more of that another time. I think another couple of weeks consolidating this type of stuff & then I'll feel more ready to move onto the next chunk of learning.

I'll next be reflecting on my first 100 hours & then after that it'll be December so... I'd may as well start practicing with a few Christmas bangers.

 

[ShawnE]

100 hours officially completed... couldn't help but put together a little compilation. Still rubbish but on we march!

 

[ShawnE]

I couldn't help but get a little festive. Been practicing stuff that should well & truly annoy my family when performed in mum's living room in a couple weeks time.

 

[prairiepicking]

This is really awesome, you've got a new subscriber for sure!

 

[ShawnE]

This is really awesome, you've got a new subscriber for sure!

Ahh thanks so much that's very kind of you... really appreciate that!

 

[ShawnE]

Short snappy update as I come to the end of a consolidation phase... bigger & newer things to come in the next week or so.

 

[ShawnE]

This is just a video of my general review on the online course I'm following now I've completed grade one... might be a useful little watch for anyone considering learning guitar or looking for opinions of an online course who may stumble across this thread (now or in the future).