New/Need Encouragement!

Keep at it Donna !!  Just little bits at a time.  Many of us have "put it aside" for extended periods..... for me almost 20 years !   While running my business, raising kids, and such, until they all seemed to go on autpilot and the time seemed right to start over again.  Not as tough as the first time around (mostly because I didn't have to learn all those nasty chord shapes again), but lots of practice and yeah in little steps done often.  The most helpful single thing was setting a guitar stand right next to my desk so it would be at hand for those long intervals of phone time when I was put on "ignore" and I would play along with the Muzak.

Try to fit in about an hour daily, in 5 - 10 minute stretches, and don't fret it if you don't get it done everyday.  Calluses, muscle memory, and stamina will all come back with time and persistence.  Choose some easy tunes that you remember well, and play them until you get bored and then go find a couple of more difficult songs and add them to your list.  Cycle through the entire list and before you know it you'll have them all memorized and be ready for anything. 

Hi Donna, and welcome to the forum.

I believe that playing a song is better than just learning chord after chord so all my students go home after their first lesson with a song to learn. OK it might only be a two chord song but it is far more interesting than repetitively playing just chords with no structure. Then you can build on that, a three chord song next and so on. I have sent you a private e-mail with a couple of two chord songs that I hope will help. Practice a little and often, several short sessions a day are more productive than one long one but most important off all, have fun.

As an aside, I recently started teaching a retired rocket scientist, probably the most educated and intelligent person I know and, after his first hour's lesson, he turned to me, with sweat on his brow and said "That has been the hardest hour of my life. It has also been the most rewarding". That made my day. It is not always easy but with regular practice it gets easier.

Roger

Hi Donna!

And welcome to the family!  I agree with all of my friends who posted above, and as for encouragement, you've sure come to the right place - feel free to ask questions because  it's difficult to come to this site and not learn something . I do it all the time!

I am a former drummer who grew tired of being my own "roadie" so I bought myself an accoustic/electric Takamine Jasmine, sat down, strummerd the few chords that I knew - mostly E, G, D and D7 - and then put it in its stand where it became a "clothes rack". (This was inbetween marriages). So don't feel bad about your time away and remember to take the baby steps first.

Again, a warm welcome and lets hear more from you about your progress!

Bill

Welcome to Chordie, Donna!

There are lot of us here who played in the past, had years away from it, and then came back to our guitars. In my case, the return was about 7 years ago after a 20+ year sabbatical. I've found that simply staying in conversation with other guitarists (Chordie is the best place I know of) is a huge motivator. And I'll finally echo what EasyBeat said: keep the fun in what you do as top priority ... this isn't a "who's the best" competition.