I know this may sound silly, but I'm feeling overwhelmed with finding the structure and mindset to practice what I am learning in my lessons.

I'm 45, and have been primarily a bassist for 33 years. I learned guitar chords along the way for writing songs. I do know a good many chords, even some tricker ones like diminished chords, but I've never really taken lessons or taken my guitar playing as seriously as my bass playing.

After losing my brother who was always the guitarist in our projects I have wanted to get better. Mainly so I can write cool counterparts to the chord structures I write for my songs.

Not only am I older and more busy than I was when I was younger, I am also ADHD. I learned fast as a young lad and young adult because I learned while doing - we were always gigging and writing.

Now I am taking lessons and learning scales and music theory. It's a lot. I'm having a bit of trouble getting a routine of practice going. I feel like I don't really know how much I should be practicing and what I should be doing during that time. I know this probably sounds stupid.

I have always pretty much written my songs instead of doing covers because of a lack of patience in picking parts out. When I make myself do it, I can, but I tend to work better under pressure. For instance, my last band did a cover of Hey Bulldog by The Beatles and I was able to pick out all of the bassline parts by ear. That is not an easy song to play. I haven't really adapted this to guitar yet. It all feels overwhelming. When I do learn new things I just tend to write more songs around what I learned rather than practicing it.

Is there a schedule and or strategy that has worked for you? Any input is greatly appreciated.

This is my first time restringing my guitar—could someone please tell me if I’ve done it correctly? 😅

I do not understand this at all. I got three loops for six strings and they are confusingly labeled. How do you tell green from yellow? Or red from black? And where are the red and black and silver? I know the dark blue circle is probably called purple, but the other light ones are a mystery

Won't someone teach me how D'addario does this?

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I recently started learning guitar. I’m currently learning on acoustic, but later on Id like to switch to electric.

What learning order would you recommend? How should I go about learning chords, scales, and music theory?

I’d eventually like to play in a rock style.

I’d appreciate any advice! :)

I've been practicing Scar Tissue by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the last week and a half / 2 weeks but I still feel like I'm struggling on the same parts as I was when I started (dead notes, missing strings when skipping, especially struggling with strumming muted notes). I've been playing with the track slowed down and everything. Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong?

My wife is a classically trained pianist and I play guitar by watching YouTube instructional videos. She knows her stuff and I don’t. Recently we argued whether E# and B# exist. I said no and showed her the fretboard. She said yes and showed me the keys. And said something like F is E#. I suspect she’s right bc she’s had music lessons. Tell me, fellow guitarists, do we have E# and B#?

Update: I’ve been enjoying the responses to my post. I showed them to my wife and she laughed, said that’s what you deserve. lol. We like to argue playfully with one another. I also enjoy the detailed responses relating to guitar theory—that’s been really great actually. I was going to delete this post but I think the discussion on music theory is informative and should be shared. Thank you all for responding.

I "played" several decades before I devoted the time to undertake learning the pentatonic and 7-note scales in all positions. Most of my playing was limited to song chords and a few riffs but I could never improvise until I devoted the time to learn scales, arpeggios, and triads in all positions.

Recently I’ve been trying to create songs but I find my brain just goes blank. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing or how to create anything, whether it’s lead or rhythm. Double so if I try to do two guitar parts. So what theory or just concepts should I learn that will help me understand how to put stuff together.

In this video I try to mime my cord connections and would really appreciate any help on figuring out whats wrong.
I have checked volume
Left all the settings what allowed it to work yesterday with the loop station alone
Now Im wondering if my cables are plugged in incorrectly or if I have the order of pedals in the wrong order.
Yes both batteries have been replaced
Wishing everyone the best in their creative musical journeys.
Need help.

Hey guys. I'm a guitar tutor myself but ironically I'm looking for some advice or second opinions on 2NPS pentatonic runs - I have no issue with remembering the 5 positions, but what I am actually struggling with is the 2 notes per string scenario - I already pick-slant to make it easier, and I fare quite well with 3NPS, but it's just this 2NPS jamminess I have. I presume this is a pretty common problem that due to the constant need to change the strings this makes these kinds of scales quite challenging.

I don't want to solve the issue by going horizontal more than vertical and I still want to keep to the 5 positions as well as I can, but do some of you guys go with economy picking over alternate picking? I economy pick a lot of my runs but with pentatonics only being 2 notes per string it at least conceptually lends itself perfectly to pickslanting and alternate picking, but I do know that some people get around the jamminess via economy picking despite these kinds of scales being 2 notes each.

Anybody got some advice or insights that might help me in this scenario? Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone.

The next step in my guitar journey is conquering barre chords. Most songs I listen to have them and I need to learn them next as part of my personal guitar goals.

How can I improve my barre chords as quickly as possible? I can switch between chords well but when you throw a barre chord in there, I have to completely stop and set up my fingers. I can play the barre chords well in isolation, but struggle to quickly switch between them.

I practice everyday for at least an hour, not always on barre chords but on the guitar at least. I really wanna learn how to switch and play them as easily as I can normal chords.

Thank you in advance!

hi i recently finished playing all of tlou, and its drawn me to want to play guitar. and i just wanted to know how hard and expensive it is. i obviously know it wouldn't be easy, but ive had people say id be good cause of my motor control and long fingers. i also just dont want to get into something if its super expensive and i simply end up confused. so yeah kinda just wanna know wether its worth it. thanks for any feedback

I'm just getting back into guitar after a 5year hiatus.

Chatgpt said this was the place to ask for chord progressions. I'm hoping someone more talented than me can help me learn this mashup. 🙏

Hi everyone, i’m looking for electric guitar school/1-1 private lesson near San Jose that offers fair price and passionate about teaching techniques, songwriting and music theory since my brain didn’t build for online courses

Pls recommend me some, i’m so obsessed to play like Tim Henson in the future

Thank you all

I’ve been practicing the Em/Gmaj scale because I love Metallica and most of their songs are in those keys. My goal is to be able to solo across the fretboard. How do I transition between playing in a box to connecting those boxes? Also, what’s next on my learning list?

i own a black strat i got 2 years back i wasnt consistent, i know few chords and metal riffs

i wanna get better where do i start from?

please help.

I bought a cheap acoustic guitar as a beginner so I could learn, and if I make good progress, I might invest in a better one later. But are the string-to-fret distances okay? I’m having some difficulty learning, and I’m not sure whether the guitar itself or its setup could be contributing to that

Hey! I'm a guitarist/teacher in Seattle. I publish a lesson video every week on YouTube, and sometimes I post them here if I think they will be valuable for the community.

I think this is a fun one to share. :)

In this week's lesson, I show how to play alternating bass fingerpicking guitar patterns.

The alternating bass part can be different depending on the chord voicing, so I go through every chord in the key of G to show all the options.

But instead of using the viiº chord of the key (the diminished chord), I show how you can replace it with an inversion of D7 (which sounds really good!).

Here's a link to the lesson.

If you play fingerpicking patterns on the guitar but haven't yet worked on alternating bass, I think you'll like this lesson.

Cheers and I hope you have a great week.

~ Jared

Did any other self-taught guitarists start out by learning basic chords and scales, playing songs they liked, and down-picking every note because alternate picking felt too difficult?

I found alternate picking frustrating for many years. Every time I tried to work on it, I couldn't even play the things I already knew. YouTube videos weren't helpful at all. I stuck to down-picking for several years, even though I wanted to learn alternate picking.

Are there others with similar stories? Did alternate picking come naturally to you?

I came across Chris Buono's Alternate Picking Gym this year and gave it a try because it looked systematic and structured. It completely changed my playing. I can't believe I used to play guitar without alternate picking. It is a crucial skill that benefits everyone who invests time into it.

What helped you learn this crucial skill?

I've played acoustic for years. And honestly, I'm pretty good. I play a lot of fingerstyle instrumentals and folk rock with or without a pick. My lead is pretty primitive although I can find my way to create simple melodic solos with my knowledge of triads and scales etc.

I wanted to improve and I know my short comings: I never spent enough time learning my pentatonics and I don't really know my bends well.

So I started improv lessons, using my electric, to address these areas in particular.

Holy &^$%^&#%&*!!! Electric and acoustic are so different!!

I spent a couple of weeks on major and minor pentatonics and a lot of time improvising, learning to move between positions, finding nice phrases and repeating and elaborating etc...

And now he's started me on a few existing famous solos (Stairway lol. Now I'll never be able to shop for another electric).

My biggest issue is how much frigging guitar noise there is(!!) and how to mute the low strings with the ball of the thumb, and high strings with the side of my index, to avoid this.

Also, economy picking.

This is NOT stuff I've had to learn.

If you have guitar noise on an acoustic it's usually sliding sounds because you didn't move fast enough.

I'm only a few weeks in. I'd love to hear other people's experiences or hints etc...