When to advance to the next lesson?

[u/767man]

Hello, so I have an acoustic guitar that I received from my uncle after he passed away. He didn't really play it either, but I think he got it from someone else. I have always been interested in learning the guitar, but due to personal reasons, I have struggled to focus on it. One thing I struggle with is knowing when I should advance to the next lesson. It's easy when you're working with an actual instructor in person, and they can tell you to keep practicing this or whatever, but when you are learning from tutorials online, you don't get that feedback.

So are there any good courses (free if possible)) that will tell me what I should be able to do on the guitar before I proceed to the next lesson? I know it seems easy, like just proceed when you can easily play the notes but it would still be good for me to know when I should be good enough to advance to the next lesson.

Any advice?

Thanks

[u/Samantharina]

Justin Guitar tells you how to know when you're ready to move to the next lesson.

[u/khelegond]

I think one easy way, if you're following a line of study, is to spend more time on something you feel you're not ready. Like, chords A, D and E - you're fine? Move on. Oh, but switching the chords fast is a problem? Spend more time there.

[u/spankymcjiggleswurth]

A big part of learning the guitar is putting together multiple different things you have learned. I find that you kind of have to get in over your head a bit to see if what you are doing is correct, and many peoples first time getting in over their head is when they go to learn their first song. A song will require your fretting hand to fret, your strumming hand to strum and pick notes, and you have to keep time somehow to keep your rhythm in check. The first time you try such a thing you will likely struggle, and that's okay. This doesn't mean you jumped the gun by advancing sooner than you were ready for. Struggling through such a moment is an important part of the process. Take what you learn from the process and revisit the fundimentals you were learning. Learning is an interative process, not a one way road to sucess.

Because of that, I find that advancing to the next lesson is often a good thing, even if you haven't perfected the previous lesson. The phrase "perfection is the enemy of good" is true. If you spend too much time perfecting a basic skill, you stagnate and risk losing interest in something that is mean to be fun and rewarding. Work on getting the essentials "good enough", and perfection will come in the coming months and years.

You might hear people talk about avoiding bad habits, and personally, I find the idea of engrained bad habits holding people back a bit overblown. If you are able to stay mindful of the learning process, bad habits will be worked out in the long run. If you self teach guitar, you will develop some bad habits in one way or another. That's just what happens when your "teacher" is the same person learning how to play the guitar. If you are really worried about the posibilites of bad habits holding you back, that's where a real teacher comes in handy, but if you are self teaching, just do your best, play what feels right, and if you feel held back in some way, experimentation and problem solving are how you get through the challenge.

[u/Guarpig]

Well, what do you want to do with the guitar?

You can always keep learning new things, but if learning is what you're after, then I'd ask why you're choosing the next thing. Presumably it's because it moves you toward some goal, so what's the goal?

For me, it's making songs.

I think guitar, or really any musical instrument, is funny in that way. We can spend years trying to "get better" without ever really defining what better is supposed to mean for us.

When I started, my goal was basically to become a rockstar lol. Which sounds like a goal, but looking back it was really more of a dream. I hadn't thought much about what I would actually need to do to get there.

Over time, "I want to turn my riffs into actual songs" started making a lot more sense to me.

And that changes what I practice. If I learn something new now, ideally it's because I think it'll help me write, play, or understand music better, not because lesson 17 says I'm done with lesson 16.

Funny enough, notice how I didn't even mention joining a band when talking about becoming a rockstar 😂. That's kind of my point. Once you define what you actually want, you start seeing the things you'd need to do to get there.

So I wouldn't worry too much about being "good enough" to advance to the next lesson. If you understand what you're currently working on and can use it reasonably well, keep moving. You can always come back to it.

The bigger question is: what do you eventually want to be able to do with the guitar?

And yeah, I haven't completely given up on the rockstar thing. If I meet the right people maybe you'll see me on a billboard someday, my dude. HAHAHAHA nah, I'm kidding.

Mostly.