Question for experienced guitar players.?

Question:Question: Can "anyone" learn to play guitar well, or do I need to be born with a talent for guitar as well?

-I've been learning to play guitar for about a year-&-a-half (10 months with an instructor).
-I can play open chords but I'm slow & sloppy when changing.
-I get confused when playing with a metronome or with another guitar player.
-I know some barre chord shapes (E, A, Am, C, 7, 9), but I'm sloppy and frequently mute strings.
-I can play 14 songs (badly) & 12-bar blues (fair).
-I can bend (fair), slide (fair), hammer-on (poor), pull-off (poor), vibrato (fair).
-I practice 30min to 1 hour 6 to 7 days per week (all the time I can afford).
-My goal is to play well enough to jam with others and to entertain myself, my family, and my friends.

I'm definitely making progress, but feel I should be better than I am. Is this where I should be at this stage of my playing or am I "behind the power curve"? Thanx in advance!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Question: Can "anyone" learn to play guitar well, or do I need to be born with a talent for guitar as well?

-I've been learning to play guitar for about a year-&-a-half (10 months with an instructor).
-I can play open chords but I'm slow & sloppy when changing.
-I get confused when playing with a metronome or with another guitar player.
-I know some barre chord shapes (E, A, Am, C, 7, 9), but I'm sloppy and frequently mute strings.
-I can play 14 songs (badly) & 12-bar blues (fair).
-I can bend (fair), slide (fair), hammer-on (poor), pull-off (poor), vibrato (fair).
-I practice 30min to 1 hour 6 to 7 days per week (all the time I can afford).
-My goal is to play well enough to jam with others and to entertain myself, my family, and my friends.

I'm definitely making progress, but feel I should be better than I am. Is this where I should be at this stage of my playing or am I "behind the power curve"? Thanx in advance!

Some good advice on here...

1) Make sure to have some fun inbetween your practice. No fun means no motivation means no advancement.

2) Don't be disappointed if you plateau at some point. That's okay, it's normal, just keep plugging at it. When you are ready to advance, you will.

3) Focus on one thing at a time... it seems like you've got so much going on (barres and songs and techniques and 12-bar blues etc) that maybe you're just getting a little scattered. Get good with your slides, for instance, then work on your bends. Do one song well, then move on to the next song. "Getting" one technique will help motivate you and give you the confidence to tackle the next one, and will help you feel like you are progressing, which it sounds like you are!

4) Play with a metronome. A lot of people here are saying not to use one... if you can't handle it right now, that's cool, but come back to it as soon as you can. It is soooo important to develope a strong sense of rhythm, and a metronome is the ultimate judge of perfect rhythm. You don't want to sound sloppy right? I totally second the advice about learning your chord changes slowly... set the BPM pretty slow and change every four... then every three... etc. Build your skills slowly, don't hurry yourself.

5) Take your sweet time making sure you've got your barre chord or open chord finger down. Building a strong foundation now means playing better later... and not having to unlearn bad habits in the future! It's okay to go at a nice, slow, steady pace!

6) Give yourself some freaking credit already!

In a year and a half you've gone from not being able to play to being able to do all these things.... obviously you are doing something right! If you can jam even halfway decenty on a 12-bar, you've already done something that many beginners can't... did you ever think about it that way? Honestly, I've been playing for over a decade, and I can barely hack my way through a 12-bar... one of the downfalls of being self-taught!

Tell you what... take a few of your favorite songs to your teacher. Ask if your teacher to pick one that shouldn't be too hard for you to learn, pretty quickly. Then focus on that song - learning it well will give you the confidence to not worry about if you're doing worse or better than other people.

The point isn't other people - the point is that you're learning, that you're making progress, and that you're finding out that you have the ability to make some great music. Don't lose sight of that!

Good luck!

(and honestly, I know I should be better than where I am. we all feel it every now and then, especially when we see some kid half our age shredding on youtube. there will always be someone who can do something better, but there will only ever be one YOU. do it for you, and not for them! you're doing it the right way by having a teacher, you're further along now than I was, that's for certain.... and you can have the confidence that you won't have to unlearn a bunch of stuff like me later on...)

Saul

Everyone progresses differently in the art of guitar playing. The first hurdle you've overcome, besides building the calluses, is to recognize your weak points.

Simply continue a strong focus on each weak point. Lose the metronome--it creates too much tension for you. Play with other guitarists for the real sense of rhythm.

Practice chord changing after four beats, then three beats, two beats, and finally, one beat. Take your time with this technique because it works.

Best of luck through strong focus and concentration. Don't worry about how well others play; you'll get there eventually.

I've been playing and teaching classical and acoustic for over thirty five years......your not being fair to yourself....10 months with a teacher is not a long time.....I just started a new student two weeks ago and already he's upset that he's not progressing fast enough !!!!!!!!! Guitar is not easy to play....it takes at least six months just to condition your fingers and muscels in your hands and fingers......Don't be so hard on yourself.....it takes time and patience....do you think that Slash or Van Halen learned to play like they do in a year......I don't think so.....I bet it took at least three years before they were content with their sound.....and even then I bet they were not doing everything that they wanted to !!!!!!!! One thing that I notice with all students is that they want to play great after a year.....well that just isn't going to happen unless you have perfect pitch or are a musical genius.....so take your time and just keep practicing the way that you are.....It's not unusual for a student to be confused when playing with a metronome (I don't use one with my students) or another guitarist.....you don't have enough experience.....slow down and stop worrying....you didn't learn to read in a year did you ?????
If you don't like the way your progressing then slow down and stay where you are, keep going over what you already know....and stop trying to learn new things until you've perfected the stuff that now know......by the way I don't even think about barre chords with first year students, I think your pushing yourself too hard.....and expecting to much, lets see what you can do in three years !!!!!!!!! Good luck to you !!!!

Anyone can learn, but some have a better "ear" for what sounds right. Jamming with others requires a bit of timing, which the metronome should help with. The easiest way to jam with another player is to set up a simple rythym, and swap leads back and forth. Learn the basic lead scales, learn to time them with the metronome, at single and double speed. Learn the notes that can be played in the key you select, and to be on key with the changes, and on time. The tricks and techniques for lead will come, but an off key, off time player won't get many to jam with.

Yeah man, you're doing great! don't compare yourself to the radio or nothing, they splice together hundreds of the 'good takes' to get rid of the flaws. most bands sound very different in person.

Have you considered your guitar? A different one can make all the difference, if you haven't tried it. expensive ones may or may not do the trick. look for one with low "action", the distance you need to press a string to touch it to the fret.

A parker flye guitar is the best I ever held, but I can't afford one. ~$2500.00 make sure you try one.

Do you have about 15 different songbooks of guitar TAB? Get some.

Abandon the metronome, you don't need one when you play or practice.

No two guitar players learn the same way, it's going to be really hard to play with anyone you haven't spent a LOT of time learning the SAME SONGS with. You'd only do this if you were planning to perform with them anyway, right?

Don't worry so much about the sloppy strings, it is fine to hit some wrong ones or miss some sometimes.

Do you have a small set of say, 3-8 songs you can learn and play from memory? You can practice up on those songs, and get really good at them, and don't worry that you can't play the others in the songbook. You won't be performing those.

Choose the simple chord songs first., "Louie, Louie" is fun, and only 3 chords. Bands made millions and got famous with 3 Chords and the TRUTH!

So choose the songs that have a few chords you know cold, or close to it.

If you break down how much time you've actually spent practicing,roughly 540 hours.which is only about 13 regular work weeks.I'd say you are doing pretty damn good,to even have addressed half of the techniques you have described.
Here is something I have found helpful when I have a limiting schedule to devote to practice.
Try breaking your practice sessions up into focusing on 1 technique for 15 minutes,like working out with weights.then once a week have "freetime" on your guitar where you play just to have fun.Also it would be helpful if you could work a little more time into your regime,such as 10-15 minutes of practicing vibrato while you watch t.v. or before or after you shower,and believe it or not you can also work on songs in your head,like studying for a spelling test,memorize a riff and play it over in your head on your way to work,it will help you to maximize the time you have available while you have the guitar in your hands.peace and don't give up.