Originally Posted by: Keith Altazin

I'm not one to post my personal struggles with the guitar, in fact I rarely post anything other than giving folks a warm greeting. But I have hit a wall recently and my frustration is at an all time high. In fact, I'm so frustrated I'm considering throwing in the towel. When I began this adventure last April I had not picked up a guitar since I was 12, I'm now 63. I expected learning a new skill at my age to be a challenge but for the most part I worked hard to gain some competence on the guitar. I looked forward to practicing and the only time I didn't practice was when I was out of town or away from home. I struggled but I made progress. I began learning songs about seven months ago based on the misguided notion that I had to be able to make perfect chord transisitons and be able to seamlessly play the song. Yet I made some progress that is until recently. About a month ago I noticed that playing was no longer fun even when I was practicing songs and riffs. Things that I had mastered suddenly became struggles; it was like I had not learned a thing, which of course added to my growing frustration. I convinced myself that more practice was the medicine and so my practice sessions went from an hour to almost three hours, some times longer. I even bought a new electric guitar to motivate me to continue on the journey. That apparently was not the correct remedy. Things have spiraled downward. I am now struggling with basic skills that I felt I had a good grip on. Anyway, I am not one to quit a project once I get invested but I'm now just going through the motions.

Have any of you experienced this?

Hi Keith,

I`m 61 years old and have been doing the GF1 and 2 courses here at GT over the past 3 months. I think we`ve all encountered some form of what you`re experiencing at one time or another; whether it`s learning guitar or some other activity. We`ve all "hit the wall". I find it helpful to just take a step back and, first, maybe take a breather. Then, get back to the basics and work on those until you have them down cold. You didn`t mention in your original post if you were taking a structured course of some kind. It can get overwhelming if you`re just jumping around all over the internet. I would highly recommend GF1 and 2 here if you`re not already doing so. Success begets success and going through the lessons in a systematic manner allows you to enjoy accomplishments along the way, which will boost your confidence. I also find that the more pressure one puts on themselves to learn, the harder it is to learn. Just relax, take your time and let it happen and it WILL happen.

Hope this helps in some way. Hang in there; keep at it.