re: Official: Guitar beginners question and answer thread.

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Just seeing if anyone else had this problem, I notice my buddies seem to pick it up much easier than I do

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it takes time and practice. I always learn by ear first and follow-up with watching a video or tabs if needed to confirm. After a while, you'll realize that every style of music only has so many chord progressions and you'll just recognize them.

After 20+ years of playing guitar, I can generally tell you a chord progression (for example, 1, 4, 6m, 5) just from listening to a song, not even knowing what key it is in.

Time and practice. There's no shortcuts for this.

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For me, learning to sing a song, always helped me learn to play it on guitar.

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If it is a song I like, invariably I find I cannot sing in that register or key. (Or, in fact any register or key.)

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If it is a song I like, invariably I find I cannot sing in that register or key. (Or, in fact any register or key.)

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learn them numbers and you can change it to whatever key you want.

Before I learned to use the numbers, I learned to transpose songs by drawing 2 guitar strings beside each other and draw 12 bars across the lines for frets.
If the song that I wanted to transpose was in G, I would start writing in the notes at the fret bars starting at G-G#-A-A#, etc... If I wanted to transpose to D, I would start writing all the notes on the other string starting at D-D#-E-F-F#..then I would draw lines for the progression and figure it out that way.

I had figured that much out on my own, then one day, I was looking at a new magazine for learning guitar songs, and there was an ad for what they called A Nashville Numbers Wheel! AMAZING TOOL FOR LEARNING SONGS, only 5 bucks, but as soon as I saw the ad, I already knew how it worked and made my own, out of cardboard. I used different sized cans out of my Mom's kitchen cabinet to draw my circles to make my wheels, she couldn't understand what the hell I was doing

I kept trying to figure out what 1-4-5 meant, then it clicked

You can also replace chords on simple progressions too.
Example: chord progression is G-E minor-C, maybe every 3rd time through, play G-B minor-C, or G-B minor-A minor.
The more you learn, the more you can try, and the more you try, the more you will learn.

Not sure if already talked about. But, all beginners should learn every major chord fingering. Aka, how to play each major chord and how you can then use that same fingering up and down the fretboard to play different chords.

I learned with E. You play it in the normal position, it is an E. Slide it up 5 frets and it's an A. Slide it up 2 more and it's a B.

Start with one shape and play around all over the fretboard and notate the chords as you change. Then move on to another chord shape and do the same.

Last example, same shape as E, every finger down a string and it is an Aminor. Slide down 2 frets, Bm. Slide down 2 more C#m, one more Dm, 2 more Em, etc.

Very good exercise to learn the fretboard. And if you apply the numbers we just talked about, it helps relate it to actual chord progressions.

It seems I have my good days and I have my bad days. Some days I practice and it all clicks and I'm feeling good about it, then the next day I practice the same exact thing and it sounds terrible. I guess that's how it goes. Two steps forward, one step back. At least I'm headed in the right direction.

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My initial goal with learning guitar was to learn songs for my toddler. He is obsessed with the sounds the guitar makes. Last night I learned a simple little version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is his favorite song. I played it for him this morning and it.blew.his.fricking.mind. I wish I got a video of it for y'all to see. He was so happy. It was the motivation I needed to keep going. I don't think he'll allow me to put the guitar down again.

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Fantastic!