[twilight]

I have an interesting problem trying to learn to play the guitar, that you may not have heard of before. It is almost like a mental block or some kind of dyslexia. I'm able to understand what I read- I know where the chords are and what to do to get to them, but there is a block between my "knowing" and my hand. Or maybe between one part of my brain and another part.

When I try to play I will sometimes forget what chord I am supposed to go to. My fingers will also stumble across the strings. I can't do more than one strumming pattern, and it is really heavy. I've practiced for hours and hours and have no improvement. But I know that I have some potential because when I lived close to my father we used to go over there once in a while and play music together. Everybody there seemed good at it except me. And I would struggle to follow along with whoever was playing guitar and after about half an hour something would almost free up in my mind and I could play different strumming patterns, either lightly or heavily, I could get to the chords with some dexterity. This ability would stay with me for a couple days afterwards. Then it was gone again. Reguardless of how long I practiced on my own.

I would retain a little of it, making some progress, but so little that it is frustrating.

It seems like either following along or racing to keep up does something for my learning. So I'm wondering has anyone seen this problem before? Does anyone have any advice? Or best yet, does anyone make casset tapes with just chords (no strings) and call out the chord changes or some such as they play, so that I could try to play along at home? I need some learning tool that is suited to my mental block.

[Lcjones]

Hey Twilight.

Welcome to GFB.

When I try to play I will sometimes forget what chord I am supposed to go to.

Join the biggest guitar player club there is! DIFTCC ...Darn, I Forgot That Chord Club

You don't mention how long you've been playing. But if it's been a short while, don't worry, just keep practicing. Some tunes have more difficult chord changes than others. And it takes time to get the muscles to memorize where to go. Once you become intimate with a melody it will be an automatic thing to transition between chords.

Following along with songs is a great way to learn transitions. That's pretty much how I started many years ago. Just playing along .....

The key is don't think of it as a problem, think of it as a step to the next level of playing. Just a step you have to take.

Anyway, good luck.

Les

PS ... I just posted a simple tune to play along with in the Hear Your Recordings section. Good strumming practice

[Tekker]

Yep, I'm a member of that club as well, though not by choice.

I would say in general just try not to take on so many things at once that you don't retain anything. Try to focus on specific areas and repeat them over and over and over and over. Especially with chord changes. Your brain may know what chord your supposed to go to but the key is to get it into your fingers to where you don't really have to think about it so much.

I don't know how long you've been paying, but I'm assuming that because you said you can only do one strumming pattern that you're fairly new-ish to the guitar. If that's the case, then mainly work on things like the basic open position chords and barre chords. Set aside a certain amount of time to work on each chord individually or pick a small group of 3 or 4 chords and work on only these chords. Maybe learn a song that only uses these 3 or 4 chords and work on it for a good length of time. Once you feel really comfortable with these few chords, then move onto another group of chords. Then of course, also set aside some time to work on the ones you have already learned otherwise you'll forget those while you're learning the new ones.

When you can play chords individually without having to stop and think about where to put your fingers then you'll be more likely to be able to use them easily in a chord progression.

Take the same approach to learning new strumming patterns. Learn maybe one or two new strumming patterns and work on them over and over. Work at it in small chunks and I think you'll find that more of it will stick with you.

-tkr

[tg]

OK,
I can practice one off Kirks fingerstyle lessons and learn to play It not to bad, I can play It a dozen times but If no dots in front of me iv`e had it, cant remember a thing. Must be my age as never used to have the problem.... Good Luck..