This is a great answer.
replyThe whiz kids might not even think to mention it, but they wanted it enough to drill scales & chords every day. You can make big investments into physical dexterity long before you understand what's going on, and it will pay off if you stay with it.
As a guitar player of 15 years myself, when I was learning to play, I never thought of the exercises as boring or tedious because I learned in order to play a specific song. Getting good at that song made me motivated enough to continue learning the fundamentals.
replyFor me, I plateaued. I didn’t think I had, because I was learning new material, but I wasn’t getting better. And I had kids and other priorities and so enjoying myself was enough. I then finally found a promising musical situation, admitted my stagnation and got a teacher (after decades without). My primary goal is to be a better musician, with instrumental skill a secondary concern. The grind I am talking about is mostly about this new learning phase for me.
replyHere’s an example of something that was unattainable for me before a whole lot of hard work. https://www.scribd.com/document/456430254/Groove-Merchant-Pn...
replyI’ve been playing guitar for 25 years but am still at the wonderwall level, it’s still really fun though. Heh.
replyNothing wrong with that at all! That’s why guitar is such a great folk instrument. Get those cowboy chords going and you can play a ton of stuff. Might not sound exactly the record, but who cares.
replylearning to play wonderwall gave me a lot of joy, and i actually didn't really find it to be trivial for a total beginner either. maybe i'm just bad but it took me like six weeks of practice to play the song smoothly.
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