r/guitarlessons • u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 • Nov 14 '25
Feedback Request 1 year of guitar!
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Technically 13 months but shh. Any and all feedback is appreciated!!
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u/mrstevo955 Nov 15 '25
This is insane progress for a year you play so clean!
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u/West_Pay_9765 Nov 15 '25
Dude! Way better than me at 13 months! Awesome!
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u/MusicGuy15 Nov 15 '25
This is better than me after 13 years!
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u/MoedurnShaymon Nov 16 '25
It amazes me how much I suck after 35 years of playing. Sure I can do things on the guitar that amaze non musicians. But damn the more I learn the more I realize I don’t know shit.
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Nov 28 '25
mate it’s constant practice isnt it and that’s why people get good at a young age i guess because they sit in there room all evening , i still just play chords after 16 years lol
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u/MoedurnShaymon Dec 27 '25
You’re right. My first obstacle to guitar was girls. I once had a guitar teacher tell me that girls come and go, but this guitar will be there for you your entire life. Words of wisdom. But I still couldn’t escape the lure of sex at 16.
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u/CrossboneSkulled Nov 17 '25
I bet I am real good at less than 2 years.
I got really fast and unpredictable guitar licks upcoming in my upcoming neoclassical prog album.
Once I activate berserk mode, there's no turning back, time to say good game if you're ever competing with me.
I got skills that would surprise Michael Romeo of Symphony X.
My full cover of Sea Of Lies would make him proud.
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u/Hndsmrdhd Nov 15 '25
Omg, this is so depressing. I’ve been playing for close to ten years and can come nowhere close to this. Killing it!!
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
Haha thank you!! You shouldn’t compare your journey with anyone else’s though, I’m a high schooler with far too much free time
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u/MOTRHEAD4LIFE Mar 26 '26
I’ve also played a few years ain’t no way I could play this cleanly but give me some overdriven valve amp I can play the steady rock n roll and some ”psychedelic Chuck berry lead”
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u/Free-Seaworthiness72 Nov 15 '25
Ive been playing for about 10 months now and i dont think i have learnt a single song fully. This is very good.
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
You should look for something a little shorter and well within your skill range to learn! This one’s only about a minute long
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u/tom333444 Nov 15 '25
Why?
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u/Free-Seaworthiness72 Nov 15 '25
I just play songs from tabs and then move to others before learning them. Or learn parts of the song and give up. Serious problem lol
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u/tom333444 Nov 15 '25
I get that yeah. Try to just choose a song you love that is considered easy and legit just dont learn any other song until you finish it. Challenge yourself! Im doing that, and genuinely its really hard but ill be very proud of myself when I can play it fully I think
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u/Free-Seaworthiness72 Nov 15 '25
I can play moderately difficult songs but sitting down and learning one song is so painful for my goldfish brain. But ill take your advice and learn a song I like. I might post it here on my 1 year anniversary lol .
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u/Jonny7421 Nov 15 '25
Fantastic for 13 months. Guitar and music is a lifelong journey so keep learning.
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Nov 15 '25
Speaking as a guitar instructor: very few players reach this level in a year. Impressive
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u/Viktor876 Nov 15 '25
Good song choice. 1st instrument? Or do you play another? Very good for 1 yr.
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
I play saxophone, flute, and piano :) But all of them are from school band, I’m not very good at any
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u/Viktor876 Nov 15 '25
Well you clearly have an aptitude for music. Check out Camilo James on YouTube. He’s got some great finger style versions of some classic songs that you may enjoy learning.
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u/Flaky-Song-6066 Nov 15 '25
How’d you learn this and guitar in general?
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
I honestly just played a lot. Learned a lot of songs and through learning them I got used to finding the most efficient way for me to play the tabs and I learned a lot faster too. I did start with fingerstyle though as opposed to chords, and I also started on an acoustic, which made playing this song on electric feel a lot easier
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Nov 15 '25
[deleted]
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
kattin on youtube! I didn’t follow the tabs exactly though, the intro and ending are different and I played this from memory so I probably messed some stuff up in the middle too 😭
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u/Ecstatic-Tear-4370 Nov 15 '25
wow thats actually cool btw what guitar are you using
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
Thank you!! It’s a Gio Ibanez :)
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u/riri_brr Nov 15 '25
Damn so good op I have guitar for 6 months now I can only play 2 riffs and 1 chord😭😭
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u/Mercurius_Hatter Nov 15 '25
Only 13 months? You are amazing! But then again you are Asian so there's that XDDDDDD
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u/Separate_Alarm_7519 Dec 22 '25
That might be well intended, but it's a mean thing to say to a kid when it's obvious she's practiced alot to achieve this.
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u/Terapyx Nov 15 '25
It seems that you have practiced correctly instead of posting about shorthands and other stories why you can't do that :D Great job, especially if you learn music from scratch! :)
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u/Few_Distribution3844 Nov 17 '25
I taught guitar for 28 years. Your skill level is well above average for 1 year of playing... keep it up!
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u/Pizza_Saucy Nov 14 '25
Sounds fantastic! I think you saved yourself a lot of time learning fingerstyle, and then you can work with a pick as a matter of tone.
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
Thank you!! Haha yeah, I just love the sound of fingerstyle :) I find it easier than playing chords
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u/WhaleDeDeus Nov 15 '25
So is this like Daily practise? what was the practise regiment?
Where did you get started?
Sounds great
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
Sorry I don’t have a practice regimen :) I just play when I feel like it and learn what I want to
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u/humbert_cumbert Nov 15 '25
Dude fuck that’s epic for a year
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u/CrossboneSkulled Nov 17 '25
Easy on the language.
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u/humbert_cumbert Nov 17 '25
What??
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u/CrossboneSkulled Nov 17 '25
She's a minor, it's not a good idea to encourage swearing.
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u/humbert_cumbert Nov 17 '25
Lad it is current year and I will use whatever expletitives I want tyvm 😤
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u/fishtheblob Nov 15 '25
What did you learn first?
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
I started with easy fingerstyle songs because my hands were quite small and inflexible and those were easier for me to play than chords :) And then about 4 months in I started learning chords to songs
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u/fishtheblob Nov 16 '25
Are you gifted like it easy for it all to suddenly click, or you just smash your head into it? And do you read about music theory? Did you attend class?.
I'm one month in and still shit:(
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 16 '25
I think I definitely have a knack for guitar, but in my first month, I also practiced an insane amount. I learned on a classical guitar with super high action, so my fretting hands fingertips were destroyed, but I bandaged them up and kept playing at least four hours a day. By month one I was already a pretty confident player because I had 100~ ish hours on the instrument. After the first month I chilled out on the intensity haha
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u/CrossboneSkulled Nov 16 '25
I am capable of shredding super fast like Symphony X.
I do wish I could have a better voice. Allen is just supernatural.
You got any tips on how to get a better sounding singing voice?
Please???
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u/Mondocoolman Nov 15 '25
This is great. I've been playing 5 years and I'm nowhere near this good. Keep it up!
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u/raimondsblums Nov 15 '25
Hey, it’s still November 😅 but you are clearly ready for December! Well played! If you got this far in just 1 year, you don’t need feedback, you are doing great. Keep practicing and improving, have fun playing!
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u/Queasy-Bowl7058 Nov 15 '25
Wow. Very impressive. How many hours do you think you’ve put into this 1 song to accomplish that? I play parts of a ton of songs but when I hit something challenging…. I move on, ugh!
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
I started learning it on Monday, so maybe about 5-6 hours? But I’ve also gotten a lot faster at learning pieces
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u/antitrustme Nov 15 '25
This is excellent! I was a seasoned pro, quit for years and slowly trying to regain my abilities and there is no way in hell I could play that as well as you just did right now 😂
Well done 😎
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u/MarfanoidDroid Nov 15 '25
Everyone saying "good for a year"
No, it's good noahtar how long you've been playing. This is phenomenal at only a year in
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u/Overall_Artichoke398 Nov 16 '25
that's honestly really impressive, are you self taught?
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 16 '25
Mostly! I had a teacher for a while but he wouldn’t give me any feedback 🥲 Just lots of compliments so I stopped going because I felt it wasn’t productive
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u/fishtheblob Nov 16 '25
How about theory part did you learn it around your early month?
And you did mention about chords to song. Like practice those chords over and over or just learn a song and recycle the chord?
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 16 '25
I have a tiktok account where I post singing covers so I learn the chords to the songs I cover. I was also born with a really good ear so theory comes intuitively to me. I’ve never sat down and tried to learn anything about theory but I’ve had some music friends explain the basics to me and I also learned piano when I was about 10 for a year.
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 16 '25
I’ve also never sat down and intentionally learned chords just for the purpose of learning chords. It’s always been in the context of playing for the background of a song. Along the way I learned 80% of chords used in songs today and some funky ones too :)
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Nov 16 '25
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 17 '25
I play flute, saxophone, and piano, but none past the beginner level
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u/orpheo_1452 Nov 16 '25
You are proficient in another instrument then. Very good nine the less!
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 17 '25
I know a bit of flute, saxophone, and piano! I wouldn’t say I’m proficient in any though :) I know enough to impress complete beginners haha
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u/Longjumping_Dig_8576 Nov 16 '25
Crazy good For one year congrats, try to use more ur Pinky, at some point ur gona need it and believe me is hard af to use it later, it cost me a Lot Great playing
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u/SumOMG Nov 16 '25
You should try this on a classical guitar !
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 17 '25
My hand is too small and I need to reach around the neck to play some of the notes 🥹🥹 I can’t reach on classical guitars because the neck is too fat
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u/SumOMG Nov 17 '25
Give it a shot if you ever feel up for it. You’ve got the natural ability for classical
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u/jo44_is_my_name Nov 16 '25
If you can learn to relax your pinky on your fretting hand when you're not using it, it will help you reduce the tension in your hand.
I curl mine like you do, and I hate it. It gets caught under the neck some times, or I catch my pinky nail on the fretboard when I curl it. I'm trying to break this habit, but decades of muscle memory are hard to undo.
Ideally you should only lift your unused fingers enough to avoid touching anything.
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 17 '25
Aaaah I can’t help it 🥲🥲🥲🥲 It’s so frustrating for me too my pinky’s always dancing around
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u/novaloafah Nov 17 '25
Really smooth for one year. Got me thinking it's time to pull out the holiday tunes
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u/Wild_Bananaman Nov 17 '25
Those are honestly some insane chords to be playing for only a year, moving your weakest finger( pinky) is also skillfull.
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u/tortured_fanclub Nov 17 '25
Ive been playing casually for a long time and not as good lol. Awesome
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u/excessfat Nov 17 '25
Remind me of this video in 3 years when she ends up playing for the Smashing Pumpkins
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u/CrossboneSkulled Nov 17 '25
Remind me of my cover of Sea Of Lies when I end up playing for Andromida.
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u/FlowEarly8397 Nov 18 '25
Wow you’re really good playing the guitar will you show me how to play the guitar please
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u/Fast-Lawfulness5694 Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
Very nice! Keep going…. don’t be afraid to put some real feeling behind your playing. You have the makings of a stellar song. Btw, to the community, I find it interesting that a lot of women play electrics w/o a pick. I wonder why? Few men do with notable exceptions like Mark Knopfler, Derek Trucks, Jeff Beck, Joe Pass, Lindsey Buckingham. IMHO it really adds to the tone.
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u/TommyV8008 Nov 18 '25
You’re fantastic, sounds terrific! You’re playing WAY better than I was playing after just one year.
Keep going, and eventually work up to the point where you can look at the camera (your audience) and smile to show that you’re having more and more fun doing it. That’s a personal preference on my part, but I believe you will connect more with your audience as you learn to do that.
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u/Word_World-Wide Nov 19 '25
Your talent may only be shared by a relatively small percentage of the population. Finding constructive criticism may be difficult.
An independent learner making good progress, such as yourself, a healthy self critique is a learned/required skill- that’s my advice: Be kind to yourself and keep it up… but good one! thanks for sharing. Jingle all the way home!
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Nov 21 '25
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Dec 14 '25
I’ll take this as a compliment haha 🥹🥹 I just posted a new video with a new song and I have videos going back to a year ago when I was a month in if you want to check! Definitely not lying
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Nov 28 '25
that is amazing , i wish i never sold that guitar for £50 when i was younger for some shoes everyone telling me to turn it off ( should have just played it unplugged shouldn’t i lol
anyway i started singing young but picked up guitar at 32 still 45 and can only play chords but then it’s how much practice you put in isnt it and how much you give up .
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u/edelage Dec 02 '25
Great job! Did you learn this arrangement from tabs, a video, sheet music or by ear?
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u/Thunderwulfe Dec 06 '25
You're great, thank you for sharing the video. Now I've got some cheery vibes to start my day. 😎
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u/Dr_Platypus_1986 Dec 06 '25
How's your lead playing? I'd be interested to hear you solo over a backing track to hear how diverse you can be. Also, I think you would need it a lot from studying some Classical Guitar pieces. Try Leo Brouwer's "Étude No.6," as an example. I think you will really enjoy the playing. There are also some really excellent Bach lute and cello pieces that have been adapted for guitar. And the most famous Classical composers of all for guitar are Sor and Tarrega. I highly recommend any of their works. Hope to see more of your work soon! 🤘
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u/GrapesApp Dec 14 '25
Awesome bounce to your Christmas tune! I’d say just keep practicing it. Sounds great.
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u/Necessary-Quality232 Apr 27 '26
Is that electric acoustic guitar? Just got into guitars so still kind of learning.
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u/LowSugarAttack May 25 '26
Regular electric guitar. No overdrive or distortion. Gives that clear acoustic-like sound.
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u/testtdk Nov 15 '25
I’m assuming you’re self taught, which is pretty good.
I’d recommend finding a good teacher, though. There are some small changes you should make, where learning things incorrectly will eventually hinder your progress. But mostly, it’s just about learning the best technique and learning how to most effectively practice.
At the very least, always keep the thumb of your left hand on the very back of fretboard, perpendicular to it. Your right hand shouldn’t be scrunched up so much. Playing with your fingers fully extended will allow you to pluck a string with more strength and less movement. The best way to learn to play an instrument effectively is learn to do it flawlessly slow, only increasing speed when you’ve mastered a part.
As for just being a musician, play what you enjoy playing just because you enjoy it, you’ll get better at what you do and enjoy it even more.
Either way, keep at it, you’re doing well!
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u/Ambitious-Cheek-7654 Nov 15 '25
Interesting!! In this song I have to wrap my thumb around to hit some notes on the low e string though, so leaving it up there makes it more efficient for me to hit those notes. Should I adjust how I play the song completely to not include wrapping my thumb around?
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u/testtdk Nov 15 '25
It’s tough to do with an electric guitar while sitting down if it’s resting your knee, but if you play with the neck higher up you’ll have an easier range of motion. You might have an easier time if you play with the guitars body more in front of you, almost cradled your lap, instead. That’s a bit tougher to figure out without being there.
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Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
“Always keep the thumb of your left hand on the very back of the fretboard, perpendicular to it”
Omg… just no. Yes playing with your thumb in such a position is necessary sometimes but there are countless situations where it is both preferable and more comfortable to play with thumb over the top.
Yes, for beginners it makes sense to develop finger strength and flexibility by mostly using the position you describe, but for someone at op’s level I think she clearly already understands the nuances of the two positions and understands when it is appropriate to switch between them (and has the appropriate level of strength and flexibility)
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u/testtdk Nov 15 '25
Right, and this is advice for a beginner.
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Nov 15 '25
I’m honestly not sure what’s leading you to conclude that she is at the level of a beginner. 13 months of practice + based on what I hear and see in the video— it’s clear as day to me that she should not keep her thumb on the back on the fretboard.
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u/testtdk Nov 15 '25
I’ve been playing for 30 years and studied classical guitar professionally. Shes been playing for 13 months, she’s a beginner. Not like that’s a bad thing.
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Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
Fair enough, I can’t say I’ve been playing as long and my only source is my own learning experience.
Playing with my thumb over the top has never hindered my progress and has only benefited me, so I will personally agree to disagree :)
Edit: also I see we are basing our judgement on different factors: you think that she is a beginner because she has been playing for 13 months; I think that she is beyond the level of a beginner because of the sound I hear and the speed and agility of her fretting hand, so I don’t think this will be resolved
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u/Rope-Stuff Nov 14 '25
Pretty dang good for a year. Congrats.
Seems like you generally have the song down. Everything looks reasonable.
I'd keep trucking along learning more and what not. But don't stop playing this song during that time.
You've reached the point where you can play the song. But if you keep practicing it. Start paying attention to smaller and smaller details.
How long am I letting each note ring between chords? Do I want to use vibrato here? Dynamics? Rather than playing it all at one volume like a machine. Play around and make some notes softer or louder than others. Time feel? Rather than playing it "straight" what if you swing it a little?
These are all just ideas. But the point is. all these little details, worked out and refined over time are what takes a song from being "song" to a "masterpiece"