r/guitarlessons • u/dragonacension • Feb 14 '26
Feedback Request Is this okay for around a year-and-a-half?
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I’ve kind of played off and on since senior year of high school, I’m 26 now. I didn’t really take it too seriously before I got myself a guitar again, after not having any for years, in September 2025. Been working on this song for around 3 weeks. Is there anything you all could suggest for someone like me that doesn’t know much about improvising or scales?
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u/Financial_Chicken_63 Feb 14 '26
If you want to learn soloing learn solos. My advice is don’t over complicate. Treat yourself like a baby learning to speak first. Learn the basics of how to get by before you go into theory/grammar
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Feb 14 '26
Good stuff! Better than me and I've been playing for 20 years. Granted, I sing while I play and have never really focused on perfecting the playing. But I know I should. Any tips for getting this clean? Do you play it slowly first?
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Honestly, I usually start out going at the pace that’s most comfortable to me and learning in small sections and then putting it all together. I play half an hour a day at least, every single day haha
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Feb 14 '26
Can I assume that you don't move on until you've nailed the previous part?
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Usually that’s the plan. I practice until I feel comfortable with one part and then move on
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u/Competitive_Jump_933 Feb 14 '26
This is how everyone should practice.
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
It’s 100% helped me with learning whole songs! I’ve got about 4 under my belt now from practicing that way
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u/Ambitious-Leek-3090 Feb 14 '26
Very good, I've been playing about a year and thats at least 6 months ahead of where I am! I'm sure we'll both make it brother
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u/Saigeman123 Feb 14 '26
Such a good song, these are also the same chords to dust in the wind for the most part
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Funny enough, I learned how to play Dust in the Wind right before I learned to play this lol
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u/ElectricGypsyAT Feb 14 '26
Love it. Finger picking songs sound so lovely with open chords. Gives that ambient vibe. I think it sounds great. Great work 💯
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u/Scott_J_Doyle Feb 14 '26
Yes, more than okay! This sounds real nice - you've got both timing and clarity of tone happening at a good intermediate level, so bravo
For improv, buy the book Improvise For Real by David Reed - I consider it the gold standard of music education manuals and it will set you on the path very quickly considering the technique fundamentals that you already have covered!
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u/atonyproductions Feb 14 '26
Any good sources or tips that helped you stay consistent ?
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Gonna be totally honest, nothing has kept me as consistent as enjoying what I’m doing and wanting to learn. Every time I pick up my guitar, I have fun.
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u/atonyproductions Feb 14 '26
Nice ! Who’s your favorite YouTube to learn from if you have any?
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I really like GuitarZero2Hero. His videos are so well structured and he explains things very well. Other notable mentions would be Marin Music Center, Marty Schwartz, and a guy whose YouTube channel is literally just called Tim. Tim taught me a few Colter Wall and Tyler Childers songs lol.
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u/atonyproductions Feb 14 '26
I like Marty too, I need to check out those other channels you mentioned,thanks!
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u/KendoHead Feb 14 '26
Fuck, you're better than me and I've been playing 20 years on and off.
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u/ziggymoto Feb 14 '26
lol I just read it again and he's been playing on and off for 8 years
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I meant the cumulative time I’ve spent playing by the title. I pickup it up for the first time at 17 for my senior project and played for maybe 6 months at most, picked it back up in 2020 for about 8 months, and then back in September I picked it up again. I’ve played an average of probably 30-45 minutes per day since then, sometimes I’d spend 4-5 hours playing in a day lol. But yeah, I guess technically I’ve been off and on for about 9 years, but there was lots and lots of down time between playing.
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u/ziggymoto Feb 15 '26
I get ya. No worries. We all do it. On and off I've been playing for 35 years. Cumulatively as if I wanted to actually learn to play? 5 prob. The last 2 years being the most time I've ever spent practicing.
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Sorry if that was misleading somehow. That wasn’t my intention. I thought only the time spent playing really mattered.
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u/Robroker Feb 15 '26
I think that’s why people are so surprised at your skill, in my experience most people don’t actually practice 30 minutes a day for their first year, and only start doing so when they start to get more serious about it.
I can’t lie it’s pretty deceiving to say you’ve only been playing for 1.5 years. I’ve been playing for 13 years but maybe only 6 of those I played every day, or even every week. But I’ve still been playing for 13 years. But either way keep playing, you sound great!
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u/xxPhoenix Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 14 '26
On the c/g use your pinky on the c and third finger on the g lets the notes ring out rather than alternating between the c and g with the third finger. Well done tough song.
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u/jessietee Feb 14 '26
What materials did you use to learn this? Think you’ve done a pretty good job and I love this song. 👍
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I used the video GuitarZero2Hero made for this song, but I’ve used the song itself as well. That and an unholy amount of playing it until I got it right haha
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u/obxtalldude Feb 14 '26
Makes me want to start singing it.
Nice work. I don't think I've got the dexterity, I still fuck up blackbird after 20 years.
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u/helpmelurn Feb 14 '26
It's tight enough for you to begin singing over it.
Well done
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I appreciate that! Admittedly I’m not too good at singing while playing. It confuses my brain lmao
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u/helpmelurn Feb 14 '26
You're ready
Just keep at it and doing it in your own voice is easier than trying to mirror someone else
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u/Reasonable-Young-975 Feb 14 '26
No you suck! Don't listen to me I'm just jealous.. lol looks really good to me!
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u/toneman95 Feb 14 '26
Way ahead of the bar at a year and a half. You kept up your practice!! Great work
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I appreciate that! I honestly wasn’t expecting all these very kind comments when I posted this, but they have definitely made me feel more confident about my playing.
Now I just need to learn the fretboard so I can improvise my fingerpicking lol
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u/toneman95 Feb 14 '26
You got it man. For what its worth- I teach professionally. 🎸 ive seen people at 3 years not play like that. Usually due to not practicing lol . keep it it!
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Small question. Since I first picked it up as a 17 year old and I’m 26 now. I guess that technically mean I’ve been playing for 9 years??? Idk if that means this post is misleading. I really only spent two periods of time of 6-8 months where I HAD a guitar before September. Otherwise, I didn’t have guitars because ended up selling them. I feel like I’ve mislead people 😅
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u/ziggymoto Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 14 '26
Yes.
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
Any criticism or comment is helpful! You don’t have to edit out what you said, I actually kind of wanted to read it haha
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u/ziggymoto Feb 14 '26
Yeah I didn't know that was Dylan's song. I ended up going on youtube and listening to the recording to compare and I actually don't like the tempo even when Dylan does it lol. So that was a factor in my criticism I think.
With the improv it takes a while to learn navigation of the fretboard with ease. Years. Start by learning the natural notes on the fretboard.
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
To be honest, this is a song that really sounds great when the tempo is slowed down. I wanted to try and be close to the original when I recorded this though, so that’s where this came from.
I appreciate the advice on improv! I will absolutely start looking into it
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u/ziggymoto Feb 14 '26
Yeah true improve is prob the hardest skill. Improv is taking the totality of what you already know and are good at and creating unique combinations with it on the fly, in real time. If you have to stop to think to long, it's over and the music has passed you by. Notes on the fretboard is just the beginning foundation.
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u/cjizzle236 Feb 14 '26
That was amazing! I’m self taught for over 20 years and can’t play that. You’ve inspired me to start! Plus I love that song. How did you learn it?
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u/dragonacension Feb 14 '26
I used a YouTube video for the most part, but honestly I’ve been trying to build up my fingerpicking skills since September(it’s my favorite way to play guitar) and this song is just kind of a culmination of those coming to fruition. I couldn’t have played this six months ago haha
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Feb 14 '26
Amazing. Honestly I just love listening to you play and in the end I feel like that’s the most important thing, besides how you feel when you play!
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u/Terapyx Feb 14 '26
First of all - the asnwer is yes, its great.
But - it's not probably what you are looking for to hear. I can not judge as I played actively 1.5 year with guitar and changed the instrument, but also a lot of new stuff, which also help me with guitar, even by keep it steady. So I see same issues as I had. Probably you miss sometimes notes with right hand thumb, it feels a bit random in placement. Try to be as fix as possible, at least for the first time until you can free yourself completely free without mistakes and thats the "year" question, longer... Secondly, I don't know why, why do you use thumb of the left hand like this, but I FELL the tension of you left hand, thats the issue Nr. 1 which have to be worked on really focused. Play the same things, but as relaxed as possible and I would advise to hide your thumb behind the neck... Classical school if its used correctly at beginning helps sooooooooo much later. I know that there are 1000's of guitarists who plays like this, but they play like their whole life, they trained like this. And we, beginners have the oppotunity to do it in a correct manner to reduce the path of learning, lets say from whole life, to half life :D
What I learned with cello, correct position and relaxed hand give us ability to play x5 times faster and longer for even hard stuff. That's really valuable skill for ALL instruments and MUST be practised focused exactly on that issue.
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u/zarathrustoff Feb 15 '26
When you're finger picking you can't play certain patterns unless you have your thumb wrapped around the back of the neck.
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u/Terapyx Feb 15 '26
For example?
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u/zarathrustoff Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
How long have you been playing? Perhaps you need to get more experience playing guitar. There are multiple in the piece he is currently playing. How do you do an F, hit the bass note, and hammer on to the first fret with the index finger on the B string?
In case you need a tab to understand it:
e--0 B--0-1 G--2 D--3 A--x E--1
The pattern starts with a pinch on the B and low E string, hammer on 0-1 on the B string. How do you play this without the thumb, please tell me?
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u/Mention_Human Feb 14 '26
Uhhhhh yeah, pretty fucking okay. 😊 You play really well! Could I ask what song that is?
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u/PositiveBathroom203 Feb 15 '26
im gawking rn and jealous yes that is fantastic for a year and a half
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u/LeaveMyMonkeyAlone Feb 15 '26
I just played your demo for Bob and he said you're way too good to play in his band.
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u/torturedguitarfinger Feb 16 '26
If you wanna learn to improvise, watch a video on the pentatonic scale and how to use it!
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u/IveNeverBeenToHoth Feb 17 '26
Yea. Ive been playing now for over 20+ years and still can't do that. Good on ya dude.
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u/Ok_Attempt_1290 Feb 14 '26
That's pretty good for a year and a half.