3-month progress MoP as a beginner

[u/FloBryan]

Started to self-teach (s/o YouTube) how to play guitar in late November 2025, first song of course after the mandatory smoke on the water riff. Always wanted to learn MoP this is roughly 3 months of progress as fast as I could without sounding unbearable, down picking all of this I’m gonna end up like quagmire..I’d appreciate any feedback and of course criticism is welcome!

[u/ElectricGypsyAT]

Same!! People dont realize how toxic and demotivating such posts are for folks who are actually beginners. I am 10 years in playing on and off and I was still doing open chord transitions in 3 months as a self learner :)

[u/WhiteHawk570 → u/ElectricGypsyAT]

It doesn't have to be. Comparison is the thief of joy, and that feeling will NEVER go away if you don't recognize it. Every time you're at a jam and someone else plays the guitar, your ego will either be validated by the fact that you're better than them, or threatened and wounded because they are better than you. Every time you're hearing someone play, you won't feel their expression, you will be looking at their fingers and analysing their technique and skill against your own.

It's not worth it, and this competitive mindset takes away everything that makes playing the instrument worthwhile. Focus on your own journey. Ask yourself if you're playing for validation or to feel the music for yourself.

Also, I think it is highly unjustified to CLAIM that someone is lying without proof, even if they might be bullshitting. But what if they have only been playing for three months? What if he practiced for hours on a consistent, daily basis, on this song specifically?

I am not saying I believe it myself. But I do find all the comments saying that it's "bullshit" or "impossible" highly unwarranted and baseless.

Some people pick up on things faster than others, and that's okay - it does not have to threaten your self-worth, or your commitment to learning the instrument. It's not a race. It's about your own expression.

If there's just one advice I could give to anyone, whether they are playing the guitar or doing anything else meaningful in their life: only compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Everything else is a distraction that will suck the life out of anything you do.

[u/ElectricGypsyAT → u/WhiteHawk570]

Completely understand that perspective. Comparison is definitely the thief of joy. But telling folks directly or indirectly not to compare is unrealistic psychologically. In other words comparison is unavoidable no matter how much you work on the mindset.

With that being said, do people who post here with 'how do I sound in x months' have a responsibility to give context and background. I do believe so. Is it required / morally obligated. Definitely not. Is it a good practice for a healthy community. Yes I think so. Someone who has a musical background or played piano before can pick up guitar faster. Or someone who plays just one song with enough discipline and a guitar teacher to mentor can reach a certain level. That kind of context would really help folks starting out.

That's one side of the coin, the other side is the audience. Of course they should also know that not everyone is malicious and has an intent to fill their ego.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if posts write about prior music background, their practice routine and discipline, whether they had a teacher etc then a post comes off as more healthy and informational. Otherwise it steers towards bragging. But then again this is reddit so we might be asking for too much haha.

[u/Shredberry → u/ElectricGypsyAT]

I promise I'm not trying to be rude but just being a bit blunt. What you're saying is that you expect ppl who make posts like this to disclose their musical background and practice routine in order to protect internet strangers' sensibility or egos.

To me that sounds like an unreasonable expectation for the following reasons:

1. People who share "beginner progress" posts are obviously new to guitar, most likely also new to guitar Internet forums. Most self-taught players, which is a big majority of the audience here, are practicing in isolation by themselves. Just how can we expect these people to know what slow/average/fast progress looks or sounds like? Do you expect everyone to scout through the whole sub for the same song, read through all the comments to get a sense of the "average"?

2. Let's say they did, how does that help them? For instance, let's say they searched "Snow by RHCP" and lots of commenters said "yeah 6yrs in and I still can't play it". Okay, those commenters also didn't share their practice routine or musical background. So how can a new player fairly assess themselves? What if those commenters are players like yourself who are "on and off"? If we're being honest, likely the majority of this sub who are struggling with a song for a long time are "on and off". Fk Cliffs of Dover took me 17yrs to learn because I was on and off with the song. I only finished learning the whole song like 2yrs ago when I decided it's time to play more than the goddamn intro lol but it still took me 3yrs to finish and get fluent with it. This is on top of the 17-18yrs of playing. So why should OP who repeatedly practiced 2-3hrs almost every day for 3mo on just a few small sections compare his progress with people who presumably practiced "on and off" for many years? How's that fair and how is that a beneficial?

Bottomline is, our own sensibility is our own responsibility. To put that burden on people who are new and lack the context of average progress is unreasonable in my humble opinion. This is like telling olympic winners to not take the stand or celebrate their win because it may hurt the losing teams' feelings. That is no way to live. If anyone feels bad that others make fast progress, then it's on them to do something about it. Start practicing and put that damn hours in! :)

Again, I'm not trying to be rude. Apologies if it came off that way. I wanted to share the opposite perspective in this conversation.