Not progressing....

How much time do you devote to playing each day? You should be playing while watching tv with her. She'll get over it.

 

At 41, your dreams of become a world famous guitar player should be pretty well extinguished leaving only the desire to have fun and get what you can out of it. The key is to not watch you tube videos of 9 year olds who can play well beyond what many adults have achieved. A 9 year old will pick up a new language better than a 41 year old can too, the brain is sponge at that age.

 

I'm withholding sympathy until I know which team you were rooting for

 

Tell us what you are trying to achieve with guitar.

 

I share your pain, but I suspect that you don't actually have a defined set of "finish lines" Back in my running days, I spent years running every day without a whole lot of improvement in times or endurance. I was fit, healthy, and enjoyed the hobby, but I was not improving much as a "runner". It wasn't until I decided to sign up for a race did it change. By filling out that entry form, I had a series of specific goals set in place to chase and that lead to great imporvements.

The same is true with guitar playing, if you don't have a plan written down you are not going anywhere. You might want to consider a formal course like the Gibson LMG program or else just focus on a particular song and just study it until you can play it cleanly all the way through. For me, it was learning my first easy song (Against the Wind by Bob Seger) that set a fire in my desire to work harder. I am not wired to follow lessons well without losing motivation, but studying songs make a big difference as they are my finish line. I just break down the song into its parts and that would be my milestones until I learn the whole thing and can play it cleanly.

Good luck to you and hope it helps

 

Yeah, well some days I have a hard time breaking 100 too.
Watching football doesn't help that either.

 

There is just so much to learn and it can become over-whelming for us older types starting out. Just remember that you need to take a lot of small bites to eat an elephant and once you get that first song under your belt you will feel great about your change in ability. Then you can leap to other songs that use those same chord changes or strum patterns to build a songlist very quickly before advancing to tougher songs

 

There are many self taught players on the forum. I'll confess to being one of them but I had 10 years of solid grounding in school music programs. Maybe odd for me to say it, but if you're not making progress, you may benefit from lessons. A good teacher may be able to help you find your way and certainly help keep poor technique from hindering your progress. A good teacher will teach you to read music and tabs and teach you the basic chord shapes and how to find the chords you want anywhere on the neck. He should also be able to get you started on Battery and Best Friend's Girl. Don't play while watching TV just yet. The time for that will come later when you play TO the television to learn how not to be distracted by hot chicks or boozed up bozos while you perform.

 

Try playing something you can't until you can... Like trying to play a booggie rhythm with hammer ons and singing at the same time....walking the dog is a good place to start.

 

That's the way it goes mate. You practice, you progress, you hit a plateau. You might even fall back. When that happens you only get further if someone/something kicks you in the butt, proverbially. That's why a teacher is a good thing to have, so best of luck for your lessons

What our good comrades here are suggesting works as well. Pick something entirely new you don't know how to do and practice until you do.

I have to disagree with the suggestion of plunking away while watching TV or something. The only benefit really is that your fingers get used to the movement. However to really control how your fingers do hit the strings, dynamics and all that you really need to pay attention. Other than that it's only good for maybe practicing scales. The problem is that you are very likely to develop poor techniques, and you will need to unlearn those later on to learn proper ones.

Also 15 - 30 minutes / day isn't really enough. Set aside an hour of dedicated, concentrated practice time every day for two weeks. You'll definitely start to see a difference.

The good thing with music is that it's never too late to start

 

We all get 24 hours in a day. We choose what to do with them.

I was at a professional coaching class. One of the instructors told a tale about having to talk to a parent whose son was not progressing. Turns out the son was choosing to spend several hours a day on online games. Hardly the coach's fault, but it explained the lack of progress.

Or as a very wise woman said, "Don't complain about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do."

 

great point..i play along to the music on TV and commercials..you have like 20 seconds to catch the riff and key and you start to play by reflex vs anything else..don't over complicate..dont emulate..be you and have fun..learn the fretboard and the world of music opens up to you

 

If you really enjoy it, and enjoy the tone you're getting, hours will pass like minutes. Just get to know your gear, and like how it sounds! You'll be better in no time