Musicians

I've been at the guitar for three and a half years now, and am finally gaining some competence. I have many excuses for being a slow learner - not naturally gifted and arthritis are two good ones.

If I have a single learning worth passing along, it's this: I failed to sufficiently focus on the positioning of my left hand. Instead of getting in the ideal position to form chords, I compensated by trying to apply additional pressure to get a "clean" chord. I was trying hard to be rhythmic (not my strongest of suits), making fast chord changes more important that good position.

As a result, I feel it greatly slowed my progress. If one can only hold a chord for a few seconds, and one's hand tires and cramps before playing more than a few than a few changes, it holds everything else back. I wish I had slowed way down and taken the time to properly position my hand with each chord change, learned that proper positioning, then worked on rhythm. Once I got the positioning down, everything else started to come much faster.

Note that I learned on an electric guitar expressly because less hand strength is required. It was only after 18 months of play - and building hand strength - that I started playing acoustic.

But that's just me.

I still take weekly lessons, and wouldn't be anywhere without them. Yes, you can learn some things from YouTube and elsewhere, but there's no substitute for a competent teacher.

Good luck, keep practicing. When you're really frustrated and feel like you're not progressing at all, practice some more.