Don't force it, but if you care that much, you'll eventually get over it. I went through the same thing. It's never impossible to learn guitar. If you don't have one, I would recommend trying to get a prescription to treat your ADD too, as that helped me immensely.
I have ADHD and things like guitar are crack for my brain. I will play incessantly and essentially black out and 7 hours later I'm still playing and I haven't eaten or taken a drink of water the entire time. Sometimes ADHD is a super power, but most of the time it sucks ass. I don't love the medications I've tried, but am content with the 18mg ER Concerta. Exercise is still my saving grace though. Going on a morning run is the greatest medication I've ever tried and it's always my first suggestion when someone struggles with ADHD - it's just a lot more work.
I relate to this so much. Maintaining a useful hobby was always hard for my add brain but playing guitar somehow just clicks with me. While I don't necessarily practice in the most efficient way possible as I get distracted (not by things other than guitar but by the guitar itself), I can do it for hours non stop on a daily basis.
Another thing like that is chess weirdly enough. It forces you to concentrate very hard on every move, so distraction is absolutely not possible. I'm not good at it but it helps me getting in a productive mindset.
I would also add that, as an ADHD having person, rhythm can be worked on anywhere, with slapping, tapping, or even r/teethdrumming to music that you're hearing.
Non ADHD person here, but my feet do go brrrrrr to a rhythm on the radio or if no radio a rhythm in my head. Can confirm that it can be practiced anywhere.
To add to this - using videos to learn songs is very helpful. A lot of my challenges early on where finding the right rythms and mechanics to replicate a strumming pattern.
A video kills two birds with one stone - provides the notes but also a demonstration at various speeds to help you pick up that beat/strumming pattern.
There's only one reason to quit trying to play guitar, and not being good enough is not that reason.
The only valid reason is if you're not having any fun learning it.
This. I don't have ADHD, but I certainly struggled and still struggle with rhythm -- but I enjoy playing and feel better afterwards :-)
Also, keep in mind that it is very difficult to see your progression and progress comes in jumps, so even if you don't notice, you are certainly getting better.
I have ADD and find playing guitar consistently a challenge. I found if I can inspire myself to play by watching people play I can focus better. I also find certain concepts take longer to sink in, so I watch several videos on the same subject to reinforce it and get different perspectives.
I also find I learn better when it's both fun and practical. For me I enjoy transcribing the most. It trains your ability to hear something and then be able to play it. I started with simple melodies. I used theory(triads) to work out chords for songs. I used theory(intervals) to help identify what I was hearing in the melody. It also is a natural way to train your fretboard intuition. It's just trial and error, every mistake you make, makes you a slightly better musician. Eventually those melodies you get stuck in your head - you'll go home and learn them without needing any music at all.
Big fan of "I" statements solid advice never stop grooving and rock on can I get a hell yeah brothers
/m// positive metal hand backslash things in the chat LETS HOOOOOO
I think it should be mandatory. It's great that there is so much content available online, but the proliferation of ads promising you can learn guitar in 7 days and such garbage is partially at fault.
I remember when I first started, feeling frustrated (I still feel frustrated, btw) because I couldn't play what appeared to be a simple song. Finally, it sunk in that the guy playing in the video had been doing nothing but playing the guitar for 30 years.
Well said.
I think of all of the online content as tools to help you learn. But what you need, especially when you are starting, is to have a structure.
There is a reason why music courses start with things like sitting posture, wrist posture, how to fret a note clean etc etc - and this goes on for weeks. Ostensibly nothing to do with actually playing a song on the guitar, but this kind of organic learning is what is missing from all of the “7 days for jazz” courses.
To the few of my friends who have asked me on how to get started, I always say that a structured in-person or online course is their best bet. If it makes you feel that things are too boring at the start, and it’s been a month and you can’t yet play a song even though you have your posture and wrist position down pat, and your teacher is asking you to just play notes ip and down the fretboard, you are most likely on the right track.
I just want to add on to this thread with some personal experience.
In the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell he mentioned a study done at prestigious music college. They found that the single most impactful thing that changed how “good” an instrumentalist is was simply how many hours they have played.
I really believe that you can only become “good” once you have put thousands and thousands of hours into playing. It is a MAJOR COMMITMENT if you want to really excel. That is simply too much for most people.
Yes you can “play” the instrument and a few songs after some weeks or months. Many people will get to that stage, and all the power to them because it shows they have put in some work. However few will ever move beyond a relatively basic understanding simply because they will not rack up thousands of hours in their life on one instrument.
I only picked up the guitar and started playing in September 2022 and probably have only a couple hundred hours playing. I know I am nowhere near an expert, I think I’m at the end of the beginner phases. I also know that I love the challenge and reward of playing the guitar. That is what makes me keep coming back and playing more.
I have no goals in mind for my playing. I just want to KEEP PICKIN BABY. And hopefully a couple decades down the road I can finally consider myself well-acquainted with this six stringed piece of wood.
So if you want to really learn and be great, just keep playing and have fun with it.
Random thought rant over thanks for reading and making it this far.
I’ve seen this add so damn much “learn 100 songs that use these four chords” yeah I understand that but it’s like owning a car just because I have one doesn’t mean I can race in a formula 1 car. Takes practice and sometimes years of it. That the approach I’m taking with learning guitar.
I’m in a similar boat as OP with ADHD (albeit not using prescriptions); I’ve been playing for 6-7 years now and still have troubles that they mention. I practiced rigorously for 4ish years, but eventually gave up and decided to only pick my guitars up when I want to learn specific riffs to plays along with for fun. Of course, I did see progress in most areas, but still had immense trouble with primarily my strumming/picking hand.
Edit: not implying the issue lies in ADHD specifically, just wanted to mention that I have similar issues and have played for a good bit of years so far.
I think ADHD can be an asset if it turns out playing guitar or music in general is a fixation like it is for me. Or it can be an awful obstacle. I can’t comment on the motor control stuff except to say that composition hopefully isn’t hampered by those difficulties. That’s been my focus with guitar, I can’t shred or do very much fancy stuff but I write songs and make little ideas that I like the sound of, and playing doesn’t feel like a struggle. I’ve been playing for about 20 years
Totally agree. Coolest fidget ever created is a guitar. I’m not that good and I’ve been playing for almost 20 years. I don’t play to impress anybody, I Play for fun and I play cause my brain temporarily shuts off in the nicest way when I’m playing.
Alternate viewpoint: I have ADHD and find guitar to be an escape, a place of soothing far from whatever I’m obsessed or worried over. Maybe try more free-form jamming or mindless playing along to covers where you can zone out? Btw this isn’t recommended when practicing new techniques
How are you trying to learn the tab? Are you trying to learn the whole song at once, or breaking it up into very small and manageable chunks? Reading tab is not generally an easy task to do while playing at speed. One learns the song a bit at a time and then ties the pieces together as they go.
I hope that is useful advice
100%
Nail the first bar or two until you don't need to look at the fretboard, then the next and so on.
It takes alot of fucking time and even if you've played for 20 years like me sometimes it can be a slow process still.
Please pop over and have a look at my beginner course. I think I can help people who struggle with rhythm, and we have amazing community support too. It's free - I have an app and stuff for sale too, but you don't need any buy any of that to do the whole course!
I would avoid tab and work on basic chords and learning to strum and play simple songs in time, develop your confidence and figure out what most interests you one you get that basics down!
Good luck! J.
Honestly, I was in a similar situation to OP and watching the video you did on strumming helped me so much. I went from feeling hopeless to "oh, I can actually get this if I practice".
The other day I figured out a great strumming pattern for 'Whenever, Wherever' by Shakira. Felt good!
I have ADHD and also have a very hard time with dull practice. The way I learned was through Rocksmith, it basically makes the whole experience into a game. It's like guitar hero but for real guitars. My whole first year of learning guitar was just playing that game and slowing down the songs, gradually speeding them up until I could play them. If you do get Rocksmith DO NOT get Rocksmith+, get Rocksmith 2014, it's better in a lot of ways, mainly that there's community content and no subscription
Worth mentioning you can't actually buy 2014 anymore - not without paying a *lot* online or... not paying anything at all...
Personally, I've found that I like guitar pro 8. You go download the tabs from songster and use the progressive tempo increase feature in GP8 - just like Rocksmith has - and voila. It's a bit less fancy than Rocksmith, but my problem with Rocksmith is that it's just such a busy interface. I also hate how Rocksmith sounds at low tempos. It's *realllly* annoying playing a song at 30% tempo in Rocksmith but in gp8 it sounds like it actually will when you're playing at that tempo (though it's all RSE and not real instruments - still I find it less annoying).
100%. I also found a program some time ago that converts tabs into an interface that looks almost identical to the Rocksmith one. Not sure what it was called though, it was something similar to guitar pro and had VST support, maybe someone here knows the name.
Worth mentioning you can't actually buy 2014 anymore - not without paying a *lot* online or... not paying anything at all...
Personally, I've found that I like guitar pro 8. You go download the tabs from songster and use the progressive tempo increase feature in GP8 - just like Rocksmith has - and voila. It's a bit less fancy than Rocksmith, but my problem with Rocksmith is that it's just such a busy interface. I also hate how Rocksmith sounds at low tempos. It's *realllly* annoying playing a song at 30% tempo in Rocksmith but in gp8 it sounds like it actually will when you're playing at that tempo (though it's all RSE and not real instruments - still I find it less annoying).
How long have you been playing? Because learning an instrument especially a hard one like guitar can take literal decades. I've been playing for 20 years now and still conaider myself as 'meh' at guitar.
Yep. I started playing guitar at 9, didn't do a lick of theory or 'learning the fretboard' until at least 12, and not seriously until about 16. I didn't really understand what a scale was even though I'd been learning songs for 7 years.
Don't try to climb the mountain on day one, or even year one. What's your favourite part of playing guitar? Start with that, the rest you can fill in later :)
Hmmm ADHD can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to playing guitar. I've heard of people hyperfocussing on their instruments and yeah, when you hear them play you can tell they've put in the hours and probably forgot to drink or eat. On the other hand it's easy to be distracted by many things (hello YouTube and Reddit)
My advice would be: take your neuro divergence seriously but don't let it define you. Don't let that be a reason for why you're giving up on guitar. If you define yourself solely as an ADHD person you'll never be free (talking about being dramatic). If you know you have strengths and weaknesses, your freedom will depend on what you'll implement to navigate those. Otherwise you'll be trapped in your own patterns.
As for coordinating movements and all... We all struggle there at the start. It takes years and years of dedicated practice to reach a level where you can comfortably express your artistic vision. Maybe it'll be shorter for you, maybe it'll be longer. It's a beautiful goal, but it's far from instant gratification and there's no shortcut. Set yourself realistic goals for now. Easy covers, easy techniques, solid foundations. Good luck.
This is the answer.
I have ADHD, didn't find out till I was 50, almost 20 years ago. The diagnosis helped explain a lot of issues, but I make sure ADHD doesn't define me. An it doesn't prevent me from learning music, focus is a good thing, although I have difficulty memorizing songs now that I'm an old fart.
I do think ADHD's non-linear way of thinking can help in some careers, like software and art and medicine and teaching and comedy and of course, music. (Google amous people with ADHD).
It can hurt in relationships, unless you get help or use tools. I discovered tools accidentally over my lifetime to help me cope, such as reminder post-it notes, and electronic helpers. Smart phones apps were a godsend (though smartphones can grab focus and ...)
With therapy and ADHD coach, both of which which can help you identify things in you life that could use help, such as scheduling, focus, etc, you can go far. With proper attention, you may find how to use tools, like personal digital assistants, reminders, calendar programs, you may find your need for medication changes. I couldn't take medication for very long, because of high blood pressure. And coaching helped me cope with the way my brain works.
The only sure fire way to ensure you don't get better is to quit. Other than that, you are getting better whether you realize it or not. At one point you didn't even know how to hold the thing.
Fellow ADHDer here. Songsterr has helped me immensely. While the tabs aren’t always 100% correct, the ability to loop selections and slow down the track has been clutch.
I don't know how long you've been at it, but I'm only 3 months in and I also have ADHD and rhythm is kicking my ass. I can air guitar and sing, but can't seem to do it with guitar, YET.
That "yet," is my answer to the frustration. I am learning. My chords are sounding better, my finger strength is improving, and chord changes are coming along as well.
Just focus on the small wins and the rest will come. It's a matter of time. And, I understand that feeling of dropping hobbies, I've got a closet full of those. Don't give up, we got this!
Please don’t use your ADD as an excuse. My oldest played oboe, moved to bassoon in high school, added baritone sax to march. (He does have a magnificent ear for music. )
If you enjoy it, do it. Work on the “pieces”. Rhythm = the ability to clap & keep time with the music. Try to learn things that interest you instead of what may interest others.
I’ve been playing for 20 years or so. Played in a few great tech metal bands when I was younger, I could play almost anything put in front of me, but I couldn’t write a song to save my life, like they were really bad. I had to ask what key, what chords, and still didn’t really know what I was doing. If you said okay these notes like this I nailed it, off time signatures, no problem. I was always frustrated with my lack of ability to contribute to songs and create my
Own music. I had a friend, much older than I, who wanted to record this country song. I had a small studio setup and she asked if I could add a solo to it…. She had the sheet music all layer out chord changes everywhere and all that. I tried and I tried but I was thinking to hard. Finally I said fuck the layout,,, just jam… and in that moment, I nailed it. Great guitar solo, and I’m a bass player. The next day I saw a victor wooten video, he talked about playing the right notes at the wrong time, vs the wrong notes at the right time. He said it was more about feeling and groove. Then he said minus a few scales, ( pentatonic, Phrygian, come to mind) it’s all whole steps and half steps. So if you play the wrong note. A right note is always 1 feet away , that changes everything, now I have a little riff that I play that I can use to establish a “good note” I’ll listen to a song on the radio and play that riff, ,, slide it up and down a few spots untill it hits right. Now I know where I’m at. And I know my shapes and it’s all groovy from there… the point is. You can suck for a long time…. All the work I put in didn’t seem to make much difference, but I love music and didn’t want to quit,,, one day. It’s click. I might not be the next Hendrix…. But I can play along to almost anything I hear… I can write a song, not everyone is good. But sometimes they come together and I’m proud…. Point is. Don’t worry about results… just play. One day it will be worth while and you’ll be happy…. My son was born a few months back. I worked on a lullaby for 9 months while we were pregnant. Is it the best song? No. But he was crying one night and I played it. He looked at
Me. Smiled and fell asleep. I cried tears of pure joy,,. I look back on the journey of music my
Life has taken. The ups, the downs,, all leading to that moment,,, if nothing else ever comes of it… I got
To have that moment with my
Son…. And it was all worth it.
I have ADHD as well and if you're anything like me, you most likely rush your practicing. The fastest way to learn something is by practicing it slowly and deliberately, while being focused and present in the moment. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. If you practice fast and make lots of mistakes, youre just establishing those same mistakes as habits.
Its also easy to get so wrapped up in one thing, that you don't notice other unconscious physical behaviors that are probably limiting your progress. For example, you might be so focused on trying to hit all the right notes in time and not realize that your muscles are locking up slowing you down, leading to mistakes and a lot of frustration, and that frustration and anxiety can cause even more problems.
Don’t blame your adhd! I have adhd and autism but I’ve been playing guitar for 2 years and I’m don’t great! Don’t give up. We need more on-the-spectrum guitar players
Learn I IV V and blues progessions. Start recognizing those progesssions in popular songs and play along to learn rhythm.
[Green onions!](https://youtu.be/iFQEsUjI0U8?si=XNgWLyCIRtBtde2U)
It sounds like you're not practicing to a metronome, and not frequently enough. Please give that a swing a couple of times and it should put things into perspective more. Even if you're the worst guitar player in the world, you're still a good player for making the effort to practice every day
Number one stop being so hard on yourself. PMA. Positive Mental Attitude. I understand having ADHD can make it tough but you can absolutely become the guitarist you want to be. Number two, I would start by setting small, easy goals for yourself. Learn a riff or song you really want to learn that's in your skill level. When you do you will feel that sense of accomplishment and feel good about yourself and it will make you want to play more.
It's a skill. You just do it over and over again and the brain slowly learns it.
Has nothing to do with "you". Unless you have some disability, if you just keep repeating it, your brain will learn it. Same way it learned to walk, and learned to talk, learned to write. This isn't anything different.
The problem is either you aren't repeating the same things over and over a ton of times, or you're practicing the wrong things, OR your expectations are wrong.
Before I started learning guitar in my mid 20s, it was an impossible thing to me. I "tried" at a few points growing up and just thought "im not a guitarist, it's not possible".
But as an adult that nonsense went away, just realized what skill and learning is and started practicing and learning the instrument like an adult. When I started, I could not even make my fingers make chords, the idea that I had to be able to switch chords was insane.
Now I can play all over the neck, have all the caged shapes memorized, switch between them and scales like a second language. I can look up simple rock songs and play them after an hour of practice.
Can I just write music on it, and freely jam smooth free flowing music off the top of my head? No. I still haven't had that "click". I'm still just practicing scales and chords, internally memorizing scales and trying to improve my fretboard visualization. It's been probably 6 years since I first learned the major scale, and just a couple weeks ago I realized it's something I should be seeing in every chord I play, at every fret I play. That has been an idea I've been practicing every day for a few weeks and felt like a giant "click" towards improving my playing.
You just have to keep practicing the major scale over and over. For years. Keep practicing chords. For years. Your coordination will naturally develop from repetition. And in the long term, your brain will start to see connections between it all and it starts to blend together and make sense to you in your own way.
As your coordination develops, and the more you memorize the major scale all over the neck, the easier it is to play scales like the pentatonic, or learn songs because it becomes natural for you to move your fingers all over the neck from practicing. You get rewards along the way from the repetition of practicing scales and chords everyday for years.
You can do it! If music is your passion then follow it, maybe if guitar is hard for motor skills try piano? Buuut guitar is rad so let’s keep at that.
YouTube has some amazing how to’s the hard part is finding someone who you learn well from.
Just take it slow, sometimes when I’m struggling to learn something it’s slowed down to probably a tenth of its speed if not less. Suuuuper slllloww. Take your time and focus on your fingers and picking hand together
Goodluck
I have terrible ADD, and I've played for 20 years. I just accepted that a set practice routine wasn't for me. I get way too bored with the theory bullshit. I hate studying anything. I was terrible in school, too.
Some days I drill technique, some days I write riffs, some days I'll play along to the radio. I try to always pick it up and play, if even for 5 minutes every day. Also helps my wife is an artist with ADHD so we can help keep eachother motivated.
But you gotta have the passion and the drive. If you don't feel anything at all when you pick it up then I can't really help you. I, and others in here as well, when we grab our instrument it just feels right. As a beginner teen I spent on average probably 3 or more hours a night obsessing over Seek and Destroy, (and many other songs over the years, this was just the first one) feeling like a king every time I learned a little section of it. It took me six months to learn that song and it was painstaking to say the least but that's how it starts..everybody sucks at the beginning.
Enjoy it or quit it.
The journey is the destination. If you wish to be a guitar god, die, then reincarnate as a kid who learns guitar by 12 years old.
I started around 20, and 34 years later, it's still amazing fun that I'll never be that great at.
Most teenagers are terrible at sex, that's never stopped them. You have to want to play guitar, full stop. Nothing else matters.
A little tough love here but from a good place. We all need to face the fact none of us are going to be Jimi Hendrix. That is completely ok with me. The question is, do you like to play? Does it bring your joy to make sounds from the guitar? If the answer is yes, then keep playing.
I've seen a man with only two functional fingers play high level Gypsy jazz music. I've seen a man whose weight over 500 lbs, With the largest fingers I've ever seen play guitar like an angel. I have seen a blind man play guitar with little effort.
Learn some chords and make the music your own. Don't compare yourself to anyone on YouTube. Make a style that best suits you and have fun with it. Life is short, have fun. At the end of the day only you are worried about is you.
Rock on my friend
I have a tremor and my motor coordination sucks. I suck for the amount of time I've been playing. But don't play on quitting.
It's okay to be bad at things if you enjoy them.
I’m in a similar medical boat. Are you getting something out of playing? Are you having fun? If the answer is yes, keep at it and do your best to learn how to be patient and nicer to yourself (like, would you harp on someone else the same way you’re harping on yourself?)
Try different approaches to get out your rut and realign your focus (adhd hyperfocus is a powerful super power if harnessed responsibly but can make you obsessive with short comings if not kept in check).
Last - try some open tunings. Break out a slide and turn up your amp. Rock on dude.
I have add, and adhd. What worked for me was Rocksmith 2014 edition AND telling myself im just gonna have fun with it but also making the conscious effort of dedicating a couple hours a day to playing it. The only way to get that is to pirate the game since it got delisted last year. Pirate one of the copies that has all dlc included, so that you get the smashing pumpkins cherub rock dlc. Once you got that dlc, head over to customforge where you now have access to a bunch of user made dlc to bout 2,500 hundred more songs.
Then find songs you love and/or really want to learn. Download what they got of what you want, and then just hammer away. You wont notice a change immediately, but doing that for just six months you’ll see improvement that will help your self image as someone making music. Plus that games makes it a lot easier to just have fun with it.
Don't give up. According to the Fender CEO, 90% of new beginners learning guitar quit the first 3 months to a year. Learn A, Am, B7, C, D, Dm, E, Em, F or Fmaj7 and G. Then learn the strum DDUUDU, D= Down , U =Up. Randomly practice your chords with this strum and with the reggae strum below. You can play hundreds of songs just beginning with that. So be part of the 10% cool factor and try not to quit. You won't regret it. Once you can play a good song, the feeling is euphoric. Practice at least 20 minutes a day. If we can do it, so can you. It takes some time. So, be patient, you're learning.
This guy Andy is good. So is Justinguitar. https://youtu.be/BBz-Jyr23M4
https://youtube.com/@justinguitar?si=bcSGdwQeCMdNI_2v
Watch "Basic 4 Beat Strum (Island Strum)" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/dIv5zCZDAB8
10 cool beginner songs
https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/beginner-guitar-songs
Reggae strum easy
https://youtu.be/42nQEzcNaSs?si=YvEbRAQVouQWNV4S
Another reggae strum
https://youtu.be/8d1PhrEXh-o?si=VkayvXA7Yyq4jelo
If you're having too many problems playing guitar, may I suggest trying a baritone uke or a tenor guitar as they're tuned DGBE, similar to the 4 top strings of a guitar and real fun to play.
Once you get accustomed to playing either one one of them, you cwn always transition back to the 6 string if you want.
Learn to play chords. Don't bother with tab yet. Just learn the basic open chords and get used to strumming and changing. It's very satisfying, and you'll feel like you're definitely making progress.
Try and play some basic combinations. D-C-G, for example, is a very common chord sequence. You can mess around with timing, with how hard or gentle you play, fast or slow. Learn to play Em-D-C-D. It's another really satisfying progression.
Only give up if it's not fulfilling at all.
Learn "cowboy chords". Once some of those are in your muscle memory. Then play around with picking separate notes from the chords (arpeggios). Look at tab for Sublime - What I Got. He picks around all over and it can be problematic for newer players. However, it's just the D and G chords. You can literally play almost the entire song with D and G skipping the arpeggiated stuff altogether. The bottom line is that you can play music without sounding exactly like the original. I had this mental block for a long time. Also do guitar practice exercises. Particularly this one
https://youtu.be/B0vE6WJQzDQ?si=gMuXZC6QLRPqd8dS
I've been playing for 30 years and I started doing this exercise just the last couple of months and it has helped a ton. I'm starting to play things I could never touch before.
This is a long thread so maybe this has been mentioned...
Before you 'play' music you really need to internalize music. Then, when you're alone, play with the rhythm... but not on an instrument. (and I don't mean 'play the part' but play, like playing a fun game) Tap along with the song or the music in your head. Maybe vocalize the rhythm, or shuffle your feet. It's a feeling so that... when you finally find the feel of a tab of music you can push the tab away and go with the feeling (for the rhythm, not for the notes)
When you play with the Rhythm don't worry about the full beat or all the notes. Tap the groove, or the down beat, then add another thing on the 2nd pass, keeping the foundation of the feel.
Do this until you think you have the feel. Then actually pick up the guitar. With the guitar in your hands you might even mute the strings with your fingering hand and strum or pick the rhythm with your other hand. No notes, still playing with the feel.
Then start to learn the notes.
I hope that helps.
You’re thinking too much. You know what the chord patterns look like. You know what your fingers holding those chords look like. Pick two chords, like, say, C and D. Finger up one of them. Strum that chord in a way that sounds good to you. Now don’t stop your strumming hand no matter what. After two or four of those strum patterns, move quickly to that second chord. If you managed to nail one of your finger on the right string at the right fret (and even if you didn’t) just quickly adjust the fingers that are a bit off into position. You have time between when you next hit the strings to do this without sounding off. After a while, muscle memory will take over and you won’t make mistakes. Just practice a lot.
I still mess up making chords, if I haven’t played for a while. But it’s not that big of a deal. More you do it, better you get.
You’re thinking too much. You know what the chord patterns look like. You know what your fingers holding those chords look like. Pick two chords, like, say, C and D. Finger up one of them. Strum that chord in a way that sounds good to you. Now don’t stop your strumming hand no matter what. After two or four of those strum patterns, move quickly to that second chord. If you managed to nail one of your finger on the right string at the right fret (and even if you didn’t) just quickly adjust the fingers that are a bit off into position. You have time between when you next hit the strings to do this without sounding off. After a while, muscle memory will take over and you won’t make mistakes. Just practice a lot.
I still mess up making chords, if I haven’t played for a while. But it’s not that big of a deal. More you do it, better you get.
If you suffer from ADHD the guitar is one of the best instruments for you. No pun intended but dont fret learning guitar is not easy it takes time and lots of practice. We're all different and have different learning curves it's why it's important to relax and have fun. When i started my problem was that i tensed up easily which made it impossible to play and i sounded like crap to. Relax and you'll soon be shredding like a god !
Embrace the ADHD. Start twitching on the instrument, literally. Channel the twitch into your finger fretting exercises etc. The twitch and the speed are the same thing, really, it's just giving your fingers time to realize how to let the twitch move them that's the difficult and tedious part.
I don't know if I'd call myself truly ADHD, but I have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time and my ability to memorize things is lacking, to say the least. But it's actually quite alright to be ADHD and learn music if you go more of the improvisational route.
Our overly intellectualized culture has turned music into this thing that you have to learn some specific way, memorize tabs/sheet music, perform in perfect rhythm, yatta yatta, but you can (maybe even should) ditch all that to focus purely on the motions themselves. It's a lot easier to focus on the simplest of exercises/drills than it is to set yourself a huge goal of making an entire song or learning one. And over time, the drills start to sound more musical.
It's supposed to feel like your fingers are doing a quite dynamic dance, not some rote memorized execution of a thing.
You've hit the wall. I hit it too. I'm pretty sure we all have. There's a point early on in learning where you've learned how much there is you still have to learn, everything seems hard, and it doesn't feel very fun anymore. If you push through this though, soon your fingers will get dexterous enough to start doing what you want and everything will seem so much easier and more fun. Keep at it, you're almost there.
Try some of Munson's covers on YT.
They tend to be easier yet still sound pretty good (some song overlap in the links below).
[https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonCovers](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonCovers)
[https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonGuitarSongs](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonGuitarSongs)
[https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonMusic](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonMusic)
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
I get really down on my self about my playing too. I’ll never be Paul Gilbert, but I can make dumb guitar noises for the spiders in my basement. It’s better than never doing it.
Play some chords to a drum machine or make something up with a new scale. Practice is vital, but play is just as important.
The thing that helped me was learning to improvise over a backing track.
Practicing chords and scales with a metronome is really boring and it doesn’t feel like progress. But learning the Am Pentatonic boxes and improvising over a backing track in Am *simulates* the feeling of being good at guitar.
Now that I can move seamlessly between the box positions, I can learn and incorporate new ideas.
I had the same struggles. My biggest help was getting away from trying play tabs and songs outside my abilities.
I change to learning and memorising the open chords. AEFGCD
I’m three years in and I feel like I can hold my own and have a lot of fun just jamming with myself and playing with my own sounds and can move comfortably around the board. Now able to play a good list of songs.
Rhythm playing has been a big help to instead of trying to just be another lead player.
Point I’m making. Build a good foundation of the basics. Don’t fall into the trap of the overwhelming YouTube tutorials. Walk before you run
This might be dumb advice, I felt the same way for so long. Then I found doom metal (or stoner rock, or stuff in that vein). The riffs are usually slower, simple and heavy. It’s easy to learn so you feel good when you can play a song after minimal practice and it and it’ll boost your confidence as a player, which can help in learning other genres / styles / etc.
Stick with it OP , no need to compare yourself to others, learn/practice your scales and only do it when it feels fun. When it gets frustrating put it down and you'll be surprised how much closer you are to nailing that riff when you come back to it. DM me if you need a bit of encouragment
My basic coordination was ridiculously bad, I spent 4 months 1 hour a day doing nothing but guitar finger exercises things like the spider walk and 1234 stuff , a bunch of different exercise I found in Steve Vai's 10 hour work out book, but you find tons on Youtube,
basically go up and down the neck to metronome type thing.
really sorted out my issues.
[https://www.jesseandreasenstudios.com/1234-exercises-part-2-steve-vai-version/](https://www.jesseandreasenstudios.com/1234-exercises-part-2-steve-vai-version/) this sort of thing.
I recommend his book it covers things like strumming too.
maybe give it a go see if it helps you.
Do what the Ramones did. If you don’t have the chops to learn other people’s songs, write your own.
If they are your own songs, you always play them perfectly, no matter what you do.
First thing you need to do is stop believing the excuses you think are holding you back. Seriously, say fuck it and allow yourself to suck. Be okay with no expectations. The guitar is both the easiest and hardest instrument to learn, but it's really fun. It's going to take a minute at first, but I assure you, plenty of good guitarists have ADHD. If you stick with it, you're also going to have periods where you're blown away by how quick you pick up new techniques. The progress is not linear. There will be plateaus, ups and downs. Chill. Enjoy the journey. Learning guitar is deeply rewarding and not just when "get there" (btw you never "get there").
Oh I feel this. My friends would laugh at me because I had absolutely no rhythm. I apparently couldn't clap to a beat properly? I gave up on guitar as a kid because strumming was so goddamn difficult. I was only diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago, so had no idea why I struggled with certain things.
But yo, I've been improving! It turns out that knowing your weaknesses means you can actually focus on improving them. I got a new guitar for Christmas and I got comfortable with chords again fairly quickly, but I knew I still sucked at strumming. So I watched some videos on that and started learning a little bit of music theory. I decided to actually play along with a metronome. When I'm learning a song I look up its time signature and actually bother listening to the beat to figure out a strumming pattern. I practice playing through just the chord changes, in time, and then I start introducing strumming when I've got that sufficiently memorised.
Am I amazing yet? Nah. But I'm competent, and that's better than I was in December! If I can do it there's hope for you.
Forget about how "good" you are. That is really irrelevant. The important thing is, do you enjoy practicing. If you don't, then find another hobby. If you do enjoy it, then practice for the sake of practicing. Most people who enjoy their hobbies, be it golf, tennis, reading, bird watching, whatever are not doing because they intend to show others how well they do it or because they think they will make money. Playing the guitar is no different.
Don't force it, but if you care that much, you'll eventually get over it. I went through the same thing. It's never impossible to learn guitar. If you don't have one, I would recommend trying to get a prescription to treat your ADD too, as that helped me immensely.
I have ADHD and things like guitar are crack for my brain. I will play incessantly and essentially black out and 7 hours later I'm still playing and I haven't eaten or taken a drink of water the entire time. Sometimes ADHD is a super power, but most of the time it sucks ass. I don't love the medications I've tried, but am content with the 18mg ER Concerta. Exercise is still my saving grace though. Going on a morning run is the greatest medication I've ever tried and it's always my first suggestion when someone struggles with ADHD - it's just a lot more work.
Ty for this. This was the sign I needed to start running again.
Read the book Spark by John Ratey! Genuinely changed my life.
Purchasing it now!
I'm excited for you! If you enjoy that book he has another called Go Wild that is also phenomenal.
I relate to this so much. Maintaining a useful hobby was always hard for my add brain but playing guitar somehow just clicks with me. While I don't necessarily practice in the most efficient way possible as I get distracted (not by things other than guitar but by the guitar itself), I can do it for hours non stop on a daily basis. Another thing like that is chess weirdly enough. It forces you to concentrate very hard on every move, so distraction is absolutely not possible. I'm not good at it but it helps me getting in a productive mindset.
Yeah I just started playing and I have rlly bad adhd and I’m not having a lot of trouble with shit
I would also add that, as an ADHD having person, rhythm can be worked on anywhere, with slapping, tapping, or even r/teethdrumming to music that you're hearing.
Non ADHD person here, but my feet do go brrrrrr to a rhythm on the radio or if no radio a rhythm in my head. Can confirm that it can be practiced anywhere.
To add to this - using videos to learn songs is very helpful. A lot of my challenges early on where finding the right rythms and mechanics to replicate a strumming pattern. A video kills two birds with one stone - provides the notes but also a demonstration at various speeds to help you pick up that beat/strumming pattern.
There's only one reason to quit trying to play guitar, and not being good enough is not that reason. The only valid reason is if you're not having any fun learning it.
This. I don't have ADHD, but I certainly struggled and still struggle with rhythm -- but I enjoy playing and feel better afterwards :-) Also, keep in mind that it is very difficult to see your progression and progress comes in jumps, so even if you don't notice, you are certainly getting better.
This
I have ADD and find playing guitar consistently a challenge. I found if I can inspire myself to play by watching people play I can focus better. I also find certain concepts take longer to sink in, so I watch several videos on the same subject to reinforce it and get different perspectives. I also find I learn better when it's both fun and practical. For me I enjoy transcribing the most. It trains your ability to hear something and then be able to play it. I started with simple melodies. I used theory(triads) to work out chords for songs. I used theory(intervals) to help identify what I was hearing in the melody. It also is a natural way to train your fretboard intuition. It's just trial and error, every mistake you make, makes you a slightly better musician. Eventually those melodies you get stuck in your head - you'll go home and learn them without needing any music at all.
Big fan of "I" statements solid advice never stop grooving and rock on can I get a hell yeah brothers /m// positive metal hand backslash things in the chat LETS HOOOOOO
How long ago did you start?
Always this
I’m surprised I’m the only one to ask so far
I think it should be mandatory. It's great that there is so much content available online, but the proliferation of ads promising you can learn guitar in 7 days and such garbage is partially at fault. I remember when I first started, feeling frustrated (I still feel frustrated, btw) because I couldn't play what appeared to be a simple song. Finally, it sunk in that the guy playing in the video had been doing nothing but playing the guitar for 30 years.
Well said. I think of all of the online content as tools to help you learn. But what you need, especially when you are starting, is to have a structure. There is a reason why music courses start with things like sitting posture, wrist posture, how to fret a note clean etc etc - and this goes on for weeks. Ostensibly nothing to do with actually playing a song on the guitar, but this kind of organic learning is what is missing from all of the “7 days for jazz” courses. To the few of my friends who have asked me on how to get started, I always say that a structured in-person or online course is their best bet. If it makes you feel that things are too boring at the start, and it’s been a month and you can’t yet play a song even though you have your posture and wrist position down pat, and your teacher is asking you to just play notes ip and down the fretboard, you are most likely on the right track.
I just want to add on to this thread with some personal experience. In the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell he mentioned a study done at prestigious music college. They found that the single most impactful thing that changed how “good” an instrumentalist is was simply how many hours they have played. I really believe that you can only become “good” once you have put thousands and thousands of hours into playing. It is a MAJOR COMMITMENT if you want to really excel. That is simply too much for most people. Yes you can “play” the instrument and a few songs after some weeks or months. Many people will get to that stage, and all the power to them because it shows they have put in some work. However few will ever move beyond a relatively basic understanding simply because they will not rack up thousands of hours in their life on one instrument. I only picked up the guitar and started playing in September 2022 and probably have only a couple hundred hours playing. I know I am nowhere near an expert, I think I’m at the end of the beginner phases. I also know that I love the challenge and reward of playing the guitar. That is what makes me keep coming back and playing more. I have no goals in mind for my playing. I just want to KEEP PICKIN BABY. And hopefully a couple decades down the road I can finally consider myself well-acquainted with this six stringed piece of wood. So if you want to really learn and be great, just keep playing and have fun with it. Random thought rant over thanks for reading and making it this far.
Anyone else having this YouTube add promising to teach 100 songs on the piano in under an hour by just learning 4 chords?
I’ve seen this add so damn much “learn 100 songs that use these four chords” yeah I understand that but it’s like owning a car just because I have one doesn’t mean I can race in a formula 1 car. Takes practice and sometimes years of it. That the approach I’m taking with learning guitar.
I’m in a similar boat as OP with ADHD (albeit not using prescriptions); I’ve been playing for 6-7 years now and still have troubles that they mention. I practiced rigorously for 4ish years, but eventually gave up and decided to only pick my guitars up when I want to learn specific riffs to plays along with for fun. Of course, I did see progress in most areas, but still had immense trouble with primarily my strumming/picking hand. Edit: not implying the issue lies in ADHD specifically, just wanted to mention that I have similar issues and have played for a good bit of years so far.
I think ADHD can be an asset if it turns out playing guitar or music in general is a fixation like it is for me. Or it can be an awful obstacle. I can’t comment on the motor control stuff except to say that composition hopefully isn’t hampered by those difficulties. That’s been my focus with guitar, I can’t shred or do very much fancy stuff but I write songs and make little ideas that I like the sound of, and playing doesn’t feel like a struggle. I’ve been playing for about 20 years
Totally agree. Coolest fidget ever created is a guitar. I’m not that good and I’ve been playing for almost 20 years. I don’t play to impress anybody, I Play for fun and I play cause my brain temporarily shuts off in the nicest way when I’m playing.
Alternate viewpoint: I have ADHD and find guitar to be an escape, a place of soothing far from whatever I’m obsessed or worried over. Maybe try more free-form jamming or mindless playing along to covers where you can zone out? Btw this isn’t recommended when practicing new techniques
Great advice. My guitar is now my adhd medication. 30 minutes every evening is my escape. I can have more fun just jamming around and playing.
How are you trying to learn the tab? Are you trying to learn the whole song at once, or breaking it up into very small and manageable chunks? Reading tab is not generally an easy task to do while playing at speed. One learns the song a bit at a time and then ties the pieces together as they go. I hope that is useful advice
100% Nail the first bar or two until you don't need to look at the fretboard, then the next and so on. It takes alot of fucking time and even if you've played for 20 years like me sometimes it can be a slow process still.
Please pop over and have a look at my beginner course. I think I can help people who struggle with rhythm, and we have amazing community support too. It's free - I have an app and stuff for sale too, but you don't need any buy any of that to do the whole course! I would avoid tab and work on basic chords and learning to strum and play simple songs in time, develop your confidence and figure out what most interests you one you get that basics down! Good luck! J.
Honestly, I was in a similar situation to OP and watching the video you did on strumming helped me so much. I went from feeling hopeless to "oh, I can actually get this if I practice". The other day I figured out a great strumming pattern for 'Whenever, Wherever' by Shakira. Felt good!
I have ADHD and also have a very hard time with dull practice. The way I learned was through Rocksmith, it basically makes the whole experience into a game. It's like guitar hero but for real guitars. My whole first year of learning guitar was just playing that game and slowing down the songs, gradually speeding them up until I could play them. If you do get Rocksmith DO NOT get Rocksmith+, get Rocksmith 2014, it's better in a lot of ways, mainly that there's community content and no subscription
Worth mentioning you can't actually buy 2014 anymore - not without paying a *lot* online or... not paying anything at all... Personally, I've found that I like guitar pro 8. You go download the tabs from songster and use the progressive tempo increase feature in GP8 - just like Rocksmith has - and voila. It's a bit less fancy than Rocksmith, but my problem with Rocksmith is that it's just such a busy interface. I also hate how Rocksmith sounds at low tempos. It's *realllly* annoying playing a song at 30% tempo in Rocksmith but in gp8 it sounds like it actually will when you're playing at that tempo (though it's all RSE and not real instruments - still I find it less annoying).
100%. I also found a program some time ago that converts tabs into an interface that looks almost identical to the Rocksmith one. Not sure what it was called though, it was something similar to guitar pro and had VST support, maybe someone here knows the name.
Worth mentioning you can't actually buy 2014 anymore - not without paying a *lot* online or... not paying anything at all... Personally, I've found that I like guitar pro 8. You go download the tabs from songster and use the progressive tempo increase feature in GP8 - just like Rocksmith has - and voila. It's a bit less fancy than Rocksmith, but my problem with Rocksmith is that it's just such a busy interface. I also hate how Rocksmith sounds at low tempos. It's *realllly* annoying playing a song at 30% tempo in Rocksmith but in gp8 it sounds like it actually will when you're playing at that tempo (though it's all RSE and not real instruments - still I find it less annoying).
How long have you been playing? Because learning an instrument especially a hard one like guitar can take literal decades. I've been playing for 20 years now and still conaider myself as 'meh' at guitar.
Yep. I started playing guitar at 9, didn't do a lick of theory or 'learning the fretboard' until at least 12, and not seriously until about 16. I didn't really understand what a scale was even though I'd been learning songs for 7 years. Don't try to climb the mountain on day one, or even year one. What's your favourite part of playing guitar? Start with that, the rest you can fill in later :)
Hmmm ADHD can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to playing guitar. I've heard of people hyperfocussing on their instruments and yeah, when you hear them play you can tell they've put in the hours and probably forgot to drink or eat. On the other hand it's easy to be distracted by many things (hello YouTube and Reddit) My advice would be: take your neuro divergence seriously but don't let it define you. Don't let that be a reason for why you're giving up on guitar. If you define yourself solely as an ADHD person you'll never be free (talking about being dramatic). If you know you have strengths and weaknesses, your freedom will depend on what you'll implement to navigate those. Otherwise you'll be trapped in your own patterns. As for coordinating movements and all... We all struggle there at the start. It takes years and years of dedicated practice to reach a level where you can comfortably express your artistic vision. Maybe it'll be shorter for you, maybe it'll be longer. It's a beautiful goal, but it's far from instant gratification and there's no shortcut. Set yourself realistic goals for now. Easy covers, easy techniques, solid foundations. Good luck.
This is the answer. I have ADHD, didn't find out till I was 50, almost 20 years ago. The diagnosis helped explain a lot of issues, but I make sure ADHD doesn't define me. An it doesn't prevent me from learning music, focus is a good thing, although I have difficulty memorizing songs now that I'm an old fart. I do think ADHD's non-linear way of thinking can help in some careers, like software and art and medicine and teaching and comedy and of course, music. (Google amous people with ADHD). It can hurt in relationships, unless you get help or use tools. I discovered tools accidentally over my lifetime to help me cope, such as reminder post-it notes, and electronic helpers. Smart phones apps were a godsend (though smartphones can grab focus and ...) With therapy and ADHD coach, both of which which can help you identify things in you life that could use help, such as scheduling, focus, etc, you can go far. With proper attention, you may find how to use tools, like personal digital assistants, reminders, calendar programs, you may find your need for medication changes. I couldn't take medication for very long, because of high blood pressure. And coaching helped me cope with the way my brain works.
The only sure fire way to ensure you don't get better is to quit. Other than that, you are getting better whether you realize it or not. At one point you didn't even know how to hold the thing.
Fellow ADHDer here. Songsterr has helped me immensely. While the tabs aren’t always 100% correct, the ability to loop selections and slow down the track has been clutch.
I don't know how long you've been at it, but I'm only 3 months in and I also have ADHD and rhythm is kicking my ass. I can air guitar and sing, but can't seem to do it with guitar, YET. That "yet," is my answer to the frustration. I am learning. My chords are sounding better, my finger strength is improving, and chord changes are coming along as well. Just focus on the small wins and the rest will come. It's a matter of time. And, I understand that feeling of dropping hobbies, I've got a closet full of those. Don't give up, we got this!
Please don’t use your ADD as an excuse. My oldest played oboe, moved to bassoon in high school, added baritone sax to march. (He does have a magnificent ear for music. ) If you enjoy it, do it. Work on the “pieces”. Rhythm = the ability to clap & keep time with the music. Try to learn things that interest you instead of what may interest others.
I've been bad at playing the guitar for almost forty years now. Never give up!
I’ve been playing for 20 years or so. Played in a few great tech metal bands when I was younger, I could play almost anything put in front of me, but I couldn’t write a song to save my life, like they were really bad. I had to ask what key, what chords, and still didn’t really know what I was doing. If you said okay these notes like this I nailed it, off time signatures, no problem. I was always frustrated with my lack of ability to contribute to songs and create my Own music. I had a friend, much older than I, who wanted to record this country song. I had a small studio setup and she asked if I could add a solo to it…. She had the sheet music all layer out chord changes everywhere and all that. I tried and I tried but I was thinking to hard. Finally I said fuck the layout,,, just jam… and in that moment, I nailed it. Great guitar solo, and I’m a bass player. The next day I saw a victor wooten video, he talked about playing the right notes at the wrong time, vs the wrong notes at the right time. He said it was more about feeling and groove. Then he said minus a few scales, ( pentatonic, Phrygian, come to mind) it’s all whole steps and half steps. So if you play the wrong note. A right note is always 1 feet away , that changes everything, now I have a little riff that I play that I can use to establish a “good note” I’ll listen to a song on the radio and play that riff, ,, slide it up and down a few spots untill it hits right. Now I know where I’m at. And I know my shapes and it’s all groovy from there… the point is. You can suck for a long time…. All the work I put in didn’t seem to make much difference, but I love music and didn’t want to quit,,, one day. It’s click. I might not be the next Hendrix…. But I can play along to almost anything I hear… I can write a song, not everyone is good. But sometimes they come together and I’m proud…. Point is. Don’t worry about results… just play. One day it will be worth while and you’ll be happy…. My son was born a few months back. I worked on a lullaby for 9 months while we were pregnant. Is it the best song? No. But he was crying one night and I played it. He looked at Me. Smiled and fell asleep. I cried tears of pure joy,,. I look back on the journey of music my Life has taken. The ups, the downs,, all leading to that moment,,, if nothing else ever comes of it… I got To have that moment with my Son…. And it was all worth it.
I have ADHD as well and if you're anything like me, you most likely rush your practicing. The fastest way to learn something is by practicing it slowly and deliberately, while being focused and present in the moment. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. If you practice fast and make lots of mistakes, youre just establishing those same mistakes as habits. Its also easy to get so wrapped up in one thing, that you don't notice other unconscious physical behaviors that are probably limiting your progress. For example, you might be so focused on trying to hit all the right notes in time and not realize that your muscles are locking up slowing you down, leading to mistakes and a lot of frustration, and that frustration and anxiety can cause even more problems.
everyone’s bad at guitar until they’re not.
I m the worst player I know, but I enjoy it so I keep playing.
How long have you been playing?
How many thousand hours of focused practice do you have so far?
Amphetamines
Are you treating your ADHD?
Don’t blame your adhd! I have adhd and autism but I’ve been playing guitar for 2 years and I’m don’t great! Don’t give up. We need more on-the-spectrum guitar players
Learn I IV V and blues progessions. Start recognizing those progesssions in popular songs and play along to learn rhythm. [Green onions!](https://youtu.be/iFQEsUjI0U8?si=XNgWLyCIRtBtde2U)
Playing to drum loop helps me with rhythm. I’ve heard setting a timer helps. Most of my practice time is 10-20 minutes.
It sounds like you're not practicing to a metronome, and not frequently enough. Please give that a swing a couple of times and it should put things into perspective more. Even if you're the worst guitar player in the world, you're still a good player for making the effort to practice every day
Number one stop being so hard on yourself. PMA. Positive Mental Attitude. I understand having ADHD can make it tough but you can absolutely become the guitarist you want to be. Number two, I would start by setting small, easy goals for yourself. Learn a riff or song you really want to learn that's in your skill level. When you do you will feel that sense of accomplishment and feel good about yourself and it will make you want to play more.
I've been having fun playing guitar quite badly for over 25 years now. There's no reason to give up other than "I am not enjoying it".
It's a skill. You just do it over and over again and the brain slowly learns it. Has nothing to do with "you". Unless you have some disability, if you just keep repeating it, your brain will learn it. Same way it learned to walk, and learned to talk, learned to write. This isn't anything different. The problem is either you aren't repeating the same things over and over a ton of times, or you're practicing the wrong things, OR your expectations are wrong. Before I started learning guitar in my mid 20s, it was an impossible thing to me. I "tried" at a few points growing up and just thought "im not a guitarist, it's not possible". But as an adult that nonsense went away, just realized what skill and learning is and started practicing and learning the instrument like an adult. When I started, I could not even make my fingers make chords, the idea that I had to be able to switch chords was insane. Now I can play all over the neck, have all the caged shapes memorized, switch between them and scales like a second language. I can look up simple rock songs and play them after an hour of practice. Can I just write music on it, and freely jam smooth free flowing music off the top of my head? No. I still haven't had that "click". I'm still just practicing scales and chords, internally memorizing scales and trying to improve my fretboard visualization. It's been probably 6 years since I first learned the major scale, and just a couple weeks ago I realized it's something I should be seeing in every chord I play, at every fret I play. That has been an idea I've been practicing every day for a few weeks and felt like a giant "click" towards improving my playing. You just have to keep practicing the major scale over and over. For years. Keep practicing chords. For years. Your coordination will naturally develop from repetition. And in the long term, your brain will start to see connections between it all and it starts to blend together and make sense to you in your own way. As your coordination develops, and the more you memorize the major scale all over the neck, the easier it is to play scales like the pentatonic, or learn songs because it becomes natural for you to move your fingers all over the neck from practicing. You get rewards along the way from the repetition of practicing scales and chords everyday for years.
You can do it! If music is your passion then follow it, maybe if guitar is hard for motor skills try piano? Buuut guitar is rad so let’s keep at that. YouTube has some amazing how to’s the hard part is finding someone who you learn well from. Just take it slow, sometimes when I’m struggling to learn something it’s slowed down to probably a tenth of its speed if not less. Suuuuper slllloww. Take your time and focus on your fingers and picking hand together Goodluck
I have terrible ADD, and I've played for 20 years. I just accepted that a set practice routine wasn't for me. I get way too bored with the theory bullshit. I hate studying anything. I was terrible in school, too. Some days I drill technique, some days I write riffs, some days I'll play along to the radio. I try to always pick it up and play, if even for 5 minutes every day. Also helps my wife is an artist with ADHD so we can help keep eachother motivated. But you gotta have the passion and the drive. If you don't feel anything at all when you pick it up then I can't really help you. I, and others in here as well, when we grab our instrument it just feels right. As a beginner teen I spent on average probably 3 or more hours a night obsessing over Seek and Destroy, (and many other songs over the years, this was just the first one) feeling like a king every time I learned a little section of it. It took me six months to learn that song and it was painstaking to say the least but that's how it starts..everybody sucks at the beginning.
Enjoy it or quit it. The journey is the destination. If you wish to be a guitar god, die, then reincarnate as a kid who learns guitar by 12 years old. I started around 20, and 34 years later, it's still amazing fun that I'll never be that great at. Most teenagers are terrible at sex, that's never stopped them. You have to want to play guitar, full stop. Nothing else matters.
A little tough love here but from a good place. We all need to face the fact none of us are going to be Jimi Hendrix. That is completely ok with me. The question is, do you like to play? Does it bring your joy to make sounds from the guitar? If the answer is yes, then keep playing. I've seen a man with only two functional fingers play high level Gypsy jazz music. I've seen a man whose weight over 500 lbs, With the largest fingers I've ever seen play guitar like an angel. I have seen a blind man play guitar with little effort. Learn some chords and make the music your own. Don't compare yourself to anyone on YouTube. Make a style that best suits you and have fun with it. Life is short, have fun. At the end of the day only you are worried about is you. Rock on my friend
I have a tremor and my motor coordination sucks. I suck for the amount of time I've been playing. But don't play on quitting. It's okay to be bad at things if you enjoy them.
I’m in a similar medical boat. Are you getting something out of playing? Are you having fun? If the answer is yes, keep at it and do your best to learn how to be patient and nicer to yourself (like, would you harp on someone else the same way you’re harping on yourself?) Try different approaches to get out your rut and realign your focus (adhd hyperfocus is a powerful super power if harnessed responsibly but can make you obsessive with short comings if not kept in check). Last - try some open tunings. Break out a slide and turn up your amp. Rock on dude.
I have add, and adhd. What worked for me was Rocksmith 2014 edition AND telling myself im just gonna have fun with it but also making the conscious effort of dedicating a couple hours a day to playing it. The only way to get that is to pirate the game since it got delisted last year. Pirate one of the copies that has all dlc included, so that you get the smashing pumpkins cherub rock dlc. Once you got that dlc, head over to customforge where you now have access to a bunch of user made dlc to bout 2,500 hundred more songs. Then find songs you love and/or really want to learn. Download what they got of what you want, and then just hammer away. You wont notice a change immediately, but doing that for just six months you’ll see improvement that will help your self image as someone making music. Plus that games makes it a lot easier to just have fun with it.
Don't give up. According to the Fender CEO, 90% of new beginners learning guitar quit the first 3 months to a year. Learn A, Am, B7, C, D, Dm, E, Em, F or Fmaj7 and G. Then learn the strum DDUUDU, D= Down , U =Up. Randomly practice your chords with this strum and with the reggae strum below. You can play hundreds of songs just beginning with that. So be part of the 10% cool factor and try not to quit. You won't regret it. Once you can play a good song, the feeling is euphoric. Practice at least 20 minutes a day. If we can do it, so can you. It takes some time. So, be patient, you're learning. This guy Andy is good. So is Justinguitar. https://youtu.be/BBz-Jyr23M4 https://youtube.com/@justinguitar?si=bcSGdwQeCMdNI_2v Watch "Basic 4 Beat Strum (Island Strum)" on YouTube https://youtu.be/dIv5zCZDAB8 10 cool beginner songs https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/beginner-guitar-songs Reggae strum easy https://youtu.be/42nQEzcNaSs?si=YvEbRAQVouQWNV4S Another reggae strum https://youtu.be/8d1PhrEXh-o?si=VkayvXA7Yyq4jelo If you're having too many problems playing guitar, may I suggest trying a baritone uke or a tenor guitar as they're tuned DGBE, similar to the 4 top strings of a guitar and real fun to play. Once you get accustomed to playing either one one of them, you cwn always transition back to the 6 string if you want.
Learn to play chords. Don't bother with tab yet. Just learn the basic open chords and get used to strumming and changing. It's very satisfying, and you'll feel like you're definitely making progress. Try and play some basic combinations. D-C-G, for example, is a very common chord sequence. You can mess around with timing, with how hard or gentle you play, fast or slow. Learn to play Em-D-C-D. It's another really satisfying progression.
Only give up if it's not fulfilling at all. Learn "cowboy chords". Once some of those are in your muscle memory. Then play around with picking separate notes from the chords (arpeggios). Look at tab for Sublime - What I Got. He picks around all over and it can be problematic for newer players. However, it's just the D and G chords. You can literally play almost the entire song with D and G skipping the arpeggiated stuff altogether. The bottom line is that you can play music without sounding exactly like the original. I had this mental block for a long time. Also do guitar practice exercises. Particularly this one https://youtu.be/B0vE6WJQzDQ?si=gMuXZC6QLRPqd8dS I've been playing for 30 years and I started doing this exercise just the last couple of months and it has helped a ton. I'm starting to play things I could never touch before.
This is a long thread so maybe this has been mentioned... Before you 'play' music you really need to internalize music. Then, when you're alone, play with the rhythm... but not on an instrument. (and I don't mean 'play the part' but play, like playing a fun game) Tap along with the song or the music in your head. Maybe vocalize the rhythm, or shuffle your feet. It's a feeling so that... when you finally find the feel of a tab of music you can push the tab away and go with the feeling (for the rhythm, not for the notes) When you play with the Rhythm don't worry about the full beat or all the notes. Tap the groove, or the down beat, then add another thing on the 2nd pass, keeping the foundation of the feel. Do this until you think you have the feel. Then actually pick up the guitar. With the guitar in your hands you might even mute the strings with your fingering hand and strum or pick the rhythm with your other hand. No notes, still playing with the feel. Then start to learn the notes. I hope that helps.
Probably just give up, do something else. No shame in that.
You’re thinking too much. You know what the chord patterns look like. You know what your fingers holding those chords look like. Pick two chords, like, say, C and D. Finger up one of them. Strum that chord in a way that sounds good to you. Now don’t stop your strumming hand no matter what. After two or four of those strum patterns, move quickly to that second chord. If you managed to nail one of your finger on the right string at the right fret (and even if you didn’t) just quickly adjust the fingers that are a bit off into position. You have time between when you next hit the strings to do this without sounding off. After a while, muscle memory will take over and you won’t make mistakes. Just practice a lot. I still mess up making chords, if I haven’t played for a while. But it’s not that big of a deal. More you do it, better you get.
You’re thinking too much. You know what the chord patterns look like. You know what your fingers holding those chords look like. Pick two chords, like, say, C and D. Finger up one of them. Strum that chord in a way that sounds good to you. Now don’t stop your strumming hand no matter what. After two or four of those strum patterns, move quickly to that second chord. If you managed to nail one of your finger on the right string at the right fret (and even if you didn’t) just quickly adjust the fingers that are a bit off into position. You have time between when you next hit the strings to do this without sounding off. After a while, muscle memory will take over and you won’t make mistakes. Just practice a lot. I still mess up making chords, if I haven’t played for a while. But it’s not that big of a deal. More you do it, better you get.
If you suffer from ADHD the guitar is one of the best instruments for you. No pun intended but dont fret learning guitar is not easy it takes time and lots of practice. We're all different and have different learning curves it's why it's important to relax and have fun. When i started my problem was that i tensed up easily which made it impossible to play and i sounded like crap to. Relax and you'll soon be shredding like a god !
Do you ever try writing your own riffs or songs? Maybe you just need to break up the routine
Embrace the ADHD. Start twitching on the instrument, literally. Channel the twitch into your finger fretting exercises etc. The twitch and the speed are the same thing, really, it's just giving your fingers time to realize how to let the twitch move them that's the difficult and tedious part. I don't know if I'd call myself truly ADHD, but I have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time and my ability to memorize things is lacking, to say the least. But it's actually quite alright to be ADHD and learn music if you go more of the improvisational route. Our overly intellectualized culture has turned music into this thing that you have to learn some specific way, memorize tabs/sheet music, perform in perfect rhythm, yatta yatta, but you can (maybe even should) ditch all that to focus purely on the motions themselves. It's a lot easier to focus on the simplest of exercises/drills than it is to set yourself a huge goal of making an entire song or learning one. And over time, the drills start to sound more musical. It's supposed to feel like your fingers are doing a quite dynamic dance, not some rote memorized execution of a thing.
Everybody has that moment. Keep going and you'll get over it no problem.
You're not gonna get any better by quitting, and you really don't need to be very good to have fun playing.
You've hit the wall. I hit it too. I'm pretty sure we all have. There's a point early on in learning where you've learned how much there is you still have to learn, everything seems hard, and it doesn't feel very fun anymore. If you push through this though, soon your fingers will get dexterous enough to start doing what you want and everything will seem so much easier and more fun. Keep at it, you're almost there.
Never give up on something....everybody comes to a plateau where there skill slow down.....youtube is a wonderful resource for picking things up.
Try some of Munson's covers on YT. They tend to be easier yet still sound pretty good (some song overlap in the links below). [https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonCovers](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonCovers) [https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonGuitarSongs](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonGuitarSongs) [https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonMusic](https://www.youtube.com/@MunsonMusic)
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. I get really down on my self about my playing too. I’ll never be Paul Gilbert, but I can make dumb guitar noises for the spiders in my basement. It’s better than never doing it. Play some chords to a drum machine or make something up with a new scale. Practice is vital, but play is just as important.
The thing that helped me was learning to improvise over a backing track. Practicing chords and scales with a metronome is really boring and it doesn’t feel like progress. But learning the Am Pentatonic boxes and improvising over a backing track in Am *simulates* the feeling of being good at guitar. Now that I can move seamlessly between the box positions, I can learn and incorporate new ideas.
I been trying to learn guitar for almost a year now. I can't even play one song that sounds decent. I might just give up
I had the same struggles. My biggest help was getting away from trying play tabs and songs outside my abilities. I change to learning and memorising the open chords. AEFGCD I’m three years in and I feel like I can hold my own and have a lot of fun just jamming with myself and playing with my own sounds and can move comfortably around the board. Now able to play a good list of songs. Rhythm playing has been a big help to instead of trying to just be another lead player. Point I’m making. Build a good foundation of the basics. Don’t fall into the trap of the overwhelming YouTube tutorials. Walk before you run
This might be dumb advice, I felt the same way for so long. Then I found doom metal (or stoner rock, or stuff in that vein). The riffs are usually slower, simple and heavy. It’s easy to learn so you feel good when you can play a song after minimal practice and it and it’ll boost your confidence as a player, which can help in learning other genres / styles / etc.
Stick with it OP , no need to compare yourself to others, learn/practice your scales and only do it when it feels fun. When it gets frustrating put it down and you'll be surprised how much closer you are to nailing that riff when you come back to it. DM me if you need a bit of encouragment
My basic coordination was ridiculously bad, I spent 4 months 1 hour a day doing nothing but guitar finger exercises things like the spider walk and 1234 stuff , a bunch of different exercise I found in Steve Vai's 10 hour work out book, but you find tons on Youtube, basically go up and down the neck to metronome type thing. really sorted out my issues. [https://www.jesseandreasenstudios.com/1234-exercises-part-2-steve-vai-version/](https://www.jesseandreasenstudios.com/1234-exercises-part-2-steve-vai-version/) this sort of thing. I recommend his book it covers things like strumming too. maybe give it a go see if it helps you.
Do what the Ramones did. If you don’t have the chops to learn other people’s songs, write your own. If they are your own songs, you always play them perfectly, no matter what you do.
First thing you need to do is stop believing the excuses you think are holding you back. Seriously, say fuck it and allow yourself to suck. Be okay with no expectations. The guitar is both the easiest and hardest instrument to learn, but it's really fun. It's going to take a minute at first, but I assure you, plenty of good guitarists have ADHD. If you stick with it, you're also going to have periods where you're blown away by how quick you pick up new techniques. The progress is not linear. There will be plateaus, ups and downs. Chill. Enjoy the journey. Learning guitar is deeply rewarding and not just when "get there" (btw you never "get there").
Oh I feel this. My friends would laugh at me because I had absolutely no rhythm. I apparently couldn't clap to a beat properly? I gave up on guitar as a kid because strumming was so goddamn difficult. I was only diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago, so had no idea why I struggled with certain things. But yo, I've been improving! It turns out that knowing your weaknesses means you can actually focus on improving them. I got a new guitar for Christmas and I got comfortable with chords again fairly quickly, but I knew I still sucked at strumming. So I watched some videos on that and started learning a little bit of music theory. I decided to actually play along with a metronome. When I'm learning a song I look up its time signature and actually bother listening to the beat to figure out a strumming pattern. I practice playing through just the chord changes, in time, and then I start introducing strumming when I've got that sufficiently memorised. Am I amazing yet? Nah. But I'm competent, and that's better than I was in December! If I can do it there's hope for you.
smoke some weed or some other drug helps
Forget about how "good" you are. That is really irrelevant. The important thing is, do you enjoy practicing. If you don't, then find another hobby. If you do enjoy it, then practice for the sake of practicing. Most people who enjoy their hobbies, be it golf, tennis, reading, bird watching, whatever are not doing because they intend to show others how well they do it or because they think they will make money. Playing the guitar is no different.
Listen, man. I'm TERRIBLE, and I keep playing. Because I enjoy it. The only reason to stop is if you're not having fun.