Taking on too much???

[roadbiker]

I'm wondering if I may be trying to learn too much at once. I really want to learn fingerstyle. I know how to play songs like Dust in the Wind, Blackbird, Never Going Back, and some other fingerstyle tunes, so I think I have a pretty good start (I hope). I also learned fingerstyle O Come All Ye Faithful for Christmas.

I prefer reading music over tabs, but over the years I learned the songs I wanted to play by ear, and only used printed music for the chords and sometimes for the melody. For the most part, if I could hear it, I could (eventually) learn and play it. But for learning fingerstyle it looks like it is important to read music (and tabs), so now I am going back to some of my old lesson books and relearning the basics about reading music. I have also bought some new lesson books (Mark Hanson) to learn more advanced fingerstyle and I'm even using an old Classical Music for Guitar lesson book to help.

I spend a lot of time excercising my fingers by learning and playing major and pentatonic scales. It get's boring after a while, but I can see real progress. I bought Guitar Aerobics, which also seems pretty good.

I also want to learn alternate tunings, but I think I may be taking on too much at the same time because alternate tunnings seem like a whole new world with different chords structures and different ways to play scales.

And on top of all of that I am on a conitunous mission to learn new songs, and I have one in mind that I want to write.

Am I taking on too much at the same time?

[byrd]

It sounds like you probably already have quite a bit more experience than me, so I suppose I can't really give advice.  I can, however, say that I feel the same way!  After not playing for about 10 years, and now coming back to it, I'm essentially going back to basics and re-learning pretty much from the ground up.  Between trying to learn some basic theory, scales, modes, posture, rhythm, not to mention songs, yada, yada, yada... it all gets quite overwhelming.  Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day.  Like many folks here, work and other responsibilities make it difficult to dedicate the time that I'd like to the instrument. 

Right now, I'm feeling kinda like a 16 year old learning to drive again.... white knuckles grasping on the steering wheel, only looking at the road just a few feet in front of the bumper.  It's only been about 7-8 weeks since I've gotten back into playing.  I figure that once the initial information overload subsides, and things begin to sink in a bit more, I'll be a little more relaxed.

I thought about purchasing Guitar Aerobics, but I figured there are already a number of things that I'm working on.  I too have been doing a lot of scales, and was afraid of getting too bogged down in an entire book of exercises.   The scales DO tend to get boring, but I've started doing a few scale sequences and intermingling the scale positions (descend one shape and accent the next shape up neck) to mix things up a bit.  That's been a big help with the scales, but also with the muscle memory.  There are a few other exercises out there (the spider comes to mind) that I use when scales really get boring. 

I've finally started to concentrate a bit more on some individual songs.  I've really wanted to tackle a few fingerstyle songs (I know a lot of Dust in the Wind and Blackbird, but Never Going Back Again should be added to my list!), but I've sort of put that on the back burner right now cause I'd like to improve my flatpicking (my accuracy and consistency needs a lot of help!). 

Hmmmm.... After all that, I suppose I can say that I have been intentionally limiting some of the things I'm taking on at the same time.   I'm trying to be a more patient this time around.  It'll be decades of learning, and while I DO want to progress as quickly as possible, I have to keep telling myself that I DON'T need to learn it all this week!

[roadbiker]

I'll have to give the spider a whirl. I have been doing scales with alternating strings, but the spider excercise looks and sounds intriguing. It sounds like the obscure intro to No Time by the Guess Who.

Thanx, Jim

[not darth]

Never heard about the spider, I'll have to look into that.

I'm a newb, so, take this advice with that in mind.
I figure that if you are enjoying the exercises, you feel you are making progress, and you aren't getting frustrated, then no, you're not taking on too much. 
Boredom or the lack of a challenge is going to get you to put down an instrument just as quickly as taking on more than you can handle, so it's important to find that balance of challenge so things stay fresh without being overwhelming. 
-K