"The more I learn, the less I know", did you ever had this feeling?

[Mariler]

It’s just my thoughts but I’m sure I’m not the only one here having sometimes this feeling.

There is so much involved on guitar learning…

I don’t really think it’s a bad thing feeling like that. I mean, I guess I learn like in circles. I focus on one thing at a time, then move on to the next one I want to learn, and then I go back to the previous thing and understand something I didn’t even notice the first time.

It’s like the first time you try to learn something you don’t really notice everything that’s going on there.

For instance, you take a song, work on the rhythm. The way my learning goes is:

• At the beginning all I can do is try to move my hands, follow the timing, try to play it right…
• Sometime later I go back to the song and think about the chords the song is using, try to figure out in which key it’s written…
• Next time I start to think, which scales could I use to improv on top of these chords? And I start learning scale positions…
• Then…where are my root notes? Oh, I should learn the fretboard…
• After that…maybe I should learn some arpeggios to make my improv more melodic...
• Some months later I want to learn the solo and there are a lot of techniques to work on…

And so and so…every time I go back at the song I feel the need to learn something new, … And after that I have to move back to the beginning because I notice I’m forgetting things I learned before…and start over again and re-learn.

 

[Firsty Lasty]

Yes. Same for me, and likely everyone else. It's always a journey of re-examining my playing and discovering just how great the really good musicians are.

This is why I wouldn't recommend for anyone to work through the course here "one lesson at a time" or be in a hurry to complete or graduate the course. Mastering all the material here along with learning/writing actual music would require years of serious study, minimum.

Even just looking at the etudes, there's 65 of them. If you learn one per week that's a year and three full months.

 

[idssdi]

For me it's more I learn, the more I start realizing the things I don't know. Most things are like an everlasting process. For example I had a meeting with my professor today and at the end I always realize there's something deeper goin on too. With music it's basically the same, it's like this rabbit hole of things you kinda have to go through.

 

[Chris Johnston]

I definitely get this feeling a lot! I always see it as a positive. If you realize that there's more to know then that will always be a motivation to try and learn it - verses a player that think's they've got something covered and doesn't delve deeper, they always loose out on the good stuff

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

With any subject, the more you delve into it, the more you find out you don't know. You can master something, (become proficient), but you can never know all there is to know.
Once you have some technique and some knowledge of theory - then it's all about what you hear. Can you make your fingers play the notes that are in your head? And are the notes in your head worth playing? Do you hear tasteful things? Musicality. That's the final frontier. And it takes a lifetime.
I haven't touched a guitar in 3 months - but I'm listening. Hopefully when I do pick it up again, I'll have new ideas and a fresh perspective.

 

[Mariler]

For me it's more I learn, the more I start realizing the things I don't know. Most things are like an everlasting process. For example I had a meeting with my professor today and at the end I always realize there's something deeper goin on too. With music it's basically the same, it's like this rabbit hole of things you kinda have to go through.

That's exactly what I feel, learning something new makes me more aware of everything I don't know...it's like all the time discovering there's something else to learn
I think I'll end up being a beginner forever

 

[Mariler]

I definitely think I kind of need that fresh new start from time to time and that keeps me motivated and eager to learn.
Being a 47 year old beginner I know I'm not bound to become a great musician, and it's not what I want, but this learning keeps me moving, it's like a fresh breeze, like my brain needs to get out of its comfort zone and explore.
It's so good to have you all here to share these thoughts because my friends and family look at me like "ok, we love you, but you are so weird..."

 

[Andrew Milner]

Going through this right now actually, both with guitar and music releases . 2020 has been an odd year and I have gone though many different states in my guitar journey.

I am just letting it all settle in for now. It is definitely not a bad feeling.