After not having played guitar since I was in school, I bought an acoustic guitar last August. I downloaded some chord charts and started practicing on my own. I then discovered some guitar lessons on YouTube which led me to Nate's Guitar System course which was available through Guitareo which Nate founded. I'm up to section 7 in both the Guitar System course as well as section 7 of the Guitareo Method which I've worked on simultaneously. Both sections deal with bar chords so they would be equivalent to lesson #27 Bar Chords 3 on the Guitar Foundations course here. I've been a little stuck on these sections covering the E and Em shaped bar chords on the E string; and the A and Am bar chord shapes on the A string. Over this past week I've been working on them. They're getting better and showing a little more clarity; but by no means are they great yet.

I made a list in notepad of each chord I've learned. Every morning I pick up my guitar before I go to work and I put on each chord shape and strum it a couple of times. I've now memorized all the chords. Just added 3 new chords today; E6, Eadd9, and G6.

I've also practiced the power chords from the 1st to 12th fret on the E and A strings. After that I play every note from the open string to the 12th fret for all 6 six strings. As I do, I say the name of the note. I've memorized all the notes at the fret markers on all 6 strings which is a great reference point to helping master the entire fretboard.

I've been devoting more of my practice sessions to learning songs as of late. I do a pretty good job with Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presley) and I'm coming along nicely on His Latest Flame (Elvis Presley). Some of the other songs that I've downloaded TABs from Ultimate Guitar.com and have been trying out include:

• Stir It Up - Bob Marley (sing and play along with his video on YouTube)

• Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me - Elvis Presley

• That's Rock and Roll - Eric Carmen

• Happy Days - Pratt & McClain

• I've Got a Rock and Roll Heart - Eric Clapton

• Jack and Diane - John Cougar Mellancamp

• LaBamba - Richie Valens

• Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash

• Rocky Mountain High - John Denver

• Try a Little Kindness - Glen Campbell

I try to get in 60 minutes a day or more. I usually practice about 15-20 minutes at my desk at home each morning before I get ready for work. I then spend about another 30 minutes after dinner and then maybe another 20-30 minutes before I go to bed. On the weekends, I often play for 3-4 hours each day.

Well that's where I'm at and thought I would share my progress. Maybe some of the things I'm doing will help someone else. I find the two best tips have been to make my chord/note study list and to break my practice sessions up into small chunks throughout the day. We're all busy so often it's hard to find a full 60 minutes at once to practice; but often we can find 10, 15, or 20 minutes two or three times a day. 🎸