The Diary


Day 1: How It All Began

It all starts as a happy accident on Saturday 13th March 2021. I grabbed my kid’s 3/4 size right-handed guitar and turned it around to get a feel for how a beginner (with bigger fingers) might feel picking the guitar up for the very first time.

Week 1: The First 6 Days

The first 6 days are an adventure of discovery into how difficult learning guitar from scratch actually is. The A chord is much harder than I thought. I don’t like anchor fingers so much. It all starts off excruciatingly difficult, but progress is quicker than expected.

Week 2: Days 7 to 13

So, this is where the adventure officially begins. This is where I decide to officially learn guitar again, from scratch, left-handed.

This is also the period where I start to document my process and progress.

Week 3: Days 14 to 20

Yey! New guitar.

But there’s a 17-day delay!

However, I resume my quest for left-handed guitar stardom. The week starts great but dwindles over Friday and the weekend.

Week 4: Days 21 to 27

Aw Man!

This was not a good week.

Only managed a small amount of practice, but learned a lot about the challenges of finding time to learn guitar as a busy adult.

Week 5: Days 28 to 34

And we’re back on track!

This week was a really good one, and I managed to clock up over 3 hours of practice time 🙂

I’ve also decided to really commit to using the plectrum, but it’s messing with the quality of my chords.

Week 6: Days 35 to 41

I stuck to my promise and practised with the pick all week.

I’m not feeling as much progress as I’d like though, which temporarily draws me down a path of technical exercises – this didn’t work out very well for me.

A decent practice week though, racking up a total of 2 hours of guitar time.

Week 7: Days 42 to 48

This week felt a little strange. My motivation seems to be withering along with my perceived lack of progress and practice.

The week finishes pretty poorly with only 1 day of practice out of 4.

Week 8: Days 49 to 55

This week, I just tried to power through my motivation dip.

I practised for a total of 2 hours and found some progress with my new chord-changing/strumming learning idea, which was motivating.

Week 9: Days 56 to 62

Oooooosh! This is my worst week yet. My motivation dip seems to be getting deeper, and deeper.

I only managed two days of practice and didn’t really enjoy it.

Not good!

Week 10: Days 63 to 69

Things needed a drastic shake-up, so I shook them up. I changed my mindset from “Progress” to “Process”!

I practised every single day, making this week my most consistent week to date.

And the best bit, I enjoyed it.

Week 11: Days 70 to 76

WOWZER! Another full house!

7 days of practice, although it’s not really feeling like practice anymore. Things feel really good.

Week 12: Days 77 to 83

Another full week of practice! I’m on a roll.

Just continuing on with the same chords through a number of different tunes.

Week 13: Days 84 to 90

My practice run finally ends at 20 days, but I still had a solid week of guitar playing.

I’m also starting to see the finish line with this Campfire Guitar Start stage of my journey and set myself a target!

Week 14: Days 91 to 97

Another standard 5-day practice week in the bag. Things feel good, and improvement is small but steady.

26 days left until I reach the Big 100!

Just going to keep going.

Week 15: Days 98 to 104

Not the best of practice weeks really.

I think I’ve been a little too focused on the 100 Days of Learning objective and need to reevaluate my priorities.

Still, everything is coming along nicely, except for the dreaded F chord! This is my last level Boss!

Week 16: Days 105 to 111

Another decent practice week under my belt and lots of practice on the F chord.

Progress is very incremental, but I’m plugging away at it.

Just got to keep going!

Week 17: Days 112 to 118

F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord! F Chord!

Still working on this one, but it’s a tough nut to crack.

This week, I start to add a few little extra open chord workouts for the left hand to try to speed up the process.

Week 18: Days 119 to 125

Categorically my worst practice week to date.

The Summer Holiday period has cropped up a challenging time.

My guitar was on holiday taking a break.

Week 19: Days 126 to 132

Ok, so got a bit of momentum back this week, where I found myself back into technical exercise territory.

Positive results!

Week 20: Days 133 to 139

A non-existent week in terms of guitar practice. The summer holidays are hectic, work is busy, and I’m away on a family adventure from Friday to Sunday.

Week 21: Days 140 to 146

Slightly back on track this week, and so the countdown to 101 days of practice begins!

4 x 1-hour practice sessions take me up to 98 days of current practice!

3 practice sessions left!

Guitar From Scratch Diary Week 22 and 23

Week 22 and 23: Days 147 to 160

Game officially paused for two weeks whilst I spend two full weeks on holiday with my family 🙂

Guitar From Scratch Diary Week 24

Week 24: Days 161 to 167

The Summer Holidays end, the kids are back in school and a sense of normality resumes!

I have 3 practice sessions left before I finally reach my goal of 101 Days of Practice.

Can I do it?

Yes I can! 🙂

A 2022 Update!

So for the past year, I’ve been testing the learning methods that I discovered from my Guitar From Scratch experience on my students (new and current).

Here’s the update.