Originally Posted by: evan.froeseI am very new to guitar and I have very limited musical background. I am looking for some experienced opinions about where my area of focus should be. I am learning chords and starting to get into some very basic songs and melodies. My question is this. Should I keep moving ahead and learning new things even if I haven't completely mastered previous lessons? Or am I better served to sit and hammer one chord change 2 000 times before I move on to something else?

Should I worry about mastering all of the finest details of every point I am taught when I am taught it, or play as best as I can, keep moving forward and work on everything as I move along?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

First, I know that "teaching theology" varies in this area, so I'll give my opinion, but others feel free to chime in.

Personally, I've always advocated really learning a topic and gaining a comprehensive familiarity with it before moving forward.

Not to say you have to "master" something like basic open chords but, you should know them really well before moving on.

The reason I say this is that some of those more mundane beginner topics tend to get glossed over and people end up playing guitar for a few years without developing any polish with their playing. They can do a lot but it's all just kind of sloppy.

So I wouldn't say you have to hammer out a chord change thousands of times before moving on (maybe hundreds?), but I would say to take your time and er on the side of caution before move into a more difficult topic.

Any other thoughts on this one?