Trump reportedly told Justin Trudeau that if his tariffs destroyed Canada, and the country could not survive without “ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion a year,” then Canada should become the United States’ 51st state, with Trudeau serving as its governor.

I’m not sure if you are lumping me in with the critics and kibitzers, but if you are, I think my advice was misunderstood. Like you, I’m mostly a self learner and that seems to fit my personality best. I think it’s great you are taking on the guitar and I get joy from reading of the joy your pursuit is giving you.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds;who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

–Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx
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It may seem overblown, but this is how I see myself when I take on a learning mission.

I am the Man in the Arena.

I am serious. I am doing my best to reach a result. I will make mistakes and encounter dead-ends. I do a large survey of best practices and strive to adapt them for my needs. I also find the fun in the mission to keep my motivation up.

But I don’t have much time for the critics and kibitzers, who don’t know me or where I am or what I am up against.

PS. The full TR speech is something else. That Man in the Arena could write and take action.

Rufus T. Firefly:

Sure, but some more than others. I’ve also played piano, viola and recorder and I never noticed any “athletic” challenge. I might have if I had been playing four or more hours / day. With guitar I noticed problems within the first few days of mild practice.

With guitar my top priority is to get my hands working and to keep them working. I need to learn to play lightly with good technique and posture.

I’m also looking ahead to music theory, memorizing the fretboard, and watching lots of guitar videos on different aspects, listening to what I hear etc.

I’m a determined self-learner. I get to what I need when I need it. Pretty much everything I’ve learned since 8th grade, I taught myself. I trust my instincts. I only took one intro computer class, which was pretty useless, and I finished my career as a Senior Software Engineer.

You’re a sterling fellow, but unless I ask, I’m not interested in anyone’s advice. If you want to tell me about what worked for you, I’m all ears.

Omer Neutra, 21, had long been assumed to be alive, but was actually killed during the terrorist attack, with his body taken to the Gaza Strip by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Neutra, of Plainview, Long Island, had been serving as an IDF tank commander.

I can’t think of an instrument that doesn’t have an “athletic endeavor” component to it.

Just as I encouraged you to devote as much time to speaking/listening to French as you were to reading (and yet you did not heed my advice 🙂 ); playing an instrument has a similar* component: theory and ear training.

Based on what I know of you from what you write here, I think you’ll enjoy both, but be aware that both are different disciplines and being expert in one has almost no overlap in mastering the other. Along with your reading/research into guitar and music theory and scales practice I recommend setting aside time each day to thinking of a song in your head and trying to reproduce it by ear; with no help from tablature or youtube videos or anything else. Just you, the instrument, your recollection and ear. Try to solo pick out simple melodies; “Frere Jacques,” “Oh, Susanna…” Try to guess chords and chord progressions based on your echoic memory.

*I’m convinced the speaking/hearing part of foreign language study uses the identical part of the brain as “by ear” music study; and the reading/grammar part of foreign language study uses the same part of the brain as music sight reading and music theory comprehension.