September Update
An injury — or anything else life throws at us — might force us to slow down for a while. But that doesn’t mean the progress is gone.
Setbacks Don’t Erase Your Progress
You know how they say to practice until your fingers bleed? This past month it wasn’t practice that did it — it was a brand-new kitchen knife.
I’ll spare you the details, but my injured index finger — on my chord hand, of course — had me genuinely worried about whether I’d be able to play at all. Worst finger injury I’ve ever had, and half my nail is now missing.
Then the swelling went down and I found something incredibly lucky: the knife had caught the nail but missed the fingertip — the part that actually presses the strings. I was back to playing almost immediately. Still a little sore two weeks on, and it put me behind on filming, but with any luck you won’t notice a thing in my upcoming lessons.
It was a good reminder that interruptions can happen without warning. An injury — or anything else life throws at us — might force us to slow down for a while. But that doesn’t mean the progress is gone. We do what we can, give it time, and ease back in when we’re ready.
Have you ever had a hand injury — or another setback — that kept you from playing? How did you deal with it?
Membership Updates
This month, Academy members picked up full playthroughs of three of this month’s songs.
New Full Play-throughs
- “Redemption Song” — Full Playthrough
- “You Raise Me Up” — Full Playthrough
- “I’m Only Sleeping” — Full Playthrough
🎸 Join the Academy Here →
🌟 Student Spotlight: Mary Swanepoel
Meet Mary — she’s wanted to play guitar most of her life, and she’s proving there’s no deadline for starting.
Here’s Mary’s story, from a guitar that kept going back in the case to playing for nursing-home residents →
For Mary, learning guitar is something she has wanted to do for most of her life. She received her first guitar from her husband after they were married, and even managed to take a lesson after the birth of her second son. But life kept getting in the way. Between raising children, moving from Africa to Australia, and everything else that comes with a busy life, the guitar would come out occasionally, only to be put away again.
Now retired, Mary decided it was time to give it another try.
Her renewed musical journey began with singing. Last year, she started singing with a local men’s shed group after her husband encouraged her to join. She began singing at home with backing tracks but soon realized that learning guitar could help her take things a step further. Her goal was simple: learn to sing and play at the same time.
She discovered Good Guitarist in January and soon decided she was going to commit for a whole year.
Since then, Mary has been taking things one step at a time. She started with three chords — A, D and E — and began finding songs she already knew that used them. “You Are My Sunshine” became an important milestone, because Mary already knew the melody and words from singing it when she was young, and later singing it to her grandchildren.
James’s approach of breaking the song into small pieces worked particularly well for her. Mary practiced one chord at a time, added the singing, and gradually brought everything together — until eventually, “I finally got that song,” she says.
Now she is working on songs such as “Heartbeat” by Buddy Holly and practicing her strumming with a metronome. She has also begun working toward C and G chords. Progress can be slow, but Mary has learned to appreciate that.
“I don’t mind how long it takes me as long as I can keep moving forward.”
That attitude extends beyond guitar. Mary enjoys cycling with her husband, reading and working on jigsaw puzzles. She also believes that learning challenging things is a good way to keep growing. For her, guitar is not simply about learning songs — it is about continuing to learn.
And she has a meaningful reason for keeping at it. Mary hopes to eventually visit nursing homes and sing and play guitar for residents, particularly people living with dementia. She has already performed in nursing homes and has seen how music can bring people out of their rooms, inspire them to listen, and even get up and dance.
There is still one hurdle: performing in front of people makes her nervous. Her solution is the same one she gives to other beginners — do it anyway. “Keep practicing till it gets better, and it’ll come,” she says. “Practice makes perfect, and hopefully it’ll be fun in the end.”
For Mary, it already is. She says that if she had a day entirely to herself, she could happily spend much of it singing and practicing guitar. Her advice to anyone struggling to learn is straightforward: “You’ve got to just do it.”
Mary is proving that there is no deadline for learning an instrument, and no need to wait until you feel ready. Start with what you can do, practice it, and keep moving forward. The next song is waiting.
Thank you to Mary for sharing her story and time with us.
Inspired by Mary’s story?
→ Explore the GoodGuitarist Academy
→ Already a member? Share your story here — you could be our next featured student.
What I’ve Been Teaching Lately
Here’s a look at the lessons that went out this month, broken down by song lessons and non-song lessons.
Song Lessons
- How to Play “I’m Only Sleeping” by The Beatles — Easy Chords
- How to Play “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley — Chords, Strumming & Intro Riff
- How to Play “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban — Easy to Full Arrangement
Non-Song Lessons
- The 5-Minute Chord Switching Routine That Actually Works
- Strumming Without a Pick, From Beginner to Advanced
- 5 Lead Guitar Mistakes That Make You Sound Like a Beginner
Coming Up Next
Here’s a look at what I’ll be working on next:
- “Hey There Delilah” — easy strumming version
- Smoother Strumming in 3 Steps (even if you think you have no rhythm)
- Unlock the Whole Neck With One Shape
- “Redemption Song” — the intro riff, note by note
- How to Graduate From Beginner Guitar (Step One)
- “Nights in White Satin” — no barre chords
That’s all for now!
– James
