It's a little late (or early, depending) but hey, I'll commiserate. Turkey rocks, barkeep, thank you. Sounds like you had the perfect ambiance for a music session...was there lightning, thunder, wind and rain also? Weather permitting I like to go outside on the front or back porch and serenade the neighbors, dogs, cats, what-have-you.

Don't be too discouraged. Progress does indeed come slow, it seems...I've been plunking away for nigh on 30 years off and on, and I haven't progressed much farther than the three-chord song....well, maybe I'm not the best one to be commiserating with you, on second thought (ahem)....hey, don't pay me no nevermind, do you know how many songs only have three chords? Billions...virtually all blues tunes, as well as lots of Country & Western and Bluegrass tunes, folk tunes too...and rock tunes...well, hell, nearly all songs have only three chords. Sometimes a song has only two...one in particular that readily comes to mind is a Hank Williams tune whose name eludes me at the moment,(Leej?) but it goes..."and that's all she wrote (Dear John)...I've sent your saddle home." Two chords. And sometimes only (count 'em) one. Really. One chord. John Lee Hooker does a tune about the Tupelo, Mississippi flood (blues enthusiasts, I apologize if I've got the location wrong)...one chord, probably E.

When I was having trouble changing chords fast enough, I'd try to think about something else while trying to play as slow as necessary to keep a steady rhythm while changing chords. Doesn't matter what you think about...I'd think about someone I hadn't seen in a long time, or a place I'd been to, and do the chord changes without trying to think about it. Seemed to help me with the speed, sort of along the lines of concentrating too hard gets in the way of progress.....

Then for me too what helped was to get out my little battery powered cassette player and play along with songs that sounded like they'd be easy to play. Like the one chord and two chord gems mentioned above. Then I could delude myself thusly: "Hey, I can play like John Lee Hooker and Hank Williams!" It would work for a little while.

And lastly, I'd try to make up my own stuff. That's the fun part. Trying to invent chords, twisting my fingers into pretzels, making up songs and verses...playing a chord and lifting one of my fingers to see how that changed the sound..playing games.

I can sympathize with you on the progress thing, really. But this time next year, I guarantee you'll be amazed at the progress you've made. I know it's hard to find time to practice...I try to play a little at least every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. You'd be surprised even with that small amount of time how much it helps. And too , it seems like there's barriers that have to be broken through...seems as though you slog along forever, never seeming to make any progress, then one day....you wake up and boom! you suddenly can make that difficult chord change you've been practicing forever. Then you're on cloud 9 and all those sessions that ended in bloody fingers suddenly seem worthwhile. And you're happy that your guitar playing level has reached a new plateau.

It's been nice commiserating with you. Sadly, I have to earn a living, so I have to leave for now. Hope to see you back here soon and I'd love to hear about the progress you are certain to have made the next time we speak.

BTW, do you all still call an interstate on ramp, "Port of Entry" or something like that? Just curious.

Regards, Neil