Originally Posted by: jeongminc.jm

Hi, started playing guitar about a month ago. I've been having a lot of fun playing songs and learning chord progressions through the beginner's curriculum. But I can't help but feel this odd sense that I'm simply memorizing chord shapes and locations on the fret board, as opposed to taking away some transferrable skill from each song I learn to put into use when learning a new song.

Is this an issue I should be worried about? Any tips on how to mitigate this? Or will the understanding come naturally as I load on more songs? I've only learned like 4 songs so far. Thanks!

Learning lots of songs over time, you'll do at least two things:

1. Get physical practice (strength, dexterity) which is always good.

2. Discover patterns that exist across songs and genres. "Oh, this is just that same pattern again from Song A but with an extra strum" instead of starting over each time.

In addition, learning some music theory is a good way of understanding what connects all music together in a shared language. Once you understand theory you'll see these underlying patterns and it's a HUGE shortcut. You'll learn songs more quickly, etc.

But don't worry too much -- you only know 4 songs. A lot of these patterns will become obvious to you. Keep at it!

-Carl.