3 Secrets To Success When Learning To Play The Guitar

by Maurice Richard
Senior Instructor at Halifax Guitar Lessons


Learning how to play the guitar is not as easy as it looks for most people.

Sure, there will always be that one person that picks it up and it all seems easy and natural to them. They are rare though.

For the very large majority of us it is not that easy. And for some people it is downright difficult.

It does not matter which one of those you are, you can still learn how to play the guitar if you want to.

Here are 3 secrets that will help you overcome all of the challenges and obstacles that may get in your way when learning to play the guitar.


secrets to success playing guitar

1. Believe In Yourself

This may sound like an obvious point and not a secret at all.

However, most people that come in to see me about their guitar playing do not believe they can learn how to play. Most of them doubt that they can ever become good guitar players.

For some it takes a while but when they finally start to see some positive results something clicks and they start to believe they can achieve their goals. But not everyone gets there.

If you are trying to teach yourself or if you are going to an untrained guitar teacher or if you have unrealistic expectations you may not see the results quickly enough and that click never happens.

Most people tend to then blame themselves, they reinforce the negative belief they could not do it, and quit.

Don’t let that happen to you. Find a professionally trained guitar teacher to help you get results and boost you self-confidence.

2. Be Consistent

Consistent daily action is the key to success to just about anything and it certainly applies when learning how to play the guitar.

Of course, it requires you to already have confidence and believe that you can reach your goals. That’s the pre-requisite. You will not put in time on a daily basis for something you do not believe you can do.

Trying to find time to practice for 2, 3 or more hours every day is not really possible for most people. We have jobs, school and other things we need to do on a daily basis.

So what some people do is have monster practice sessions of several hours on the weekend and then barely practice during the week, thinking that it will all work itself out.

This is much better than nothing, but you would get more accomplished by taking daily action, even if it is only 15 minutes. Creating a daily practice habit is what will get you the best results over time.

3. Use The Correct Road Map

As I mentioned already learning to play the guitar is not the easiest thing to do.

Most people try to learn to play the guitar on their own either through books, DVDs or online. There are so many resources out there you would think that this is a great option.

Yet, most people who try this do not learn how to play and quit either because they were overwhelmed and could not keep up or bored because the materials were too easy.

The reason this happens is because the order you learning things on the guitar and the timing of when you learn them is critically important. There is a roadmap to successfully learn to play the guitar.

The best way to get this roadmap is to find a guitar teacher who is professionally trained.


trained guitar teacher has roadmap

The Key Is To Find A Guitar Teacher Who Knows The Roadmap

Not all guitar teachers are the same and they are certainly not equal when it comes to how they teach or the results they get for their students.

Some of the local guitar teachers have gone to University but that does not qualify them to teach you. They may know a lot of information but are not trained on how to present it.

The teachers who get the best results are the ones who are dedicated to teaching the guitar and have been trained professionally. They will know the roadmap to your success.

Finding those teachers may not be easy. They are actually quite rare. But they are definitely worth the effort.

Instead of wasting your time guessing and randomly trying to teach you to play the guitar they will have a plan that fits you and will get you the results you want.