Senior Instructor at Halifax Guitar Lessons
You know that it would feel awesome to do it. But you keep convincing yourself you don’t have the time in your schedule, or that it will take too long to learn or that your fingers are not the right shape, or other things.
Maybe you tried it before and you stopped because it was not going as well as you expected, it was really hard, or you perhaps got bored.
The desire is still there but the nagging question won’t go away. Are these things just excuses or do you actually have with it takes?
For the vast majority of people, the answer is yes, if you approach it properly.
Where Do The Excuses About Learning The Guitar Come From?
Learning to play the guitar is one of those rare things people try to do on their own. Rarely do you hear of people learning how to play piano or saxophone or trumpet on their own.
Because of this, people start going down a road they have never travelled before and they do so without a map, a GPS or a navigator. That’s a recipe for a lot of problems.
Some people even try to go learn from a guitar teacher. Again, because they do not really know where they are going, they will go to any guitar teacher available. Or worse, pick them on price and location.
If you don’t pick your guitar teacher properly you can end and will likely end up frustrated and believing you are not cut out for it. Not fun.
Why Do You Doubt Your Ability To Learn To Play Guitar?
What happens next? Well if you try to do it on your own a lot of people simply stop and quit. They know one person who taught themselves and figure if they can’t do it then they don’t have what it takes.
Those who then actually made the right decision to get help to learn often run into problems too. Since they do not know what to look for it is easy to hire the wrong teacher and end up not much better than the people teaching themselves.
You probably know others that have learned to play with a guitar teacher so since you could not make it work that it must be your fault right? You blame yourself. You then convince yourself that you are not capable and stop trying.
But some, like you, want it so bad that they refuse to accept what seems obvious. You know deep inside that you may be missing something. You don’t know what that is but it is enough to keep you from stopping forever.
Well done! That will carry you forward and past all of the excuses that are waiting for you to latch onto and get you to quit.
You Can Learn To Play The Guitar, No More Excuses Allowed!
All of those challenges can be overcome. All of the excuses can be destroyed. If you really want to you can make it happen. But you need to decide to give it your best effort. You have to commit to it.
Learning to play the guitar can be difficult. It requires some fine motor skills and coordination with both hands. No one comes with these things pre-programmed. So it takes time and effort to learn.
To add to this, your fingers start out soft so they sink into the strings. Over time you build callouses but until then it makes things more difficult.
So what you need to do is to make a solid commitment and especially at the start. Making the decision to do it and stick with it is the starting point.
To make sure you are successful you should also do the following.
How To Ensure You Are Successful At Learning To Play The Guitar
The first and most important piece that will help increase your chances at success is by hiring a guitar teacher. And since not all guitar teachers are the same you need to do your homework and find the right one for you.
You have to seek out and find someone who is trained and actually knows how to teach the guitar well, not just someone who is a good player. Someone that has helped many other people like you already and has the proof to back it up.
You then need to commit some time to this. The more you commit, the faster you progress and feel good about your playing. I recommend seeing your teacher for at least two hours a week to get the best chance at success. More is better if you are able to fit it in.
Then you need to commit time to practice at home. It does not have to be a huge amount of time but it must be consistent. Daily practice is the best. If you can commit to at least 30 minutes a day you will make a lot of progress quickly and will have a lot more fun in the process!!
The last piece is the instrument. Buying a good guitar at the beginning can really help you. A better quality guitar will be easier to play, will sound better and usually look better. All of this adds to your motivation to play and practice.
Don’t allow excuses to stop you from learning the guitar. Commit to it with your mind and also with you time and money. You will learn to play the guitar well and you will be very happy you did.