WHy Most People Fail to be The guitarist they want to be

This is likely not the reason you think it is. A lot of people when they play guitar or want to play guitar are often excited. And you should be, playing guitar is a lot of fun once you can do it well.

However most people do not end up where they want to be. They either give up completely, or they settle to being at a level they would rather not be stuck at. Why do people do this?

Well people have pre conceived notions in their head about what it takes to become an incredible guitarist (or at any instrument), a great songwriter or improviser. Truth is, this is big part of the reason why people fail, because of the stories they tell themselves, the myths they believe in.

What are some of these things?

1) You have to be “born” with it.

Ah yes the natural talent excuse. You have to have a magical ball land on your head that contains all the talent you need to be a great musician and you then have it. This could not be more wrong, how can you be born knowing the motions of playing guitar? You can’t it’s impossible.

It’s simple muscle memory of habits for guitar playing. You don’t just wake up one day and all of a sudden you are playing guitar perfectly. It’s a matter of habits you build in your muscles which once built, performs the technique without you thinking about it.

Even those who have natural talent have to practice at it. And yes creativity is something that can be developed (and has been developed throughout the centuries) as well.

2) You have to practice 8-12 hours a day.

So apparently you have to not have a life outside of playing guitar or else you won’t get there? Almost no one has 8-12 hours a day. Even the most amazing, influential guitarists of all time, did not practice this long every day (I know magazines say otherwise but this is a lie).

Kids go to school, so did great guitarists when they were kids. They don’t have 8 hours before they have to go to bed to play guitar. Unless they skipped school here and there they simply wouldn’t have that many hours to do it.

If you are an adult you go to work or work from home, if you are like most people you don’t have that much time.

If you truly had to practice this much to become a great player, almost no one would get there. It’s the quality of practice that matters, not the time spent.

3) My hands are not the right size.

There are guitarists who have big hands and small hands. I have really small hands and I can play guitar. Unless you have no hands you have no real excuse here.

4) You have to start really young.

Starting young is not as easy as people think it is. It’s hard to stretch across the guitar in your 12 year old size hands. I know because I did that.

You have advantages that kids don’t have. Most kids are too impatient and don’t want to play guitar bad enough to stick it through. This is especially true with kids below 10.

This is the REAL problem that most people have, they have excuses that are simply not true that they believe in. And they don’t really want it bad enough. I got to where I am today as a player because I wouldn’t except it any other way. I had strong reasons and emotions behind why I wanted it.

While all my friends were messing around and hanging out, I was practicing guitar. While friends were handing out at the weekend, I was practicing guitar. While everyone else was having fun during the summer holidays I was practicing guitar.

This is how you become the player you want. I also did it the hard way through trial and error for a long time until I found a great teacher. I suggest you do the same.

About the author: Jake Willmot is a guitar instructor who teachers guitar lessons in Exmouth. He is also writing an acoustic album right now, if that is your thing perhaps you should give it a listen