What if I'm not talented enough to play guitar? by Marcus Diaz

How everyone can be learn to be amazing at playing guitar

One of the most common questions I ever get asked is will they ever be good enough to play as good as they want to?

In order to have a real answer to this question, there are two main things that you need to know about playing guitar. The first is that the guitar is not a monster, it's just a piece of wood with some strings on it. The second is if you press down on a string anywhere along that piece of wood, the string will sound different.

Virtually all of guitar playing boils down to these two simple, unalienable truths.

The next thing to realize, is that everything you do is difficult for somebody to do. Walking, learning how to navigate conversations, buying groceries, riding a bike, driving a car, all these things and hundreds more you can probably do right now, and reasonably well.

Try to think back to a time before you knew how to do any of these things. They seemed tough. They seemed insurmountable. And here you are now, doing all of this and so much more! Playing guitar is no different than learning how to walk. Takes practice, some correction here and there and a desire to see the results of your effort.

Here's how to feel good about everything you ever do on guitar -

Practice, a lot

And don't practice a hundred different things. Don't get lost in all the possible things that you could possibly learn on guitar. Focus on a few things at a time, and practice those things, and those things only until you feel good about them.

Make the time

No matter how much a person desires to practice, very easy to let your day take over your time and never get to practice at all. This leads to frustration, self-doubts, and a dozen other things that might cause a person to think that learning guitar is not working for them. The best way to combat this is to schedule time. Just as important as your work schedule or school schedule are, make a practice schedule. Whether it's 30 minutes or 15 minutes, or it's 10 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening, schedule that time. Make it a time that nobody bothers you, nobody interrupts you, turn the ringer off your phone, put all distractions aside, set an alarm for 10, 15, 20 minutes, or whatever time you want to set aside to practice, and practice.

Realize that learning guitar is not about talent, it's only about effort

If you can take a finger and press down on a string you can play a note, and you have successfully played guitar. Now all you need to do is learn a series of notes, how to play a few notes at the same time (chords) and you are well on your way to being a real, bona-fide guitar player! So set your fears, your worries, your self-doubts aside and know that you don't need to be talented in order to be able learn to play awesome guitar, all you need is a desire and a willingness to learn!

Practice the right way

95% of the time, frustration sets in when self-taught guitar enthusiasts are practicing towards a goal, and no matter how much they try, or how much they practice, they're not reaching their goals. This usually happens because there's nobody in front of them showing them what they might be doing wrong, or what bad habits they might be teaching themselves while they're learning. Bad habits becoming ingrained and make it nearly impossible to reach those goals that you have. the best and possibly the only way around this, is to have a professional instructor who can make sure that you are not only learning good habits, the right habits, but making sure that you're playing is efficient so you can have more fun on the guitar a lot sooner than 95% of guitar players all over the world!

Let me know how these tips work out for you and watch for the next installment!

Article written by: Marcus L. Diaz
Owner, Mentor, Trainer, Coach
Master Your Guitar Music Academy
marcus@masteryourguitar.net

Here’s an extra tip:

The typical, average, logical approach to learning guitar that most instructors follow is NOT the best way to learn to play guitar. My students come to me week after week because they learn faster with me than with any of their previous instructors! Why? Because there is madness in my method and a method to my madness! Learn how to prevent YEARS of frustration when you...