It is mind-boggling to realize that you have stuck to something for 20 years and still enjoy doing it. It is even more of an astonishment if you take into account that this thing requires passion, devotion, patience, hard work and the fact that you should do it every day if you want to be really good at it. Like every day for 20 years.
Have I ever wanted to quit playing the guitar? Hell yes! It's happened once and never again. I was 15 years old and I got stuck at playing the classical guitar without any hint of how to go from there to something that was really interesting for me - rock and roll. This post is for all of you who have got stuck at some point of your guitar playing and are thinking of giving it up.
Find Your Heroes
It is a thing of a childhood maybe that kids love to have heroes. Then, when you are a teenager you follow your idols, and when you are an adult you think that it was all rubbish and start comparing yourself to your neighbours. Bravo. Get back to your childhood ideas! We all need heroes to be inspired and to feel that there is some essence to what we do. Worship your guitar heroes, learn from them, try to crack their code and follow their footsteps.
Set Short-Term Goals
We all want to be the ultimate guitar gods, of course. At some point the idea fades away as we realize the effort one has to put in the guitar to be as good as the best players in the world. It is just overwhelming and when you look at your school or work schedule it seems like you'll never have the time to master the guitar. Well, that's why you have to set yourself short-term goals. Pick up a guitar lead or a riff that you want to be able to play. Give yourself a few weeks to nail it and put hours every day to achieve what you signed up for. Once it's done, work on something else. Perhaps a new scale and a chord progression you would like to improvise over. Repeat until you die.
Take A Day-Off Whenever You Feel Like It
Set a schedule for yourself but treat yourself with care and consideration. Don't be a despot towards your own guitar playing cause you will end up hating it. Take a day off when you feel it is getting a bit boring, don't try to force yourself to play if you really don't feel like doing it. You will get back hungry and more passionate. It always feels great to play the guitar after you've had a few good days off.
Play With Other People
Try to arrange this situation from the get-go. Find yourself a guitar teacher who is inspiring and fun to play with. When you feel a bit more confident get out there and find a band! What a great feeling it is to play with people you like or share your passion with. Music is to be played with people, the joy coming from performing is linked to interacting with people and communicating with them in the oldest language there is - the language of music.
Get Yourself a Gibson Les Paul (or Some Other Guitar You'll Love)
I would say it is not that important at the beginning of your guitar adventure, and you will probably not have the cash to do that anyway if you're still a kid. At some point though it will boost your motivation and pleasure a lot if you can really connect with your own instrument. This happens when you pick it up from dozens or hundreds that you've played before. Give her a name and treat her with love and respect.
Don't Play What Other People Tell You To, Play What You Feel Like Playing
I think this is the most important point and perhaps a controversial one. I have never liked working on something that somebody told me to work on. It's because I have always had things that I was interested in and I've always wanted to focus on those. That's why when I was 15, and started playing death metal, I was playing this genre exclusively for the next 10 years. Consequently, that's why I got jobs in some of the most successful death metal bands in the world and made my dream of doing it professionally come true. In the meantime, I had come across people telling me to practise improvising, jazz, blues, pop, rock, scales, learn more theory, etc. I didn't do any of that. I was way too focused on playing the music I really wanted to play at that particular time. Listen to yourself and play things that are fun for you, avoid boring stuff that discourages you from playing the guitar. Most know-it-alls who were telling me what to practise don't even play the guitar anymore. That's the last crowd I played for:
So, take it easy and keep on rocking.
Earworm