If You're Struggling With Your Guitar Playing Right Now, Watch This Pep Talk

If You're Struggling With Your Guitar Playing Right Now, Watch This Pep Talk

Hey guys, Brad Litton from SimpleGuitar.com. This blog post transcribes my YouTube pep talk. Every once in a while we have to remember guitar is as much about what's in your head as what you do with your hands.

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Poorly — To Get Started

Remember that quote. On YouTube it's easy to drown in information and watch six-year-olds play circles around you. Easy to think you'll never "master" the guitar.

If you enjoy music and you enjoy the guitar, it doesn't matter where you are right now compared to other people. What matters is you get started, you keep pushing, you keep learning.

Guitar Mastery Isn't a Destination

Don't get hung up on having to master the guitar. That mythical place where you've learned everything and there's nowhere left to go? That's a crock.

The more you play, the more you realize there is to learn. It never ends. Mastery is a journey of doing better than yesterday — not a scoreboard against someone else's progress. They aren't you. Measure against your yesterday.

Systems Beat Lofty Goals

If you're not where you think you should be, I wouldn't start by setting bigger goals. Set up a system, and start with identity.

If you think of yourself as a guitar player, ask: what do guitar players do? One of those things is play every day.

So: I'm a guitar player. I play every day at this time, in this place, and this week these are the things I'm focusing on. Stick to that.

James Clear in Atomic Habits: we don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems.

Don't give up. Don't be down on yourself. Right now you're where you need to be — and you can use that to push forward.

Embrace the suck. It's worth sucking to get started.

If you want a simple place to start, grab my free Top 10 Things to Learn on Guitar First at http://simpleguitar.com/top10.

And hang out with other adult guitar players in the Simple Guitar Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/simpleguitar.

About the Author
Brad from Simple Guitar helps adult learners play the songs they love without the frustration. Visit simpleguitar.com for more free resources and lessons.