If you think that your guitar teacher can be a full-time busy guitarist who is going to take you under his wings,
show you all the ropes and help steer you in the right direction and put you on your path, the fast track to success, you flat out wrong.
Some of them even mostly busy with their own career and teach only to pay the rent and so.
I don’t believe it’s something you should build on and I do believe that a teacher as good as he can lead you to a point and from this point you are alone.
There might be a false belief that comes from some guitar teachers online and offline-
Just sign up for our program and you’ll play the song you have dreamt of within 30 days…
No one is going to hand everything over to you on a silver platter and the faster you get to the mindset and realization of the truth that this goal can take six months, one year, two years the better for you.
The big trick
I hope you have your excellent private teacher or the finest online guitar course.
You also have youtube videos, facebook guitar groups, Quora answers by professional guitar teachers and more.
You have access to the most astounding information in the world but at some point is all about putting in your work.
You’ll build your guitar skills through force, by learning and practicing.
This is the “big trick”.
This is your only truthful guitar teacher.
You must get experienced in practicing and experience comes from trial and errors.
I see some guitar student just go around, buying new complete guitar guides books,
a new guitar, upgrade their gear, instead of putting in the work.
All those habits put the false beliefs in our minds and get us to hesitate and doubt the concept
of putting in the work.
I know that a new equipment can inspire us with new sounds and ease of playing and that in some point it is necessary if we want to scale up our guitar playing but the inspiration you’ll get when you reach your goal through efforts.
Your teacher will tell you anything you need to know to be successful with your technique and maybe will provide you with music skills as well and then you must go home and apply all the concepts he thought you.
Putting in the work
Practice, practice, practice.
You’ll have to master the discipline of scheduling your practice time by yourself.
You are the only one to experience the feel of a correct mechanics.
The guitar suffers from a light and cool image, and a culture of rock stars around it.
The truth is that the great guitarists are very hustlers, and what we see on stage or in videos
is just the tip of the iceberg of they’ve been doing for many years.
You have to get off the false and destructive mindset and get into putting in work.
What kind of work?
Everything that required you to play the piece that you put as your goal without quitting in the middle of the process, giving up and moving to a new song/piece.
Because if you don’t gain those victories of reaching your goals you don’t actually play music
but only moving your fingers over it.
So instead of focusing on the side pleasures of being a guitarist, focus on being a guitarist.
Master the instrument as best as you can.
Record yourself and put your guitar playing out there, get feedbacks, set a concert etc.
This is why you should play the music that you love because sometimes it’s a tough process
and you have to be resourceful to solve the technical, musical and mental difficulties.
They are only challenges for you.
Guitar playing is all about self-development. use it and leverage your results.
How do I know what I’m talking about?
I started playing about 27 years ago, with an average of 4 hours playing a day.
Do the math yourself.
Since it was, and still, the greatest passion for me, I took on myself the slow long arduous path.
There was no teacher around me in 95% of the time except for an hour a week.
And what determines your progress most is the time between lessons and to what level you use it.
I remember playing many guitar pieces and songs, buying cd’s to get inspired,
recording guitar radio programs ( it’s a pre-internet period), going to concerts,
and doing all those things to create my guitar world.
How do you create your “guitar territory”?
So if you’re going through the motions, if you are on the grind, if you are doing the hustle,
pat yourself on the back even if you aren’t seeing the results you want.
We are all impatient.
Find the passion the will fuel your process of learning guitar because then when you hit a wall and don’t get the results you wish for an infinite number of reasons, you have the duty and responsibility for yourself to reach this target of playing in the level you want.
Conclusion
You are your best teacher and the road to be a skilled guitarist, amateur or professional, is bumpy.
So, if you’re going through the process of solving a difficulty, or overcome a technical challenge let those failures be signs that you are on the right path to become a better guitarist.
